Rise of the fandoms
3 Jan 2015 1:29 AM GMT
We read a book, we love the book. We google it, we read every back story possible, we watch films/TV shows made on the book, we obsess day and night over it and we go over endless debates and discussions over the plot of the story, about characters, there are a hundred fantasies about the characters. The internet has given rise to the fandoms (fan-kingdoms for those who are not aware) and these are boys and girls (though age hardly matters in such things) who are a little too much in love with their favourite books or writers.
There are endless groups and chat rooms, and Facebook pages and tumbler posts where the fandom meets to discuss, debate and even fight with other fandoms. There are OTPs (one true pairing) where fanboys and girls discuss which character should have ended up with whom, they ‘ship’ these pairs, they make head cannons, stories that are not part of the books in question and are figments of fan’s imagination which turn into fan fictions. . In fact, the popular book series Fifty Shades of Grey was initially a fan-fiction for the Twilight series and has now become a best seller book series.
So in a world where fandoms have taken over the internet, JK Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series had decided to launch a series of character backstories on her website pottermore.com as a Christmas gift, where she reveals to her fans the history of some of her characters. As expected it has taken the fandom by storm and being a Harry Potter fan girl myself I know the crazy appeal of it. How people have spent hours reading every bit of new knowledge about their favourite characters as Harry Potter even after years of its release is one of the most potent fandoms on the internet. But it also makes one think whether it’s time for the obsession to stop. Shouldn’t we move on and let the characters rest in our hearts instead of letting the obsession go on? And with new stories popping out every day, I wonder when shall it end at?
There are endless groups and chat rooms, and Facebook pages and tumbler posts where the fandom meets to discuss, debate and even fight with other fandoms. There are OTPs (one true pairing) where fanboys and girls discuss which character should have ended up with whom, they ‘ship’ these pairs, they make head cannons, stories that are not part of the books in question and are figments of fan’s imagination which turn into fan fictions. . In fact, the popular book series Fifty Shades of Grey was initially a fan-fiction for the Twilight series and has now become a best seller book series.
So in a world where fandoms have taken over the internet, JK Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series had decided to launch a series of character backstories on her website pottermore.com as a Christmas gift, where she reveals to her fans the history of some of her characters. As expected it has taken the fandom by storm and being a Harry Potter fan girl myself I know the crazy appeal of it. How people have spent hours reading every bit of new knowledge about their favourite characters as Harry Potter even after years of its release is one of the most potent fandoms on the internet. But it also makes one think whether it’s time for the obsession to stop. Shouldn’t we move on and let the characters rest in our hearts instead of letting the obsession go on? And with new stories popping out every day, I wonder when shall it end at?
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