Escapade
| Name: | Escapade |
| Dates: | 1991 to present |
| Frequency: | once a year |
| Location: | Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Ventura |
| Type: | slash con |
| Focus: | slash fandom |
| Organization: | |
| Founder: | Megan Kent and Charlotte C Hill |
| Founding Date: | 1991 |
| URL: | http://escapadecon.net Subpages for Escapade: Escapade 1991 · Escapade 1992 · Escapade 1993 · Escapade 1994 · Escapade 1995 · Escapade 1996 · Escapade 1997 · Escapade 1998 · Escapade 1999 · Escapade 2000 · Escapade 2001 · Escapade 2002 · Escapade 2003 · Escapade 2004 · Escapade 2005 · Escapade 2006 · Escapade 2007 · Escapade 2008 · Escapade 2009 · Escapade 2010
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Escapade is a slash con (a type of fan convention) held annually in southern California since 1991.[1]
Contents |
History
In the late '80s, fancons on the west coast were tending towards stodgy and dull. So at the Starsky & Hutch 15th anniversary convention, Megan Kent and Charlotte C Hill, two younger fans, decided to start their own con of the young and cool and hip, fixing issues that they saw with other cons (for example, the Dealers' Room is only open a couple of days so that dealers have a chance to enjoy the convention, too). In the first years, there were male strippers for Friday night entertainment, and convention panels were consciously choosen to skewer the fannish sacred cows of the day. The program from Escapade '91 can be found at Image:Escapade pb 91.pdf.
Panels are still chosen to encourage a range of opinions, but there are fewer sacred cows now, plus, most fans have vastly more opportunity to talk about fannish issues than we did in 1990. Also, many of Megan's innovations have, over the years, been incorporated into other newer cons, such as con.txt and others, making it hard to stay on the cutting edge.
Vidding and Escapade
From the beginning, vids were an important part of Escapade -- possibly the fact it was a vid show, as opposed to a vid contest (which was more common at cons of the time) made it more collaborative for vidders. Soon, a vid review panel (first an hour, then two, then more) followed the vid show. Then for years, in an effort both to get vidders more feedback, and to encourage non-vidder to think about vids, vid feedback forms were handed out before the show. By the late '90s, the Escapade vid show was *the* place to show vids; full of cutting edge work, in an audience that expected good work. Months before the con, vidders asked each other, what are you bringing to Escapade? In 2002, vidders, largely women who had grown up vidding for Escapade, created Vividcon; around that time, putting vids up on the web became easier to do; between those two outlets, Escapade gradually became a less important venue for vids.
A usual Escapade weekend
The convention typically features 2.5 days of fan-run panels; a dealer's room where attendees can purchase and sell zines, fanart, and other goodies; a vidshow on Saturday night; an art show of fan-created artworks, and an art auction on Sunday during which any piece of art receiving two or more bids is auctioned off, often to benefit the official convention charity. Some years, the vidshow is preceded by a filk performance of slashy filk songs. The con usually also features a party on Friday night and a "Dead Dog" party on Sunday afternoon.
Panels
Escapade panels often touch on hot-button issues, so a glance at Escapade panels from year to year (especially the panels in the "meta" or "multi" track, as opposed to the panels in the single-fandom track) can offer an interesting layered history of things the attendees have deemed worth discussing. Here are a few glimpses into things we've been passionate about in recent years:
In 2000 fans were talking about "cliches in fandom', attending a 2hr writing workshop and flocking to Minotaur's How To Write Gay Sex, capping the day with BDSM 101, described by one attendee as "a fascinating talk about BDSM by two tops and one new recruited submissive".[2] One panel on pederasty and TPM fandom sparked the creation of the chanslash mailing list.
In 2003, controversial subjects included RPS (which was discussed in a variety of conversations all over the con, not just in the RPS panel), how livejournals and blogs may be changing fandom, and, in "Whose Fandom Is It Anyway," the question of how to handle competing strategies for fannish safety. "Some of us think it’s wisest to keep slash fandom 'hidden' to the extent that we can, to ensure the continuation of our subculture; others think it’s wisest to be 'out,' in hopes of changing copyright law and thereby ensuring the continuation of our subculture."[3]
In 2004, controversial subjects included "Defending Slash: Threats Both Foreign and Domestic:"
- We defined domestic threats as threats which come from within fandom, and foreign ones as those which come from outside our community. We listed a lot of each [edited to add: in other words, we brainstormed things which somebody somewhere might consider a threat to the continuation of slash fandom -- I'm not saying that I, or we, necessarily think that any one of these is actually threatening to slash's future]. Domestic ones included: fandom_scruples, absolutism, showing slash to source (e.g. actors or producers), slashing children's books and/or the Bible, RPS, chanslash, psycho fans, and fans who profit off of fandom. Foreign ones included C&D letters, the Patriot Act, gen/het fans who are anti-slash, news stories about slash. [4]
and "RPS and Ethics," which aimed to explore the question of whether writing RPS is inherently unethical.[5]
In 2006, the hottest topic was race and fandom, as seen in the panel "The Absence of Color in Black and White Fanfiction:"
- "They're in the credits, they're part of the main casts of some of fandom's favorite shows, yet there seems to be a dearth of fan fiction featuring characters of color..."
