Firefly fans have lives, okay!!!! by Wolfpoet

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Firefly fans have lives, okay!!!!

POSTED BY: WOLFPOET
UPDATED: Monday, July 24, 2006 12:52
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VIEWED: 5497
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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:16 PM

It really annoys me that some people think all sci-fi fans are unmarried, nerdy, 40 year-old men who live in their parents' basements. That's so stereotypical!!! Grrr... just because we're devoted to something, unlike some people, doesn't mean we don't have lives.

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."
"I think we should call it YOUR GRAVE!"
"Oh, no, sudden yet inevitable betrayal."
-Wash

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:29 PM

JUBELLATE

ok then.....

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. – H.L. Mencken

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:31 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Did you have a bad day, Wolfpoet?

**********************************

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:36 PM

WOLFPOET

Not really, actually. I just tend to go on random rants if I'm hyper or bored. But in general it really does annoy me, even when I'm in a good mood.

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."
"I think we should call it YOUR GRAVE!"
"Oh, no, sudden yet inevitable betrayal."
-Wash

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:39 PM

ONEMANSHORT

Quote:
Originally posted by Wolfpoet:
It really annoys me that some people think all sci-fi fans are unmarried, nerdy, 40 year-old men who live in their parents' basements. That's so stereotypical!!! Grrr... just because we're devoted to something, unlike some people, doesn't mean we don't have lives.

Try to ignore it. Wherever you go in life, there will be stereotypes, and this is one connected to all sci-fi/fantasy fans. Of course we know the truth, but that doesn't stop the stereotypes from shining through in tv shows, such as The Simpsons, and various movies, and just in popular culture in general. I think all, well at least some of us have to deal with ridicule because of our likes, the stereotypes that go with sci-fi conventions are just integrated into society. At least we're not fake people, and at least we have a passion for a similar cause. Be proud that you're here with is and ignore the ignorant people in the world

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:50 PM

KANEMAN

I would like to know when that started. It seems like its always been that way.

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:59 PM

NANITE1018

lol, somebody had a bad day. But i agree, although i am a nerd.

Like you sig too, Jubellate. And though it is always true, we must always remember that it isn't always.

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 7:04 PM

WOLFPOET

Well it's been partially promoted by the Conan O'Brian show... "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" goes to a Star Wars premiere and makes all these jokes about how the fans are all guys and have no girlfriends/social lives... as funny as Triumph is, he also offends people.

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."
"I think we should call it YOUR GRAVE!"
"Oh, no, sudden yet inevitable betrayal."
-Wash

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 7:20 PM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

Heh, well, I don't think Triumph started that notion...

Being a techy, a gamer, a sci fi fan, someone who went in costume to the Return of the King premier, etc, etc, I've heard this stereotype a lot. The only thing that seems to help is to be comfortable with and loud about your interests, while defying all the stereotypes. Take a look at the Putting Faces With Names threads (I think there are three now) in Talk Story. The vast majority of us *don't* look like the comic book nerd in The Simpsons. The more of us who don't conform to the stereotypes and are loud about our interests, the sooner those stereotypes will become outdated.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 7:47 PM

MAGDALENA

"No power in the 'verse can stop me!"

Yeah.. Warning ... this is a rant of my own!

Whilst I totally agree I discovered (to my deep dismay

) some substance to the stereotype when I took 2 friends (who had never ventured into the Firefly 'verse or met all it's BDHs) to the Big Damn Screening in my home town of 'New Melbourne' - I was giving a quick rundown on little things to expect starting with "when they swear, it's usually in Chinese so if you hear them speak a language you don't understand it's almost certainly Chinese for something insulting, but not really obscene" at which the guy in front of me turned around and started quoting huge chunks of both Chinese and the Russian 'safe-word' used by Simon with literal translations! He was so intense and serious about the detail that one of my friends has flatly refused to have anything to do with Firefly or Serenity, and tells everyone I mention the 'verse to that it's fans are 'freaky and clearly do not have lives...' except for me!

The other one, however has been forced to watch the series and now likes it - despite telling me that this guy 'freaked her out more'n a bit!!!???'

It was like he was trying to put them off!

But as I am a really nice person I think he just has few people skills and a brain that takes to the intricacies of the 'verse n'all so I was really nice and discussed Jossisms with him... as my 2 friends inched further and further away... trying not to make eye contact!

