Origin Stories

[wickedwords]

Lately, I've been thinking about origin stories, the stories that people tell about how their world came into being, and about the way fans talk about their origins. To my way of thought, most people start in fandom within a single community founded on a very focused interest, whether that interest be a TV show, a book, a movie, or a whole genre of stuff. This silo-style community has existed forever, wherever people have gathered together and bonded over their love of something, building friendships out of their passions for minutia and detail over something that the rest of the world just doesn't understand. So Sherlock Holmes fandom was a silo in the 1800s, as was 'Little Nell' fandom. There was probably a Hercules silo back in ancient times, when all the Herc fans would hang together and talk about their favorite stories, and who told the best rendition of the 12 labors.

In fact, I bet of these silos were incubators, what I call threshold fandoms, that brought a lot of new people into that one fannish community. They learned what fandom was within the confines of their silo, their community of origin. Back in the day when we had gatekeepers to fandom, the gatekeeper would teach you how to interact with other fans, and define appropriate behavior. The gatekeeper created a mask, a template, for what was expected in being a member of the community, and that, in turn, became the expectation about what would happen in any fannish community.

Media fandom began as one of these silos. In begat, begat, begat terms, Science Fiction fandom begat Star Trek Fandom which, in turn, begat Media Fandom. Before the late 1970s, there was no such thing as a media fan; everyone was a fan of their specific fandom, whether that was Star Trek, The Man from Uncle, Led Zeppelin, James Bond, or The Lord of the Rings. The origin fandom was all: father, mother, sister, brother. It defined who we were, and who we interacted with, the geeks, the wonks, and the nerds. We were all soul mates (if you include bitter enemies in the definition of soul mates), and we'd always be together.

In 1975, though, the world changed. Because 1975 brought Starsky and Hutch to the table, and from that point on, things could never be the same.

I can't really describe the acrimony that existed as old Star Trek and K/S fans fell under the spell of Starsky and Hutch. It was so bad, the first Starsky and Hutch zine planned to publish completely anonymously, no names attached, because of fear of reprisal. Women who were made of strong stuff vowed that they could and would put their fan names on their fiction, no matter what friendships it cost. It was a bloody civil war.

By 1977, a sort of accommodation was made, with fans agreeing that both silos could exists, and turning cold shoulders on the defectors to the other camp. But 1977 brought "The Professionals" and "Star Wars", and suddenly, there were a heck of a lot of silos around. Fans needed a way to talk about people interested in more than one community, and so they came up with a term: Media Fan. People looking around at all the sources of fandom, and realizing that "hey, wait a minute, I did this same sort of writing thing back when I was a Led Zepplin fan", and out came the drawer fic that people hadn't admitted to having, back before the great schism. It became the umbrella term for everything, no matter what the source, as long as the community and the social network remained the same.

And in 1978, that media fandom community begat the first Media West con, albeit under a different name.

So to my way of thinking, this is the point at which Media Fandom really begins. There are silos and communities before it, of course, as we didn't fall out of the ether completely formed, but the creation of the term Media Fandom was a symbol of accommodation, embracing the diversity of those who were Media fans.

This story is not completely true, and it relies on history and experiences that aren't universal, and have been talked about and retold so many times that it's hard to see the truth. But I like the ideas in it, that we created the term media fandom out of a desire to preserve friendships and find a middle ground, where we could all exist.

YMMV, of course, as we all have our own origin story. But I think this one is mine.

Comments

[logovo.livejournal.com]

I should not be surprised, but this:

I can't really describe the acrimony that existed as old Star Trek and K/S fans fell under the spell of Starsky and Hutch. It was so bad, the first Starsky and Hutch zine planned to publish completely anonymously, no names attached, because of fear of reprisal. Women who were made of strong stuff vowed that they could and would put their fan names on their fiction, no matter what friendships it cost. It was a bloody civil war.

I'm shocked that this is the first time I've heard of this. I may not be in touch with a lot of fans around my age or older, but I would have thought that just by reading LJs of people who have been around, something so basic would have been obvious.

Huh.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

That's what I remember from talking with Pam Rose. Pam ended up in a group of women determined to publish their stories first, and put their names on them. But for the life of me, I cannot remember the names of the zines or the year this happened. I am much better at oral traditions than academic, and it's possible that I am wrong. However, it is what I remember.

here via Metafandom

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked that this is the first time I've heard of this.

Me too. This is fascinating.

Re: here via Metafandom

[logovo.livejournal.com]

It's sort of a relief to see that fandom does the same thing, socially, over and over again. In SPN the big thing is a split right now with people going over to bandom. Find/Replace the story above with these fandoms and it would still make sense.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I like to think of them as protofandoms.

Nice origin story.

It's hiSTORY after all, right? (channels Hayden White)

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I could not think of what to call them. All I had in my brain at the time was stuff related to business organization, hence silos. I'm sure there's a better term out there for all of this stuff.

Thanks.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I know!

I'm not fully happy with the proto either, because they *are* fandoms, just tiny often not connected ones.

