It’s probably that I have a skewed perspective here, too, but this isn’t new to me. I’m thinking particularly of SGA RPS and punditslash here, both of which often wildly ignore the constraints of the people-characters lives to better serve the story. It’s something I’ve kind of just…gone with the flow with, at this point. It wasn’t that uncommon with popslash either, really, for which I am thinking primarily of Brian and Kevin’s marriages in BSB which were often handwaved away, or ended in divorce, or ignored entirely in service of the story.

The thing that is interesting to me about bandslash–the FOB, MCR, PATD, TAI, etc–is that it’s utilizing a number of the same premises that popslash was using, in the sense of exploring the friendships and the greater potential of the frienships as seen through a camera lens, but enacted by real people.

Bandslash, also, is drawing a lot of people that I associate with popslash, which is interesting itself, because with the dissolution of Nsync and BSB (for a time; they’re back together now, but it’s not enough to piece back together what was always a lesser half of the popslash fandom, bless their hearts) the fans went a number of different ways–not unlike Buffy, and eventually Angel, whose fans suddenly found themselves looking for something new to replace what the Jossverse ended. Where do all the fangirls go when the fandom loses its structure? I think that is, partly, at the root of the more multifannish trend that has been developing in fanfic-media fandom since about 2003, around the time of the loss of both Buffy and Popslash from their greater foundations.

Though please note that I speak to what could be a comparative minority–my fannish world is that of livejournal, of the ficwriters and readers and vidders and artists, but firmly entrenched in the world of creative fannishness. So my perspective is coloured from what I see at the production level. It may very well be different for other fannish folk.

I’m seeing a lot of overlap with popslash, comics, and media fandom, but a lot of names that are new to me, too. I think you’d have a better chance asking cimorene111 about the population, as she is reading both goodfic and plebefic, and I am working off of recs and del.icio.us for my reading, which obscures my view of Sturgeon’s 90%.

I’m unfamiliar with the term “emoslash” but it sounds awful. *g* And yes to the community identification being the salient aspect. I say I am in “bandom” or reading “bandslash” and so I am.

I’m interested (and personally slightly horrified) to note that almost half of MCR is married or long-term-partnered and they are still a huge RPS draw. That’s…unusual. Hello, fandom, and your ever-increasing lack of lines.

*shakes head* Sorry, serious sleep dep.

Are they memoried at your journal?

(And re: Nifty, I very much agree, as I would argue that while people who hang out at say, the Leaky Cauldron boards are a piece of Harry Potter fandom, they are not the Harry Potter fandom that I am speaking of when I say “fen.” I actually have not seen your arguments, regarding that, but I would be interested, particularly given Nifty’s bent as a porn-driven archive and the interesting ways in which porn, romance, and communal dialogue plays itself out in fanfic. Have you read Catherine Driscoll’s essay in Kristina’s book?)

Sorry I’m so tangential this morning.

I came around after the terminology had been established, but if I had to guess, I would imagine that it is because bandom is largely made up of a VERY young crowd. (I would guess at the median age being eighteen to twenty one. Young enough for me to feel ancient at twenty-six, which is new and different after eight years of being in fandoms with a contingent of women who could remember fandom before internet access.) The term “emo” clearly has negative connotations in a larger societal sense and I think, at eighteen to twenty, when people are still a little invested in taking themselves seriously, it’s hard to be associated not just with fandom, itself a marginalized community among the more intelligent, creative women (and some men) who tend to self-select into it, but a fandom based on bands that are largely frowned upon within the circles of higher culture. In other, less rambly words, “bandom” is more generic and more respectable.

But that’s just my guess.

I would say three places. There is actually a HUGE influx of previous popslashers who have been out in other fandoms in between that one and this one. I’ve seen a ton of names that I used to know in that fandom, and I’ve had a fair amount of people leave comments like, “I remembered you from popslash,” in their feedback to me. That said, I’m noticing a fair amount coming over from HP, SPN, SGA, some smaller media fandoms. It’s a burgeoning slash area, people are going to come from all corners. But, going back to the “wow, YOUNG,” thing, a fair amount of these girls do seem to be pretty new to fandom, if not wholly new. I would be interested in what MMWD has observed, since, of course, my beliefs about this are skewed by the fandoms in which I participate.

Also, why not stick with emoslash? Was there a particular problem with the term or just natural terminology shifts?

Finally, Arsenic, I know we’ve talked about that, but where is bandom drawing from as far as you can tell? Mostly straight up media fandom? Band fan newcomers? Any particular fandoms? MMWD? Any thoughts? Where’ve you seen your favorite writers before?

That said, I think the term “bandom” is tricky precisely for the fact that it is intensely contextual, and if one didn’t know better, “bandom” could easily cover something like Beatles fandom (which, yes, does exist). Then again, almost all of fandom is intensely contextual, so I’m unsure as to why this should be the point at which is sticks for me. Perhaps it is because I have had other fandom members–those deeply immersed in the language and context of fandom–ask me about the term.