Everyone is a fan of something. Whether it’s a athleticss squad. famous person. or telecasting show there is at least one thing that a individual enjoys to partake in. talk about. etc. Yet when does going excessively much of a fan – or a overzealous – become a job? This inquiry raises concern because late many different fan bases or fandoms of certain films. books. etc. have been criticized over the last decennaries due to their utmost dedication and compulsion. Some people think that these fan bases and their life styles are unhealthy. that these fiends choose to avoid world and alternatively give their life to something that does non return anything honoring or productive to society.
Trekkies go toing conventions and passing money on luxuriant costumes. Harry Potter fans dressing up like the characters to go to a film premiere. cyberspace bloggers passing clip composing fan fiction online for hours – are all these signifiers of fandom unhealthy? In my personal sentiment. I do non believe so. When it comes down to it. each fandom has a similar land base that it builds off of. it besides promotes a sense of individuality and chumminess. it’s a signifier of enjoyment that encourages felicity and optimism but besides is an establishment that is exploited by the media.
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Each fandom seems wholly different from each other. I know many Harry Potter fans who despise anyone who likes Twilight. believing that their fan base is so much higher-up and frailty versa. In world though. each fandom has the same construct to construct off of that creates such a immense fan base. This construct is escape or instead that fandom is distraction from existent life and its adversities ( Reilly ) . An illustration would include myself in that I would much instead choose to read Harry Potter than alternatively. for case. compose this paper. The same goes for my roomie who chose to watch the Walking Dead alternatively of making her prep. In those minutes we temporarily escaped our jobs and challenges in existent life and alternatively immersed ourselves into another world that was much more gratifying.
Would that be considered unhealthy? I think non – the job was non me being a fan of Harry Potter but alternatively self-denial. which differs with each individual separately. That’s why we can non generalise all fiends of something as being unhealthy because although they choose to integrate many facets of their fandom into mundane life. there are many cases when they can productive alternatively of idle. This includes a tooth doctor from the film Trekkies that created a dentist office that wholly revolves around the telecasting show Star Trek. The dentist/fanatic gets to be immersed in Star Trek all twenty-four hours long at his occupation. but is really being productive in society. With that. any way a fan base goes. it is a signifier of escape from existent life but is non needfully detrimental to a fanatic’s good being.
Fandom besides creates a sense of chumminess and individuality to those who partake in it. By placing yourself as a fan. you become apart of a community who portion similar involvements ( Jacobson ) . An illustration includes my stepfather who is Redskins football fan. He and his friends bond over their love for the squad. but are besides a portion of a immense community who portion this love. The best portion is that the Redskins fandom allows the fans to be a portion of the game without holding any football accomplishments at all and it has a really low cost to take part. With this comes a sense of belongingness and chumminess – that you are a portion of something bigger than yourself. This can be really good to the fans and can be applied to every fandom. This sense of community and individuality helps with self-pride and image ( Jacobson ) . which. in my sentiment. should non be considered unhealthy.
In its most basic signifier. being a fan of something merely makes people happy. The ground why I love reading the Harry Potter books repeatedly or why a Trekkie will go to legion conventions is because making it makes us happy – it does non do us obsessional. brainsick fiends. Harmonizing to the temper direction theory. persons seek out media content that they expect to better their temper ( Burns ) . Millions of people do non go fiends of something strictly for the enjoyment of it but instead because it has a positive consequence on their temper. This explains many overzealous behaviours. like fan fiction for case. This is when a fan will compose their ain version of the narrative. film. video game etc. that caters to their ain desires. They do this because it makes them happy and makes them experience apart of the fandom community.
On the other manus. there are many cases where fandom or fanatism can be taken to the extreme. There are legion narratives of when fans at football games break out into a violent public violence. or when a fan physically harms others or themselves to pull attending to themselves – an illustration including Mark David Chapman. a Beatles fan. slaying John Lennon. But is it truly their fanatism to be blamed? This inquiry should be asked due to the fact that many facets can act upon a person’s determinations. one being their psychological stableness.
Bing a fiend did non do Chapman a liquidator ; it was that he was mentally ill. A more of import facet is that harmonizing to a construct called amusement theory. we as audience members do non oppugn the content we consume because “we are merely making what feels good…its merely entertainment” ( Burns ) . Yet in world we the audience that consumes the media are non cognizant of the content that we are looking at. If Chapman had non been exposed to John Lennon’s life being broadcasted through the media he may non hold taken his fanatism to the utmost degree. Fanaticism should non be considered unhealthy since the media that we consume contributes or instead enhances fanatism to an unhealthy degree.
Like I said earlier. we are all fans of something. Whether or non we choose to take our passion for that something to a overzealous degree depends on many factors. Psychologically we indulge in our fandom because it makes us happy. The feeling of familiarity and community is a basic human demand that fandom provides through online blogging and fan fiction. dressing up like person we’re non. conventions. etc.
Besides the manner that the media broadcasts and watercourses pop civilization to the general populace is something to see when knocking fiends. Finally. each fandom. although diverse in its ain manner. has the same ideal at it’s root in that people become fans because it provides an flight into another world that does non our jobs and adversities to cover with. Overall. fanatism should non be considered unhealthy because it is a natural psychological inherent aptitude every bit good as a basic establishment has been heightened by the media.
Plants Cited
Burns. “Harry Potter = Craze Fan? . ” Media Influence Spring 09. Blogspot. 16 2009. Web. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //mediainfluences09. blogspot. com/2009/03/harry-potter-craze-fan. hypertext markup language