- We began by talking about the challenge of being a part of fandom when white fans say racist things. "I don't have the choice for it not to matter." Another phrase that struck me: "Being the spot in the sea of milk."...We talked about the alienness of brown-skinned folk. For instance, Teal'c, who is not culturally Black, he's an alien who happens to have brown skin. He's literally an alien, but to what extent is alienness a metaphor for color? (Worf, too.)...For that matter, why aren't there any Chinese characters in Firefly, given the history of the 'verse?...Do we assume our futuristic 'verses are worlds where racism is obsolete? [6]
That year's wildcard panel, "Ageism in Fandom," was also widely-attended (by fans of a range of ages!)[7].
In 2007, the question of fannish visibility was still a hot issue -- see "Is Flocked the new black?:"
- Is the flocked post the future of fan communication? Are we returning to the dark ages of closed lists, zines under the table, and “have to know someone”? More and more LJ posts are locked, communities are closed, and groups are invitation only. Is there a way to protect our RL selves (and our fannish selves), yet share our fannish commentary and fic? Where is our new comfort zone? And how do we keep track of all of this?
- There have always been many reasons to use pseudonyms and build layers of privacy between the mundane world and the fannish world; there has always been this tension between people who want to “go public” and people who want to stay very private. I’m occupying a somewhat middle ground. I’d like to see slash as accessible as possible to newbies, while still finding some way to keep out troublemakers. [8]
The 2006 "Absence of color" panel catalyzed a series of conversations within fandom which continued with the 2008 Escapade panel "Identity Politics in Fandom." Other hot topics in 2008 included "OTW: The Best Thing Since Ever, or the End of Days?"
Art show
The art show at Escapade has been run by Shoshanna since the second year. It welcomes, for display and sale, all manner of goodies: artwork, crafts, commercial and promotional items, zines, porn, anything of fannish or associational interest. Items are on display and available for bids for two days, and on Sunday morning the show culminates in a lively (not to say raucous) auction, preceded by a free breakfast (carefully designed to get people out of bed to the auction). The auction typically features lovely ladies in eye-opening ensembles, known as "runners," who run artworks from the stage area out to the audience when bidders want a closer look at some particularly beautiful piece of jewelry or some especially delicious piece of slashy fanart. People interested in putting items in the art show, or in volunteering as art show staff, should contact Shoshanna.
Official information
The official convention website is at http://escapadecon.net/. The con also provides updates and a place for congoers to talk to each other on both Livejournal and mailing lists:
Following both the LJ community and the News mailing list is the best way to be sure of catching all the updates.
There is also a FAQ here.
References
- ↑ http://community.livejournal.com/escapade_con/43584.html, accessed Aug. 12 2008
- ↑ Escapade report, Whose Fandom Is It Anyway panel, by Kass; written February 24, 2003, accessed November 25, 2008
- ↑ [http://web.archive.org/web/20010501015010/www.members.aol.com/erikaf/su/escapade.htm Escapade report by Joyce B, accessed November 4, 2009
- ↑ Con report, Defending Slash panel by Kass; written February 22, 2004, accessed November 25, 2008
- ↑ Con report by Kass; written February 22, 2004, accessed November 25, 2008
- ↑ Escapade 2006 con report part 2, by Kass, written February 28, 2006; accessed November 25, 2008
- ↑ Ageism in fandom & all sorts of related thoughts, by Catalenalemara; written March 12, 2006, accessed November 25, 2008
- ↑ Is Flocked the new black? Or, “hide everything” versus “be out there", by Catalenalemara, written February 28, 2007, accessed November 28, 2008
There are hours of videotape of panels and entertainment of Escapade conventions in the 1990s; see Sandy Herrold for more information.
