Jadedness and Elitism - A Self-Defense Mechanism
I think every summer I try to write something like this. By coincidence. Maybe there’s something greater happening? Here’s an anniversary (almost) view on the topic. Anyways–onto elitism.
The feeling of tiredness is your body’s way to get your attention, that it needs rest. Pain is your body’s way to get your attention, that you are probably doing something you shouldn’t be doing. In the same way, let’s take a look at elitism and jadedness as applied to fans.
As I use the term “elitism” and “jadedness” I use it in context of experience. After all, how can you feel pain if nothing is happening or going wrong, or fatigue if you have just woken up from a long, restful sleep? But let’s quickly concede and move on with the fact that some people can be elitist even without much any experience. In that sense, a strong sense of right and wrong coupled with a quickness to judge is something that can be commonly found in human society; it’s not so much a conditioned response as much as a reaction to their perceived notion of what a particular area of fandom is about, as applied within their personal context. To me that’s not really interesting, and that form of elitism is closer to bigotry.
I wish also to distinguish elitism in a more general sense as used to describe trolls. That’s not what I’m talking about in this post, although some trolls are genuinely jaded and elitist (not as a bigot, per above defined meaning). Some people behave a certain way just to get people’s attention, and that’s the basics to trolling. As to how someone disguises trolling in the form of insight, news, soapboxing, or plain flame, that’s merely a choice between weapons to get under the skins of whoever you want to get a rise out of.
Moving on, my notion of what is “jaded” is best drawn as an analogy. A sharp knife, after continued use, will eventually dull (unless it’s some crazyass ceramic thing). Much is the same with a fan’s wit, tenacity and enthusiasm as applied to that fan’s art. That feeling of dullness, however, is translated into a refined form of discernment, reinforced by experience and education. After all, a jaded fan is a fan with a lot of whatever that he or she is a fan of under his or her belt. The extra-sensitive form of discernment creates the mechanism that an elitist rely on to separate what is considered non-l33t from what is.
At the same time, a jaded fan could be just a fan who didn’t hang with the right crowd. Much like a knife that was not used properly, it can grow dull sooner and even break. And there are many fans who started out with the wrong crowd or with the wrong idea about how to live as a fan, and as a result they burn out faster, or burn out in a bad way.
And to be honest, there’s nothing really problematic about being jaded. As an anime fan, I already have only so many hours in a day that I can devote to the basic exercise of watching anime. Watching anime, after all, is what anime fans do first and foremost, I would think. Being increasingly selective of what you watch is one way to cope with the ever-growing number of anime recommended by your friends. As one steps deeper into the abyss of anime fandom, one will probably make more friends within the hobby and gain more recommendations, discover new and old titles and obscure shows that have value to the new fan. (Not to mention the fan activities one can be doing…like blogging.) All of that is time consuming. Being jaded helps you with that by limiting what you watch, what you do, and even how many friends you make.
Of course, one can resign oneself into a niche, a small topical category within a fandom and enjoy the right amount of throughput of new content versus content you can enjoy, while remain relatively refreshed over time. For example, a lot of cosplayers I know don’t really watch much anime at all; but they stick to cosplaying as the primary facet of their fandom, both to intake and as a means to express themselves. While you can still grow wary doing it, it isn’t as bad as a fan who tries to do everything. And I think for some people it helps them to focus both more on their relationships as a member in a community (fans who find a regular means of expressing are often networked with other fans by default) and as an artisan in whatever field of fandom they belong. It’s a notion that puts human beings ahead of the stuff that brought you together.
Elitism rears its head when the reverse happens–when the human interest takes a back seat.
Lastly, there is a price to pay for being jaded–it is an effect upon your personality. It may be a very insightful exercise to recall how things were when you were younger, happier, and more positive about life, anime, or whatever hobby you are in. Look for things that reminds you of your first obsession. How did your personality and personal values change over time? Maybe it’s time to take a break and re-tune yourself?
Ultimately jadedness and elitism are signs of emotional fatigue. I think it’s perfectly okay to disappear for a year and come back fresh, as long as people who cares about you know what is going on.
I like what you say in that last bit, and I agree. From experience, getting jaded just happens, but it’s anime that is usually my culprit. I guess getting far into the media starts pulling on day-to-day life, and it takes a little stepping back (less anime watching) before being able to slip back into it. What I’ve learned though, is that the old days may have been better, but the feeling is related more to the times and environment, than to the anime/manga medium.
Lifestyle :)
I have to thank you for this, because it makes me out to be the exact opposite of an elitist which is something I’ve always been worried that I might be.
How would you assess a fan who’s become elitist for the sake of keeping the spirit of the hobby alive within a community that’s well on its way to jadedness? Unlike North America, keeping the fandom active is tough work in Slovenia. We’ve counted roughly 430 fans total here, and I can imagine a few more being around, but it’d be a stretch to say 100 of them are active within our communities. And fans have options where they want to hang out, even.
