![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It occurred to me that I ought to give a little overview of the fandoms I'm interested in and why. Just in case anyone's reading and is wondering where I stand, I guess. Also to give me something to write about. :D
So in order of importance (or something like that):
STAR WARS: This is a title that makes me so excited, I have to spell it in all caps. What a story! Vast in its galactic scope, yet deeply personal, circling around a single family. I've loved these movies ever since I got caught up in the ROTJ hubbub in 1983 when I was a mere two years old. The fervor of my excitement for Luke, Leia, Han, the droids, and Vader/Anakin sort of went down to simmering for a while in my early childhood, simply because there wasn't much too fuel it (though I recall loving the Ewok Adventure - heh). And then somewhere around seventh grade, I spent a week of snow days watching at least one of the movies every single day until I was well on my way to memorizing them. My full-fledged obsession with them was revived, and grew in intensity throughout the re-release in the theaters and the glorious new prequel movies. I discovered geeks of my ilk on the Internet sometime between TPM and AOTC, and eventually joined discussion boards under the name Cindé of Naboo. There I was fiercely bitten by the fanfiction bug and proceeded to write with embarrassing prolificness. I made a list of my stories just the other day and managed to fill an entire page just with the titles. Thanks to my original fiction series that's been occupying my time lately, my fanfiction has been much less abundant, but ideas still seize me every now and then, insisting on being written. The work I am most proud of, simply for its originality, is Another Point of View, the story of TPM from the perspective of Jar Jar Binks, the much maligned Gungan. I've written two other works about Jar Jar. Most of my other stories deal with the Skywalker family, particularly Anakin and Padmé (whose relationship appeals to me for reasons usually quite different from bulk of A/P fans, but maybe I'll devote an entire entry to that sometime later). I believe all five, and eventually all six movies, are the definitive word on the characters, stories and themes of SW. It seems pretty darn self-evident to me. I have no interest in the books because they typically stray so far from the spirit of the films. And I have no interest in bashing the films, which is done far too much already by some apparently very bitter people. I'd rather immerse myself delightedly in the mythos, adventure and heart of a galaxy far, far away.
Harry Potter: Here's a fandom I entered with vast reluctance. I knew the books were intensely popular, especially among children, and I immediately shied away from it for that reason. What else had been popular among children? Pokemon? Power Rangers? Ugh. And in books, even worse - Goosebumps. And even when it became clear from my family members who had read the books that this was quite a cut above the usual fads, I still hesitated to jump on the bandwagon. Finally, I gave in, and really wasn't too surprised to discover how excellent it really was. It's certainly plain fun, what with such an imaginative world of magic people living unknown among the non-magic. It can be enjoyed on more levels than that, however. It tires me to see the media (which consistently misunderstands every single thing that becomes popular) decide that if kids like Harry Potter, then they'll like anything with witchcraft...which leads to freaky occult stuff that has absolutely nothing more than a thin nominal connection to JKR's work. Give me a break. This isn't a new obsession with witchcraft; this is a very old love for mythos and stories with rich themes and strong moral backbones. And I also dislike the misconception that since these books are about children, they're childish and non-complex. Give me a break! First of all, that's disparaging to the intelligence of children who have finally found books that don't talk down to them, and it's insulting to JKR's extremely complex, well-planned and sophisticated plotlines and characters. More recently than SW fandom, I've recently discovered the enormous Internet fandom for Harry Potter, partly to my delight and partly to my confusion. I'm glad to see how many adult fans enjoy these books on complex levels. But I'm baffled to see how much attention is devoted to 'shipping. In all honesty, I once thought that word was derived from worshipping, because that's how fanatic people were. I don't get it. Harry Potter never seemed to be so much about relationships. My idealized situation with Neville Longbottom, for example, wouldn't be to hook him up with Luna or Ginny or anyone girl, though I suppose he would find someone eventually. It would be for his parents to regain their sanity and call him by name. Now that would bring me to tears. Probably not going to happen, but then neither is a book entirely devoted to romance in Harry Potter. Anyway, I have promised myself not to write any fanfiction myself until the seventh book has come out, to avoid a multitude of contradictions. Let's see how long I last. ;) Oh, and in reference to the hubbub about Hermione Sue stealing yet another of Ron's lines in the movie, I dislike it greatly. But I have to admit, my main reaction to the furor is "This is great! Look at all these geeks who care so strongly about this story, who know every detail and intricacy! How many people could I randomly find off the street who knew and cared so much about Harry Potter! I love it!" ;) But yeah, it makes me angry too.
