The Graying of Fandom
Sep. 2nd, 2007 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperI talked with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daisy_knotwise about the status of the Worldcon over lunch. For a long time, it was the premier science-fiction event of the year. Since back in 1976 with MidAmeriCon in Kansas City, it's been big, with memberships in the multiple thousands -- at least for U.S. sites.
But you know, it's not the premier SF event any more. Either Dragoncon or the San Diego Comicon have a much better claim to that title, based simply on the number of people who gather there who are interested in science fiction. And it's a crowd that skews younger than the Worldcon crowd too, at a time when we're sitting around at our regional cons and lamenting the graying of fandom and declining attendance.
And there are moments when I'm cynically led to wonder if that's not what some folks want, especially for the Worldcon. I've long heard folks lamenting that the Worldcon was too big, that there were too many people there who didn't belong at Worldcon.
So you do things to make going to Worldcon less attractive. I remember when the Worldcon dealers room was the most wonderful bazaar in the world. But the rooms in Winnipeg and Toronto were weak and sickly things, because the U.S. dealers were effectively locked out. It didn't do much for the art show either.
Of course, with the Canadian Worldcons, there's no NASFiC, but that hardly matters any more, because the NASFiC's been a weak and sickly thing itself since it was once hijacked by Dragoncon. The last NASFiC that I went to was in L.A. in 1999 and -- as I recall -- barely a thousand fans showed up. I don't remember what NASFiC attendance figures used to be like for sure, but I remember having a fine time in Louisville, and Austin, and Phoenix.
I didn't even bother to go to the NASFiC in Collinsville this year. Sad, isn't it, when I can't muster enough enthusiasm to drive a few hundred miles for the NASFiC? (Mind you, Gretchen's surgery would have caused me to abandon any plan I had, but I never had a plan.)
So if Worldcon voting fandom is saying "screw the dealers" and "screw the artists", it can't be any great surprise if they're discovering that they can make more money elsewhere -- maybe not in places I want to go, but I'm not making my living as a dealer, so I don't have to go there.
And the Worldcon gets less attractive and the marginal fans go elsewhere too. And fandom gets a little grayer.
It's a shame too. SF's never been stronger in the mass media than it is now. But to a lot of fans, media's a dirty word. Written SF's the thing that counts.
And, you know, I love written SF. And I love good SF and fantasy films and TV. And I still love my comic books.
You know why I ended up a voracious reader of science fiction? Two words: Julie Schwartz.
I read Green Lantern. I read Adam Strange. I read the bleeding Atomic Knights.
And later, I graduated to the hard stuff.
Where are we going to find that next generation of readers?
daisy_knotwise about the status of the Worldcon over lunch. For a long time, it was the premier science-fiction event of the year. Since back in 1976 with MidAmeriCon in Kansas City, it's been big, with memberships in the multiple thousands -- at least for U.S. sites.But you know, it's not the premier SF event any more. Either Dragoncon or the San Diego Comicon have a much better claim to that title, based simply on the number of people who gather there who are interested in science fiction. And it's a crowd that skews younger than the Worldcon crowd too, at a time when we're sitting around at our regional cons and lamenting the graying of fandom and declining attendance.
And there are moments when I'm cynically led to wonder if that's not what some folks want, especially for the Worldcon. I've long heard folks lamenting that the Worldcon was too big, that there were too many people there who didn't belong at Worldcon.
So you do things to make going to Worldcon less attractive. I remember when the Worldcon dealers room was the most wonderful bazaar in the world. But the rooms in Winnipeg and Toronto were weak and sickly things, because the U.S. dealers were effectively locked out. It didn't do much for the art show either.
Of course, with the Canadian Worldcons, there's no NASFiC, but that hardly matters any more, because the NASFiC's been a weak and sickly thing itself since it was once hijacked by Dragoncon. The last NASFiC that I went to was in L.A. in 1999 and -- as I recall -- barely a thousand fans showed up. I don't remember what NASFiC attendance figures used to be like for sure, but I remember having a fine time in Louisville, and Austin, and Phoenix.
