Mono

Autorė: Rūta Buckiūnaitė

The Gatekeeper

Have you ever accidentally wondered into an unknown territory? You feel a bit scared but quite curious at the same time. The place is nice, so you start to look around to see what’s up. You find that the place has a lot of things that interest you. As you get more and more familiar you start to explore even further. You start to wonder if there are other people that have accidentally stumbled into this place as well. And that is exactly when you come across the castle of knowledge that has all the secrets and hidden gems of this, now familiar, place. But the castle is guarded by the Gatekeeper and they will only let you in if you know everything that is to know about this place.

“Oh, it’s this” — a new fan says. “No, it’s not” — an older fan says, “It’s this. How can you not know that? I’m not judging but are you sure you’re a real fan? Real fans would know this”. And then the “real fan” proceeds to explain their definition of what a “true” fan of that music group, that comic or show is. Let's say your intentions are good and you just want everyone to be on the same page. Even so, you still end up categorizing people as less of a fan simply because they don’t fit your definition.

What happens when you meet a fan that fits your definition, but they don't agree with your opinion? Let's say your definition is that “every “real” fan agrees that season five of this show was the best” but the other fan thinks differently. Well, then it's time to exclude that person from the definition. You end up changing your definition again and again to make it even more specific and every time it seems to cater and prioritize you even more. It's much easier to exclude people from your “true” fan definition than accept the fact that a lot of people can love the same things as you and not agree with your opinion. Eventually, you've convinced yourself that you're at the top of the hierarchy and only people you like can share your most specific “true” fan definition. If any of this seems familiar, then congratulations, you’re a gatekeeper. If not, well, you’ll get there eventually.

As someone who is in a music related fandom (hello to my fellow ARMYS out there!), I can say that there are no bad fans, just fans and not fans. And it doesn’t matter if you just got into something or you’ve been in the fandom for years, you are still a fan. Part of the beauty of being in a fandom is the diversity, the ability to create meaningful conversations about a thing we mutually love.