Many fans might be left in the lurch of fandom
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| Title: | Many fans might be left in the lurch of fandom |
| Creator: | M.J. Fisher |
| Date(s): | January 1976 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Many fans might be left in the lurch of fandom is a 1976 Star Trek: TOS essay by M.J. Fisher.
It was printed in Spectrum #22.
Fisher wrote many essays in "Spectrum." Some were part of a series loosely called "Fannish Thoughts," and some were standalone essays.
Some Topics Discussed
- the author felt that Star Trek: TOS fandom was undergoing a rapid change in the "last year or so"
- 1. some changes were due to increased media coverage and awareness of fandom:
- the publication of David Gerrold's for-profit book The World of Star Trek (TWOST)
- the release of "ST 11" (from the for-profit series of books by James Blish)
- commercials for Star Trek-centric shows on television
- college courses with Star Trek as their subject
- 2. other changes were due to the size of fandom, and how that size was due to bigger conventions that enticed more people into the fold
- 3. the third big reason the author cited was the work of The Star Trek Welcommittee and its work as a catalyst for fans in raising awareness and helping them get connected to other fans
- the author is, on one hand, excited for this visibility and growth, but on the other hand, worried that such wild, uncontrolled growth will have problems regarding "uneducated" fans and their influence and the chaos they will bring
- the danger of people capitalizing on fandom's growth by selling them junk; the author uses the terms "fan parasites" and "robber baron dealers" and of producing for-profit cons such as Star Trek Chicago
The Essay
Many fans might be left in the lurch of fandom in a very short time because fandom is undergoing rapid forward change which is becoming more and more visible each day-in the letters between fans, at the conventions, in the public image of fandom and in the very nature and numbers of fans themselves.
Fandom has not been overly quick to change in the past, except for the last year or so. I can see three major factors which have an effect on the rate of change.
Perhaps most important is the coverage that fandom has received through the major media. In years past fandom was publicized through small, local newspapers and only occasionally aired on television. The mundane public hardly knew we existed. Then, TWOST and TWOST appeared on the scene to inform the thousands of fans of ST that there was something else going on besides their personal admiration for the show. These books however did not give the fan a direct link to fandom except possibly through the DAGE Co.s flyer/catalogs. Now, because of STL! and ST 11 (and other factors) fandom is becoming widespread. A few television specials have been produced on fandom (not just the show, but the fan movement) colleges are teaching students courses which have foundations that have developed out of fandom, and even Newsweek has spread the word.
A second factor increasing the size of fandom, and hence its growth and change, is conventions. Conventions are drifting from the original purposes for which they were started in fandom. More conventions are meant to produce profit, as Lisa Boynton has obviously proven possible. Despite the many disadvantages that come with packing wide-eyed innocents into a hotel like grains of sand on a beach there is a advantage: it give the fans a personal, a physical contact with fandom. At the large cons this contact is through the dealer's room because the "stars" know little about fandom and few large cons have any fan activities as the major part of the programming. At small cons fan activities are more prevalent and seldom confine themselves to just the dealer's room. Most importantly the contact is there where it could only stare back at them in black on white from the books about fandom.
Perhaps the most subtle influence on fandom, the third factor, has been the STW. The STW, because of the way it is organized, and their ability to help so many fans personally find fandom is acting as a catalyst for fandom's growth. S.T.A.R. would have fitted this category a year ago perhaps, and in its time it too helped inflate fandom's growth.
So now to date most people would agree that fandom has more people than ever, and that the level of organization we have in fandom now is better than ever before in the past, mainly because more fans know of each other;and the lines of communication are still strengthening. If these trends toward a larger fandom are projected into the future what could logically be expected? If the new fans knocking at the door of fandom continue to push their way in, could the organization extant in fandom still continue to exist? Perhaps STW's system will break down under a sudden and oppressive surge of new fans. Since we see very few, if any, major problems in fandom, will we be lured into a false optimism that could blind us to recognizing new problems in the future? Could fandom be weakened by the influx of too many uneducated fans or will they be able to educate themselves if many established fans gafiate and fold their zines?
There are a great many changes that could revolve around the previously mentioned ideas or around many other factors. No one needs a guide book today to inform him that cons are changing and it can be expected that with the great influx of new neos there will continue to be major changes in fandom, if only to keep up with everyone new. New neos are not of course necessarily bad. For one thing they mean new zines, and new thinking in fandom. The problem lies with coping with the numbers. The fan parasites have already discovered one thing about the numbers: there's money in them. Robber baron dealers (to borrow a phrase from a friend) are flooding even the smaller cons and may prove to be a source of corruption in the future. Not all of these changes are possible, and some may not come about, but it does show the great potential fandom has for changing in just the next couple of months! These changes are proceeding rapidly...under your noses. Science fiction fans (and this includes ST fans) have long prided themselves on their ability to cope and even foresee change and future shock. Fandom is flexible enough to withstand these changes, but individuals might not be flexible enough. So, watch out fandom, the changes will be here tomorrow, and the world around you will be changed the day after. The time is now to prepare solutions for problems we haven't faced yet, but might hopefully anticipate.