Oops, I stepped on your balls. Fandom vs. Familiarity Masturbation
Have you ever had the experience where someone goes “Hey, what did you think of [movie]?” and you, being honest, go “Oh yeah, that movie sucked.” Then the person’s smile slowly fades into a sober “Oh yeah, well, I thought it was ok. What didn’t you like about it?” Ouch.
What the hell do you do at this point? Some part of me wants to rip into the movie and analyze it down to a nub of its former self, ultimately the purpose of which is to make the other person cry. Some part of me wants to surrender in favor of camaraderie, backpedaling “sucked” into “I have loose opinions against specific elements.” Of course, me being the chick magnet with asshole-to-nice-guy ratio of 60% nice, 40% asshole, often go with some sort of in between route. The movie still sucked, but there were scenes that were “entertaining.” I use the old standby: “That one character/scene was funny/awesome.” Even the shittiest of movies have something entertaining (ok, maybe not the shittiest, watch some direct-to-dvd independent films, mmbleh).
Often, I feel pretty good about my ability to sidestep social awkwardness, allowing for a generous dosing of compassion for people I’ve just met. In the situation described above, there’s of course the point at which the other person describes what they liked about the movie, maybe even acting out some part. But then a funny thing happens, often the person stops talking about the movie, but still thinks they are. I mean this as in they’re talking about themselves and other related things, but they think they’re talking about the movie.
Let me explain. Fandom (as bastardized from fanaticism) can loosely be described as an intense yearning to experience and re-experience a specific performance/art because of its quality.
However, this isn’t the type of enjoyment many people talk about when describing what they liked about a movie. Often, people enjoy movies/books/whatever because of familiarity masturbation. It’s starkly different from being a fan of the work. Familiarity masturbation arises when you say you like something simply because it’s familiar, or it espouses an idea/style similar to something you’re more familiar with.
For example, many people talk exclusively about comic book movies using terms of familiarity masturbation. They’re more interested in the work being something similar to what they already know and like than in actually being good. This is fine when what they’re familiar with and what’s “good” are the same thing, but it’s an abomination when they differ.
The problem stems from the fact that people enjoy things (like comic books) for a whole load of reasons, most of which are based in unreasonable subconscious balancing, projections of their own inadequacies. This is fine. But when that book/play/comic they like is adapted into a new piece of work, they judge that new work based on context-removed elements that are of little or no value, but which the fan identifies with as “quality.”
Here’s an example. Batman Begins is judged against “Dark Knight Returns”. Because it resembles it in many surface way, such as the car, the “dark look,” the brooding character, it is therefore judged as good. A lot of retorts in defense of Batman Begins involve a belief that only a true understanding of “Dark Knight Returns” and other arbitrarily chosen uber-canon allow for a legitimate opinion of the film. Notice how many “fans” of Batman Begins cling onto its connection to previous canon as if they were absolute indicators of its quality.
The problem is, these people aren’t enjoying the film. They walk out and go “That film was great.” But they’re not really even paying attention to the film itself. Instead, they’re enjoying the thrill of being able to say “That’s familiar, that’s what I like,” or “I knew that before it even showed up on screen,” or “Now everyone will get it right, this is the true depiction,” This isn’t enjoying the film, this is masturbating over how familiar something is.
“But shouldn’t people be allowed to judge a film based on their connection to it?” That’s not what I’m talking about. In fact, familiarity masturbation is the exact opposite of personal connection to a film, it’s connection by proxy, filtered through an idolized external medium, then reappropriated as personal preference. It has nothing to do with personal connection, in fact it’s a rejection of the value of personal preference.
Why do people do this?
I think people do this because they feel compelled to create objective rulers of quality and judgement. When watching a Superman movie, they compare it against prior versions of Superman they’ve encountered and are familiar with. When it differs, that’s “bad,” when it’s similar, that’s “good.” This is a lot easier than coming up with more ethereal personal subjective reasons as to why something is good or not. It’s more difficult to say “The story was strong, tight, and compelling for these reasons…” than it is to say “It was exactly like the book, let’s go jack each other off!!!!”
In short, people do it because they’re scared. Scared of creating an opinion they’d have to explain. Oftentimes, I’ll explain the subtle intricacies of how a story worked or didn’t, and somebody will answer with “Yeah, but why?” After some prodding, I realize what they’re really asking is for me to reference some previous comparable piece of work. They’re trying to enforce familiarity masturbation as the only legitimate ruler of quality.
Well it’s not. Putting your opinion out there based on what you understand to be compelling or not in your gut is scary, but it’s very powerful. It defines you as a unique person, who takes chances, is brave and noble. When you enjoy something and give your opinion, your heart soars, you feel lifted, as if the world has become a better place to live in. When you don’t enjoy something and want to give your opinion, you think hard about what could have been changed, you do mental gymnastics to figure it out, learning all the way, becoming invested in making the story/movie/book/song/whatever better.
But when all you do is express familiarity masturbation, the world is an enclosed place, whether you enjoyed the thing you’re talking about or not. Possibilities are built on top of precedence, unknowns are scary, and since most of the world is unknown, you’re scared most of the time.
In defense against the world, many of these people hoard their structures of “objective authority,” becoming familiar with every facet of a character or franchise, in an attempt to create order out of the chaos so that when asked, they have rulers by which to speak authoritatively. We all know them, uber-nerds who can speak Klingon, know the name of every Pokemon, or can recite the yellow scrolling text of all the Star Wars movies word by word. There’s communities of these people in which there’s epic struggles to determine which things are authoritative over others. If Star Wars Episode 2 novelization refers to a Z-95 as having ion cannons, but Star Wars Incredible Cross-sections says Z-95s have laser canons only, WHO DO WE TRUST AND IF WE TRUST ONLY ONE WHAT ELSE FALLS INTO QUESTION AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!!?!?
I know, I used to judge about 98% of the world using familiarity masturbation. However, that was when I was 16, I’ve since moved on. But many my age and even older haven’t. With objective authorities to judge the world against: “Kevin Smith liked it so I have to too, but if I don’t what’s wrong with me, AHHHHH!!?!?!??!” many people are inclined to live their lives through proxy, never really having opinions of their own, but being compelled constantly by a celebrity interview, comic book release, movie release, video game release, book release, or heated internet debate as the only igniter to change their view of the world.
Of course, this is no new theory of the world. It’s a type of sheep mentality, but it’s extremely unique in one way: People who use familiarity masturbation to talk about work they enjoyed or not will always enjoy most things. Have you noticed that no matter how shitty a piece of shit movie is, there’s always somebody somewhere who speaks favorably of it, how it’s a true or better depiction of this or that thing. Have you noticed that often the newest edition of a movie is referred to by people as being “the best yet!”
This is a property of familiarity masturbation, the toleration of shittiness. After all, if the movie referred to specific familiar things, how could it be shitty? That’d mean those things were shitty too, doesn’t it, and how can Batman Begins be shitty if the car in it is cool??!?!?! That’d mean “Dark Knight Returns” is shitty and that’s IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!
We encounter arguments like this all the time when we’re trudging through the wilds of the internet, but perhaps it’s a good lesson. Don’t identify yourself so much with specific works, or else you end up sounding and being crazy. Don’t idolize a specific movie/book/character/whatever as being pure unmitigated goodness, or else you end up sounding and being crazy. Instead, just chill out, pay attention to the world around you, take small steps of bravery and let your opinion loose. Take chances, you enjoy work that takes chances, so go out and do the same and people will be inspired to follow.
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