LOTR: I love Tolkien, but I don't feel quite worthy enough to consider myself a full-fledged fan, since I've only read the trilogy twice (it will not remain such a small number for long, believe me!). I intend to eventually read everything I can get my hands on, until I'm quite as knowledgeable as my husband or brother, who have practically read the books as many times as they have years in their lives. ;) As far as the much-praised films...well, let's just say I'm not about to jump on that bandwagon - its gushing popularity alone is enough to turn me off, never mind the broad liberties taken in adaptation. Enough of that. Tolkien is marvelous, and I feel a particular affinity with him, being a big fan of languages and Anglo-Saxon (Old English). If I ever had the impossible chance to meet him, I'd probabably be just as eager to hear a discourse on language as on Middle-Earth.
Fantasy: Already explained in my last entry what I love about this genre in general (and by the way, SW most definitely fits in here, not science fiction), but more specifically, some of my favorite fantasy authors along with Tolkien and Rowling are Stephen R. Donaldson, Elizabeth Moon, Robert Jordan to a certain extent, though he can be a shameless hack, and my own husband, whose currently unpublished fantasy series is quite excellent. I'm working on my own fantasy series and am halfway through the second novel right now, though I'll have to do some extensive revisions before it's anywhere near ready to submit for publishing.
That's about it, I guess. I imagine I'll be returning to these topics quite regularly, since I am so very fond of them.
So in order of importance (or something like that):
STAR WARS: This is a title that makes me so excited, I have to spell it in all caps. What a story! Vast in its galactic scope, yet deeply personal, circling around a single family. I've loved these movies ever since I got caught up in the ROTJ hubbub in 1983 when I was a mere two years old. The fervor of my excitement for Luke, Leia, Han, the droids, and Vader/Anakin sort of went down to simmering for a while in my early childhood, simply because there wasn't much too fuel it (though I recall loving the Ewok Adventure - heh). And then somewhere around seventh grade, I spent a week of snow days watching at least one of the movies every single day until I was well on my way to memorizing them. My full-fledged obsession with them was revived, and grew in intensity throughout the re-release in the theaters and the glorious new prequel movies. I discovered geeks of my ilk on the Internet sometime between TPM and AOTC, and eventually joined discussion boards under the name Cindé of Naboo. There I was fiercely bitten by the fanfiction bug and proceeded to write with embarrassing prolificness. I made a list of my stories just the other day and managed to fill an entire page just with the titles. Thanks to my original fiction series that's been occupying my time lately, my fanfiction has been much less abundant, but ideas still seize me every now and then, insisting on being written. The work I am most proud of, simply for its originality, is Another Point of View, the story of TPM from the perspective of Jar Jar Binks, the much maligned Gungan. I've written two other works about Jar Jar. Most of my other stories deal with the Skywalker family, particularly Anakin and Padmé (whose relationship appeals to me for reasons usually quite different from bulk of A/P fans, but maybe I'll devote an entire entry to that sometime later). I believe all five, and eventually all six movies, are the definitive word on the characters, stories and themes of SW. It seems pretty darn self-evident to me. I have no interest in the books because they typically stray so far from the spirit of the films. And I have no interest in bashing the films, which is done far too much already by some apparently very bitter people. I'd rather immerse myself delightedly in the mythos, adventure and heart of a galaxy far, far away.
