Obsession: A Personal Interview

In high school, I was told that an interview counted as a creditable source of information. What better way to get information than to go right to the heart of it! You got information you could use for your topic while getting some valuable lessons in what works best in conducting actual field work on an academic research level. I never thought I'd have to use it for a college paper. Shows what I know.

But with art, one doesn't just have to look externally for answers. Some of the most powerful art is produced when the artist looks internally. That said, I feel it is my obligation to answer my own questions I asked a few choice people to help me better understand obsessive fandom--or fan culture in general--in the Western Culture. (There's a wealth of information about Eastern obsessive fandom or otaku, but there's practically nothing on the Western side! In fact, we are all just footnotes for the Japanese in what I've researched so far!)

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1. What is the one thing in contemporary entertainment or media that you consider yourself a fan of? Please pick only one and be specific. (If it is a show, say the title. If it is a company’s franchise, say the franchise.)

I'm a fan of the animated media. To be specific, animation that deals with social issues that, while vague enough to be specific to just about every culture, are able to provoke a social commentary that you couldn't get away with in any other genre of entertainment. To be very specific, I am a fan of any animated show that is able to make a social, political, or cultural point through blatant in-your-face stories or contextual situations that masquerade as entertainment. To name a single show would be difficult, but for me right now, The Boondocks seems to be doing a damn good job of this.

2. Why are you a fan of the previous answer? What does it offer to you that brings you back to it time after time? Do you see anything critically negative about its offerings or the product itself?

I'm a fan of this because I come from a household that still believes cartoons are for kids. Exposing them to a mature animated show or something that is a violent as a live action film turns them off because of their preconceived perception of what an animated feature is suppose to be. So, in a way, I like it because the other members in my family do not.

What brings me back to these cartoons is how creative they can be in delivering their commentary. The Boondocks uses a very straight-forward approach, often introducing the subject they are going to talk about in the cold opening, as was the case this past week with the episode "The S-Word." South Park, in comparison, is not that straight forward but does bring up the question in the context of how the episode opens when a commentary on contemporary society wants to be made, like in the episode where Mr. Garrison becomes Ms. Garrison.

The only negative thing I see with these cartoons is that they tend to deal with subject matters that, while important, end up becoming ammunition for political platforms or ignored entirely. Rev. Jesse Jackson complained about how The Boondocks displayed a revived Dr. King in an alternate timeline using the word "nigga" over and over, calling it nothing short of blasphemy. Some two years later in season two, they address the use of the word only to not make any political press for their social commentary.

3. Is the previous answer the origins of your fandom? If not, what was?

Not directly. This fandom came when I channel-surfed on to The History Channel and saw their special on the social and cultural impact of super hero comics. I was drawn in by the subject matter. A few months later when I was a freshman in college, I had to do a report for Art History, and I couldn't come up with anything. I defaulted to the comic history and found out that the commentary isn't exclusive to comics, but is present in animated cartoons as well. It's only been recently that I've been able to pay attention to these kind of things, which makes watching cartoons I grew up with even more interesting to watch outside of their entertainment value. Catching a rerun of Scooby Doo causes me to think about the context in which that show was produced, why these characters even exist, and even some of the things that people read into them now that I didn't notice back then. Before now, I'd just change the channel because I didn't like the show's predictable pacing.

4. How much knowledge involving the universe, dogma, and/or trivia do you have in regards to your fandom of the product in question? Does it include appendix information not already present in the product? (i.e. information not given by the product itself as exposition, back story, or part of its mythology) If so, where did you obtain this knowledge?

I wouldn't say that I know a lot about how cartoons subvert hot button issues while still being able to make a social commentary about our culture, but I feel that I know enough to be aware of it when it happens. That being said, most of the information involving the subversion or creative communication of these topics came from learning two things: when the show was produced and what was going on at the time. Naturally, the closer you get to today, the easier it is to spot them. For most every other case, I just go by what I know in terms of general knowledge or by what is in the news at the moment until someone points out that there is more there than what I gleaned the first time around, as was the case with The Boondocks episode commenting on hateful rap songs where there was a throw-away scene about how a rap video being aired caused an increase in senior citizen beatings.

5. Are you able to relate your fan-based knowledge to seemingly unrelated academic knowledge and/or subjects? If so, please provide an example.

That kind of goes without saying, as you can't talk about these kind of cartoons without bringing up academic knowledge that doesn't seem to relate at all to them.

For example, you have the silent black-and-white cartoons like Felix the Cat, the early Mickey Mouse shorts, and the recently released Oswald the Rabbit cartoons. These cartoons were produced during Dadaism, an art movement characterised by its own irrationality. The cartoons of that time can be seen as Dada art pieces thanks to their sight gags like Felix fashioning a lasso out of a question mark he just thought up, Mickey using the steam clouds as steps to get to the window above him, or Oswald detaching and kissing his own foot for good luck. I think the Out of the Inkwell series is said to be the closest thing to a Dada cartoon in the entertainment sense, as a cartoon clown is born not by an animator's pen, but spontaneously from an ink well that's on his desk.

