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TA TALKS BACK: TWILIGHT FANS VERSUS STAR TREK FANS

Posted June 12th, 2009 By: 3 Comments »

TA staff member BeckyInPhilly compares Twilight fans to Star Trek fans….:

 

Twilight Fans Versus Trekkies by BeckyinPhilly

I read the articles from the Twilight Examiner and the Vancouver Sun and I couldn’t help but want to share my own opinions on the comparison of the Twilight and Star Trek fan bases and how the fans of both are portrayed. I fall into both fandoms having grown up in a house that loved and saw everything Trek as well as read the occasional book based on the characters and stories and also by having fallen in love this past summer with the Twilight Saga.

The comparison of the fan bases is interesting.

- The two are similar in their levels of fan devotion and in the mass marketing of products related to each series.

- Both have fans that will go to great lengths and do anything in the name of the series.

- Trek and Twilight have fans that want to connect so much that they have taken to holding huge conventions all based on the love of fictional worlds where people find nothing wrong with dressing up as their favorite characters in very detailed costumes.

- They both have fans that obsess over little details in the lives of their characters because they are so beloved that the fans want to know everything about them they can find out to make the worlds and people even more real then they already seem.

- Both have an international fandom – the whole world now knows the name of Star Trek and Twilight.

- They have become part of the fabric of our lives. How many jokes have you heard about Star Trek or Twilight and it’s fans? How many references to both have you heard in television and movies and books?

- The numbers of fans each fictional world has are staggering, numbering in the millions, so that are intensely devoted, others that are mildly interested and others that fall in between.

- Both Trek and Twilight also suffer from those that hate and despise their respective fictional worlds and their fans and have had those haters go to sometimes great lengths to hurt the fans.

Interesting also to compare what is the largely male fan base of Trek (I being one of those odd Trekkers that is human AND female…lol) with Twilight’s relatively female fan base. Trek is part of the science fiction realm. Its fans are usually characterized as males that are considered “geeks” or “nerds” and not seen as “cool.” Twilight’s fans are usually seen as young teenage girls that are swooning over a romantic but creepy vampire, and possibly just interested because Twilight is the “It” thing at the moment. But being where do I fit since I am neither a male geek nor a young teenage girl on the bandwagon? I’m an almost 30 year old woman that happens to enjoy science fiction AND good books and am eagerly awaiting the release of both a new Star Trek movie and the next movie from the Twilight Saga. I think the writer of the Sun article made the woman mentioned seem as if she were an obsessed teenager having to ask permission to spend money on Twilight and go on a set visit from her father rather then a mature married woman compromising with her husband on what to spend their money on. It made her husband seem as if he was simply letting his “little girl” play at a silly game. It felt very condescending to someone like me that is an “older” fan of the Saga, as if the writer was trying to make me feel silly about being passionate about a fictional world.

The writer and the person interviewed for the article, UBC English lecturer Gisele Baxter, also seemingly condemn the Twilight community for having websites devoted to Twilight, for wanting to connect with others that share our passion, and using the likes of Facebook and Twitter and MySpace to do so.

Baxter said, “Sharing information and thoughts about something like Twilight creates a feeling of involvement in the process, in this case of filmmaking.” Are we wrong to want to feel as if we are involved with something that represents our favorite fictional world and characters to the world? Would not have Trek fans, when the decision was made to make a movie based on the original TV show that had been canceled, have done the exact same things had the technology of the Internet been available? Of course! We all want what the world sees to represent the very best of what we love.

Baxter also says that what we are passionate about only stems from “In recent years the period of adolescence and adolescent cultural interests and styles has extended itself into adulthood. And knowing that so many people share your interest implies permission to pursue those interests even if they seem juvenile.” As if what we love is somehow less because it based on something originally meant for younger audiences and not grown adults? That we are acting in a juvenile manner because we love and adore these books and the actors that have brought them to life for us?

Someone commented on the article Examiner article that the Twilight fan base is crazier – I don’t know if that is really true. The Trek fans have been at this for a very long time, going on close to 40 years. I’m not old enough to remember what it was like when the show first aired, canceled and resurrected but I’m guessing the level of devotion and hunger for things like fanfic to continue the stories was at the same level of frenzy as it is now for Twilight. And have we ever successfully rescued a canceled TV show and breathed 30+ years worth of life into it? Now that is devotion. We (meaning Twilighters) as a fan base have only been at this for a few years and most of us (sadly including me) have only come to the fandom because of the release of Breaking Dawn (in my case) or because of the movie. And granted our fandom has a huge contingent of young female fans that squee at every sight and every sound from the cast members of the movie and goes insane and buys anything that is even remotely related to Twilight (I raise my hand to include myself in the buying of stuff…) does that necessarily equal crazy? I don’t think so. I think it’s more loyalty and a desire to show pride in what we love and a want to share what we love with everyone. It’s an eagerness to show love and gratitude and support to those portraying our favorite characters up on the big screen.

