Molly Kasperek

Informative Speech: Fandom

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Molly Kasperek

Okay, show of hands – who here has ever heard of 50 Shades of Grey? Everyone, right? If you have, you’ve inadvertently stumbled across fandom. Today I’m going to explain what exactly fandom is, how it started, and how it has managed to make its very own subculture, complete with its own language.

First, it must be said that there is a difference between being a fan of something and being part of a fandom. Fans are casual in their interest – they will tune in from week to week to watch the show or pre-order the next book in the series, but they don’t devote any more time to it than to set their DVR or actually enjoy the material.

A member of a fandom is an entirely different story. For a member of a fandom, they invest their time and emotions to their interest. And it’s a phenomenon that’s been going on for over a century.

One of the facts I find most surprising about fandom culture is that it’s not new or recent by any stretch of the imagination. Though I only stumbled upon fandom in the last few years, fandom culture has actually been around for decades.

The first modern fandom is considered to be Sherlock Holmes. That’s right, there were fans sitting around as early as 1887, writing about these beloved characters in the first recorded cases of fan fiction. In 1893, fans of Sherlock Holmes even held public demonstrations of mourning when the titular character was “killed”. Let me do the math for you – 125 years this has been going on. And for the record – Sherlock Holmes is still being written about today. I saw a story about him that was updated this morning.

The thing about fandom is that it can be for fans of literally anything. The most common and mainstream fandoms tend to be related to television shows, movie franchises and book series. They even have nicknames – you’ve probably heard of some of them:

Twilight fans are Twihards,
Firefly fans are Browncoats;
for Star Trek there are Trekkies
and Dr. Who has its Whovians.
Janeites are those who adore Jane Austen
Whedonites worship at the alter of Joss Whedon – figuratively, of course.
And yes, there are even Bronies – fans of My Little Pony.

I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

But there are less mainstream fandoms as well – for musicians and bands, anime, plays and video games. Even celebrities.

And when I say that fandom is a culture, that’s not a lie. It’s so expansive it has grown to have its own language. My friend Diana and I, though we have zero fandoms in common, can hold an entire conversation about the phenomenon without anyone understanding. It’s not their fault, they’re just not part of the culture.

So if you hear a strange conversation about a new ‘fic’ someone read, know that they’re probably talking about fanfiction – or fictional stories – anywhere from a few words long to a few hundred thousand – about a show or movie or book. In case you didn’t know – that’s how 50 Shades of Grey was born. It was originally published – probably on a site like fanfiction.net or Archive Of Our Own as Twilight fanfiction.

Or maybe you’ll hear the word ‘ship’ but no context clues to think the conversation could be about boating. They’re probably talking about two characters being in a relationship, or wanting characters to be in a relationship.

And beyond that, there are OTPs, or One True Pairings – the couples a fan thinks should belong together.

These ‘ships’ or OTPs may or may not be canon, which means they take place in the continuity of the fandom’s universe or ‘verse. If something is ‘canon’ it means it happened on the show, or in the book series, et cetera.

But something may also be ‘fanon’ or “fan canon”. That means that a fact which doesn’t necessarily exist in the universe or continuity of the show has been accepted by the fans as fact – such as minor character backstory or the first name of a character.

I know this is a lot to hear, especially if you’ve never been exposed to fandom before. Believe me, I understand. The first time I stumbled across a fandom I was googling every other word to understand this new language.

The thing about people that take part in fandoms is that you may never know that it’s a hobby of theirs. While I’ve always been a television addict, I’ve never had anyone that truly shares my passion about the same shows.

But then I joined Twitter and could follow the writer’s room of my favorite show. I thought – no big, I love to write, I wonder what their process is. And then I started recapping television shows for a small blog. And then I befriended THOSE writers on Twitter. And then I joined tumblr and all bets were off.

It grew slowly, and steadily, my delve into fandom. And now, after watching an episode of my favorite show, I no longer turn off the TV and get ready for bed. Now I log onto Twitter and see what is being said about it, and complain about how many FEELINGS the show has given me.

Fandom can be a bit of a life ruiner, but at the same time it’s rewarding to connect with people about my interests. It’s nice to live in a world that makes it easy to connect, and make friends. Now you don’t have to trek to San Diego to take part in Comic Con or Austin to go to the Austin Television Festival. Now if I want to talk about my crazy theories about ANYTHING I can take to tumblr or twitter, and immediately find some camaraderie.

