Good! Now that we’re all on the same page, let me back up a sec. I have fairly recently come to Outlander fandom. My previous all-in fandom was for the X-files, which started way back in 1993 before Twitter and Facebook were even a glint in the eyes of some parents who were about to birth a couple of genius d-bags. So that fandom experience mostly involved clunky chat rooms, occasional couples’ Halloween costumes, and archiving every last article written about the show in print form!
(Mags from 1995-1999. These are in my house. Do not get me started on my extensive X-files coffee mug collection, ‘cuz that’s just embarraskin’.)
In short, I mostly went it alone, or with a few friends, secure in my knowledge that among that crowd I WAS THE BIGGEST FAN.
Enter Outlander. I wasn’t very aware of the huge fan base when I started reading about a year and a half ago, and was super excited to fall into such well supported online fan venues. Little tiffs broke out here and there (Sam likes me best! No, he likes me best! [hint: he doesn’t know either of you from Adam, so STFU]), but what a great way to connect! And I made so many new friends who shared so many of my other high-minded interests (Stuart Reardon, beards, smutty books). Paradise!
Then I attended “Outlander invades LA.” This was my first IRL fan event. And it was really fun, but also very sobering. When one feels a very personal connection with something that then becomes a ‘public’ thing the results can be . . . well, weird. With an event like that, as with many others, the fandom is ‘ours’, which is a fantastic communal thing, but also sets up the dangerous definition of ‘ours’ as ‘not yours.’
It’s subtle, but hierarchies emerge: “I’ve read Outlander from the beginning.” “Sam retweeted my tweet.” “I have authentic Fraser tartan.” “I know what Compuserve is.” “I have ‘Tuluch Ard’ tattoed on my ass.” I admit, of all those, I can only claim one (hint: it’s the ass-related one). Which brings up an important question:
Who is Outlander’s BIGGEST fan?
I am here to definitively answer that for you: NOT ME.
Reading Outlander has changed my life in so many ways:
- Following the development of such a complicated and beautiful relationship has helped me better my relationships.
- Diana’s highly eclectic string of careers helped me see that it isn’t the end of the world to try something new, and inspired me to switch careers.
- It’s kindled my interest in Scotland – a country I basically never gave a second thought to –
- and kilts.
- And men in kilts.
- Especially men in nothing but kilts.
- And most importantly to me, Claire reminds me so much of my recently-deceased sassy-ass WWII nurse grandmother, that I get to feel like I’m spending time with her whenever I read these books.
But the series, and every last aspect of it, is not my be-all end-all. And I do have criticisms of the books and the show: Sometimes bagpipe music annoys me. I’ve seen the second episode, and am worried about the pacing over 16 episodes. I don’t understand why Sam’s eyes go a little crazy every once in while. I don’t think Cait has nailed the ‘JHRC’ yet. Kilts + ruffly shirts + shiny dress shoes + long socks = I hate that. Sam’s ‘hobbit hair’ makes me go blind. And so forth.
Crap! I just went blind AGAIN!
These are all feelings you may or may not agree with. So I think it is also important to say this: none of these criticisms impact my love of Outlander in any form. People who express other criticisms of the series do not impact my love of Outlander in any form. Period. In this, Outlander is still very much my own.
It is not surprising to me that the zenith of our fandom’s success (the show come to life), will potentially coincide with the nadir of the fandom’s ability to survive cohesively (yep, I’m using the fancy words). Feelings run high. Things are said. Snark is taken affront to. Feathers are ruffled. People become hurt and alienated.
Now, I’m not saying we all have to love each other and sit around, holding hands singing Kumbaya together,
not.gonna.happen.
but in an attempt to try to prevent this all from turning into some hellish high-school clique horror show, maybe we can agree on a few proposed guidelines:
- If someone says something on Twitter you don’t agree with, or has a tone you don’t like, take a moment to calmly express your feelings. If you don’t get satisfactory results, unfollow, and move on.
- If there is a Facebook convo that is filling you with rage, take a moment to calmly express your feelings. If you don’t get satisfactory results, turn off your notifications and GTFO for a while. It will pass.
- If there is a dustup on Compuserve, take a moment to calmly express your feelings. If you don’t get satisfactory results, do the Compuserve *eye roll* thing that Diana does, shut your dot-matrix printer down, and walk away. (Just kidding CS folks – you guys are the rock! Please don’t have me killed.)
- Most importantly, in any context, channel your inner-Elsa and “LET IT THE FUCK GO.”
Sing it, Cumberbabe!
‘Cuz here’s the MOST important thing: one of the goals of this show is to bring a whole NEW audience to the Outlander franchise. Which means there are going to be people exploring the OL fandom who are not batshit crazy about Outlander. They might think the accents sound fake, or that there’s not enough fighting, or, GASP, they might not think men in kilts are sexy!
“HOLY SHIT!!!! YOU ARE STUPID!!!” some people will say. And ‘poof!’ there goes a potential fan and down the drain, off to hang out with folks who can deal with the fact that they think the ‘demon’ costumes in Sleepy Hollow are kind of cheesy (guilty).
Is being totally right and supa-dupa-happy-face positive about all things Outlander to the exclusion of differing opinions really where we want to go with this? Because, if so, we’re kinda doomed in growing the fandom, which is going to seriously impact the ability of this show to get picked up for a second season. And I bet you all want to see the scene when Jamie sends Claire back through the stones – dontcha?
In closing, let me tell you a little story that you might find helpful in dealing with all the ‘opinion having’ that is happening.
I have a tweep, who I will refer to as “Boozin‘”. She thinks that Max is sexier than Will, and that David is sexier than Mal. In both of these things she is DEAD WRONG. However, I have decided to take the high road, only gently presenting evidence every so often that she has no idea what she is talking about, and should have her eyes and brain checked out by a trained professional. She resists, and we quickly move on to debating whether Ragnar or Rollo is the correct Viking to bang.
Is what we say. Then we laugh and laugh.
We are still great friends, and most importantly, my love of the Beautiful Bastard series, the Stage Dive books and Vikings on History remains unsullied. We all win, especially me, because I’m still right. There endeth the lesson.
Peace out.