I’m very elitist (your definition), but the only fatigue I’ve been infected by was personal disappointment over the growing jadedness and disinterest toward the hobby itself among our anime communities.
digitalboy: I’m not sure what you are to be honest. I know you are not OLD at least. Maybe you’re just channeling other people’s bitterness
Miha: you are definitely channeling other people’s bitterness. But when you are frustrated with a bunch of people, that’s different from being frustrated with a bunch of anime. I think when you have a small group of fans, as people “grow out” of it, naturally you will feel negative towards either the hobby or the group of people, or both. I can’t find a cure for you but I can suggest you try just do what you enjoy. Go find that thing first.
omo: Oh, I am. My anime plate has got much wider over the last few years and it seems I’m holding my ground. What I’m interested in is a cure/drug to keep others interested in anime. Preaching won’t help, going back to the roots will, as that has helped me to prevent numerous burnouts too. Finding new excited fans to associate with is tough, raising them to be able to communicate with you on the same level is tougher. But yeah, it’s even tougher for me to accept that the thing that brought us together is gone. As their friend I can accept that, but as a concerned fan…
It happens… Just help them find what they like. It also helps to figure out what they like about anime before they stopped liking it.
I’m certain that I’m more elitist than you are, omo!
I’m certain that you are more pedophilic than I am, Link!
Just when I think nobody can add another insightful contribution to this particular topic, someone comes along and proves me wrong. ^_^
Am I elitist? Quite possibly. In the overly-selective sense that is since I’m having less and less free time to devote to watching/writing about anime shows. Which is one reason why I’m posting less.
Am I jaded? Again, quite possibly (the other reason why I’ve posted less lately). Hardly any of the new summer shows have made me sit up and take notice (which isn’t such a bad thing considering how much of my watchlist consists of springtime shows that are still airing) but I’m still trying to hold onto what I am enjoying. Macross Frontier and Hidamari Sketch provide the sci-fi dorama and iyashikei relaxation respectively, while Black Lagoon has reminded me how mindless fun is fine too.
It is sometimes difficult, but essential, to periodically remind yourself why you enjoy your hobbies - at the moment quite a few bloggers are offline so some of my inspiration has left me too. Fortunately, Mushishi is out on DVD now so while I’m rewatching it I’m experiencing the stuff that got me blogging in the first place. I see it as, like you said, a retuning to get back into the swing of things without falling into a rut. Which is no fun at all and hence defeats the object of it being a hobby…
So, I’m the most elitist pedophile known to man? Good to know.
That’s me, Link. What are you, stupid?
Nice one Link. 8/10. And yes wah you.
Martin: I think you’re doing just fine.
This post really speaks to me. ^^; I spent about three years out of the anime loop because I was just sick and tired of crap that came along with it. I just couldn’t deal with it. I didn’t seek out new anime, but I did watch a few that were recommended to me by more than one person. As a result, I’ve gained a favorite series that helped remind me why I started my fascination in the first place.
For the first time in many years, I’ve been actively seeking out new anime and exposing myself to the new things the genre has to offer. In some ways it seems like EVERYTHING has changed, and in some ways it feels like NOTHING has changed. I’m still wary of the community, but I have met some of the best people I think I’ll ever meet due to my renewed interest. I also find ways to keep my own behavior and attitude in check. I don’t want to alienate people… plain and simple.
There’s a book called “Age of Wonders” by David Hartwell on Science Fiction (literature). In it he talks about the stages that SF fans go through. When people first discover SF (usually sometime between the ages of 10 and 14) they go through the omnivore phase; basically reading everything they can get their hands on, uncritically and without discernment. After a while the initial interest wears off and most people then leave off SF entirely (other than to watch the occasional media SF).
The few that stay with it, Hartwell terms “chronics.” The chronics don’t read nearly as much as the omnivores (I think he says the average is a book every month or so), but tend to be very critical in their reading as a result. Interestingly, it’s the omnivores who provide most of the financial support for the SF publishing industry.
Hmmm… Guess I don’t have much of a point other than an observation on the similarity of the fandoms. I do wonder if the financial implications are parallel as well.
I think you are right, but at the same time the way older anime fans buy anime is not the same. I guess those who have not gone into the deep end, like chronics, are picky with not only what they read but with what they spend money on as well. Those who have gone into the deep end end up … starting blogs? I don’t know.
I really enjoyed your article and could relate to it. I’ve been an anime fan for 13 years, attended anime events for 9 years, cosplayer since 7 years and cosplay-event organiser since 3 years. It’s especially true what you said about anime taking a back seat to cosplay when you are a cosplayer, I started off wanting to cosplay as a way of showing my passion but now for me cosplay is an end to itself.
When I first started out as an ‘otaku’ I was so full of enthusiasm and wanted to watch everything even remotely ‘anime’, but pretty soon I realised I was watching a lot of third-rate shows. The older you get the more you appreciate your free time and these days I don’t want to spend it all just watching anime or at a convention, I guess you could say I’ve become pretty jaded.
However, elitism is something I’ve never really understood in the anime scene although it’s always been there. I guess the best analogy would be to liken it to playground politics. I think a lot of anime fans were geeks or unpopular in school, but once they become a part of the anime community, they see it as a way of gaining popularity or becoming the ‘cool kid’. However, I found that unfortunately it often the enthusiastic fans, not the jaded ones, who are most guilty of this kind of elitism.
I don’t think enthusiastic fans are more prone to elitism. In my own experience it is fans who are gaming the scene, the society, that tend to be elitist as a means to control that group of people. People who are truly passionate about a thing isn’t going to stop people from enjoying something else.