The Common Tongue
Jul. 20th, 2006 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoGod knows I'm not trying to dredge up the dead and extremely stinky past here, but I was mulling over the concept of the canon as it applies to contemporary SF&F fandom, partially as a result of what ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
windelina had to say in this post (sorry, it's f-locked) about her reaction to some younger fans who didn't quite get the mockup of HAL9000 that sat outside Main Programming this year at Convergence. It occurred to me that every time we get a big influx of fans, part of what leads the mainstream -however you define it at the time- to exclude the neos is that they just don't speak the language. There are just too many referents to films and TV shows they haven't seen, books and stories they haven't read, and all that sort of thing.
Nowadays, of course, I suppose it's not such a big deal, because there are sufficient ghettos within fandom that you don't really have to deal with anyone outside your circle of Trek fans, Harry Potter fans, or whatever your particular fandom might be. On the other hand, when you venture out to a convention, especially a ginormous Gathering of the Tribes such as Convergence, squatting in your little familiar circle is really a waste of time and money. So as we approach the end of the seventh decade of SF conventions, what is the canon? What do fans need to have experienced to interact intelligently with most of the other fans at Convergence? Is there a canon any more, or has the very notion of a central body of knowledge in fandom become obsolete? If there is a canon, what do you think belongs in it?
windelina had to say in this post (sorry, it's f-locked) about her reaction to some younger fans who didn't quite get the mockup of HAL9000 that sat outside Main Programming this year at Convergence. It occurred to me that every time we get a big influx of fans, part of what leads the mainstream -however you define it at the time- to exclude the neos is that they just don't speak the language. There are just too many referents to films and TV shows they haven't seen, books and stories they haven't read, and all that sort of thing. Nowadays, of course, I suppose it's not such a big deal, because there are sufficient ghettos within fandom that you don't really have to deal with anyone outside your circle of Trek fans, Harry Potter fans, or whatever your particular fandom might be. On the other hand, when you venture out to a convention, especially a ginormous Gathering of the Tribes such as Convergence, squatting in your little familiar circle is really a waste of time and money. So as we approach the end of the seventh decade of SF conventions, what is the canon? What do fans need to have experienced to interact intelligently with most of the other fans at Convergence? Is there a canon any more, or has the very notion of a central body of knowledge in fandom become obsolete? If there is a canon, what do you think belongs in it?
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-21 07:10 pm (UTC)Lord of the Rings
Star Trek (at least the first series)
Star Wars (the original three movies)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Foundation Trilogy
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Dragonriders of Pern (at least the first trilogy)
The Cthulhu mythos
Doctor Who (at least know the concept behind the show)
Robotech
Highhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Neuromancer
Also, key concepts/names they should recognize, even if they've never read the book/seen the movie:
Berserkers (Saberhagen)
Daleks
Hammers Slammers
Cthulhu
Conan
Klingons
Darkover
Also, people important to the field they should be aware of:
4E
Asimov
Heinlein
Gene Roddenberry
Tolkein
Ursula LeGuin
John W. Campbell
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-21 07:30 pm (UTC)This whole business is tempting me to assemble a fandom version of the Purity Test, although that's almost certainly the wrong name for it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-22 04:51 am (UTC)