I didn't even bother to go to the NASFiC in Collinsville this year. Sad, isn't it, when I can't muster enough enthusiasm to drive a few hundred miles for the NASFiC? (Mind you, Gretchen's surgery would have caused me to abandon any plan I had, but I never had a plan.)
So if Worldcon voting fandom is saying "screw the dealers" and "screw the artists", it can't be any great surprise if they're discovering that they can make more money elsewhere -- maybe not in places I want to go, but I'm not making my living as a dealer, so I don't have to go there.
And the Worldcon gets less attractive and the marginal fans go elsewhere too. And fandom gets a little grayer.
It's a shame too. SF's never been stronger in the mass media than it is now. But to a lot of fans, media's a dirty word. Written SF's the thing that counts.
And, you know, I love written SF. And I love good SF and fantasy films and TV. And I still love my comic books.
You know why I ended up a voracious reader of science fiction? Two words: Julie Schwartz.
I read Green Lantern. I read Adam Strange. I read the bleeding Atomic Knights.
And later, I graduated to the hard stuff.
Where are we going to find that next generation of readers?
Greying of Fandom
Date: 2007-09-04 12:23 pm (UTC)Hi
Hope this comment from Europe will not be too amiss.
We have the same problem over here.
What happened back in the 1970s was that the Eastercon was a gathering of all the Brit SF clans -- it is our national convention (in theory). However the computer, film, TV and games folk, were treated badly by a minority who were snooty that SF books was the only real form of SF that mattered.
By the late 1980s things had got so bad that the film, TV, gamers etc set up an alternate Eastercon (called Elydore) on the same weekend. This attracted over a third of those who would have gone to the Eastercon. (One group of half a dozen actually went to one con for one and a half days then spent a day travelling to the other con to spend the final one and a half days of the long Easter weekend there).
The split was so obvious that an Eastercon promised to cater for film, TV etc as well as books if the alternate Eastercon was not held. This happened and the numbers went back up. However after a couple of revived Eastercons they slipped back to catering to just book SF folk.
The alternate Eastercon never again ran, but the film, TV, gamers etc largely (you still see a handful at Eastercon) just set up their own conventions. So today the Eastercon is smaller than it was in the late 80s and not attracting the youngsters.
Old fans have to realise that new media is the way the world is going (and if SF fans can't accept that then who can?) Remember that the most successful SF franchise is not books, or even films (no not even all the Lord of the Rings films) but a computer game - the Halo series!
Now in addition to going to conventions I also occasionally go to a local SF group that is heavily into media. This group has an average age of being in their 30s. But surprise, surprise, about a third of them regularly read SF and fantasy as well! What's more nobody is snooty about which is a better form of SF. So where do you think these folk are going to go?
I should also point out that only 2 (excluding myself as I am not a group regular) of this group went to the Worldcon in 2005 when we had it in Britain. Why? Because all the promotional literature shrieked books, books, books. The two that went had a miserable time and reported this back to their peers. Yes there was a single Dr Who exhibit item and similarly a Stargate. But the film and media programmes were tucked away and did not even feature in the programme grid! (Just a mention on one page of the programme booklet as to where it was being held.)
Like you I read books, enjoy films and I read comics/graphic novels. I enjoy SF in all its forms (except perhaps games but I have no problem with such folk being around and I quite like to spend half an hour at a con finding out what they are into these days).
The British SF Association has the same problem and is similarly tribalistic. It has been slowly losing members for two decades now.
What will happen -- is happening -- is that the Worldcon (and British Eastercon) will continue to get older and will either die out or change. This is inevitable. The only question that remains is when this will happen.
Meanwhile I am positively encouraged by many of the other comments posted in response to this blog item.
Bill, would you like to write all this (including some of the points in the comments) up for Concatenation? (You'd have to bear in mind that Concat has an international readership who might not understand about Dragoncons and the NASFiC so this would need to be explained.) Concat is only a small (though growing) website but we do get around 10,000 visitors a month (and obviously more pages and far mor hits and search engine hits than that). However I am sure that this would be of interest.
Meanwhile all best,
Jonathan
Jonathan Cowie
http://www.concatenation.org
Greying of Fandom
Re: Greying of Fandom
Date: 2007-09-04 09:20 pm (UTC)