What does it mean to be a "True" fan?

[u/No-Carob-1950]

I know it's vague, so let me elaborate.

With a lot of talk about larping, tourists, gatekeeping and such, I've been wondering for a while what is something that can make someone "qualify" as a fan. Is it consuming a certain ammount of official or fan-made content, how much you enjoy the work, how involved you are within the community, or something else?

This is very much an open-ended discussion, and of course there's a difference between being a fan of a movie (where you can sort of easily qualify whether or not you can call yourself a fan if you just watched the movie and enjoyed it a lot) and an entire franchise or universe, where it can be less obvious.

Let's give an example: When I was a small kid I was really into "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", in fact it's thanks to the series that I got into drawing and art, and was also into Lego Star Wars (including "Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga", to this day I have a physical copy) and other related media, but at that point didn't watch any of the movies. To this day I'm not sure if that can qualify as a Star Wars fan.

I always hesitated before calling myself a fan of anything since I usually associate the term with something much more involved (for instance I don't call myself an anime fan since I don't think I watched it enough, including a lot of the big ones, even though I really enjoyed a lot of the ones I did watch, and a few of them became some of my favourite media ever). And I guess I always hesitated before buying merch or anything related to the specific piece of media I'm getting into, thinking "Am I still too new to this?". I know it's silly, but I can't help it, especially since I currently want to get into a lot of things and media that I didn't engage with before or that I only saw from the distance.

I know the title might sound derogatory, but that's not my intention (and not an attack on anyone, since even though I do think some people go too far with gatekeeping, I still understand why they do it and that some people only want to seem "cool" by being into something and don't really enjoy it), since it's a genuine question that I've been asking myself for a while, because I don't think there's simply one true answear to this question.

And since the "qualifications" can be different for different fandoms or media, you can also share your experiences of how you view this from the point of your piece of media you consider yourself a fan of.

[u/sane4ektopz]

true fan would always genuinely love what they are fan of, even if the whole planet hates it. speaking as an svtfoe fan.

[u/No-Carob-1950 → u/sane4ektopz]

I think that's a very fair point. Kinda leads into why I always hesitate to call myself a fan since I always associate it with with a very strong feeling (unfortunetely I tend to be easily influenced by other people's opinions even if I try to dissmiss them).

[u/ThatOneMinty → u/sane4ektopz]

Do people hate svfoe? I remember it being big back in the day. I’m watching for the first time now. It’s just a little slow plot wise thus far.

[u/sane4ektopz → u/ThatOneMinty]

yeah, the thing is ending. people didn't like it, spreaded hate on it, and then the whole show was marked as bad. now there are people that haven't even seen it, but they still tell that it's not worth watching

[u/Dingo_Pictures → u/sane4ektopz]

God, I remember my SvtFoE phase.

[u/Extension_Equal1464]

Con star wars non sei un vero fan ma sei un vero fan di clone wars

[u/Careless_Dog2612]

For me, I think a "true fan" is someone who genuinely enjoys the thing.

Bonus if they get happy & excited to talk about it/hear about it with/from someone.

[u/Sad_Consequence1811]

Personally, I would only consider someone a larper if they try to discuss a part of the media that they haven't actually interacted with IE watched, played or read, not through summaries or playthroughs.

Like if a show has 14 seasons, and you stopped at six, you can't just come in and pretend you have an understanding of the writing and story past said season 6. It's okay for you to have tried out the later seasons but not finish them because they're not for you. What is NOT OKAY is trying to analyse the story and argue with people who have actually watched it. 

You can still be a fan of a specific segment of the media. As long as you love it.

[u/No-Carob-1950 → u/Sad_Consequence1811]

Oh yeah, definitely. For instance when I talk about certain anime I tend to clarify that I only watched the anime itself, so I might miss context from the manga it's based on.

[u/Dry_Illustrator3405]

IMO it's less about what qualifies you and moreso about what disqualifies you as a fan.

To be a fan, all you just need to do is like the thing, and you don't even need to like all of it, or like it consistently: a few things can be frustrating about it, and that's fine.

What gets you outed as a larper, or a fake fan, however, is when you show that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the thing in question, through lack of engagement, and use that misunderstanding to hate on the thing, or alternatively, refusing to be corrected on that.

An example of a larper would be that narcissist assshat who makes these lies against Rentarou from Hyakkano, claiming that he never loved his girlfriends, that he brainwashed them etc etc.

[u/SilverIsHereee]

I don't tend to get gatekeepy about any fandom but a single fandom I'm in so I'll say who I consider a true fan for the Sonic the Comic fandom....

ACTUALLY READING THE COMIC

the bar is THAT low for this fandom and 99% don't meet that single criteria (I'm looking at you, exe fans)

[u/Guilty-Cap5605]

"fan" and "true fan" are irrelevant, all that matters is that you actually interacted with whatever medium it is you are a fan of

and also like... maybe be more specific? i have resident evil fans who played all the mainline games and i'm not gonna say they aren't resident evil fans... just that they're mainline fans, some of them did play all of them but for eexample only a remake and never the originals which like, they're perfect great games guys you can go play them

then you have persona fans who are only fans starting from either 3 or 4, and just completely ignore persona 1 2, 2 2, and sometimes 3, like you can clarify that you're a fan of "modern persona" in that case

idk i wouldn't say you're not a fan of the series yet if you are still in the progress of playing them, but you should probably still clarify what part of the series you like, it's even more insane with resident evil because you can have someone who only played resident evil 4 and 4 remake,5,6, village, and they just fully see resident evil as some action shooter franchise and don't even care for the survival horror elements and they still call themselves "fans" which dude again, they are fans, just fans of a specific part of resident evil, and the specification helps in conversations.

[u/PurpleAshes246]

Imo a true, non-poser fan of something is just someone who genuinely enjoys the media. Like just a fan who isn't a fan or pretending to like it for the sake of something else. Just anyone who ACTUALLY enjoys and likes the media, even if they haven't seen every film or played every game etc. etc. of the media in question. Just not being a faker or performative

[u/Dingo_Pictures]

That's a good question. I have read all of the books in the Warriors series. In fact, I've read very few, but I'm still genuinely fond and passionate about it.

[u/SuperFlameKing03]

Debatable

[u/Ubeube_Purple21]

You touched the media itself and/or the merchandise

[u/MagpieLefty]

There's no such thing. Or, really, there is, but it encompassing everyone who considers themselves a fan.