A Touch of Gray

[sleigh]

I hate to say this, but one enduring image I have of Worldcon is walking down the hall of one of the party floors and seeing a veritable fleet of electric carts parked along the wall. That seems emblematic of the graying of fandom and declining memberships at many conventions (Worldcons being among them). I found it also symbolic of how sf fandom, should it not want to die a slow and fading death, needs to learn how to be inclusive of younger fans, who might have different interests and tastes than ours. It would behoove us to remember that when we were the Young Ones, our tastes were also different than that of the Old Pharts of the time.

We need to embrace the differences and enjoy the discussions that result, not run away from them. At least that's my feeling. What's yours?

Comments

[jonhansen.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of the counterpoint of Disney, which now has large parking zones for strollers outside the various rides, with designated wranglers for each zone to keep them organized.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I think what you observed is more an indication of how technology has made life easier by making such carts cheap enough for the average fan who needs one. I love living in the future!

Here in Mpls, Anime Detour is a large (7K?) convention where the average age is around 18, according to reports. That's average. Convergence, also around 7K, doesn't skew that much older by my observation, but does have older fen as well as families.

So... how could Worldcons attract proto-fen and young fen? You've already missed the boat by not delving more into Harry Potter and other YA kinds of literature. Where our generation had writing contests and the Masquerade, the young whippersnappers have video blogs and Cosplay.

I might suggest, to keep our Old Ways (tm) while Passing The Torch (R), that Worldcons and such have mentor programs (young writers hanging out with established pros), a shift to media fandom (wrangling over "short form or long form" seems so 20th Century) and stuff for young kids to do.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

The Worldcon, and conventions as I know and love them, will die with old people's hands on the throttle. I used to think that the Hugos would move to DragonCon in the next 10-20 years, but now I think that they will be killed off rather than handed over to the young crowd.

There's far too many people invested in the past and acrimonious about their opinions for anything else to happen.

K.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

There's far too many people invested in the past and acrimonious about their opinions for anything else to happen.

Perceptive observation from someone smart enough to not be on The List That Shall Not Be Named...

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

There's far too many people invested in the past and acrimonious about their opinions for anything else to happen.

You may well be right, (and I've certainly seen examples of this firsthand with some of the recent turmoil within the CFG) but I still hope that's not the case. It certainly doesn't have to be. I'm certainly seeing a number of writers, given the choice between attending Dragoncon and Worldcon, opting for Dragon because the audience is far larger there, and still receptive to them as writers.

I think that eventually Dragon or Comicon could come out with their own set of a awards, but print sf/fantasy (if there are categories for it at all) will be the "lesser" awards (rather as films are with the Hugo awards), and the "big" awards will be for movies and TV series.

I personally find nothing wrong with that. Certainly the audience for films/TV is far larger than the audience who buys books and magazines.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

You may be right (and I may be crazy), but your comment reminds me of just how certain Martin Schafer was when he told me more than 20 years ago it was utterly clear that Apple would be out of business within 3 years or so. They just didn't have enough market share, and they were going to lose what they had and be gone. That was before there were iPods, iPhones, or iPads. And even when the latest of these came out, I read column after column about how Apple had invented a product in search of a market that didn't and wouldn't exist. Those columnists said a tablet computer was an expensive, fine toy for first-adopter Mac-maniacs, but that the world simply didn't need them.

Yes, there are a lot of grey-haired people working on conventions, especially Worldcons. At 59, I'm one of them despite the fact that I dye my hair to keep it red. But I'm also seeing the Warren Buffs, Jesi Pershings, Meg Totuseks, and others joining in and taking on bigger and bigger roles. Warren mentioned today he's 30; he chaired the Raleigh NASFiC 3 years ago. I don't know Jesi's or Megan's ages, but if they're not still in their mid-20s, they're pretty darned close to that. At Chicon last year, the "JOFs" (self-identified Journeymen of Fandom) gelled and threw their own dead dog party. I saw a statement just this past week that they have some grey-haired members, but the overall demographic of the group looks to be 20s and 30s compared to the age 55-70 cohort visibly working on Worldcons.

I expect the next 5-15 years to bring a rocky transition as the current old people continue dying off or otherwise becoming too frail for major jobs on the Worldcon, especially if more of the frail ones and those who can continue working loudly become the "you kids get off my lawn!" types. But the Worldcon has already been through a couple of these transitions and enough younger folks appear to continue wanting Worldcon to exist that it seems likely to me that it will.

Fans have been acrimonious about their opinions since before the Exclusion Act at the first Worldcon in 1939. It does seem to be built into the culture, much as it also drives fans away from "traditional" fandom. Experience taught me that changing a culture is hard. It's also shown me that times do change. Situations and behaviors that were expected and supported at Worldcons when I first started going to them in 1982 are met with outrage and flame wars when they happen today.

I could be wrong, of course. I expect I'll find it interesting to see what happens next for as long as I'm around and able to see it.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Hmm... two people I consider wise in the ways of people come to two different conclusions...

Guess that's why predicting the future is so difficult.