I think there's two types of fans (which I shall give arbitrary names): Fan Type A, which likes the object of their fandom, pure and simple.
And Fan Type B, which both likes and dislikes the object of their fandom in equal, but intense, measure.
(Ok, it's more of a spectrum, probably, but those are maybe the extremes.)
Here are my thoughts on Fan Type B (which fascinates me because I usually am one):
I think the fans-hate-the-object-of-their-fandom phenomenon (Fan Type B) can be kind of cyclical in nature.
Personally, I take the most INTEREST in those books which I first liked and then disliked: There was something about it that really draw me in, to start with, which made me like it (in either a casual or an intense way, but also in a I-can-move-on-with-life-after-this type of way. Fan Type A). BUT THEN!! Then there was something about the story that I disagreed with which made me dislike it. In order to become a Fan Type B, I probably had to have liked the story (irrevocably!) before becoming aware of the thing that bothered me about it. (Else I would have just disliked it, and fallen off the fan spectrum altogether.) And it was usually something I irreparably hated! But by then it's too late! I'm hooked! And it's PRECISELY BECAUSE the story simultaneously entrances me and bugs me that I care so much about it in the end--which other people would call "liking" the story or being obsessed with it. I think that's the kind of fan the Star Wars guy was talking about in the article you linked. That's Fan Type B.
For me, pretty much anything I like a lot I also dislike a lot. That's why it's cyclical: I only like it that much because it bugs me that much. ironic and hard to describe. but also very realistic to life: life hurts a lot and we like stories that feel real like that, too. as much as we simultaneously hate them for it.
(This is sort of speculative, but) I think that it's when we finally sort through and solidify in our own minds what we do and don't like about a particular story that "the fandom devours itself" and dissolves away. It was the conflicting emotions that the Fan-Type-B-People had that sustained the fandom. But once that angst gets resolved (or ignored, in some cases), we free ourselves to move on. Some people move on more quickly than others... (namely, the people closer to the A side of the spectrum)
Being a B-type fan is an annoying hassle, but it's also kind of fun! it feels good to have something WORTH thinking/debating about, which is what a story with a large following usually has. I won't go into it, but I'd argue that people who like fiction are better at being Fan Type B people, and people who don't like fiction can't go that far on the spectrum when it comes to fiction because they can't take it seriously enough. (but they could for a non-fiction book)
To list a few of my Fan Type B tendencies: Harry Potter: Strongly Liked the fantasy/magic, the "harry's someone special", the epic save-the-world, and the nothing-was-as-it-seemed,so-I-need-to-reread-every-book aspects. Strongly Disliked the trauma of the numerous character deaths, Snape, Dumbledore's euthanasia, and the way Dumbledore manipulated Harry all along.
Lord of the Rings (yeah, I read all 3 and the Hobbit AND the Silmarillion! But I'm only commenting on the trilogy itself): Strongly Liked the epic save-the-world-ness, the poetic beauty of the language Tolkien often used in conjunction with the world he created. STRONGLY Disliked that Frodo doesn't "heal" in the end. :(
The Fandom spectrum
I think there's two types of fans (which I shall give arbitrary names): Fan Type A, which likes the object of their fandom, pure and simple.
And Fan Type B, which both likes and dislikes the object of their fandom in equal, but intense, measure.
(Ok, it's more of a spectrum, probably, but those are maybe the extremes.)
Here are my thoughts on Fan Type B (which fascinates me because I usually am one):
I think the fans-hate-the-object-of-their-fandom phenomenon (Fan Type B) can be kind of cyclical in nature.
Personally, I take the most INTEREST in those books which I first liked and then disliked: There was something about it that really draw me in, to start with, which made me like it (in either a casual or an intense way, but also in a I-can-move-on-with-life-after-this type of way. Fan Type A). BUT THEN!! Then there was something about the story that I disagreed with which made me dislike it. In order to become a Fan Type B, I probably had to have liked the story (irrevocably!) before becoming aware of the thing that bothered me about it. (Else I would have just disliked it, and fallen off the fan spectrum altogether.) And it was usually something I irreparably hated! But by then it's too late! I'm hooked! And it's PRECISELY BECAUSE the story simultaneously entrances me and bugs me that I care so much about it in the end--which other people would call "liking" the story or being obsessed with it. I think that's the kind of fan the Star Wars guy was talking about in the article you linked. That's Fan Type B.
For me, pretty much anything I like a lot I also dislike a lot. That's why it's cyclical: I only like it that much because it bugs me that much. ironic and hard to describe. but also very realistic to life: life hurts a lot and we like stories that feel real like that, too. as much as we simultaneously hate them for it.
(This is sort of speculative, but) I think that it's when we finally sort through and solidify in our own minds what we do and don't like about a particular story that "the fandom devours itself" and dissolves away. It was the conflicting emotions that the Fan-Type-B-People had that sustained the fandom. But once that angst gets resolved (or ignored, in some cases), we free ourselves to move on. Some people move on more quickly than others... (namely, the people closer to the A side of the spectrum)
Being a B-type fan is an annoying hassle, but it's also kind of fun! it feels good to have something WORTH thinking/debating about, which is what a story with a large following usually has. I won't go into it, but I'd argue that people who like fiction are better at being Fan Type B people, and people who don't like fiction can't go that far on the spectrum when it comes to fiction because they can't take it seriously enough. (but they could for a non-fiction book)
To list a few of my Fan Type B tendencies:
Harry Potter: Strongly Liked the fantasy/magic, the "harry's someone special", the epic save-the-world, and the nothing-was-as-it-seemed,so-I-need-to-reread-every-book aspects. Strongly Disliked the trauma of the numerous character deaths, Snape, Dumbledore's euthanasia, and the way Dumbledore manipulated Harry all along.
Lord of the Rings (yeah, I read all 3 and the Hobbit AND the Silmarillion! But I'm only commenting on the trilogy itself): Strongly Liked the epic save-the-world-ness, the poetic beauty of the language Tolkien often used in conjunction with the world he created. STRONGLY Disliked that Frodo doesn't "heal" in the end. :(
~Aranel Alasse~