(no subject)
HOLY CRAP IT'S BEEN A WHILE. How're you doing, Livejournal? I still go here pretty much every day, I just don't post much because…well, because so many people have gone. Man.
That being said, I thought I might post about my new project here! I'm writing an article about Star Wars Prequel fandom and how it appealed to teenage girls. It's based on this post I did on tumblr, a while back. Here's what I said over on That Other Website:
Star Wars is in the media even more now and I want in! So I’m going to be rewriting that (badly written) original post for Newshub – a whole article about teenage girls and their participation in Star Wars Prequel fandom. Y’know, something to counteract the constant “Male Comedian Absent From TV As Of Late Denounces Star Wars Prequels” articles that’re everywhere.
But I need participation! Like there was on the original post. I want your stories, teenage and ex-teenage girls of the Tumblr Star Wars fandom. Tell me how you bought the sticker albums and t-shirts, tell me about your first cosplay, tell me what it was like navigating theforce.net back in those days. (Actually, I know that one. But tell me anyway.) Tell me if you ever found any merchandise aimed at you. Definitely tell me about the fanfiction community at the time, I was there, but I still missed a lot. If you didn’t like the prequels but still have a good story about being female in the Star Wars fandom, tell me that story too!
(Oh, and also tell me what name and URL you want to be used/linked to – I figure most people will want their Tumblr URLS, but let me know.)
As you may have guessed I can offer zero money to anyone, but I can offer a fun platform for people to talk about Star Wars. So there’s that. I can’t promise I’ll use all stories/quotes either, but I’ll try!
I know there are a couple of Star Wars fans still on LJ! So if you're one of them, maybe leave a comment here and tell me your story, or a snippet of it? It would be VERY much appreciated! :)
August 20, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
If by prequel fandom, are they including Clone Wars and Rebels from tv? Because I give Clone Wars as the best reason for the prequels existence, but most of the teenagers and younger fans i’ve been around haven’t seen the prequels, just the tv stuff.
August 20, 2015 @ 10:52 pm
Ooh yes, definitely share good tv-fandom stories if you have any! The Clone Wars has a really nice, devoted fandom too.
August 20, 2015 @ 10:22 pm
Hi!!!!! I think the pinnacle of my teen fandom years (10 years ago, eep) was the ep III premiere w all 6 movies shown back to back! I had won tickets, travelled to London dressed up in a Darth Vader costume (for 8 year olds) & skipped an AS General Studies exam to go to it (priorities).
August 20, 2015 @ 10:51 pm
Awww man that’s cool! I went to Episode 3 on the day it came out, too. I didn’t skip anything overly important except revision for my exams, but I still saw it before a lot of people and I was SO HAPPY
August 21, 2015 @ 2:16 am
Most of my Star Wars feelings belong to Princess Leia, but I definitely remember the prequels. That was before I got into fandom, but my brother loved them when we were kids so I’ve seen The Phantom Menace a lot of times. I was in grade school when they started coming out and whenever we played Star Wars I always wanted to be the Jedi Temple Librarian. There was definitely merchandise aimed at me! I had Queen Amidala Barbie dolls, and a paper doll set, and a Christmas tree ornament.
August 21, 2015 @ 3:22 am
I was well past my teen years when I got into the prequel fandom :) but I will happily link this in jedi_news! I miss the Glory days of SW fandom on LJ, when fanfic and RP was abundant.