Fandom is a strange concept to some. It’s even a strange concept to me, and I take part in them. But they can also be rewarding. And if you’re still lost, think of it this way – do you have a sports team that you’re devoted to? Do you take part in fantasy football or baseball? Then you, my friend, are also part of a fandom. Welcome.

Blog Posts

Sometimes Homework is Just Fanfic in Disguise

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Molly Kasperek

Sometimes a writing assignment is just a mental exercise. But sometimes a writing assignment turns out to be kind of like writing fanfiction. Which is precisely what happened in my screenwriting class last week. My professor asked us each to pick two characters from a current tv show or a recent movie and write their back-story. The trick was, we couldn’t include things that had already been revealed. Of course I picked Parks & Recreation. Deciding which characters I wanted to write was a bit more of a struggle. Leslie, Ron and Ben already have a wealth of information shared about them, so I wanted to write about characters that we didn’t really know much about. With no further ado, the abridged histories of Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford.

Donna Meagle

Donna Meagle wasn’t born in Pawnee, Indiana. She was born in Gary, Indiana and lived there with her parents and two older brothers until she graduated from high school. After being scouted by a plus-sized modeling agency at the local mall, she relocated to a small apartment in the heart of Indianapolis.

Her career was short-lived, though she was a very popular figurehead for her agency’s European division. A provocative spread she did for a high-end lingerie brand in Finland paid handsomely and gave her the money to buy her beloved Mercedes Benz.

In high school she was very popular; her personality blend of class-clown and diva easily won her the title of Prom Queen.

Despite her popularity with the opposite sex, Donna hasn’t been in a steady relationship since high school. She had dated a boy named Jimmy all throughout high school, but they broke up when Donna realized that she was wasting her time with only one man.

She has never been married, preferring the freedom of single life. That isn’t to say that men haven’t tried. She has been proposed to a total of four times by three different men.

Jimmy was the first to propose. He got down on one knee in front of her friends and family at their high school graduation party. She immediately dumped him.

The second proposal came from a guy named Chet she met during her time as a model. She had been in Europe for the job and they had a one-night-stand after an event hosted by her modeling agency. He shouted his proposal after her as she left the hotel the next morning; he was still handcuffed to the headboard.

The third and fourth proposals came in rapid succession. One of the checkout boys at the Pawnee grocery store jokingly proposed the first time that she went into the store. He tried again, only slightly more serious, only a week later.

Donna considers herself as having great taste. She was treated once for oniomania – a shopping addiction – and is currently in recovery. This compulsion, however, has put her in serious debt. She has three credit cards currently maxed out, which is a step up from the nine she had at the peak of her addiction.

One of her brothers is the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. She, along with the rest of her family, have season tickets to all of the Colts home games. Her 30^th birthday party was actually at the skybox of the stadium during a playoff game.

Donna finally moved from Indianapolis to the small-town of Pawnee when she was 27 and knew that her modeling career was over for good. She chose to move to Pawnee because she could live anonymously as an ex-model. The fact that it was ranked 4^th in obesity nationally was also a convincing factor as she would fit in.

She ended up working at the Parks Department on a whim. She had just moved to Pawnee and needed to find a job to pay down her credit card debt. The job didn’t have very stringent qualifications and wouldn’t be too taxing, so she interviewed for the position. Ron Swanson hired her for her complete apathy toward local government and the parks system in general.

Tom Haverford

Tom grew up in South Carolina with the rest of his family until he went away to college in Indianapolis. He lived with his parents, grandparents, five older brothers and his younger sister. His brothers were always rambunctious and physically active. Tom was the runt of the family and was frequently relegated to playing dolls with his younger sister.

Tom didn’t hit the 5’ mark until freshman year of high school. To make up for his lack of physical appeal, he became the class clown and head of the student council.

Despite this, Tom was never popular. He did, however, manage to get everyone in the school to know his name, so he didn’t care if his classmates actually liked him or not. Because of his aggressively extroverted personality, people shied away from him and he had very few close friends. He only managed to get a date to prom because the girl he asked was dared to say yes.

He went away to college hoping to find a place where he fit in. In Indianapolis Tom enrolled as an American Studies major because he thought it would a) be easy and, b) give him a well-rounded background for whatever design/entrepreneurial/political job he could attain later in life.

He frequently asked girls out, but never got any positive responses because he was too “cute” and “nice.” His small stature and propensity to use pet-names before even entering a relationship did not help matters.

