When Fandom Becomes Overwhelming
Sometimes, being a fan can feel like a lot of work. We live in a golden age of content – both official content and fan content – and there is a sense that for fans, more content is always better. But, like with ice cream, there is a point where more hits the point of too much and the amount of content becomes overwhelming, rather than just enjoyable. When that happens, it’s important to step back and remember that fandom is about enjoying content, and not just consuming it.
A golden age of content also means a deluge of content. Take the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not just the 20-odd Marvel movies, which was already a lot. It’s the movies, plus the upcoming Disney+ shows plus any fan-created content/fandom you might be into, plus interviews with the actors and creators. And that’s without even touching the comics themselves. It’s just so much content.
And that’s just within one fandom. It gets even harder if, like me, a person has multiple fandoms. I can’t even keep up with all the BTS content out there right now, let alone the content related to BTS, and Star Trek, and SF Giants, and other k-pop groups I stan, and my favorite romance novelists, and generally keeping up with nerd culture. That is just way more content than any human, even one who didn’t do anything else or sleep, could manage.
Unfortunately, particularly with franchises, there is a sense that if you miss a movie here or a show there, you will get so far behind you can never catch up. I feel that way about Star Trek. I am a huge Star Trek fan. But after watching Discovery Season 1, life happened, and I never got around to watching season 2. Then Picard came out, and even more recently Lower Decks. At this point, it’s feels kind of like there is just too many new shows for me to jump back into it.
The hard thing about being a fan overwhelmed by content is that there can be a sense of not being a fan if you aren’t keeping up with something. Or gatekeeping happens. Every culture or subculture has gatekeepers unfortunately. Fandoms in particular can have a tendency to draw lines saying “you’re not a real fan if you don’t…” But that’s not how it works. Fandom is personal, and everyone has different tolerances for fandom and participation in it. I’m not any less of a Star Trek fan because I haven’t been watching the new shows. I’m ARMY but that doesn’t mean I’ve listened to BTS’ entire back catalogue. And I love the SF Giants even if I don’t watch most of their games due to the time difference and because there are just a lot of baseball games.
Not being able to consume all media related to your object of fandom or dipping in and out of something as life happens, doesn’t make anyone any less of a fan though. As I wrote in my piece on The Legend of Korra, sometimes you just stop liking the new content of something. Sometimes interests change. And sometimes you’re just busy. None of that negates or invalidates anything. As fans, we are not obligated to like every aspect of all content forever. It’s an unreasonable bar that literally no one can meet.
So, how to approach fandom when it gets overwhelming then?
1. Take a step back and decide what content you actually want to consume. For me that can be waking up a 6:45 am on a Saturday to watch a concert streaming from Seoul, or not checking the Giants scores for a month.
2. Ignore any guilt or “shoulds” related to fandom. Feeling guilty is just going to suck the joy out of your fan experience and makes you fandom about expectations, either from others or from the judgmental voice in your head, rather than what actually makes you happy.
3. Dip in and out when you need to. What works one week, or month, or year, might not in the future. So adjust when you need to. Life is constantly changing, so our fandom habits will be too.
Fandom is about enjoying something you love. I know I’ve said that a million times by now but it’s true. And if there is so much content that you feel overwhelmed or just drowning in stuff, then it’s not enjoyable, it’s just stressful. And life is hard enough already, especially this year. So let’s just focus on the volume that works for us as people, whether it’s a lot or a little, whether it’s constant or short bursts, and just find joy in the things we love.
