It’s a Sunday night. In many homes across America, people are crowding around their T.V. to watch the latest football game. Some people have their faces painted in their favorite team’s colors while rattling off the names of their favorite players. Others are sporting a jersey and waving a towel over their head while they yell at the television. Among the crowd of sports fans, there is always one person who can give a long speech about the history of a team’s wins and losses.
This is normal and expected by our culture.
Let me paint a different picture for you. It’s still a Sunday night, but something much different is occurring. Some people are sitting down to watch their favorite T.V. show or movie. Others are curling up with their favorite book in a series. These people know an entirely different world filled with characters, plots, histories, backgrounds, and rules. They are time-travelers, mystery-solvers, fantasy-lovers, and sci-fi fanatics. They can rattle off character development and memorable lines like it’s nobody’s business. Others will dress up as their favorite characters and learn a different language.
According to society, these people are weird, nerdy, and unaccepted.
Why is it socially acceptable to paint your face and scream at players on a screen, but it is not socially acceptable to be incredibly passionate about a T.V. show, book, or movie?
How can people listen attentively to someone talk about a particular sports team and roll their eyes when someone talks about a book?
The answer: our culture sees sports as the standard norm.
Books, movies, and T.V. shows will continue to capture the hearts and minds of many people, and yet these people are crazy for loving a certain character or place. Is it not crazy to be a fan of a certain player or team? Isn’t wearing a jersey with a number and someone else’s name on it a little weird? Why is one type of fan better than another?
I’ll be the first to admit it; I am a self-declared Lostie (Hey "LOST" fans, we have to go back!) and a fan of Middle Earth. If someone mentions 4 8 15 16 23 42, or Bilbo Baggins, I will immediately strike up a conversation with that person. After a long day filled with stress and work, I enjoy traveling to the island, or curling up with "The Simarillion." If you wanted to talk with me about these things, I could go on about characters, theories, and interpretations.
I am not very different from the sports fan who watches a game every week and talks about her/his favorite players. The only difference between a sports fan and me is the subject of our interest.
Everyone has some escape from reality, and shaming someone’s interests simply because they are different is not acceptable at all. We are all fans of something, and it does not make sense to label which fans are more acceptable than others.
