Then Why Do We Only Feel the Pain

Fandom can die.  It can.  I know that some of you reading this won’t believe it or will be shocked that I would type such a thing, but it can.  Let me be clear.  Death of fandom is not the same as the typically found not-as-interested fandom that happens to everyone at some point or time in long-lasting fandoms, at least in my experience and observation.  This blog isn’t about how fandom can ebb and flow from intense, can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head moments to those moments when the fandom hibernates.  My Duran fandom has had those times of hibernation but once it started, it never stopped.  It never died.  Yet, I have been involved with other fandoms that have died.  Fandom can die for individual people and it can die for the collective whole.  I’m not sure what got me thinking about this recently but I thought it might be good to acknowledge this possibility and think about how this death can happen.  A lot of my research focused on how fandom starts and remains so it is probably good to have thought about how it could end.

In my research on fandom as well as my personal experiences and observations, it seems to me that fandom can die in three basic ways.  While these ways affect individual fans, for the most part, they can affect the whole fan community when enough people are affected.  The simplest and the least painful for fandom to die from what I have seen is the slow loss of interest.  This can very easily happen when the object of the fandom stops producing new material.  For example, once TV shows are off the air or once a movie series stops getting made or even a band stops to produce new music, interest can start to fade.  Now, of course, there are some fandoms that this would be very unlikely to happen because they have been around for so long that there is so much discussion that could still take place.  For example, even if there were no more Star Trek movies or TV shows or books made, the fans would still have plenty of old ones to watch over and over again to discuss.  The same could be true for Duran.  They have 30 plus years of music and videos that we could discuss and would take up a lot of time even if they made nothing new.  Yet, for those bands, TV shows, movies that are short-lived, this loss of interest is a real possibility.  For example, as I have mentioned before I was part of the Roswell fandom.  Roswell was a TV show that ran from 1999-2002, three short years.  The fandom for me lasted past the end of the series but is not something I claim to be a part of anymore.  I don’t know a ton of people in the fandom anymore and those I do no longer talk about the show or the actors anymore.  Do I know if the fandom died beyond these individuals?  Not really but I’m willing to bet that it isn’t really thriving.  While I’m sure new people might discover the show, once they, too, have discussed all that there is to discuss, the fandom will just slowly wither away to nothingness.

It seems to me that the other ways that fandom dies for an individual are much more painful.  Fans could leave a fandom because they no longer like what is being produced by the object of the fandom.  What if Duran Duran stopped making music that you liked?  What if they stopped making music you liked in 1983 and that you haven’t liked anything since then?  Would you continue to be a big fan?  I have seen a lot of people in this position claim to be fans, claim to be part of the fandom.  Yet, they never have anything positive to say about the band.  Other fans watch their comments and think that they don’t sound like fans.  Yet, for these fans who haven’t liked anything since 1983, they are hoping, I’m sure, to hear something like what they heard 30 years ago.  They are still hoping that the band would change back to what they once were.  They are holding on with hope.  I can’t blame them.  It isn’t easy to walk away from something that you once loved.  Of course, some people would only hold on for a couple of years and others would hold on for decades.  Each person has to decide how long s/he would consider oneself to be a fan when s/he doesn’t like the music anymore and hasn’t for awhile.    In Duranland, there has been fans who walked away for this very reason.  Some might have left once the Fab Five broke up in 1985 and haven’t looked back.  Those fans did not join in the excitement over the reunion.  Others might have left when Warren did.  Maybe others tried the reunion and Astronaut but left after Red Carpet Massacre.  The music does matter to fans.  While there are many of us that really struggle to understand this because we love so much of Duran’s music, we have to be understanding that everyone does have different taste.  Obviously, the same can be true for fans of TV shows or movies.  Many times, people fall in love with a show during its first or second season when in the fourth, the show changes direction.  Some will stick with the show no matter what.  Some will leave after a few years of the change and once it is clear that the change is here to stay.  Others might leave immediately.  Again, it all depends on the individual fan.

Of course, it might not just be what the object of the fandom produces that makes some fans leave.  It might be the celebrities themselves.  Perhaps, a fan has had a lot of negative interactions with the celebrity of choice.  Again, some people would walk away after one negative interaction and some might walk away after ten poor meetings.  Still others may never walk away, but it is one reason that someone might leave.  Likewise, what if the fans find out some horrible information about the celebrity?  What if they find out that the celebrity has committed crime?  Is that a deal breaker?  Does it depend on what kind of crime?  Probably.  We all have things that we could tolerate in others and things we can’t and I would assume it is the same for those who we call idols.  My point here is just to acknowledge that not only does their work matter, but how they treat fans matters and how they are as people matters to fans.

Beyond what the object of the fandom has direct control over, there is the fan community itself, which could cause some fans to walk away.  Rhonda and I have argued over and over again that connections fans create amongst themselves are huge, are what lasts the test of time, and can be what keeps people in the fandom.  We still believe that.  Yet, we know that fan communities can be brutal.  There can be a lot of negativity from other fans.  There can be harassment and verbal abuse.  Perhaps, at times, it can get beyond the verbal as well.  All fan communities seem to have a means of creating social status, which can create pressure both for the people “at the top” and for the people hoping to get out of “the bottom”.  As I type this, I’m sure that there are many that will argue that the negativity and the social status doesn’t exist or that people can don’t see it or feel it or can choose to ignore it.  That’s fine if you think any of that.  What I am saying is that this is the reality for many fans, even if it is not you, and I have also seen this negativity in both my experiences and in my research.  For some fans, this matters.  If you don’t think it exists or can be ignored, cool.  It doesn’t matter to you, which is fine.  I’m just acknowledging what causes some fans to leave.  Thus, for some fans, this darker side to fandom affects them so much that it overshadows the positive, the good, the fun that fandom really is supposed to be about.  Some fans choose to live with it and others leave.  The same is true with the negativity that comes from outside of the fandom.  People who aren’t fans often judge fans and their behavior.  At times, this judgement becomes stereotypes and name-calling.  Some fans can tolerate that and some can’t.

When I look back at all of these reasons that people leave a fandom, it is sort of amazing that people stay at all.  Of course, we know why that is.  They stay because the positives outweigh any of these negatives.  They stay because there is more fun than frustration, more joy than sadness.  Yet, it does happen that the less-than-pleasant feelings begin to dominant.  When that happens, fandom can die.

-A