Conventional Thinking
Feb. 17th, 2004 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalakWhen I first started going to media conventions back in my high school days I didn't like people who dressed up in costume. I didn't for the same reason that many of our old guard give. I thought by having the people dressed up made science fiction fandom look like a freak show and if we didn't have these strange people in costume for the cameras to be pointed at we would be better accepted and respected. Now over a decade later I am one of the people who dress up strangely for conventions.
What happened between then and now is a story that doesn't have a moral, but I can explain how my views came to change. As with probably the majority of American fans I was somewhat mocked and ostracized in school. Though I would not have admitted it then this gave me a burning desire for acceptance even though I did not precisely want to conform in all ways. I knew I was different, but wanted to be outwardly the same with the idea (if I gave it any thought) that Trek and other media fans could become accepted as a group if we seemed normal in other ways.
This continued right through my years as a roleplaying gamer when I would roundly criticize my peers who lived up to any of the stereotypes of our group. I would not be caught dead wearing anything less formal than business casual outfits when doing anything but yard work. Then in 1999 I finally found SF fandom and it was much different than what I had experienced previously. While with a higher proportion of fans over 30 at a convention it meant that there were fewer eye catching costumes in the halls of a con, there was also a more social, even family like vibe. So those people in costume were more respected by their elders than seemed to be frequently the case at the media cons.
That isn't all there was to it, but being in a more friendly environment helped me to become a more accepting person and to try things I had not previously. Though it didn't happen right away I eventually started wearing and clothes other than my standard business casual uniform. At this point I am almost infamous for wearing fairly unusual outfits to conventions and changing them frequently. I also wear some hall costumes and have even taken part in some short masquerades.
Today I view costuming as a fun and interesting part of convention going, though it does give an easy shorthand by which the mundanes can mock us. However I think even if we could control or convince everyone at every convention to dress as if going to a business conference we would still be the subject of ridicule. Those outside who don't understand, fear, or just want to pick on people will continue to mock groups that are different. Just look at how the normal looking groups like coin collectors get talked about. If it were not the costumes it would be the very fact that we have our "noses stuck in books" all the time or something else. Instead the cameras would be pointed at the overweight people wearing glasses or someone too earnestly telling how the new version of Dune is better than the old one. I have heard of cases where a TV show not finding enough weirdoes at a convention brought in some people dressed up strangely to get the story they wanted.
Even more importantly with few exceptions I think that it would be more harmful to fandom to go about excluding people for no better reason than "they make us look bad." This isn't to say that we can't be so open minded at times that our brains fall out, nor is there really any danger that we are going to start excluding people. I just wanted to tell a bit of a story about how I think fandom made me a better person and to celebrate that we do care more about each other than we do about what other people think.
What happened between then and now is a story that doesn't have a moral, but I can explain how my views came to change. As with probably the majority of American fans I was somewhat mocked and ostracized in school. Though I would not have admitted it then this gave me a burning desire for acceptance even though I did not precisely want to conform in all ways. I knew I was different, but wanted to be outwardly the same with the idea (if I gave it any thought) that Trek and other media fans could become accepted as a group if we seemed normal in other ways.
This continued right through my years as a roleplaying gamer when I would roundly criticize my peers who lived up to any of the stereotypes of our group. I would not be caught dead wearing anything less formal than business casual outfits when doing anything but yard work. Then in 1999 I finally found SF fandom and it was much different than what I had experienced previously. While with a higher proportion of fans over 30 at a convention it meant that there were fewer eye catching costumes in the halls of a con, there was also a more social, even family like vibe. So those people in costume were more respected by their elders than seemed to be frequently the case at the media cons.
That isn't all there was to it, but being in a more friendly environment helped me to become a more accepting person and to try things I had not previously. Though it didn't happen right away I eventually started wearing and clothes other than my standard business casual uniform. At this point I am almost infamous for wearing fairly unusual outfits to conventions and changing them frequently. I also wear some hall costumes and have even taken part in some short masquerades.
Today I view costuming as a fun and interesting part of convention going, though it does give an easy shorthand by which the mundanes can mock us. However I think even if we could control or convince everyone at every convention to dress as if going to a business conference we would still be the subject of ridicule. Those outside who don't understand, fear, or just want to pick on people will continue to mock groups that are different. Just look at how the normal looking groups like coin collectors get talked about. If it were not the costumes it would be the very fact that we have our "noses stuck in books" all the time or something else. Instead the cameras would be pointed at the overweight people wearing glasses or someone too earnestly telling how the new version of Dune is better than the old one. I have heard of cases where a TV show not finding enough weirdoes at a convention brought in some people dressed up strangely to get the story they wanted.
Even more importantly with few exceptions I think that it would be more harmful to fandom to go about excluding people for no better reason than "they make us look bad." This isn't to say that we can't be so open minded at times that our brains fall out, nor is there really any danger that we are going to start excluding people. I just wanted to tell a bit of a story about how I think fandom made me a better person and to celebrate that we do care more about each other than we do about what other people think.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-17 10:53 pm (UTC)Life is too short.
Re: Pride Parades
Date: 2004-02-17 10:58 pm (UTC)Another thought
Date: 2004-02-17 11:07 pm (UTC)And if they don't want to think you're weirdos, it won't matter how you're dressed. With purple hair and visible tattoos, my overriding vibe appears to still be "she's safe and competent--ask her for directions." Only now strangers also ask me for advice on how to dye their hair.
Re: Pride Parades
Date: 2004-02-18 03:11 am (UTC)Does the person at Outer Fandom know that it wasn't the normal-looking guys who finally fought back against the police, at Stonewall 35 years ago?
Re: Pride Parades
Date: 2004-02-18 04:19 am (UTC)In some ways our pride parade isn't that bad. But it does tend towards the extreme who actually go out to march. The people at pride seem mostly normal, but it certainly isn't the gay equivelent of a St. Patrick's day parade.
Re: Another thought
Date: 2004-02-18 02:34 pm (UTC)Why I don't costume
Date: 2004-02-18 07:30 pm (UTC)Re: Why I don't costume
Date: 2004-02-19 07:41 am (UTC)Back to you. You do costuming stuff every year at Karval Kon. Don't costume indeed. What do you call putting on tin foil to be the Iron Giant?
Iron Giant, et al
Date: 2004-02-20 06:40 pm (UTC)