Things you were into before they became popular

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Just to come back on this point, I do think there is a case that can be made about different media.

I agree, an uber fan would most likely be a fan of everything associated with a subject. That said, to take your examples of LOTR and Harry Potter, the movies do somewhat exist in their own space. There's a bigger debate about faithfulness to the source material and whether these are the same characters even.

Perhaps the biggest example of this is Game of Thrones/ASOIAF. For years there were a group of fans of the latter who created websites and theories etc which was blown open by the TV show. A new mass audience came in and for the first 5/6 seasons of the show book readers and lore enthusiasts were ahead of the show-only watchers. This created somewhat of an elitism complex which has stayed as the book fans still hold onto ASOIAF even today to describe what they are talking about. The sophistication debate between visual and written mediums is a very old one, but still very prominent today in some areas.

In my experience, book readers and lore enthusiasts get most disappointed by the TV shows, especially when they divert from the source/historic material. Always watch first and read later!

Harry Potter is a strange one, or was at the time, because the films are basically just the books filmed. And that isn't (wasn't) normal. Far more common is to take the source material and strip the elements you want from it and then create something new in a different media that may or may not be "faithful".

To give an example: I like both the book of The Silence of the Lambs and the film. But one is not a faithful copy of the other. For the sequel a few years later the film actually altered the ending of the book (for the better). Whereas I wrote a thing at the time that the first Harry Potter came out saying (entirely truthfully) that I'd been able to time a loo break because it was possible to work out what was coming up and how long it would take.

But to stick with the thread. A few years ago on here I asked for anime recommendations and Cowboy Bebop was suggested. I absolutely love it. There is now a live action version on Netflix (alongside the anime). It's sitting *inside the Top 10* on Netflix and a fair number of the anime enjoyers are livid online that people are watching it without having seen the original as, apparently, they shouldn't be allowed to enjoy something without having done all the homework.

My view? I'm really enjoying the live action version and hoping that it leads more people to watch the anime too. On this: the more the merrier.

[gingerjon]

17 hours ago, Derwent said:

I was possibly the first person to buy Linkin Park’s debut album Hybrid Theory. In October 2000 I was in Paradise record store in Santa Barbara browsing, it was the time when bands like Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach were popular, and got talking to the lad behind the counter about music. He told me to have a listen to this album by a new band called Linkin Park and gave me some headphones to have a listen. This was on Monday morning and I was flying home that night but the album wasn’t being officially released until Tuesday and they couldn’t sell them until then. So the lad let me take one and said he’d put the sale through the till the next day. To this day it remains one of my favourite albums.

Okay, you win.

This is the coolest post on here.

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Harry Potter is a strange one, or was at the time, because the films are basically just the books filmed. And that isn't (wasn't) normal. Far more common is to take the source material and strip the elements you want from it and then create something new in a different media that may or may not be "faithful".

To give an example: I like both the book of The Silence of the Lambs and the film. But one is not a faithful copy of the other. For the sequel a few years later the film actually altered the ending of the book (for the better). Whereas I wrote a thing at the time that the first Harry Potter came out saying (entirely truthfully) that I'd been able to time a loo break because it was possible to work out what was coming up and how long it would take.

But to stick with the thread. A few years ago on here I asked for anime recommendations and Cowboy Bebop was suggested. I absolutely love it. There is now a live action version on Netflix (alongside the anime). It's sitting *inside the Top 10* on Netflix and a fair number of the anime enjoyers are livid online that people are watching it without having seen the original as, apparently, they shouldn't be allowed to enjoy something without having done all the homework.

My view? I'm really enjoying the live action version and hoping that it leads more people to watch the anime too. On this: the more the merrier.

I think people enjoy exclusivity, and books tend to offer that more over TV/Movies. As do other more niche media like comic books or anime. Particularly common in America I feel, where knowledge (rather than intelligence) is given greater social status.

As with anything I think we only hear the narks more because they shout loudest. Most ASOIAF fans will be happy there are now more of them because of the TV show.

Perhaps the opposite way would be Killing Eve and James Bond. Nobody shouts about how they were a book fan first, because the books aren't great (alright in KE but pretty poor with Bond) and in truth the TV/Movies have outgrown and become superior to them.

The Witcher is weird as there are now 3 generations of fans. Books, Games then now the Netflix TV show. Each seems to have this initially awkward relationship with the latter.

[gingerjon]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

The Witcher is weird as there are now 3 generations of fans. Books, Games then now the Netflix TV show. Each seems to have this initially awkward relationship with the latter.

I guess another example would be 'Arcane' on Netflix which, again, I'm enjoying but I barely even understand what League of Legends is and have no interest in finding out.

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

I guess another example would be 'Arcane' on Netflix which, again, I'm enjoying but I barely even understand what League of Legends is and have no interest in finding out.

Yeah exactly. I suppose the biggest one we've missed is the (Marvel) Superheroes.

20 years ago they were a bit of a joke. Movies that flopped or were panned, and the content being derided as just for kids or nerds. (Only XMen held out against this I think). Now, they're pretty much all blockbusters with serious actors and a massive cultural influence. And the fanbase has all the snobbishness of any other towards those without the deeper knowledge.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

Yeah exactly. I suppose the biggest one we've missed is the (Marvel) Superheroes.

20 years ago they were a bit of a joke. Movies that flopped or were panned, and the content being derided as just for kids or nerds. (Only XMen held out against this I think). Now, they're pretty much all blockbusters with serious actors and a massive cultural influence. And the fanbase has all the snobbishness of any other towards those without the deeper knowledge.

You made a very valid point about some fandoms/cultures appreciating knowledge/ownership far more than they value enjoyment.

[Guest]

What is ASOIAF?

[Futtocks]

23 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

What is ASOIAF?

He plays at prop for the Melbourne Storm.

[Shadow]

41 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

What is ASOIAF?

The original books that Game of Thrones was based on were called "A Story of Ice and Fire"

 

[Mumby Magic]

Bradford Bulls