The good old days are a myth. We've always been a contentious fandom.

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Title:	The good old days are a myth. We've always been a contentious fandom. (title used here on Fanlore)
Creator:	Nan Dibble
Date(s):	June/July 1994
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Topic:
External Links:	online here
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The good old days are a myth. We've always been a contentious fandom. is from a 1994 essay by Nan Dibble.

In it, Dibble comments upon the departure of Beth Blighton, a Beauty and the Beast (TV) fan who had recently announced the closure of the newsletter Lionheart.

Dibble had close ties to Blighton and "Lionheart," one of them being the person in charge of layout for the newsletter.

The essay was originally in print, and then online, in The Helper's Network Gazette.

Some Topics Discussed

• the ebbs and flow of fandom
• there never was a good old days, there was always contention and conflict
• the generosity of fans
• the cruelty and decisiveness of fans and fandom

From the Essay

As many of you now know, Beth Blighton of the marvelous artwork, wicked sense of humor, X-rated zines, and Lionheart, has decided to retire from fandom at the end of the year. In the most recent issue of Lionheart, she ascribes her decision to the backbiting, divisions, and general decline both in numbers and highmindneess in this fandom. I've received several calls from people seriously dismayed and depressed at the prospect of Beth's unique voice leaving us. And she definitely will be missed, by me as much as anyone. But she's entitled to go: she's certainly paid her dues with nearly five years' love and imagination invested in B&B. However, it's unfortunate that Beth felt she had to publicly do the equivalent of stomping off in a huff, blaming her departure on the fact that the good old days, when everybody was loving and numerous, are now gone.

I'm afraid I have news for Beth and for anybody else who's convinced things are going downhill at a breakneck pace. The good old days are a myth.

We've always been a contentious fandom, with deep divisions born of passionate conviction leading us, too often, to declare (usually with our 20 closest friends) that this or that person isn't "really" a fan and that only a certain portion of the series, the part we happen to like, can possibly be acceptable to any right-minded person. There have been dead roses, vituperative letters, personal attacks, people spat on in elevators, conventions sabotaged, and other assorted nastiness I won't depress the new fans among us by listing. And those WERE the good old days.

I've been through it all, I'm here now, and here's what I see. The fandom is changing as all living things do. Some people leave, and we're sorry to see them go and hope sometime they'll come back. Other people come, and we're astonished by the depth of their caring and ingenuity.

[snipped: examples of generous fans, some of their contributions]

Like everybody in this fandom, newcomer or old line, whose phone bills have gone through the roof because they can't resist sharing their lives with a pack of dippy strangers who have suddenly become friends, family...all because of a TV show.

I could go on and on. Examples are endless. People go, but people also come, infusing the fandom with fresh life and enthusiasm. I see this happening, day by day, month by month. As a new fan in Washington, who'd first discovered the series on the SF channel, told me in all seriousness, It's changed her life. By golly. Imagine that. It's changed my life, too. Life is changes. And over this past year, I've seen a whole lot more coming together than falling apart. I think we're more at peace with one another, more united and committed, than we've ever been. Old hurts are healing, as well as old divisions. We are, for the first time and blessedly, becoming one fandom. We all started out as lone maniacs in front of our own TV's, convinced we were the only ones so mesmerized by this amazing series. We now know ourselves to be a worldwide fandom, increasingly united and connected with one another. So when some development, like the resistance to Steven McHattie's appearance at a convention, or someone's decision to withdraw from the fandom, makes you feel depressed and discouraged, that's understandable...but it also should be temporary.

Try to remember the happy, hopeful things that are just as true as the sad ones and should lift our hearts, not make us feel there's no use and we all might as well quit, pull down our Vincent posters, and slouch back to our now-uninteresting lone TV sets again, moaning about the good old days, when everything was rosy. Remember what brought us into the fandom to begin with. Try to be there for one another. Don't worry about what anybody else is doing: contribute what you can to keep the dream alive. Live in shared love and hope, living the best we can--not perfect, but giving help where we can, taking help where we need it: what the series was about--no less true, no less strong, than it was at the beginning. Only the grave is peaceful: as Vincent put it, while we live, we bleed. But we also renew ourselves, and the hurts heal. Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. And the reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. Good-bye, Beth. Be well. We love you. But we'll survive.

Fan Comments

It's not usually the Gazette's policy to publish fiction or poetry, but this, we couldn't pass up. In a past issue, an editorial was published trying to put in perspective Beth Blighton's announced decision not to continue Lionheart (the Vincent fanclub) beyond the end of the year and to retreat, to some degree, from her involvement in fandom. This was helper Pat Farrar's response (in her cover note, Pat comments, "The news about Beth Blighton disturbed me: I'm such a big fan of hers. But she once again inspired me; this time, to one of my odd little poems."). We think Pat speaks for many: [for the text of the poem, see GAFIATED from Beauty and the Beast ]... Other than the closing issue of Lionheart, Nan doesn't know to what extent Beth will choose or be able to continue her involvement, as an artist, writer, and friend, with B&B fandom. But whatever it be, little or much, it will continue to be inspiring, appreciated, and warmly welcomed by us all.