At 19 I wondered what in the world would happen to me when I had to “leave” fandom because I aged out.
At 33 I am sitting here on my fandom granny porch with a shotgun and piles of smut, and you will get off my goddamn lawn.
… Can I sit on your fandom granny porch? I think I might have lemonade somewhere.
Of course! We fandom grannies have to stick together!
::brings more smut and some vodka for that lemonade::
*high fives all around*
Christ y’all. 33 is NOT A FANDOM GRANNY. Our fandom grannies are still around and they’ve been doing this since the 60s and 70s. FANDOM IS NOT JUST TUMBLR.
33 can absolutely be a fandom granny. Fandom isn’t just tumblr, true, but people do tend to stop being fannish as they get older. Fandom skews pretty young, and did even in the wild days of Prodigy and listservs and geocities. Those who were creating sites and fic and zines may have been grown-ups, but their audience was, by and large, a lot younger than they were; think about when we all read our first fanfic. (For example, I was 14 when I first figured out that X-Files fanfic existed.)
So by that metric, a 33-year-old can definitely be a fandom granny. I’m in my 30s and some of my younger fandom friends refer to me as an aunt or a grandma. It’s mostly just a joke, but there’s truth in it.
The fans in their 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s aren’t lessened by the idea that by your mid-30s, fans your age and older are part of a much smaller demographic than fans in their teens and 20s. There’s room for all sorts of grannies. And speaking as someone who’s got multiple members of her family who were grannies at 33, I can’t say I see much wrong with it.
The problem is, I see a LOT of people forgetting and erasing the fans, even the fans ON THIS SITE, who are above the age of 35. I’ve seen fans over 35 get bashed for being “too old” for fandom, when I have friends here who are in their 60s and older. So no, I strongly disagree with you on this one. There’s too much ignoring of older fans as it is, without moving the goalpost and making a 33 year old a “granny”.
30 somethings can be aunties or something, or moms. I’ve just seen too many younger fans who seem to think that fandom started with them or with the internet and it’s a major personal pet peeve of mine.
Fair enough. I don’t agree at all, but I respect your perspective.
I’m thinking the problem is the term “granny” – we all have different ideas of what makes a granny. I think the point is folks, like me, who are in their mid-40s, see that there are a lot of people even older than them and we are all erased when you call a 33yo a granny. I think I’m arguing both of your points, tbh. *shrug*
I didn’t even start fanning until I was in my 40s. I actually like that I come here to hang with a crowd that probably ranges at least 4 decades. Where else in our lives do we really get to do that? That is the power of fandom. Having an interest that transcends the lines we usually draw between ourselves. Forget fan moms or grannies or crones or whatever. We are all fans. Long-term, short-term, young, old, from dozens of countries, with dozens of professions and family situations. We would probably have many barriers to socializing in real life, because things like age and profession and race often delineate where and with whom we spend our time. But here that falls away, and we are all just fans. Celebrate the lack of lines… there’s no need to argue about where they belong.
…from someone who speaks Italian and understood the first time that Zach used Babbo.
“I have a surreal amount of love for Nathan, and the whole Babbo thing
made my heart melt every single time (esp because I know Italian the
same way this Zach does, and so I understood from the first time, and
I’ve been yelling ever since).”
I can only imagine the dope-slap she’s been wanting to give Chris all this time.
ahaha yeah my feelings for that character have totally calmed down [sees picture of them] ahaha never mind. aha. ha. i lied. i fucking lied. i lied so much ahahaha i’m a fucking liar i have no control in my life ahaha help me
1. What was the last movie you saw? Jurassic World. It was better than I expected, though it could be summarized with the same tag line as any of sequels: Dinosaur Theme Park Still a Very Bad Idea…we learn nothing.
2. What was the last song you listened to? Uh, I got sick of xmas music while putting up decotations so I’m now listening to Chopin (Ballade in F major Op. 38). If that doesn’t count as a song, then Christmas Night in Harlem by Louis Armstrong.
3. What was the last show you watched? Sense8. I’m so addicted.
4. What was the last book you read? The Time Traveler’s Wife.
5. What was the last thing you ate? Leftover turkey and cauliflower gratin.
6. If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be? Hmmm. Not really feeling the need to go anywhere atm, but looking forward to Yosemite in a few weeks.
7. If you could pick a decade to travel back to in time, what would it be? 1910′s maybe. That’s a real transition in our culture, and the World’s Fair/Expo was in SF.
8. If you won the lotto & millions in cash, what would be the first thing you would do? Quit my job so could just work at non profits I like and write.
9. Which fictional character would you like to hang out with for a day? It would be a blast to be part of the Enterprise crew (either NuTrek or TNG). I love all of those characters.
10. What was the last fandom you joined? The Pinto fandom, though I’m starting to dabble in some other fanfic at the moment.
Tagging: I’ve barely been on line the last few days, so I don’t know who has done this and who hasn’t. So please, if you follow me and haven’t had a chance yet, please consider yourself tagged.
I’m giving myself permission NOT to write. I have closed out of all ten of my docs (mostly chapters of Pinto Princess and a couple of one shots) that habitually stay open all the time, glaring at me.
I was smart this year and don’t have any actively posting WIPs. The next couple of months are historically stressful as fuck already without the guilt trips associated with knowing people are waiting for an update and feeling both like a failure and an asshole when I have to remind people what time of year it is and that life is extra lifey right now. This is precisely why I don’t do challenges like BB or whatever (seriously people, why do all of these happen at the worst time of year?) I give you all kudos who do, because I just… I can’t right now.
I despise the holidays largely because they make humanity go batshit fucking insane and all I want to do is hibernate in a cabin far far away from civilization until the crazies crawl back to their hellholes. I’m a scrooge because I work a service job and people think I can do magic and have a time machine, but when they find out I don’t and I can’t, they get unreasonably nasty. I’m going to break a fucking crown one of these days trying not to tell them exactly where they can shove a rusty railroad spike (seriously, my dentist told me to stop grinding so much because I’m wearing down about $4000 worth of dental work).
Plus, I haven’t been productive for the past couple weeks anyway, and literally all I do in my off-time is stare at my WIPs all day and I have zero inspiration or ideas and nothing happens, so I continue feeling like a fucking failure.
So unless my muse actually shows itself, I’m off the clock. Imma read all y’alls stuff, imma color, play the stack of video games I rarely touch, watch netflix and chill.
*offers hugs* I feel this on a spiritual level. Although I’m clearly not smart, as I have several ongoing WIPs and I did the BB. But after the past few hellish weeks, I’m not going to stress too much about getting shit done before the year’s out. That can wait until January.
Take care of yourself! It is a stressful time of year, and writing requires inspiration that stress can completely erase at times. We’ll be here to read your stuff when you’re ready to return to it. I think I’m done for a while, too, now that PBB is posted. Need to RL. And may your shoppers be gentle…
Ato's Fandom Blog 