Even nerds can be curmudgeons. David Wahl yearns for the good old days as he writes about how networking has changed science fiction fandom. Blame the convention, which allowed fans to get together and see just how many fans there were. Sure, we were all excited to find we weren’t alone in our devotion to Star Trek (or some other sci-fi world), but then we realized there was power in numbers. Then the internet came along and now you don’t even have to buy a ticket to see how many fans agree with your opinions. Things are too easy for you kids these days! You rule the world!
The internet is like one giant instant fanzine where movies can live or die years before the first frame is ever filmed. In 2002, J.J. Abrams wrote a script for a “Superman” reboot that got such bad online reviews that the studio scrapped the movie. It’s rumored that Jon Favreau leaked fake stills from the set of “Iron Man 2? so that people would be pleasantly surprised when they see the finished product. They think he’s trying to trick them into thinking the movie might have something that they don’t like so they’ll be happy when it doesn’t.
Every detail of everything nerd-related is blogged, twittered and dissected to death so far in advance of it actually being available to experience that it’s hard not to already have an opinion before you experience it.
But honestly, who wants to go back to the era when it took real work to be a sci-fi fan?
[via Mostly Forbidden Zone]
Tags: fans, nerds, Networking, sci-fi