Why *is* it that Life on Mars fandom produces about ten times the crack as, say, Farscape and Highlander fandom combined? (And so much less angst than you'd think, considering the hyper-angsty premise?)
I've been thinking about this, and I've concluded that the reason that Farscape generates less crack than Life on Mars, is that in Farscape strange things happen against a strange background, whereas in LOM, strange things happen against a normal background. In other words, living Test Card Girls and puppet policemen stick out more in a British police drama, than body-swapping and vomiting aliens on a living spaceship. %-P
Funnily, I wasn't even thinking of the body-swapping and vomiting aliens when I mentioned FS crack. I was mostly thinking of all the mindfrell stuff... which was weird even for an SF show.
I wonder if it may have something to do with the demographics, too, though? LoM is a predominantly British fandom - not exclusively, of course, since this is the age of the internet, but there may still be noticeable differences there between a more British-dominated fandom and your average, more American-dominated fandom. Maybe. Big maybe, since a lot of our most distinguished contributors in LoM fandom are in fact *not* British.
I'm British, if that clears anything up. Live in Australia, but if people ask me where I'm from, the answer's almost always "England, but I live in Australia." I'm quite annoying about it. :D
I've lived in Oz longer. I'm 24 and moved here when I was ten. But, as I said, even though I think it's silly, I'm really very tetchy about being considered English first and foremost. I'm sure it says something interesting about my psyche. ;)
Hmmmm.... it would be an interesting experiment to see how "Australian" you would feel if you moved back to Britain. Moving to Australia at the age of ten might have given you a sort of "perpetual outsider's" view on life.
In any case I'm inclined to think that fandom in general, and this particular corner of LOM fandom in particular, tends to attract "outsiders" of one sort or another. We certainly don't seem to fit into celebrity-magazine-reality-tv-sport! mainstream culture, though we do tend to squee! over our own idols!
Even when I was there I felt like an outsider, because Yorkshire doesn't necessarily take kindly to Londoners, and a small rural town especially doesn't. I've always been on the fringes of society. It suits me.
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Re: Yeah, but so did Farscape.
Date: 2008-02-20 03:21 am (UTC)Hmm, possibly.
Date: 2008-02-20 11:55 am (UTC)I wonder if it may have something to do with the demographics, too, though? LoM is a predominantly British fandom - not exclusively, of course, since this is the age of the internet, but there may still be noticeable differences there between a more British-dominated fandom and your average, more American-dominated fandom. Maybe. Big maybe, since a lot of our most distinguished contributors in LoM fandom are in fact *not* British.
I dunno.
It's a mystery! *g*
Demographics
Date: 2008-02-20 11:58 am (UTC)Speaking of which... neither are most of the contributors to this discussion! *g*
Bwuh?
Date: 2008-02-20 12:58 pm (UTC)I think it's even, isn't it? We've always had a mixture.
Re: Bwuh?
Date: 2008-02-20 01:02 pm (UTC)I may be wrong, though. I find it difficult to keep track of people's nationality on the net. *g*
Re: Bwuh?
Date: 2008-02-20 01:04 pm (UTC)Oh, okay. :)
Date: 2008-02-20 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 12:16 am (UTC)In any case I'm inclined to think that fandom in general, and this particular corner of LOM fandom in particular, tends to attract "outsiders" of one sort or another. We certainly don't seem to fit into celebrity-magazine-reality-tv-sport! mainstream culture, though we do tend to squee! over our own idols!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 11:01 pm (UTC)(It might it explain my Sam identification!)