August 21, 2015 @ 1:25 pm
Same here. I was well past my teen years when the PT came out. I didn’t even get into the fandom till 09. I’d be happy to pass along info on your project, though. Also, if you are on quiobisupport you might want to post there too. Many ppl stil check that comm, even if they don’t post and I do update it pretty regularly. Good luck. We definitely need positive voices about the PT. Not haters. xx
August 21, 2015 @ 5:05 am
User luminations referenced to your post from Volume One Hundred Twenty-Six, Issue Twenty saying: […] tions/Reviews – is looking for teenage girls’ input on their experiences in the prequel fandom […]
August 21, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
I remember you used to make the best icons! Do you still? I miss the days of checking jedi news and seeing all the great PT icon sets, especially TPM. And the fic and just general buzz. I don’t think ppl have moved on from the fandom, just LJ. :-(
September 7, 2015 @ 10:17 pm
OH MAN I NEVER GOT THIS COMMENT? Darn you, livejournal. Thank you very much. :D I am happy to report that the Star Wars fandom is still alive and well, it just moved to Tumblr! I’m on there under the same username, and I think a lot of other people are too, and it is just absolutely lovely and probably the nicest fandom I’ve ever been in
September 7, 2015 @ 10:23 pm
I’m on Tumblr too: http://quiobi-lover.tumblr.com/ I know your blog! xx
August 24, 2015 @ 6:30 am
Hi, here from jedi_news. How neat that you’re writing on the prequels — I liked them a lot and can give anecdotes, but I’m afraid teen years are far beyond me, ha, so here’s some general stuff. In ’99 I was busy with babies and family life and took my Youngest and some of his friends, all about age 9, to see TPM. I liked Jar Jar, what can I say, and the spfx blew me away. Padmé was fun. We walked out entertained, young and old. Youngest still has the Yoda and Jar Jar toys from Burger King, or wherever. I bought Jude Watson’s YA series for me and was charmed from Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Quest, and up to Last of the Jedi. Alex Wheeler’s series followed and entertained but was truncated at #6 out of a proposed 10 book series. There was online fandom, but I didn’t get online until ’06 and didn’t know about it because I hadn’t a computer. I didn’t buy any ‘zines. During ANH’s initial run, I saw it 24 times that first summer *blushes*, but at TPM’s time, I saw TPM in a theater once and not again until the 3D rerelease. Stuff marketed to me in ’77 at age 23 included trading movie cards from K-Mart that I bought packets of, trying to fill in the missing cards for my collection, what a completist, wow. I read the novelization, bought the Marvel comics, and wore a dark blue tee with the iron-on poster of Leia all sexied up in a slit skirt alongside Luke, you know the one, until the appliqué wore off, which took years. I bought ‘zines at $25-30 each, which were loaded with Luke/Leia romances, and speculations about who Vader was and how he got to be ebil. At ‘nostalgia’ shows, you’d go to a comics dealer and ask to see the box of ‘zines under the table; most of them were multi-fandom, with Star Wars, Star Trek, Rat Patrol and other popular shows’ fics all crowded together. They were illustrated, which was nice. Correspondence via snailmail took about 3 months turnaround in various ‘zine’s letters of comment (LOC) sections, and sometimes there were money glitches ordering ‘zines by mail, which was not nice. There were bizarre feuds via LOCs in a very slow fashion, human nature, I guess. This site, http://www.agentwithstyle.com/ has ‘zines for sale, as does ebay. AOTC: saw the film once in the theater, again with kids, read the novelization which I liked a lot, didn’t buy any tees or ‘zines but bought all the Dark Horse comics I could find, damn they were good. For the record, Christensen seemed sort of … homely? And gawky, but appealing enough. Obi-Wan turned me on more, though. Loved that mullet! ROTS: saw maybe 10 times at the theater? It was intensely sad all ’round, which appealed to me, as did Christensen who’d matured into a sexy beast. Still liked Obi-Wan, and him, and Padmé about equally. I considered the prequels as telling a whole story, and her character’s sadness over the death of democracy and her marriage’s end during a pregnancy seemed understandable. Bought Stover’s book; the unexpurgated audio version by Jonathan Davis; and ongoing comics. No tees or toys; a young friend made me a lightsaber at Disney World, a treasure hanging on the wall, and then Youngest bought me a Jedi bathrobe! Then I discovered online fandom in ’06 in this order: starwars.com, theforce.net, fanfiction.net, and livejournal, fandom’s basic home to my way of thinking. Nowadays: still mourning Star Wars: The Clone Wars and particularly <lj user="capslock_cw" and now and then Crack_Van. Am pleased enough by Rebels and the LEGO shorts, although the promised live action show turned me on more. I’ll see the sequels and related films. *whispers* After 38 years, my OT interest is at negative 1138. So good luck on your article! Fox Marie, AKA ijedi7 did a slash survey some years back that I participated in, and now does this site which is excellent. ijedi7 is a fun gal. Happy writing, pronker PS Revisiting fandom doings is fun!! Please let me know how your article turns out.
August 24, 2015 @ 6:32 am
Whoops, my comment with links got marked as spam!! I’ll PM and see if that works, otherwise oh well.
September 7, 2015 @ 10:19 pm
Hi! Alas, I don’t think I’ve had any PMs. Also, your icon made me LOL.