6. Be honest. How often do you exhibit your fan knowledge in everyday conversation? Do you often relate events or subjects in real life to a similar situation directly related to your fandom or the product you are a fan of? (Ex. “Your new boyfriend acts a bit too much like Joey from ‘Friends.’”) To what level of obscurity are these references? Are they within the arena of general knowledge or exclusive to the fan base? (Ex. “It says we need to put these objects around a powerful magnetic poll… like Roman Polanski.”)

I don't display this knowledge that often in everyday conversation unless the topic comes up. If it is the day after an episode of The Boondocks that I feel is very creative in how they communicate a sensitive issue, I'll probably bring it up the day after I see the episode.

Due to the nature of how these cartoons work, I generally don't refer to them when talking about similar situations. It's often the other way around. Because they are already making a commentary about something that is going on in our society, it's very difficult to bring that around to a similar situation since that is what they are drawing the content from. There are some exceptions like when a person exhibits characteristics of a character from one of those cartoons. But I personally have yet to make such a reference. At least to my knowledge.

The level of obscurity the information is depends on who I'm relaying it to. In general, most people don't get what I'm talking about unless they've seen the cartoon or are familiar with it to some extent. But this only applies to the cartoons that I talk about. The subject matters they make commentary on, however, are readily know, and more often than not, the other person knows more about that subject than I do.

7. In your opinion, how do people generally react to you using your fan knowledge in real life conversation?

I believe I haven't had the proper chance to find out the answer to this question. Whenever I bring up my knowledge on the subject, it is mostly in explaining my interest and providing an example or in the context of academics. The first of these probably being closest to a real conversation, to which I would say that the reaction is favorable interest. Meaning that it sounds cool to them and it gets them to know what I'm interested in, but that's about as far as it will ever go. They probably don't want me to explain sexual undertones of Wonder Woman or how Family Guy can get away with turning a taboo subject like Prom Night dumpster babies into a Bing Crosby song and dance number.

8. Has anyone pointed out a possible personal need to relate everything to your fandom? (Ex. “Can we please get through at least one movie without you bringing up a super hero reference?”)

Not unless you count the time they pointed out my insistence that cartoons are still being seen by a unconfirmed majority as "just for kids" when trying to elevate my knowledge.

9. To what extent does your fandom involve consumerism activities? (Ex. Buying tickets, pre-ordering special or limited edition printings, collecting merchandise, etc.) Have you ever or are you currently constructing a product that cannot be found in the consumer market? If so, why?

I have The Boondocks on my Amazon Wish List, along with some other things like books and DVDs. They are marked as Personal Interests if you care to take a look (or even buy them for me). Of my recent consumer activities, I cannot say that I've been as active as I should be. So to that extent, my consumerism involvement with this fandom is limited.

Can't say I've gone as far as to construct products that relate to my fandom with politically and socially charged cartoons outside of the context of an assignment. Never really had the drive to explore that, both personally and artistically. That said, chances are I'm doing just that right now and is completely unaware of it.

10. Looking back at all the answers given, would you personally say that your fandom is compensating for something you are lacking? If so, what and how? If not, why? Please be honest and critical in thought.

Personally, I wouldn't say this knowledge and my fandom is compensating for something so much as it is causing more of a social impotence. In other words, the more I like this stuff and look into it, the more of a distance I create socially with others. I don't believe the knowledge and fandom is replacing this lack of social ability either, as I'm clearly able to talk just fine to anyone that is able to hold a conversation. In this sense, my fandom isn't compensating for something I already lack.

So why do I think this? This knowledge and fandom hasn't opened any new channels for me. I have not benefited from knowing that Hello Kitty is the commercial embodiment of Orwellian Uptoianism or that Neon Genesis Eva is a wake up call to otakus saying that you cannot save the world any more than you can save yourself from total annihilation. At least on an emotional level, which is what I believe this kind of compensation is suppose to do: make you feel better about yourself. If anything, I feel the exact opposite. It's great that I have this knowledge now, but now I can't enjoy any cartoon I watch without seeing the gross stereotypes in something like Numbah 4's obsession with the Rainbow Monkey plush toy line being similar to kawaii culture in Japan.

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I should point out that I constructed this interview not for the intent of gauging one's level of fandom, but rather to get perspective as to how deep or shallow some fans are. It was designed with the hope that something said will give me a direction to do some academic research in order to get information for the Western side of obsessive fandom. Oh, sure, I could rent the Trekkies documentaries, but that film is so focused. At least with all the research I've done with the otaku/Japanese/Eastern side, I'm getting a broad spectrum of what the different kind of obsessive fandom there are within the subculture. Almost to the point where even the members of that subculture no longer feel they are members of it anymore! The Western side doesn't have that umbrella of an introduction to the obsessive fans of the US. Which means I'll have to make it from my own observations.