Like the nerd I am, I went with eight of my friends to go see the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. I would go on about that movie and how it relates to the book, but I'm not and for two very good reasons:
1- I haven't read the book since it came out years ago.
2- I had been up at that point for eighteen hours without sleep (and only about four hours of sleep from the previous night) and thus can't remember most of what occurred.
I do, however, remember the people. I donned my own nerdism cloak I made back for the fifth book release. It was a yard of black fabric that I literally clipped to my shirt with a service pin I received in high school. No, it was not the best costume, but it was my flowy-cape and I loved it. If I still worked at Walgreens, I would have used henna to put on my usual Dark Mark. However, I had to forgo that because I was (am) still looking for a job. Ah, the unemployed. There were others like me who just did one piece of clothing signalling their loyalty to the Potter Fandom (or franchise, but we'll get to that). I saw several shirts and jewelry. I think I even saw one person with obviously dyed red hair and nothing else. The wizard-being-muggle look.
Among these fans were also those who made their costume. One person had painted (yes, painted) the front of his clothes to look like Harry's school uniform from the first two movies. The back of his clothes represented when the cloaks were apparently no longer part of the school uniform (thanks, A.C., for fucking up my movie). Either way, his costume was inventive and he wasn't the only one who obviously hand-made his outfit.
Others that walked around truly irked me. They had purchased their outfit and while normally thing would not bother me, they all looked the same. Every single one of them. I watched as seven identical Gryffindor scarfs passed me before making a comment to a friend of mine that it was so hard to spot the die-hard fans anymore. She mentioned the Harry Potter park and I felt like an idiot. I live 20 minutes away from the damned place, of course.
Don't get me wrong, I adore what Universal has done. I love that there's a park where I can go geek out at. I haven't been because I'm not one for crowds and I'm waiting for them to hopefully even out, but I know that's a big wish. I don't think the crowds will ever thin out there. Insert irritation here for them rejecting my application to work there (I truly believe I angered my recruitment agent by knowing more than she did).
My love for the park aside, I dislike it. This sounds so shallow of me and I admit that, but I do not like the fact that just any old passing fan can go in and buy a wand or a uniform or chocolate frogs. One scarf costs $35 -- a ridiculous price now that they're so readily available. And now I see them everywhere. What happened to the days when you'd spot one and be thrilled because oh my god! There's another fan! Or you would go to a movie/book premier (not like there will be any more) and spot a bunch of people who hand-made their outfits because there wasn't anywhere cheap to buy them? Or the people who bought wands from various online stores?
My wand sits in my china cabinet, next to all of my Stitch things. My tacky cape and tie is hung in the closet next to my other costumes. I miss when I could turn and spot a rabid fan because of what they had. It felt intimate, like a community that you had to work at to be part of. Now? Hell, now I feel as if I'm in the middle of "the next best fad" that people expect to phase out in a few years.
Who knows, maybe it will phase out. And when the "fad" phases out, I can go back to spotting the real fans. Those who made their scarves and their cloaks. Maybe we'll have a sign to recognize each other by (Star Trek has their "Live Long and Prosper" hand sign and Star Wars has their "May the Force be With You" slogan). We, the die-hard fans, should have one. And I don't mean by running around pretending we're British -- that just makes us look like idiots.
Some day, in the future when I'm 50-years-old, maybe I'll pass by a teenager and we'll flash our little "Potter sign" at each other. I can only hope.
I know what you mean. I have the same experience with going to conventions. When I started going it was such a crazy experience. The things for sale were one of the biggest draws. Bootleg VHS tapes were big business. The bootleg version of "Aliens" was a standard item. People ran major enterprises just by having a Laser Disc player and bank of VCRs. There was no way the average person could make copies of tapes. Laser Disc players were so expensive that only the richest nerds had them. Without E-Bay, or being able to download anything with a torrent, conventions were the only place to find nerd treasures.
ReplyDeleteThere are still cool things to find at cons, but you can find 99% of them online now. A person who had attended a con was the envy of all his friends. They would have had access to things the other nerds could only dream of. Now there may be jealousy but not for the same reason.