xoxo, Aca-fan Girl

[fortfrolic]

Ah, the viewing party. I used to co-host weekly "Lost" viewing parties, but eventually we gave them up as the show started going downhill and haven't yet managed to organize them since its revival. The point is, I'm attending a "Gossip Girl" season finale party this evening, complete with dress code, and it's making me want to expand my

Comments

[cathexys]

Fascinating comment!

Did you see Louisa's GG In Media Res piece last fall? I think there may indeed be a lot of fannishness in that particular engagement (she's done work on fashion and Roswell as well), but its ties to consumerism more than anything else, I think make it a less easily classifiable fan activity....

[transgeneric]

(Louisa here...) Hi! and Yay for more acafangirls watching GG! (and btw, I didn't know about this LJ. OK if I friend it?

I don't completely agree with Cathexys here, as I'm sure she'll be unsurprised to find out :D Or rather, if I'm reading your comment right, cathexys, you're saying that engagement with fashion isn't fannish because it's consumerist? Since when are those things opposed? Yes, some fan communities value a gift economy in relation to sharing their own creations, but even those community-specific values don't exclude consumerism as one mode of identification with a text.

There's an article I found fascinating about Veronica Mars fandom and fashion in the Teen TV book--and yeah, way back in the day I wrote a paper on the Roswell Beauty Divas. To tell the truth, I found my way to fandom not via anything seemingly transgressive like slash, but because of my adoration of Maria Deluca's lipgloss. Ah, good times :D

My, I need to get some GG icons for this account....

[fortfrolic]

Thanks for the link- I have a friend doing similar work on branding and "The Hills," so I am familiar with the phenomenon and I know she'll want to read Louisa's piece too! (*waves to Louisa!* Of course you can friend! Love your GG piece!) Agreed that the emphasis on consumerism steers it away from fan activity as we know it, but as I've argued in the past for the benefits of HP's line of garb at Hot Topic as a positive way to "brand" one's fannishness, I think there's some room for argument here

[fortfrolic]

(Also, sorry for the two-comments-one-stone post...for some reason lj wasn't letting me reply to you guys separately...)

[enkeli]

TEA!! dude, that place looks awesome, frsrs.

definitely can't wait to hear tales from your gg finale party (and i think you should DEFINITELY go as chuck bass, gender be damned!)

[fortfrolic]

Yay! That's where we should go to catch up...maybe next weekend? We need to plan Terminus...

And alas, I would totally go as Chuck, but my wardrobe is not that awesome, nor does it include bow ties.

[transgeneric]

Now, does Forever 21 carry Chuck Bass ascots? Probably not :D Pity!!!

[fortfrolic]

Alas, no. And don't even get me started on tonight's panoply of amazing Chuck-wear...the flowered bowtie! The plaid sweater vest! Blair's traveling outfit! ...whoops, got distracted there for a minute, but seriously that hat of Blair's made me squeal aloud.

Vanessa's dress for the wedding, on the other hand...dude, little J must hate her, that thing was hideous. Very few can pull off neon orange+tutu at a black tie affair.

[cryptoxin]

That's interesting, I'd tended to think of the "space" of cosplay as conventions and similar fan gatherings in public spaces, rather than living room viewing parties -- but your description of this as "the fan-lite version of cosplay" makes sense. Especially since Gossip Girl is both theme park and tutorial for costumes and dressing up (e.g., the masked ball episode).

Have fun!

[fortfrolic]

Exactly- public/private space is another key axis I neglected to mention, so I'm glad you brought it up. Sure, us gals all got dressed up to watch GG tonight, but I can safely say that I haven't ever dressed up like Leia to watch "Empire" in my living room with other SW fans. Could what we did with GG tonight be considered "cosplay" by even the loosest definition? Probably not, in retrospect. This is due in part to the text in question- even if I ran out tomorrow, dyed my hair brown, copied Blair's outfit down to the Christian Louboutins, and so on, I don't think many would call it cosplay

[demzbebe]

I dearly hope you'll excuse my random teleportation-esque pop-in, but I happened on your livejournal through an equally random process, and skimmed. Normally, I keep it to skimming, but the things, opinions and juxtapositions I'm finding in here are utterly fascinating and truly, just what I've had a closeted, BURNING interest in the moment I touched Any Fandom's dark, oft distorted waters. You've singlehandedly kept me up for two hours already, and I blame you with much joy! I know it's silly to thank someone for their profession, but it's the first I've seen of its kind. You've let me see that... well, there is a profession to be had (or to include) exploring what I love! Your drabbles and thoughts are wonderful to read, so thank you for contributing an obviously brilliant voice to this nearly-unresearched corner of culture-evolution

[fortfrolic]

Sheesh, you're making me blush! I can safely say I've never heard my vocab described as "liquidy" before, I feel like I should put that on my CV under "special skills." :) Seriously, though, the aca-fan blogging community has an abundance of people tossing off really brill ideas on their LJs, and I'm frequently inspired by them.

No need to excuse yourself, I love random pop-ins- the more the merrier around here, especially since about 90% of my posts seem to being about sending random ideas out into the ether and seeing what people (academics and fans) have to say on the subject. Stick around, would ya?

As for Comiccon, yay! I'm getting psyched, and would definitely love to run into you at some point...I think we'll be dressing up Saturday (I'll post if that's not the case), reference photo here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pebler/1794957309/in/set-72157602771160772/

See you 'round the lj 'verse.
-Suzanne