He was the mascot for his college athletic department. His small stature and boundless energy helped him win over the fans.

He worked in the cafeteria during college as part of a work-study job. He liked it because it allowed him to interact with so many people over the course of a day. That was where he met his future wife, Wendy. She had been crying over her meatloaf and Tom went to comfort her. She ended up pouring her heart out about being afraid of being deported and that’s how their tenuous friendship began.

Tom actually moved to Pawnee because of his wife’s job. He decided it would be a perfect place to launch his political career. He got a job at City Hall and the only open position was in Parks & Recreation. That suited him well, though, because the job wasn’t very taxing and he had plenty of free time to allot to figuring out how, exactly, he wanted to plan his entrepreneurial empire.

Tom decided to go into politics, not playing into some urge to help people have better lives, but to impress them. Five of his six siblings are doctors of some sort and the other is an actor in New York. Tom had always felt that he was living in the shadow of his siblings, so he wanted to make his parents proud. Becoming a famous politician seemed like a good enough plan for him.

Working in the Parks Department actually curtailed his desire to go into politics. That was where his dream to open his own company really flourished.

Despite feeling like a professional failure at times, Tom has quite a few personal achievements. For instance, he has won every karaoke contest he has ever entered. He has also designed his own manicure experience for men. He calls them “man”-cures.

Blog Posts

Just Keep Writing

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Molly Kasperek

Sometimes paradoxes are fun. But frequently they’re no fun at all. Case in point: There’s plenty to write about and nothing to say. Classes have started and I’ve launched into senior year. I love all of my classes. I’m excited about the amount of writing I’ll be doing this semester – and have already done. My professors seem great. But there’s still so much up in the air.

This year I’m in the officer corps for my university band. I’ve had all summer to get familiar with the position, but I’m off to a rocky start nonetheless. Not much time goes by without me questioning what it is I need to be doing, should be doing, and whether or not I’m contributing enough. But I love the organization and the position, so I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it in no time.

I’m also struggling to lock down my internship. I got a positive response from an organization in DC, but I haven’t had much luck with the logistics. I have yet to meet my potential “employer” and hammer out a schedule. Is it a go-into-the-office type position, or will I predominantly be working from home? There are a lot of time constraints and other considerations that I’m afraid haven’t been taken into account. And honestly? I wouldn’t be that upset about not having an internship and having free time / homework time built into my week.

And there’s plenty of homework to be done, believe me. I’m taking 5 classes, and 4 of them are writing classes. There’s Language & Politics, Presidential Communication, Speechwriting, and Screenwriting. And listen, I love them. But they’re not simple. They take a lot of forethought and planning. But I love it. They stretch my creative muscles, let my imagination run rampant, and force me to be a better writer. But for me to actually BE a better writer, I need to write. A lot.

So that’s the theme of this semester: Am Writing. And the best part about this whole “Am Writing” experience is that I’m getting familiar with a bunch of different genres. I’m experimenting with screenplay format for the first time (and loving it. Though the limit on exposition is a surprising struggle). I’m learning how to craft political language into speeches, which has been a dream of mine for half a decade. And, of course, I’m still writing my recaps at Off Color TV. There’s no way I could give up my insane devotion to Parks & Rec and I’m going to try my hand at recapping The Mindy Project as well.

On top of all of that, the thousands of words I will be required to craft for school and volunteered to string together for recaps, I will keep on with my personal writing projects. I have four novels that are nowhere near complete and each of them have a place in my heart. They showcase how much I’ve grown as a writer. One was my first foray into the novel (junior year of high school). One was an attempt to stretch my legs (freshman year of college). The third, and possibly my favorite, was my best example of characterization yet (junior year of college). And the fourth, my newest baby, has shown me what I can do when I figure out the plot ahead of time (summer before senior year of college).

I’m equal parts excited and terrified of all of the writing I’ll have to do. I’m worried that I won’t improve as much as I’d like. Or that maybe I’m no good at this writing gig at all. But it’s exhilarating – putting myself out there in the name of doing what I love.

And to balance all of this writing, I get to research my future. I’m to the point in my life that I need to figure out what I want to do next. I want to try and work for a year or two before going to grad school, but what, exactly, is it that I want to do? Do I want to stay in the sphere of Political Communication? Do I want to move toward the realm of television? They beautiful thing is that I’m young and I have plenty of time to follow my heart. I may be on the cusp of adulthood, but I’m not actually a real person yet.