Fandom

Last year I had a friend take a class all about fandom at another university.  As a part of her final she had to pick something a fandom obsession she had and write about it.  She was frustrated because she could think of everyone else's fandom obsessions but could not think of one for herself.  I told her that I didn't have one but she told that in fact I did, I had the tv show Friends.  I argued that I was not obsessed with the show and began comparing it to Trekkies and she told me that it was the same thing.  When you think about it, it really is the same thing.  There is a show I love watching, I have seen every episode and can reference it all the time.  I can talk about it with other people that know the show well and in the past I have gotten together with my friends to watch the show. So really, we all have something that we have a fandom obsession about and as minor as it may appear to us, it really isn't different from what most might consider an "extreme" obsession.  We all have a great love of something in main stream media in which we know a lot about and share with in most cases friends but overall with a larger community that we share this obsession with.  I think where the greatest difference lies is the way in which we "celebrate" and share this fandom.  Some people watch or listen or enjoy the fandom, some make references to it in their everyday life to others, whether they are fans or not, or they gather with other community members to celebrate the obsession, whether it be through reenactment, text viewing, etc.  We all have a fandom obsession.