I don’t think the writer was fair in saying that all the fanfic written for both series is done by women and is mostly of a sexual nature. While those stories do abound, there are many amazing writers out there using these characters as a staring point for their own work. These writers are exploring many of the themes and questions the fans have about their favorite characters and trying to answer the “What if?” questions we’ve all thought about. With such rich characters the possibilities are endless. And I’d like to think that those writing fan fiction today are the great novelists of tomorrow. They are using these well-known characters and fictional worlds as a comfortable way to explore their own writing ability. I’ve had the pleasure to read many works of fan fiction and some rival Meyer’s own work and feel as if they could be just as a part of the story of Edward, Bella, and the rest of the Twilight world as what Meyer herself wrote.

Is it unfair to compare the two fandoms? I think so, even if on the surface it seems that we are a lot alike. Just as it is unfair to compare Twilight to Harry Potter. Each fictional world is vastly different from the other. But the comparisons are inevitable. When something becomes so popular with so much of the population comparisons will happen because of the need to try to explain why something is as popular as it is and why other things similar might not have caught on. Will the comparisons continue? Certainly. The world is already trying to figure out what the “next Twilight” will be. We as fans know there is no “next Twilight.” I can see the Twilight fandom continuing just as long is the Star Trek fandom has gone on and will continue in the years to come.

And Spock as the first modern pseudo-vampire? A sci-fi Edward or Jasper perhaps? Well, he is very smart and kind of pale and seems to have alien superpowers to humans…though our pointy-eared friend is not that romantic and is too logical to be something that at times is so animalistic and wild as a vampire…

…..except during Pon Farr, the Vulcan mating cycle……

…..hmmm…..

…..maybe…..

…..nah.

Live Long and Prosper. Be Safe.
Tink aka Becky in Philly

Sources:
-http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4908-Twilight-Examiner~y2009m4d18-Twilight-series-fans-like-Trekkies
-http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Adult+Twilight+fans+from+Nashville+Vancouver+search+Robert+Pattinson+Moon+gang/1503715/story.html
-http://twilightersanonymous.com/component/option,com_mojo/Itemid,/p,2360/

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  • Chelle

    Ok granted this is the first time for me to really be this dedicated to any kind of fandom. The whole thing is even bizarre to me, how I have to know everything that’s going on with Twilight. But one thing I really don’t appreciate is all this negativity and labeling of “fanatics”.

    So what if we’re older and like something that was meant for young adults? Age is all but a number. I don’t hear anyone complaining about all the adults that we see at Disneyland (which is one thing I will never outgrow myself). Maybe we like to lose ourselves in these books, shows, movies, etc. It’s my way of escaping my mundane everyday real life, and I just don’t see anything wrong with that. And there’s nothing abnormal about wanting to reach out to others who share that same fandom and the internet does make it possible. It’s a worldwide phenomenon, how else can we reach out to the rest of the world from our own little corner?

    And I would think anything that can brige a gap between parents and kids these days would be something to applaud, which we all know Twilight has managed to do. Teens most likely don’t need to ask their mothers to see this movie since their mom’s will be the ones dragging them to the theaters!

  • kijo921

    I agree! I mean, that’s like saying that ROCK AND RAP shouldn’t be listened to by any adults! C’mon, why does every medium of entertainment HAVE to have a target audience, and then when said target audience morphs into something else, people get their panties in a wad! So, why do all of these people have to write these derogatory comments toward a varied fanbase? Are they bored? Jealous? Maybe they just need a paycheck… that’s what drives most writers to write articles like the one mentioned in the above article. Anyway, I could care less what these people think. So what? I’m a Twilighter, Twimom, Twi-whatever… label me, because I… DON’T… CARE! It’ll never change my love of Twilight (and all things related)!

  • angela lopez

    Having an imagination, sense of humor and sense of adventure are the common elements in all these fan bases, and there is nothing wrong with that! The three transcend age, as in my own family both my daughter and myself are twilight fans. Recently, with the release of the new Star Trek movie, have my husband and myself rediscovered our joy in partaking the Star Trek adventures. My daughter and I both are anxiously awaiting the new Harry Potter movie, and are counting the days until New Moon. People who refuse to enjoy life aren’t really living, and should realize how much fun they are missing. Don’t worry twilighters, trekkies and Harry Potter fans – you are living!

 

 

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