Harry Potter: Here's a fandom I entered with vast reluctance. I knew the books were intensely popular, especially among children, and I immediately shied away from it for that reason. What else had been popular among children? Pokemon? Power Rangers? Ugh. And in books, even worse - Goosebumps. And even when it became clear from my family members who had read the books that this was quite a cut above the usual fads, I still hesitated to jump on the bandwagon. Finally, I gave in, and really wasn't too surprised to discover how excellent it really was. It's certainly plain fun, what with such an imaginative world of magic people living unknown among the non-magic. It can be enjoyed on more levels than that, however. It tires me to see the media (which consistently misunderstands every single thing that becomes popular) decide that if kids like Harry Potter, then they'll like anything with witchcraft...which leads to freaky occult stuff that has absolutely nothing more than a thin nominal connection to JKR's work. Give me a break. This isn't a new obsession with witchcraft; this is a very old love for mythos and stories with rich themes and strong moral backbones. And I also dislike the misconception that since these books are about children, they're childish and non-complex. Give me a break! First of all, that's disparaging to the intelligence of children who have finally found books that don't talk down to them, and it's insulting to JKR's extremely complex, well-planned and sophisticated plotlines and characters. More recently than SW fandom, I've recently discovered the enormous Internet fandom for Harry Potter, partly to my delight and partly to my confusion. I'm glad to see how many adult fans enjoy these books on complex levels. But I'm baffled to see how much attention is devoted to 'shipping. In all honesty, I once thought that word was derived from worshipping, because that's how fanatic people were. I don't get it. Harry Potter never seemed to be so much about relationships. My idealized situation with Neville Longbottom, for example, wouldn't be to hook him up with Luna or Ginny or anyone girl, though I suppose he would find someone eventually. It would be for his parents to regain their sanity and call him by name. Now that would bring me to tears. Probably not going to happen, but then neither is a book entirely devoted to romance in Harry Potter. Anyway, I have promised myself not to write any fanfiction myself until the seventh book has come out, to avoid a multitude of contradictions. Let's see how long I last. ;) Oh, and in reference to the hubbub about Hermione Sue stealing yet another of Ron's lines in the movie, I dislike it greatly. But I have to admit, my main reaction to the furor is "This is great! Look at all these geeks who care so strongly about this story, who know every detail and intricacy! How many people could I randomly find off the street who knew and cared so much about Harry Potter! I love it!" ;) But yeah, it makes me angry too.
LOTR: I love Tolkien, but I don't feel quite worthy enough to consider myself a full-fledged fan, since I've only read the trilogy twice (it will not remain such a small number for long, believe me!). I intend to eventually read everything I can get my hands on, until I'm quite as knowledgeable as my husband or brother, who have practically read the books as many times as they have years in their lives. ;) As far as the much-praised films...well, let's just say I'm not about to jump on that bandwagon - its gushing popularity alone is enough to turn me off, never mind the broad liberties taken in adaptation. Enough of that. Tolkien is marvelous, and I feel a particular affinity with him, being a big fan of languages and Anglo-Saxon (Old English). If I ever had the impossible chance to meet him, I'd probabably be just as eager to hear a discourse on language as on Middle-Earth.
Fantasy: Already explained in my last entry what I love about this genre in general (and by the way, SW most definitely fits in here, not science fiction), but more specifically, some of my favorite fantasy authors along with Tolkien and Rowling are Stephen R. Donaldson, Elizabeth Moon, Robert Jordan to a certain extent, though he can be a shameless hack, and my own husband, whose currently unpublished fantasy series is quite excellent. I'm working on my own fantasy series and am halfway through the second novel right now, though I'll have to do some extensive revisions before it's anywhere near ready to submit for publishing.
That's about it, I guess. I imagine I'll be returning to these topics quite regularly, since I am so very fond of them.
