(no subject)

[telophase]

Just finished watching Torchwood: Children of Earth. While I like that they try to make the characters face unthinkable choices, I hate that it's so frickin' contrived to get to that point.

Any of you posted on it earlier, please link me. I saw it go by a lot on the f-list, but didn't read any because I didn't want to be spoiled.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Would you consider yourself a TW fan? I ask because Children of Earth has been very polarizing in the fandom. My most recent posts are about Torchwood, so you can look at those.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'd really consider myself more of a watcher than a fan. For me to consider myself fannish about a show, it's got to live in my head to some degree, which Torchwood never has.

ETA: I'm wondering if other people would draw the line elsewhere, though? I mean, I also wouldn't consider myself a fan of Top Chef, but I watch every episode and talk about it online. For me fannishness means that I've got to devote a certain amount of mental and imaginative energy to a show/book/comic outside of the direct experience of watching/reading it, which just doesn't happen with a lot of things I watch and read.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

To me a dividing line might be whether one is a member of one or more LJ communities devoted to a show.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That might be *a* sign - I think for a while there I was fannish about Yu Yu Hakusho and Inu-Yasha by my definition, but I don't think I ever joined any LJ comms. Mostly because my ideas about the characters don't always mesh with others' ideas, and I don't want the characters in my head to be muddied by other people's versions. (Which might be because I store them up in a mental database to be recycled and reused, serial numbers filed off, in my own stories? Hm. Maybe. Not sure.)

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, comm membership might work as a possible sign, but I don't know how well it works as an indicator when it comes to the difference between 'normal' interest and fandom. I'm fannish about all sorts of series, but I rarely join LJ communities for them, and if I do it's usually only so I can access locked posts/material. The way most comms run tends to make them Not My Thing.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

So what constitutes a dividing line for you? I think one line for me is when I actively begin pursuing reading fan fiction in a particular fandom.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

*nod* Reading (or re-reading) fanfic is definitely one sign for me--and seeking out fanart and meta as well, in some cases. And with smaller fandoms where there isn't much going on, there's a feeling of "if this had more fannish activity, I would so be keeping up with all of it." I just tend to track down fic and discussion on a LJ-by-LJ basis, instead of getting them from communities.

(I'm not sure how well my behavior matches up with other fans, though, since I'm multi-fannish and go back to previous fandoms all the time--even if I'm not actively 'in' an old fandom at the moment I still count it as one of mine, because chances are I could wake up tomorrow and be madly in love with it again.)