Fandom | Interacting with Actual People

[teashadephoenix]

I realised something last week. It has been so long since I engaged in fandom activity (nearly ten years!) with another person right in front of me that I have sort of forgotten that not everybody watches telly like I do. (Apart from my brother, but he doesn't count because we watch telly exactly the same.)

A new co-worker of mine, Cora, is a big telly geek too. Which has made it crazy fun to work with her (especially in the emotional climate my job is currently in.)

But last week, we got a spoiler photo from an episode of Dexter. And I started postulating who I thought it could be. Midway through the conversation, Cora says to me

"I've never done this, trying to figure out what's gonna happen next."

And I screeched to a halt.

I know I don't watch things the way a lot of people do. I suppose most people watch an episode, and once it's over, it's over. Not for me. I continue thinking about it. I blog about it. I theorise. (Sometimes I fic and get really emotionally invested and cry for way too long when a character regenerates and the show takes a flying leap. That happens too.)

I look at it from a writer's perspective. I know all the tricks and I can name all the tropes. I can usually spot a plot twist coming a mile off, unless it's really clever or really stupid.

So when my prediction on who the murder victim was turned out to be RIGHT...

D8 I feel all guilty now! I totes inadvertantly spoiled it for Cora.

Nevermind that I dont usually get fannish outside of my house to start with. (Cons are just.. ohmgod I get so much secondhand embarrassment. And actors finding out or talking about fic? Or shipping? OH GOD. MY BRAIN.)

Comments

[sykira]

Yeah, I've spoiled people that way too, I'm like, c'mon, it's OBVIOUS! Or "oooh I bet it is gonna be ..." and yeah then they ain't happy!

I've had some really great fangirl buddies IRL over the years though :) I'm glad you have Cora, although yes, her comment about not theorizing made me o.0 too!

[biodamped]

HA. I would never claim to know all the tricks and tropes, because I don't watch enough genres and I don't spend any time at all on tv tropes. And while I don't like to think too hard about it, because I usually end up spoiling myself that way, I am pretty good at guessing plots of the shows I do watch. Also ones I don't, apparently. Terra Nova was on when I was at my sisters and there was some guy who was being generally dodge, didn't remember something he should have and then asked to see a letter he'd once sent. Literally the first words out of my mouth were "He's an imposter". I was right, but it was a plot arc that had been going on for five weeks. FIVE WEEKS. Of course, having said that, I can still never guess what Fringe is going to do, which is why I love it sfm. It's just a world of clever.

Anyway yeah, occasionally I interact with people offline about telly, but what you do is EXACTLY what we do - theorise, try and guess what's going to happen and moan about the fact that it isn't next week.

Or January. Damn you Fringe.