Fandom

Learn everywhere. Learn from everything you do. Perhaps it’s because I grew up thinking that educational television was the only television out there, and that all games involved some aspect of learning that I have learned to look for lessons to learn from everything I come across, particularly the media I consume. All media – all books, stories, television, movies, or plays that are worth watching have truth in them. That’s why we as humans tell stories. Our stories, our fiction, our lies, reveal truth deeper than just plain words ever could.

“Story makes us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

― Madeleine L’Engle

            I suppose that’s why I love fandom. Fandoms understand that stories are not just events that happen in an interesting way, but powerful treasure troves of emotion, feeling, splendor and heartache – an emotional roller coaster, yes, but one that brings you to highs you never could have imagined.

            My first fandom was the Harry Potter fandom, which I discovered when I was only ten years old, and had no idea what I was getting myself into. After reading the books, which transported me to a magical land of witches, wizards, spells, potions, flying brooms, ghosts, paintings that talked, monsters, giants and the boarding school environment, I was desperate for more Harry Potter. And so my young hands reached out to my parents' computer and searched the internet for Harry Potter. I was delivered, fresh and young blood, to the Harry Potter fansites, and without knowing what was happening, formed an allegiance to my favorite fansite, joined the legions of shippers, and delved into fandom - where the stories didn't end when you closed the book.

It was through Harry Potter that I found fanfiction, graphics, fanart, and learned about writing for fun. It was in the Harry Potter fandom that I grew to love fictional characters like I did my own friends. I thought that Harry Potter was everything.

“For now, all I could do was stare at the words I had just written on my screen, words that would shape the next several months of my life, that signified the end of an extraordinary time, a time that had given me confidence and purpose and independence, an era in which millions of people found fun and community and enchantment under one boy wizard's thrall.”

― Melissa Anelli

But as time passed, and the last book of Harry Potter was released, my involvement in fandom continued, for it wasn't only Harry Potter that stirred up the passion of fandom in me and the many other strangers I had encountered through the fandom.

First Lord of the Rings, and then Sherlock, and then Doctor Who all came along, each stealing my heart. The joy, the anticipation, the terror, the heartbreak, the sense of community, the feeling of pure aliveness that the fandoms brought was unmatched. I cried all through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Lord of the Rings helped me understand how a world torn apart by war could still hold hope and happy endings. I found excitement and community in the Sherlock fandom, and messages of hope for all the universe in Doctor Who. And from these experiences I have concluded that fandom is good, fandom brings people together, fandom awakens our minds, hearts and souls to worlds beyond our sense, and allows us a glimpse of what we are capable of.

 “There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it’s called 'fan fiction'.”

― Joss Whedon

            The fanfiction of fandoms allows us to create in worlds we’re comfortable with, much like the blocks and dolls from childhood pretend worlds. It allows those who would never try their hand at writing to explore what they can do with words in a world they’re read and dreamed about and come to know as their own. Fanfiction has most notably brought the Sherlock community together, with the entire fandom united under a banner of grief after reading Alone on the Water and squealing at the romance in Performance in a Leading Role. Fanfiction allows the story to go on even after it’s over.

            Fandom awakens in me, and, I believe, most of my fellow passengers on this journey through mortality, a passion for life, for others, and for the power of our imaginations and what we can create. Fandom is a support community, a playground, a place for passion and creativity to fuse into discovering eternal truth, and I am proud to be a part of it.