Are we really THAT crazier than anyone else??

Last night I was catching a bit of the news on TV and there was some coverage over a different sort of “Occupy” type event here in Los Angeles.  (I’m assuming that everyone has heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement? If not – email us and I’ll explain!)  Apparently, several hundred “Twilight” fans had set up their own camp outside of LA Live in downtown Los Angeles.  LA Live is kind of an entertainment/restaurant area in Los Angeles right next to the Staples Center, complete with a movie theater that is apparently going to be the “Red Carpet” premier for Twilight: New Moon Part 1.  The camping was done with permission by the movie theater (they’d even set up a sort of sheltered area for the campers), and as I understand the campers were there waiting for wristbands to be given out by the theater so that they could be in the stands for the big celebrity red carpet premier tomorrow night.  I don’t even think these folks will be actually seeing the movie since it doesn’t come out until the 18th, but because they camped out, they’ll be able to see all of the stars walk the red carpet.  I don’t know exactly how many people camped out – but there were MANY tents under the shelter they had constructed for them.  It was impressive to see how organized it all appeared.

Several things earned my attention during the news coverage.  To begin with, almost every single person they interviewed said that they’d made new friends during the camping.  Several others talked about camping out as though it had been a life changing experience for them, and still more said it was the best thing they’d ever done for themselves.  While I listened, I was thinking in the back of my mind that it reminded me very much of the fandom I’d experienced my own life.  Yet, this was for a movie, not a rock band.  Not a sports team…and even more importantly, not for celebrities.  Yes, I recognize that the people IN the movie might be celebrities (at least now they are!), but as I’ve been told several times by other Twilight fans, the celebrities themselves aren’t what they are fans of.  They are fans of the book series. of Edward, Bella and Jacob and the story that entwines them.  It’s much different than being a fans of a rock band in some respects, but in others – is it really all that different?

When the news was on covering the Twilight campers, my husband continually laughed at the campers.  He just could not seem to wrap his head around the idea that someone would camp out to earn a wristband to see those celebrities on a red carpet.  I grinned when he commented on the “older” 40 somethings that had camped out.  Naturally these women were of the same age as I am…and I’m sure that fact wasn’t entirely lost on my husband.  I tried to point out the similarities between my fandom and theirs: that it was a book series that brought the fans together, but that its the friendships they are making from attending these functions that will bind them.  I couldn’t help but be annoyed by not only my husband but also the newscasters, because while they were covering the event as news, you could definitely see the amusement, in particular from the male newscasters.  As though going to see celebrities or being fans of a book series is somehow silly, yet camping out for tickets to see a football game (soccer or American football…take your pick!) is somehow not at all silly.  Its not silly to put your heart and soul into a team that gets paid money to play a sport?  Its not silly to say something to the extent of “We did it.  We got behind the team, supported them all season and now we’ve brought home the championship!”, as though by being a fan somehow you actually helped the team win.  How is that not silly?  Really?  Are you sure??  What makes that so much more serious and worthy than putting your heart and soul into supporting a band that makes money by playing concerts and putting out albums for over thirty years?  If the team or band speaks to you on some level – what is really the difference??

The one constant that Amanda and I have found over and over again throughout any fandom is that people very much desire to meet others that have their same interest.  They want to make that human connection.  Lets face it, it’s fun to go to a concert.  Its MUCH more fun to go to a concert with a friend or someone else who truly gets it.  I discovered Duran Duran on my own to some extent, but once my friends were also big fans, it elevated the enjoyment I got out of being a fan so much more.  Its no fun to giggle over a video, interview, or news article alone, even at the age of 40, or even 50!

I have to say that I was touched by the very idea that women (I never saw a single male – perhaps they were there but in hiding!) traveled from all over to gather at an event like that.  It seemed like so much fun for them. (even if I was wondering where on earth they used “the facilities” or washed up…)  Some of them talked about how they’d come for other premiers for previous movies in the Twilight series and had met friends they’d stayed in touch with since then, and so for those folks it was somewhat akin to a reunion.  I also considered that at least for these fans, it will be a sorrowful moment when the last movie comes out, because the series will be complete.  The celebrities will move on to other movies, and in time the series will be forgotten by everyone but the most ardent fans.  They will have to find other ways to experience their fandom, if that’s even possible. It reminds me of the same feelings fans had when the LOST TV series came to an end, as that show had it’s own fan following that they themselves characterized as almost cult-like.  Its a moment that Duran fans have somehow avoided thus far, with hopes its still many years in the distance.

Crazy? Somehow I doubt that.

-R