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break up with cons
Sep. 12th, 2018 09:31 amI had a twitter conversation two days ago with a guy who was complaining about AWA and how AWA has "lost its focus" because it has panels about things that aren't Japanese cartoons, and it should be about Japanese cartoons, and this loss of focus is awful. He worked himself up pretty good. "Fuck AWA directors" are the words he used.
I engaged with him- he's someone I know and am reasonably friendly with at the show. He's a good fella, generally. And the gist of what I told him was:
-the mythical "pure" AWA he's dreaming of never existed, there have always been panels that had nothing to do with anime.
-His twitter feed is filled with Power Rangers and screen shots of him playing some new Spider Man game and video games and tokusatsu and if there was a Japanese cartoon he expressed interest in, I didn't see it, so he should probably walk the walk if he's going to talk the talk
-if his feelings are "fuck AWA," then he should probably just stay home.
And this led to a long series of general tweets from me, condensed here:
==
guys, if you aren't having fun at a convention, it's OK to not go. It's all right if you want to break up. Everything will be OK. You'll get a free weekend, the convention will keep right on rolling, it's all good.
I used to go to Dragoncon and I found myself getting cranky and irritable, and I just said, why am I going? So I stopped. I quit complaining about how the show wasn't doing it for me and I moved on with my life. We're all happier.
Sure, I moved away from Atlanta so it isn't an issue for me any more, but there's a big show here every Labor Day weekend, and I don't have anything to do with it... because I know it's not for me, none of it is my thing. If that convention isn't your thing? Don't go. If it used to be your thing but it isn't your thing any more? Don't go. Take five minutes and do that cost-benefit analysis and see if you're getting what you want out of it, and if not, find something else to do with your weekend.
Nobody signed billion year contracts to attend or staff these things. We're allowed to have lives and experiences beyond institutional carpeting and harsh fluorescent lighting. We can listen to voices that aren't amplified through jury-rigged PA systems. But there's a fan expectation that if we do something once we have to keep doing it again & again, and that's not healthy. In spite of that expectation, we *don't* have to attend the same conventions every single year until we die (because we did nothing ever but sit on couches talking about conventions).
==
I feel like this guy I was talking to, he's getting older, he's not as interested in this stuff, he's seeing a lot of people at the show who are into things he's not into, and it makes him feel like he's not a part of the crowd any more. That's a normal feeling. It means you are growing and changing as a person, and that the convention itself is growing and changing. That's what things do, they grow and change. The definition of something that doesn't grow or change is 'death'.
So he doesn't like where the convention is going? Fine, don't go. Or get on staff and change that direction. Anything but whine, because that shit gets old. People you don't know going to a panel you won't attend about a thing you don't like does not affect *your* life in any way, shape, or form.
What he SHOULD do is start his own Power Rangers/tokusatsu convention in Atlanta so he can wallow in his nerd trough, wallow in the things he loves. It's not hard. Anybody can do it.
The thing is, I halfway agree with him - we've had to make a lot of sacrifices this year with regards to the schedule to work around the large musical acts that are performing. The convention is crowded and a lot of those people could give a shit about Japanese animation. You look at the AWA FB group and it's all people showing off their Walking Dead cosplay or their super hero cosplay or their video game cosplay and chatting about the photoshoots they're arranging off-site, the lobby of the Waverly is full of attention-whoring doofuses and stalkers with giant cameras lying on the ground for those arty upskirt photos. I'd rather have a much smaller convention with people that are actually interested in Japanese cartoons. But AWA is not my show any more, if it ever was, and either I can fret about what coulda shoulda woulda, or I can get on with my life, and I'd rather get on with my life and enjoy the things I enjoy.
I engaged with him- he's someone I know and am reasonably friendly with at the show. He's a good fella, generally. And the gist of what I told him was:
-the mythical "pure" AWA he's dreaming of never existed, there have always been panels that had nothing to do with anime.
-His twitter feed is filled with Power Rangers and screen shots of him playing some new Spider Man game and video games and tokusatsu and if there was a Japanese cartoon he expressed interest in, I didn't see it, so he should probably walk the walk if he's going to talk the talk
-if his feelings are "fuck AWA," then he should probably just stay home.
And this led to a long series of general tweets from me, condensed here:
==
guys, if you aren't having fun at a convention, it's OK to not go. It's all right if you want to break up. Everything will be OK. You'll get a free weekend, the convention will keep right on rolling, it's all good.
I used to go to Dragoncon and I found myself getting cranky and irritable, and I just said, why am I going? So I stopped. I quit complaining about how the show wasn't doing it for me and I moved on with my life. We're all happier.
Sure, I moved away from Atlanta so it isn't an issue for me any more, but there's a big show here every Labor Day weekend, and I don't have anything to do with it... because I know it's not for me, none of it is my thing. If that convention isn't your thing? Don't go. If it used to be your thing but it isn't your thing any more? Don't go. Take five minutes and do that cost-benefit analysis and see if you're getting what you want out of it, and if not, find something else to do with your weekend.
Nobody signed billion year contracts to attend or staff these things. We're allowed to have lives and experiences beyond institutional carpeting and harsh fluorescent lighting. We can listen to voices that aren't amplified through jury-rigged PA systems. But there's a fan expectation that if we do something once we have to keep doing it again & again, and that's not healthy. In spite of that expectation, we *don't* have to attend the same conventions every single year until we die (because we did nothing ever but sit on couches talking about conventions).
==
I feel like this guy I was talking to, he's getting older, he's not as interested in this stuff, he's seeing a lot of people at the show who are into things he's not into, and it makes him feel like he's not a part of the crowd any more. That's a normal feeling. It means you are growing and changing as a person, and that the convention itself is growing and changing. That's what things do, they grow and change. The definition of something that doesn't grow or change is 'death'.
So he doesn't like where the convention is going? Fine, don't go. Or get on staff and change that direction. Anything but whine, because that shit gets old. People you don't know going to a panel you won't attend about a thing you don't like does not affect *your* life in any way, shape, or form.
What he SHOULD do is start his own Power Rangers/tokusatsu convention in Atlanta so he can wallow in his nerd trough, wallow in the things he loves. It's not hard. Anybody can do it.
The thing is, I halfway agree with him - we've had to make a lot of sacrifices this year with regards to the schedule to work around the large musical acts that are performing. The convention is crowded and a lot of those people could give a shit about Japanese animation. You look at the AWA FB group and it's all people showing off their Walking Dead cosplay or their super hero cosplay or their video game cosplay and chatting about the photoshoots they're arranging off-site, the lobby of the Waverly is full of attention-whoring doofuses and stalkers with giant cameras lying on the ground for those arty upskirt photos. I'd rather have a much smaller convention with people that are actually interested in Japanese cartoons. But AWA is not my show any more, if it ever was, and either I can fret about what coulda shoulda woulda, or I can get on with my life, and I'd rather get on with my life and enjoy the things I enjoy.
