Re: Older fans – what is your take on anime and anime fandom today?
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:43 pm
I think there are some decent differences between "the old days" and the new, and like others have said, that doesn't necessarily mean one is good, and the other bad. I would argue, on some level however, that the fandom of the past had a bit more substance, in terms of participation, whereas newer fandom is a bit more passive.
In-between working on a few projects and finishing up PhD applications (which is why I've been absent for a good while - hey everybody!), I've been buying up old fanzines and early convention programs as research for a long-delayed project I hope to start devoting time to in the next month or two. Reading these, you really get the sense, not only of the "newness" of the medium itself, but the enthusiasm among the fans about the prospect of bringing it to a wider audience, of sharing it with folks. And, I don't think that's something that can be replicated at this point, just because the medium itself isn't "new," to the larger American culture, as it was then.
But also, just the time and effort put into fanzine creation; into convention organizing and, as others have mentioned previously, the recording and distributing of tapes; into the creation of things like the Anipike and all those zillions of Geocities and Angelfire fan webpages - I don't see that level of participation in newer fandom. Not because "these kids are lazy!"; but rather, those were activities undertaken, I'd say partly for enjoyment or personal satisfaction, but also just because that was the way members of the fandom connected, which just isn't the case anymore. There are other, unarguably more-effective avenues of fan communication now. Does that make it "lesser" on some level? I'd say that depends on one's own view of what constitutes the idea of a "fan" in general, outside of anime solely. As others have pointed out, there is a ton of anime-related merchandise, and I think it's safe to say that "modern" fandom is a bit more consumer-orientated, at the very least for no other reason than it can afford to be, because all this stuff is out there. I don't think that necessarily makes anything "lesser" - I'm sure the guys who put together YamatoCon or Animecon '91 would have loved to have the accessibility to merchandise, and programming, available now.
I think if there is a demarcation, it's not so much "old" and "new" fandom, but rather, there's just more casual fans now, again owing to the availability of anime in the digital, streaming age, and that this influx has changed fandom, as a whole. To have seen an entire show, you don't have to track down tapes or join a club; rather, you just click or swipe or whatever, depending on your device of choice. I don't know if the amount of fans that retain the enthusiasm "of old" has lessened, but rather perhaps is still there, relatively unchanged in size, and the overall group that is collectively called "fandom" is just larger, augmented by more casual fans. And I don't think the current fandom, casual or otherwise, is just mindless, product-grabbing automatons - I've done a few "H.P. Lovecraft's Influence in Anime", and other similar panels bringing in other literary genres, to halls that were standing room only, and I've seen other panels that require a real interest in the origins and influences that shaped anime and manga over the years, packed to the brim - so, to say that modern fandom is solely consumption-orientated, with no appreciation of the medium as a narrative art form, is not true, at all. And this forum, and the great webpages and excellent podcasts its members produce, is proof that the participatory aspect of earlier fandom is certainly not gone, either.
Conventions are certainly more corporate affairs now, and more "social" events, than they were previously. Not that conventions weren't social events from the beginning. Of course they were, but rather most now seem like "something to do" rather than "I'm going here to meet with people who share my interests" being the overall drive to attend. I consider that a loss, in all honesty. Are there still fan-run conventions, no different than 30+ years ago? Absolutely, albeit fewer in number. That's great I can go to a convention with an attendance of 4, or 5, or 10,000; if I can't talk to anyone there about shows from the 70s or 80s, or about this writer or that character designer or what have you, it just feels kind of empty. That brings up another question, that I may leave to others, or come back to later myself - how much of a community do you see at modern conventions, of interactions between people, coming together and just connecting over a shared interest? In my experience, I've seen that sort of interaction a great deal less in recent shows, but perhaps others have a different view. I think, if there is indeed a lessening, that would be a significant difference between any "older" and "newer" fandom.
In-between working on a few projects and finishing up PhD applications (which is why I've been absent for a good while - hey everybody!), I've been buying up old fanzines and early convention programs as research for a long-delayed project I hope to start devoting time to in the next month or two. Reading these, you really get the sense, not only of the "newness" of the medium itself, but the enthusiasm among the fans about the prospect of bringing it to a wider audience, of sharing it with folks. And, I don't think that's something that can be replicated at this point, just because the medium itself isn't "new," to the larger American culture, as it was then.
But also, just the time and effort put into fanzine creation; into convention organizing and, as others have mentioned previously, the recording and distributing of tapes; into the creation of things like the Anipike and all those zillions of Geocities and Angelfire fan webpages - I don't see that level of participation in newer fandom. Not because "these kids are lazy!"; but rather, those were activities undertaken, I'd say partly for enjoyment or personal satisfaction, but also just because that was the way members of the fandom connected, which just isn't the case anymore. There are other, unarguably more-effective avenues of fan communication now. Does that make it "lesser" on some level? I'd say that depends on one's own view of what constitutes the idea of a "fan" in general, outside of anime solely. As others have pointed out, there is a ton of anime-related merchandise, and I think it's safe to say that "modern" fandom is a bit more consumer-orientated, at the very least for no other reason than it can afford to be, because all this stuff is out there. I don't think that necessarily makes anything "lesser" - I'm sure the guys who put together YamatoCon or Animecon '91 would have loved to have the accessibility to merchandise, and programming, available now.
I think if there is a demarcation, it's not so much "old" and "new" fandom, but rather, there's just more casual fans now, again owing to the availability of anime in the digital, streaming age, and that this influx has changed fandom, as a whole. To have seen an entire show, you don't have to track down tapes or join a club; rather, you just click or swipe or whatever, depending on your device of choice. I don't know if the amount of fans that retain the enthusiasm "of old" has lessened, but rather perhaps is still there, relatively unchanged in size, and the overall group that is collectively called "fandom" is just larger, augmented by more casual fans. And I don't think the current fandom, casual or otherwise, is just mindless, product-grabbing automatons - I've done a few "H.P. Lovecraft's Influence in Anime", and other similar panels bringing in other literary genres, to halls that were standing room only, and I've seen other panels that require a real interest in the origins and influences that shaped anime and manga over the years, packed to the brim - so, to say that modern fandom is solely consumption-orientated, with no appreciation of the medium as a narrative art form, is not true, at all. And this forum, and the great webpages and excellent podcasts its members produce, is proof that the participatory aspect of earlier fandom is certainly not gone, either.
Conventions are certainly more corporate affairs now, and more "social" events, than they were previously. Not that conventions weren't social events from the beginning. Of course they were, but rather most now seem like "something to do" rather than "I'm going here to meet with people who share my interests" being the overall drive to attend. I consider that a loss, in all honesty. Are there still fan-run conventions, no different than 30+ years ago? Absolutely, albeit fewer in number. That's great I can go to a convention with an attendance of 4, or 5, or 10,000; if I can't talk to anyone there about shows from the 70s or 80s, or about this writer or that character designer or what have you, it just feels kind of empty. That brings up another question, that I may leave to others, or come back to later myself - how much of a community do you see at modern conventions, of interactions between people, coming together and just connecting over a shared interest? In my experience, I've seen that sort of interaction a great deal less in recent shows, but perhaps others have a different view. I think, if there is indeed a lessening, that would be a significant difference between any "older" and "newer" fandom.