(though I actually usually use that er when i'm thinking of a group of fans doing fannish things in a group but by themselves because they don't know that there's this entire huge group our there doing exactly the same thing...not happening much any more, i think :)

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

because they *are* fandoms, just tiny often not connected ones.

Not connected and tiny aren't the same thing though. I think of these fandoms as islands, sometimes even continents, who are aware of each other because you always have at least some brave people who dare to cross the ocean. *g*

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

good point!

And what a nice image :)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Holy shit! This is beautifully written, and so full of stuff I probably should have known, but totally did not! I'm actually a little verklempt right now.

This is an origin myth for my fandom that I can live with, and it does all the things a myth should to: it tells us what it all means, and it gently pushes us toward what we should do next. Also, it's just neat to realize that we'll be turning 30 in the upcoming year!

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Thanks! As I said, you can't take it as factual, but I'm pretty sure that turning 30 thing is about right.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I love you madly, that is all.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

And I love you too. *g*

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

My ire was directed at the Trek fans who deserted US for Star Wars -- didn't even know SH came into the equation (I liked SH but there was no organized fandom around me at the time)--I should note that my Trek days (late seventies, Bellingham, Seattle, WA) did not incorporate fanfiction at all.

I wasn't in fandom before 1977 because I had to get out out of Idaho!

But yeah, I didn't watch SW for years because I felt so betrayed when my friends all left me to become Jedi Knights.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Whether or not the specifics are correct is almost immaterial, the emotions expressed are pretty darn true. Whenever a new fandom comes in (for some value of new and of fandom), some people in the old group get really upset. It's been played over and over again, and still is happening today; we love our home communities and there's a lot of anger and resentment sometimes against the people who head out for a new place.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated. *head in hands* I didn't know it was like that. At all.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's some hyperbole in this, no doubt about that. And some of the facts are wrong, and it wasn't like that for everyone, not at all. But for a few, yeah, it was, and they told stories of what it was like until reality isn't, well, all that important. The truth is in the emotions, not in the facts, and those feelings are expressed every day. Anytime people bash on 'the new big fandom' they are replaying the feelings in a similar way.

[ainsley.livejournal.com]

Here via cathexys, and I'm really happy to see you doing what you do with OTW. Reading this makes me excited to be in fandom now, and look forward to being able to connect more with our history.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in the fannish wiki, and in preserving our history. So I'm very excited to be a part of it, too!

[adannu.livejournal.com]

*absolutely fascinated* I wish I'd been able to experience fandom back then; lord knows LJ fandom these days is very different from even the fandom that I experienced on Usenet, say. And that's a timeline that's very, very different from the one that you're outlining here.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sinensiss.livejournal.com]

I did not know about the TOS vs S&H struggles--how interesting this is! thanks for posting.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's was universally as big a deal as I made it out to be; down below in this thread, someone actually posted the facts (quelle horror!) about which zines and who did what when, etc. I found that fascinating myself. *g*

[swear-jar.livejournal.com]

Here via metafandom. God I love reading this kind of thing. I love fan history, and this little bit was awesome.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Thanks! What I did wasn't so much actual history as it was oral tradition that have been told over and over again; the real facts are further along in the comments section about what happened during the S&H timeframe. Zine names and people involved, man. It's awesome.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

When I got into fandom in the late 1980s, people talked about there being hundreds of fans, and how huge that was. Now we know it's in the thousands, but how many exactly is a huge guess. On LJ, It's not as easy to be monofannish (as opposed to having a primary fandom) where you are exclusively interested in only one source, so I feel like I get a lot of exposure to other fans and other communities through that medium. It's easier to stay focused on something like a mailing list or a bulletin board, where you don't get the exposure to a wider group.

here via metafandom

[munchkinofdoom.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This is fascinating to read from the pov of an old-timer Australian media fan.

When I started out in 1981, well after media fandom was coelescing in the US and the UK, Star Trek was the only game in town. And I'd only found the local club by bailing up the president of the Queensland Star Trekkers at the local premiere of ST:TMP because she was an easy mark in a Vulcan costume. *g*

I'd love to know the experiences of other fen concerning the term media fan, because I can't remember it with any clarity before 1985, when I ran face-first into the term at my first World Con. It had never occured to me, until that time, that SF and Media fen could be two very different animals.

Edited for clarity...

Re: here via metafandom

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

The feelings are the same, though the initial pieces were different. It seems like all of the threshold fandoms go through the same sort of thing.

[dryada.livejournal.com]

So very, very interesting. Thank you!

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it!

S/H publication time line

[klangley56.livejournal.com]

"I can't really describe the acrimony that existed as old Star Trek and K/S fans fell under the spell of Starsky and Hutch. It was so bad, the first Starsky and Hutch zine planned to publish completely anonymously, no names attached, because of fear of reprisal. . . . By 1977, a sort of accommodation was made, with fans agreeing that both silos could exists, and turning cold shoulders on the defectors to the other camp."

