The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
or The Casual, the Fan, and the Obsessed
A retrospect on fandom
I can say that I’ve been active in fandoms for over a decade. My first fandom was Star Trek fandom, which snow balled into Anime which then eventually snowballed into Japanese music with a fling in Tokusatsu. Throughout these experiences, while the fandom is different, the core element is the same. The people are the same. There’s still that casual guy or that obsessive girl that can not see her world without her favorite idol or that know-it-all that can recite, to the T, what happened in episode 23 of Star Trek: The Original Series, including production flaws. They’re everywhere, wearing Spock Ears or Lulu costumes or holding Idol Uchiwas – they’re fans.
But what separates fans from everyone else? What separates the average person from the fan to the obsessive nerd/borderline stalker? What’s that dividing line that keeps the shipper away from the fanatical one in a made up fantasy?
Well, it’s pretty simple.
I realized that not everyone is a fan. There’s a difference between a fan and someone who simply likes something. The fan will buy the boxset while the causal watcher will simply watch it on TV. The fan will engage in hypothetical conversations while the fan will say everyone is a bunch of losers, its just a TV show, and walk away. The fan will go to the convention, the casual person will probably stay at home and do shit that doesn’t involve sweating in congested hallways with other nerds.
But then what separates the obsessive fan from the rest?
The obsessive fan makes their hobby their life. They feel “connected”, are “one” with their stan/hobby. They claim that they can feel and understand their stan, create a fantasy in their own mind and pass it off as truth, and refuse anything that seems to contradict what they view as sacred and holy.
In short, the obsessive fan is batshit crazy and one step closer to stalkerville.
Now, I’m going to switch this retrospect and focus on one fandom that I am most familiar with, Johnny’s Entertainment. A Japanese talent agency conglomerate, the male-only management company has managed to create a monopoly on the hearts of girls (and boys) everywhere within a time span of nearly fifty years. These idols are everywhere, from television ads to music cds. If it’s a form of media, a Johnny has some stake in it. Of course, with all this over exposure breeds fans and the obsessed. Not too many casual fans exist in Johnny’s fandom, and if they do, they tend to be males that only like the boybands for the music – caring less for the fan fodder that usually comes with the package.
So, it only brings us to the only two ‘species’ that you will stumble over in this fandom. Now, I will admit, I am a fan. I have dedicated myself to owning Kanjani8’s complete discography and TOKIO’s partially. I would like to go to a concert and have bought posters and con goods through expensive middlemen. So, I am not writing this to say I am better than anyone else, but rather to shed light on how fandom works. I have gotten my hands dirty and my bank account depleted to the levels that a Johnny’s fan would max themselves out in. It’s a world of glitter, rainbows, and cheesy music that comes with magazines, light pens, books, posters, dvds and cds. A candy store for teenagers and adults, to put it lightly.
The fan let’s their wallets speak for them. The fan’s dedication to the “hobby” sets them apart from the rest. They’re not afraid to let out their frustrations when things go wrong or praise when things go right. They have a clear head and don’t let the fantasy distort their reality. They like the music, enjoy the TV shows, and indulge in the magazines without expecting anything in return other than a good concert and music album.
But, then there’s the obsessed fan.
The person that feels emotionally connected to their stan. The person that feels as if their lives would be incomplete without their stan in their life. The person that has created a fantasy around them and declared that fantasy a reality. The person that refuses to see the negatives, only the positives, and dismiss anyone else as a ‘non-fan’ if they do not mindlessly accept everything their stan does. The obsessive people take fandom to a degree that, in many ways, can be emotionally damaging in the end.
They take everything an idol says at face value, believing it despite the fact that these are rehearsed lines filled with much fallacy than truth. They take fanservice as definitive proof that there’s a relationship going on between two members despite the fact that the fanservice is exactly what it is: fanservice. They retaliate against those that they view are a “detriment” to their fandom and go through excessive lengths to get close to them, as far as putting themselves in uncomfortable situations.
Common sense is no longer a factor.
For example, a girl I had known in Kanjani8 fandom, we were not friends, had went to event and ended up feeling extremely uncomfortable at said event. She had went because there could have been a chance for her to meet three of the group’s members but in exchange for that opportunity placed herself in a situation that she had regretted. This was not the only time she had done this though, she had gone out her way to get in close contact with the group’s members several times — too invasive for my liking.
There is nothing wrong with feeling some sort of ‘connection’ or maybe some understanding… But the problem lies in the fact that the obsessive one blurs the line between fact and reality. Fanfictions become fanatical outlets, fueling ideas of grandeur that are not true. No matter how many times they’ve hugged, it does not mean they’re in a sexual relationship in real life… and to insist that this is true is an invasion of their privacy. To infer these ideas, that a Japanese male in the public eye, would be so willing to come out the closet and not receive backlash is pure ignorance on the topic of Japanese society. Homosexuality is not accepted.
They forget that these are men working for our entertainment. That this is a job and these characters they create are merely acts. Their personal lives are nothing like there on stage personality and blending the two together is a dangerous mix. Johnny’s are there to provide a fantasy, a dream, to girls everywhere. They facilitate this objective and it is up to the fan to differentiate between the fantasy and the reality.
Fandom is fandom. It’s a place for like-minded people to congregate and discuss their favorite topics. But fandom should never cross into the real world, where it then affects them emotionally and personally. The obsessed have hurt themselves over their stans, killed themselves over their stans, and have imitated their stans. It’s a dangerous world and fans must remember to always find that balance before crossing over into dangerous territory.
There is no “right” fan; there’s no right “way” to be a fan. The only way to be a fan is to make sure that the fandom does not consume your entire being.