Dealing with Fandom

While Twitter was down a few days ago, I thought I'd fill my time by having a thought.

I was and sort of still am a fan of Twilight. And when I say fan, I mean, I read the books and have watched all the films thus far released, and was rather enamoured by Mr Pattinson for awhile there (sorry Rob, Darren has just caught me... hook, line and sinker).

I entered the fandom feet first, having already been part of the Harry Potter fandom, so knew that I was about to enter obsession-level territory, where people knew anything and everything to do with Twilight.

And initially, in the honeymoon phase, it was a lot of fun. I've met some amazing people, who I am still friends with now through Twilight. Sue (@Roselover24) set up a blog, where Tanja (@TheycallmeT_) and me help(ed) out, then Jeannie (@gojeannie) joined in on the fun. I've even met some of them in real life, including T, and Skyped with those who are further afield (one day we will meet, Sue and Jeannie! ;) ).

In a way, Twilight was a replacement for Harry Potter in a sense that there was still a lot of new stuff waiting to happen. When I first read Twilight, Deathly Hallows had already been published so it sort of felt like there was a limited amount of stuff left.

But then the shine started to wear off.

And for me, most of that can be traced to one thing: hate of Kristen Stewart.

Let me clarify. Not my own opinion of Kristen Stewart, or any indivdual in particular but the fandom's hate as a whole.

Obviously, the recent "news" that Stewart cheated on boyfriend, Robert Pattinson has made me think about this but that's not what I want to talk about here.

I get it. Kristen Stewart is kinda like marmite. You either love her or hate her. But while I neither love her nor hate her, I lean towards liking her. I'm not going to go into reasons why, because a) that's not the point I'm trying to make, b) I can't really put a finger on it, and c) I can't be bothered right now.

But what always gets to me, is the seemingly unadulterated HATE for a girl/woman/person who is an actress by trade, a celebrity by the nature of that business.

Fine, you don't think she can act. Fine, you think she should "try harder" when talking to the media or whatever. Fine, you think she shouldn't be dating Robert Pattinson (cheating aside).

My point is, if you don't like her, maybe even hate her, why even bother wasting your effort on her?

Every tweet, every comment, every word you say about her, is another moment of energy you have wasted on someone you supposedly hate. If you don't like her, ignore her. Focus on what you do like, like Rob!

Over the past few days, my twitter feed has just been filled with bitchiness and hate.

There is one person I would hate to be right now, and that is her. Not only has her personal life apparently gone tits up (regardless of who's fault it is), but she is getting the mother of all shitstorms for it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning what she did, but I do wonder how it would have panned out if the tables had been turned, i.e. Rob cheated on her. (Considering how Kristen Stewart has previously been treated by Twilight/Robert Pattinson fans, I'd say the blame would have been put on her and she would have "deserved it". Just sayin'.)

This has what has put the nail in the coffin, so to speak, on my direct participation in the Twilight fandom. Initially, I got distracted by Darren Criss Glee, and the Glee fandom has it's own share of hate-mongering, but this Kristen Stewart hate seems to colour everything to do with Twilight now.

Fandoms are supposed to be places of fun. Places we go to talk about the thing we all have in common, a love for that thing. And unfortunately the Twilight fandom stopped being that for me.

Maybe one day, we can go back to enjoying what we initially all came together over... I look forward to that day.

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