To clarify the time line: the first S&H zine was published in 1977, but it was a genzine, ZEBRA THREE, and it was well received. Published slash (as opposed to drawerfic) didn't surface until a British publication, FOREVER AUTUMN, by Sue M. and Sue S., was published in March 1980. FA was quite non-explicit, by the way. The next published S/H piece was a short story in another Brit zine (10:13 Vol. 1, edited by Terri B. and Chris P., copyright 1980/81.) The title is "Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn," by Pamela D. The first US S/H zine was CODE 7 #1, edited by Karen B. Karen had been quite happily advertising this zine (and some other slash zines) for upcoming publication and discussing it within the pages of "The S&H Letterzine" when--out of the blue, it (and the other slash publications) were listed as cancelled. No explanation. In reality, the zine hadn't been cancelled. But word had gone through fandom of troublemakers who were planning to send these slash zines to Spelling/Goldberg and/or Soul and Glaser. So Karen went completely underground with publication of the zine. When it was printed, there were no names listed: no authors, no artists, no editor. Her stated reason for going underground was not fear of backlash from TPTB, but out of respect for the actors and a desire not to distress them. In the meantime, other S/H was going forward. For example, GRAVEN IMAGES (pre-S/H) saw open publication in 1981. Terri and Chris published a "Statement of Intent" stating that they were not going to be intimidated into pushing any slash material in their zines underground. Annette H. and Pam R. started advertising for TRACE ELEMENTS, and it was published in 1982. Leslie F. jumped feet first into the fray, asserting she would publish a fanzine that couldn't be used against the fandom. She ended up putting out a volume (PUSHING THE ODDS) that had slash stories printed in blue ink on red-patterned paper. This was supposed to render them "copy-proof." It also made them unreadable and required a sheet of red plastic to put over the page to make the print visible. She also numbered copies and used a code of hole-punches on various pages, supposedly to identify the purchaser of any copy that "fell into unauthorized hands." It was a very odd experiment, to say the least. (And, by the time that zine saw print, everybody was going ahead with their S/H zines anyway, regardless of threatened repercussions.)

In general, however, as evinced within the pages of "The S&H Letterzine" (the primary watering hole of the fandom), the fandom did not experience anything like the slash eruptions of early K/S fandom. Many fans already had been through those slash wars, the concept wasn't such a shock, and the gestation period for published S/H was much shorter than it had been for K/S. Also, many S&H (and S/H) fans didn't come from ST fandom, and many of those who did (like myself) were happily "bifandomal."

Re: S/H publication time line

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

This is so awesome. I am so glad you have the facts for this as all I have are stories about it. It really is fascinating, to read all about the sturm and drang of the times, and realize that we keep going through similar cycles over and over again. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, over somewhat different stuff, but always the same basic emotional things.

Re: S/H publication time line

[klangley56.livejournal.com]

Happy to help. All those years spent in fandom ought to prove useful sooner or later. :-)

Just to add a little more--when organized ST fandom began--in 1967, as an offshoot of SF fandom--it was by itself in terms of organized TV fandoms developed by the fans and not the pros. MFUNCLE was on the air and had a professional fan club, but the organized fan-driven fandom didn't exist at that time. That developed later, with published fan fiction emerging in the early-mid seventies, along with some "Dark Shadows" fandom activity and, more prominently, a small "Space: 1999" fandom. Oddly, DS and MFU didn't ping the ST fans radar, but "Space: 1999" did, igniting the first feud with ST fans, who derided it--particularly in SF terms--but as a fandom it pretty much faded into the woodwork when "Star Wars" hit. And, as has been noted in this discussion, that one definitely roiled the peaceful fannish waters as, for the first time, some ST fans visibly moved on from ST to SW (although some of us just added it to our ST fanac). ST purists complained about SW material showing up in their previouly ST-only zines and cons. There even was a panel discussion at one of the early Michigan cons (prior to Media*West) to discuss the fan feud. But eventually it all settled down, S&H fandom emerged more widely, "Battlestar: Galactica" fandom began, Pros fandom and B7 fandom developed and migrated to the US, etc., and folks realized that fandom no longer was ST fandom but this new thing that came to be called Media Fandom.

Interesting discussion you started. Thanks.

Re: S/H publication time line

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

When the OTW Wiki gets going, I would love to tap you to add some of this stuff. You always have your ducks in a row and have the facts about what happened in early days, when all I have are stories told to me 10 years after the fact.

Re: S/H publication time line

[klangley56.livejournal.com]

Feel free to contact me. I *like* nice, orderly ducks. :-)

[illicit-grace.livejournal.com]

Hiya! I am going to freely admit that the following comment is disorganized, hard to follow, and maybe not the best thought through...
I am working on some fannish research, and I recently got into a conversation with my advisor about this tendency to pick up tropes/tendencies from older fandoms, that fen move from fandom to fandom carrying their ways of doing with them as they go, and that there are what you called origin stories for each practice. The term my adivsor used was "citationality" coming from Baudrillard, and used heavily in Judith Butler's work. That we practice a process of reiteration of practices from the fandoms we know into the creation of new ones. We cite practices from the fandoms that taught us how to be fannish. Another take on this process comes from Bourdeau, who, according to my advisor, would talk about this process under this "theory of practice" I've not looked into it quite yet, but I plan to! Anyhoots, your meta just got me thinking about those two things,, and I didn't know if the terms hit the nail on the head or not.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are good idea for the concepts. Thanks.