Fandom Dipstick
Jan. 14th, 2012 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swissmargI have a new fandom! I have been voraciously consuming BBC!Sherlock fanworks for the last several days, getting ready for the emotional rollercoaster that this weekend's Reichenbach Falls episode is sure to be. I've mostly been consuming over on tumblr, but I've added a couple of Sherlock LJ communities as well. And I've noticed something since they've been appearing in my feed.
I am currently watching 291 communities and 9 individual friends. Of those communities, 2 are for Sherlock (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
asexy_sherlock and bbcsherlock). Roughly 20% (50 or so) are for multifandom Big Bangs or general fandom pimping. A handful are defunct but not deleted. Nearly all the rest are Harry Potter-related, so that's still over 200 Harry Potter-centric communities. The most current 100 entries on my Friends feed are related to:
Sherlock - 59
Harry Potter - 31
Other - 10
I was surprised by this at first. I don't want to say that Sherlock has a small fandom, but compared to Harry Potter fans, surely its numbers pale in significance. For one thing, BBC programming is available to a much smaller percentage of the people in the world - even the internet-accessible world - than the Harry Potter books and movies. It's also marketed to an adult audience, and an intellectual one at that. I've offered to let my kids watch the Sherlock episodes with me, but they take one glance at the dark, gloomy sets, themes of homicide, and the odd-looking actors, and wander off to find more amusing pastures.
It's true that Series 2 of Sherlock is currently being broadcast, there was just a new episode with 90 minutes of new material last Sunday, and the series finale is coming up this weekend, so people probably have a lot of emotions that they are working out through fic, art, vids, icons, what have you. And the HP books and movies are all out there now, and there hasn't been any new material in several months. But remember I'm only subscribed to 2 LJ communities in the BBC!Sherlock fandom. I have no idea how many more there are, but surely if I subscribed to them at the rate I subscribe to HP communities, the percentage of Sherlock!spam would go even higher. I might even have a hard time finding any HP posts at all.
Still, I think this probably says more about the Harry Potter fandom than Sherlock. I see it slowly but surely petering out. There are probably not all that many new fans joining the fandom. Many of the longer-term fans (like me) have found or are finding other interests. The major fests haven't necesarily gotten smaller over the past couple of years - in fact some have grown - but I see the same people's names everywhere, and some fests are going begging to cover their commitments (although I see the same thing happening in some multifandom fests as well).
It's hard for me to let go of a fandom I've invested so much time and energy into. The same thing happened as I phased out of my first fandom, Ballykissangel. I was really only going through the motions by the time World Productions finally pulled the plug on the BallyK forum. I hadn't produced a fic or re-watched an episode in years. The same is true for me now of HP. I got the DH2 DVD for Christmas and have yet to watch it. I don't foresee me writing any more HP fic either, although I might get bitten by a bunny that won't let me go. Andpotterfests will keep posting as long as I see it being useful and that I have the time for it.
But the obsession with HP is over, for me at least, and it seems for lots of other fans as well.
I am currently watching 291 communities and 9 individual friends. Of those communities, 2 are for Sherlock (
asexy_sherlock and bbcsherlock). Roughly 20% (50 or so) are for multifandom Big Bangs or general fandom pimping. A handful are defunct but not deleted. Nearly all the rest are Harry Potter-related, so that's still over 200 Harry Potter-centric communities. The most current 100 entries on my Friends feed are related to:Sherlock - 59
Harry Potter - 31
Other - 10
I was surprised by this at first. I don't want to say that Sherlock has a small fandom, but compared to Harry Potter fans, surely its numbers pale in significance. For one thing, BBC programming is available to a much smaller percentage of the people in the world - even the internet-accessible world - than the Harry Potter books and movies. It's also marketed to an adult audience, and an intellectual one at that. I've offered to let my kids watch the Sherlock episodes with me, but they take one glance at the dark, gloomy sets, themes of homicide, and the odd-looking actors, and wander off to find more amusing pastures.
It's true that Series 2 of Sherlock is currently being broadcast, there was just a new episode with 90 minutes of new material last Sunday, and the series finale is coming up this weekend, so people probably have a lot of emotions that they are working out through fic, art, vids, icons, what have you. And the HP books and movies are all out there now, and there hasn't been any new material in several months. But remember I'm only subscribed to 2 LJ communities in the BBC!Sherlock fandom. I have no idea how many more there are, but surely if I subscribed to them at the rate I subscribe to HP communities, the percentage of Sherlock!spam would go even higher. I might even have a hard time finding any HP posts at all.
Still, I think this probably says more about the Harry Potter fandom than Sherlock. I see it slowly but surely petering out. There are probably not all that many new fans joining the fandom. Many of the longer-term fans (like me) have found or are finding other interests. The major fests haven't necesarily gotten smaller over the past couple of years - in fact some have grown - but I see the same people's names everywhere, and some fests are going begging to cover their commitments (although I see the same thing happening in some multifandom fests as well).
It's hard for me to let go of a fandom I've invested so much time and energy into. The same thing happened as I phased out of my first fandom, Ballykissangel. I was really only going through the motions by the time World Productions finally pulled the plug on the BallyK forum. I hadn't produced a fic or re-watched an episode in years. The same is true for me now of HP. I got the DH2 DVD for Christmas and have yet to watch it. I don't foresee me writing any more HP fic either, although I might get bitten by a bunny that won't let me go. And
potterfests will keep posting as long as I see it being useful and that I have the time for it.But the obsession with HP is over, for me at least, and it seems for lots of other fans as well.
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 07:53 pm (UTC)Yeah, it is the way of all fandoms. It was sheer chance that pulled me into HP fandom, and I barely participate in it now, other than continuing to write my AQ stories. As long as I have an audience for those, I'll be happy.
I expect a new generation will probably "rediscover" Harry Potter every few years, though it will never be quite the phenomenon it was in the beginning. OTOH, I stand by my prediction that Rowling will write a new Potter book in 10 or 20 years, and that will be a major media event and rekindle the fandom. (Whatever "fandom" means in 10 or 20 years.)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 03:16 am (UTC)I can also see that HP fandom is slowly winding down, and that's a little bittersweet for me since I didn't start seriously writing HP stories until last year. I do love all the fests; there's always something to give me inspiration, and I think there are more activities to choose from than there are in other fandoms. I suppose it will take awhile for interest to die off completely though, so I've probably got quite a bit of time to enjoy it.
(no subject)
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