September 8, 2015 @ 1:25 am
Hi, here from jedi_news. How neat that you’re writing on the prequels — I liked them a lot and can give anecdotes, but I’m afraid teen years are far beyond me, ha, so here’s some general stuff. In ’99 I was busy with family life and took my Youngest and some of his friends, all about age 9, to see TPM. I liked Jar Jar, and the spfx blew me away. Padmé was fun. We walked out entertained, young and old. Youngest still has the Yoda and Jar Jar toys from Burger King, or wherever. I bought Jude Watson’s YA series for me and was charmed from Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Quest, and up to Last of the Jedi. Alex Wheeler’s series followed and entertained but was truncated at #6 out of a proposed 10 book series. There was online fandom, but I didn’t get online until ’06 and didn’t know about it because I hadn’t a computer. I didn’t buy any ‘zines. During ANH’s initial run, I saw it 24 times that first summer *blushes*, but by TPM’s time, I saw TPM in a theater once and not again until the 3D rerelease. Stuff marketed to me in ’77 at age 23 included trading movie cards from K-Mart that I bought packets of, trying to fill in the missing cards for my collection, what a completist I was, wow. I read the novelization, bought the Marvel comics, and wore a dark blue tee with the iron-on poster of Leia all sexied up in a slit skirt alongside Luke until the appliqué wore off, which took years. I bought ‘zines at $25-30 each, which were loaded with Luke/Leia romances, and speculations about who Vader was and how he got to be ebil. At ‘nostalgia’ shows, you’d go to a comics dealer and ask to see the box of ‘zines under the table; most of them were multi-fandom, with Star Wars, Star Trek, Rat Patrol and other popular shows’ fics all crowded together. They were illustrated, which was nice. Correspondence via snailmail took about 3 months turnaround in various ‘zine’s letters of comment (LOC) sections, and sometimes there were money glitches ordering ‘zines by mail, which was not nice. There were bizarre feuds via LOCs in a very slow fashion.. This site, agentwithstyleDOTcom/ has ‘zines for sale, as does ebay. AOTC: saw the film once in the theater, again with kids, read the novelization which I liked a lot, didn’t buy any tees or ‘zines but bought all the Dark Horse comics I could find. For the record, Christensen seemed sort of … homely? And gawky, but appealing enough. Obi-Wan turned me on more, though. Loved that mullet! ROTS: saw maybe 10 times at the theater? It was intensely sad all ’round, which appealed to me, as did Christensen who’d matured into a sexy beast. Still liked Obi-Wan and Anakin and Padmé about equally. I considered the prequels as telling a whole story, and her character’s emotional breakdown over the death of democracy and her marriage’s end during a pregnancy seemed understandable. Bought Stover’s book; the unexpurgated audio version jof it by Jonathan Davis; and ongoing comics. No tees or toys; a young friend made me a lightsaber at Disney World, a treasure hanging on the wall, and then Youngest bought me a Jedi bathrobe! Then I discovered online fandom in ’06 in this order: starwarsDOTcom, theforceDOTnet, fanfictionDOTnet, and livejournal, fandom’s basic home to my way of thinking. Nowadays: still mourning Star Wars: The Clone Wars and particularly capslock_cw and Crack_Van. Am pleased enough by Rebels and the LEGO shorts, although the promised live action show turned me on more. I’ll see the sequels and related films. *whispers* After 38 years, my OT interest is at negative 1138. So good luck on your article! Fox Marie, AKA ijedi7 did a slash survey some years back that I participated in, and as Carrie Reinhardt operates a popular culture websige which is excellent. Happy writing, pronker PS Revisiting fandom doings is fun!! Please let me know how your article turns out. I hope this second try goes through.
September 8, 2015 @ 1:26 am
Seems okay …
September 8, 2015 @ 10:47 am
omg, this is great. Thank you so much! I’m using snippets from everyone’s stories in quotes in the actual article (if that’s okay? I can link back to your LJ?), but the things people are saying are definitely informing the whole thing. It should be up…later today, I’m hoping! Thanks again. :D
September 8, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
Link away to pronker and you’re very welcome! Happy writing, pronker
September 8, 2015 @ 2:24 pm
Link away to pronker and you’re very welcome! Happy writing, pronker
September 8, 2015 @ 8:38 pm
Thank you very much! And……here is the article. :D
September 8, 2015 @ 9:08 pm
What a good read – it was informative and smooth, a real pleasure to promote the post@@! I liked how you included people who dabbled and people who really got into fandom. Casual fans are still fans! And there were a few familiar names, like truthtruthlie, I’m happy to say.
September 16, 2015 @ 9:49 pm
Thanks very much! I’m really glad and grateful to have got such a response. :D