[ExI] Roger Ebert reviews "Fanboys"

[Anne Corwin]

John Grigg wrote:

> I had been looking forward to watching this film that
> highlights
> fandom, but the reviews have been very mixed.  Roger Ebert,
> the 800
> pound gorilla of American film critics, seemed to have a
> real axe to
> grind against this sometimes maligned subculture.
> 
> John  : (

Gah, wow, you're right about the axe-grinding. I can see moving toward the snark side when it comes to people who go around insisting that they are REALLY the "quantum reincarnation" of some anime character, but I've been puzzled my whole life as to why the mere fact of being a nerdy fanperson is looked down upon so much. 

I agree that breaking into Skywalker Ranch and feeling like you have to be the FIRST person to see "The Phantom Menace" is pretty silly, but Ebert seems to be going beyond pointing that out and getting annoyed at the movie for not criticizing fandom in general (even in the much milder incarnations which comprise the vast majority).

I spent a significant portion of my childhood memorizing Star Wars trivia. This was fun. I still have a collection of Star Wars toys. I play video games, including Star Wars ones. None of this has prevented me from properly learning geometry or physics or becoming an electrical engineer or being nice to kittens.

Furthermore, I've never gotten why some fandoms get free reign while others don't. I blogged about this a bit here:

www.existenceiswonderful.com/2008/08/playground-anthropology-101.html 

Apparently it was OK to like "boy bands" such as "New Kids on the Block" with great fervor. But not Star Wars. I am still WTFing about this to this day.

(Mind you, I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on this, but when it comes up I am happy to stand up and wave my nerdflag. :))

- Anne

"Like and equal are not the same thing at all!"
- Meg Murry, "A Wrinkle In Time"