Generic Fans

This week in another one of my classes we were asked to stand up at the front of the room and give a short presentation on a book, movie, or television show that inspires us. Now, before I say this, I feel as if I need to mention that I, like everyone else, enjoy some trash t.v. here and there. I think it's a great form of escapist entertainment and I can see how one might get hooked on it. ESPECIALLY with shows like My Strange Addiction and, dare I say it, The Real Housewives of New York (guilty and ashamed face). 

HOWEVER

When you get up in front of a classroom and actually try to tell me that the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians inspires you, INSPIRES you. . .IMMEDIATE fucking palm to face. 

Being a fan of this. . .

Or this. . .

Is understandable because, as I mentioned before, it is entertaining. 

But are you really, REALLY trying to tell me that this inspires you??

What's the deeper issue here? 

The issue is that, unfortunately, a lot of college-aged girls (I'm looking at you, Ugg Boots, black yoga pants, North Face, Vera Bradley girl) are not taking the time to actually explore the rich and vast cornacopia of literature, television, film, music, and aparrently fashion that is floating around the world today. What they are doing is falling into a dangerous mass-media fandom cycle where someone else determines what they are going to be a fan of. All of their friends watch these shows, these are the shows they talk about and therefore many of these fans probably believe that this is just what everyone watches and what everyone likes. People that are not on the bandwagon of fan clones are called hippies, goths, hipsters, etc. because they simply are stepping out of "the norm." 

 Bottom line

NEVER 

EVER

Say that the Kardashians inspire you. 

Because if you do, you are absolutely SHITTING on all the real, intelligent, beautiful artists out there that have created actual things to be inspired by. Do not simply settle on saying something that's been spoon-fed to you inspires you. You only say that because you've got nothing real and tangible that actually inspires the unique and diverse being that is YOU. 

So get out there and actually get inspired! 

Those Damn Festie Kids

Urban Dictionary defines the "Festy Kid" as:

"An unkempt/filthy person of middle to upper class suburban descent (usually white) who in an attempt to rebel against their parents and the establishment cease all forms of hygiene and employment and live off their parents' money while attending music festivals and consuming copious amounts of psychedelic drugs. When not scoring drugs in festival parking lots, they can be found driving from thrift store to thrift store looking for patchouli and crocheted dread lock caps."

I have been around these kids for some time now and even have some "festy kid" in me, but I chose this particular type of fan for this week's post because they fascinate me. Although it seems as if a lot of new-age, peace, love and happiness beliefs have seeped into this lifestyle, a lot of these fans are still just fans at heart and do a lot of weird things that fans do.

As I mentioned in class before, they collect pins. LOTS of pins.

Up close, these things can get prettttyy ornate. . .

Oh sooooo tripppyyyyy, bro.

And then they come together in a beautiful collective display on a person's flat bill hat (the flat bill part is very important) which is then displayed on the head.

Like this

So this is pretty cool, right? It's wearable art which reflects a festie-goers preferences as far as music, movies, art, spirituality and so forth. Having an intensely decorated flat-bill is a symbol to other festie goers that you are cool, you belong there, and you have built up some experience in this particular world. At the same time, the flat-bill pins allow the fan to express themselves and to feel unique in a sea full of thousands of other raging hippies.

This comes at a price. 

Flat bills themselves can get pretty pricey. You'll maybe pay around $30-40 for a style you like but WAIT! Want to show even more uniqueness amongst your groovy friends? Get that shit CUSTOMIZED, braH!!!

Oh shit, is that the flower of mutha fuckin LIFE?!!

That's deep. 

(my friend made this hat)

   

Then you add the pins which you can buy from this guy. . .

And they'll each run you about $15-$40 a piece.

Add some dreadlocks. . .

(thanks Lenny)

And you'll fit right in! 

Lookin' Good

Well guys, after some more research this week I've found a few more curious things that fans do. In class we had been talking about cosplay, a.k.a. the act of dressing up like the character (s) you're a fan of. I thought about cosplay in its extreme form with partakers decked out head to toe in costume but didn't consider that any person you pass by on the street may be cosplaying without us even knowing it.

Lovely ball-gown this woman has on, right? 

Notice anything. . . peculiar about it? 

You go, Angry Birds girl. 

As  you can see, the "stealth cosplay," as its titled on tumblr, can be very, well,  stealthy. There's this girl who goes by "HollySocks" on tumblr and she specializes in cosplay and stealthy cosplay. Here are some examples. . .

Joker 

Hellboy

Cool Super-Girl Fire-Lady

With these super-stealth costumes, do you think you'd be able to spot someone cosplaying? These pictures make me doubt that I could.

So what is it that might drive people to want to dress up as their favorite characters? Maybe they're just lonely weirdos that have nothing else to do. Maybe they find this as their only way to make friends. Maybe, hey 

WAIT A SECOND. . .

Hmmm. . . 

This is not a foreign concept to us. Clearly, cosplay is encouraged in critical developmental years when parents gladly buy their children outfits to make them look like their favorite characters. These "dress-up" clothes allow the child to become a character he/she aspires to be and pretend that they have all the magical powers, good-looks, and friends of that character once they put the costume on. Therefore, haven't we all cosplayed at some time in our lives? 

Yep, that's me. Halloween 2010. 

Cosplaying

 TOMB RAIDER.