Still... I feel your pain! Here's my sympathy too

Mwaah - Magdalena x x x

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 9:04 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I think originally the stereotype held true to a degree. Stereotypes are sometimes good, but as we know they are usually offensive to the members of the particular group that do not share the defamatory trait. These people were just unfortunate enough to share the other, more prominant trait, which would unfairly bunch them in with the others. However much we don't want to admit it, stereotypes generally are proven time and time again by a majority of the very group which they represent. To completely deny this fact would require putting on blinders to the truth all in the name of "world peace" or "equality". (Blinders that I hear the Alliance is enforcing as a requirement for kids pre-enrollment for next schoolyear). For example, just so you don't think I'm being some sort of Fasist I will say that I am white and under most circumstances, I cannot dance. I say most, because I have never had formal training and more importantly, I can never really loosen up enough to look like I'm enjoying myself much. I have been known, on occasion, to drink enough liquor on days such as my birthday or New Years that I was tearing up the dance floor because I just didn't give a care anymore and I acted a fool. I was dancing with a little Seniorita one New Years eve who told me that I dance pretty good for a "white boy". This just prooves the point that many racial stereotypes have nothing to do with the color of your skin and a whole lot to do with your enviornment growing up. If I had ballroom dancer parents, I may have been dancing with Stacy Keibler on that TV show a few months ago.

I don't think that sci-fi fans of today or yesterday are lesser people. I think it makes them more interesting, the fact that they can immerse themselves in a world that is so different from this mundane world we live in and relate on levels with "normal" people cannot relate to, and usually in a very extravagant way. I kind of envy somebody who can dress a part and walk out in public. I've never been one to do that. I talk alot on boards and with people I'm comfortable with, but I am shy to a fault if you met me. I've never taken ridecule very well and even though I've matured into a pretty attractive guy (or so I've been told on occasion), in my mind I still act the part of the little guy who got picked on in school a lot and who likes to kind of just blend in and not get called on by the teacher anymore. I like to stay at home a lot and play my guitar on the patio, hoping one day that I'm good enough so I can write some of my own songs that really mean something... even if nobody but me gets to hear them.

If you can do it, more power to you. If you want to cross dress and go dance the Time Warp with the other so-called freaks, I hope you have fun. I'll be at home playing my guitar and gazing at the stars... imagining what it would be like to be out there in the 'verse.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." myspace.com/6ixstringjack

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 9:36 PM

ESTHER

Quote:
Originally posted by Wolfpoet:
It really annoys me that some people think all sci-fi fans are unmarried, nerdy, 40 year-old men who live in their parents' basements. That's so stereotypical!!! Grrr... just because we're devoted to something, unlike some people, doesn't mean we don't have lives.

Hey, I'm a unmarried, nerdy, almost 40 year-old WOMAN who lives in her parents' apartment (since they moved away). Would like to meet some of these stereotypes. Let's make a basement party! :o)

Stereotipes are fun, if you use them, so don't be offended, when others use them too. In Germany we say, you don't need to wear these shoes, if you don't think, they fit!

Esther

They can't take the sky from me!

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 10:07 PM

WHITEFALL

As a teenage male sci fi fan, I've run into about every stereotype um... ok, a lot. And damnit I hate them. They just give a false impression, and that's sad.

On the subject of the FF obsessed guy at the screening... My guess is he was a)so hyped about being there with other 'coats, he may not have been sorta mentally prepared to deal with the uninitiated. b)Seriously, how many of us have the ability to talk about SereniFly till we make other folk's ears bleed? I certainly do, and I'd wager most of you folk could too. Does that make you bad folk? No, it means you're interested in something and want to share it with others. Go figure.

"But, these strong women characters?"

"Why aren't you asking 100 other guys why they don't write strong women characters?" -Joss Whedon

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Monday, July 24, 2006 2:02 AM

REVOLTIX

We have lives?! Well, that's the first I've heard about it. lol

As for stereotypical sci fi fans, I'm even close to the description. That works well I guess.

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Monday, July 24, 2006 2:38 AM

DEEPGIRL187

Well, I can't say I hold to the 40-year-old male part (not last time I checked anyhow

), I will say that the rest is true, especially the "having no life" part. But that's okay. I can still hang with my fellow Browncoats.

**************************************************

"These words are all I have so I'll write them."

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Monday, July 24, 2006 2:41 AM

SIXSHOOTER

Quote:
Originally posted by Wolfpoet:
It really annoys me that some people think all sci-fi fans are unmarried, nerdy, 40 year-old men who live in their parents' basements. That's so stereotypical!!! Grrr... just because we're devoted to something, unlike some people, doesn't mean we don't have lives.

I'm an unmarried, nerdy, 20 year-old man who lives in his parents house. And I’m working 2 jobs, that's 60 hours a week minimum.
Thus, no life.

So ahhh... actually, it sums me up pretty well.

... Damn...

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Monday, July 24, 2006 3:50 AM

MAGDALENA

"No power in the 'verse can stop me!"

... also... nobody I know has a basement!!

hmmmmm... Magda x x

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Monday, July 24, 2006 3:54 AM

FUTUREMRSFILLION

So being 40 and living in your parents basement is a bad thing?

Cause I would love to!

one of the Forsaken TM

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Monday, July 24, 2006 3:57 AM

WOLFPOET

Well, I'm saying some people think we ALL are like that. Some of us are, some of us aren't. Personally, I have no life, and I'm proud of it

But I'm a girl and I'm definitely under 40.

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."
"I think we should call it YOUR GRAVE!"
"Oh, no, sudden yet inevitable betrayal."
-Wash

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Monday, July 24, 2006 4:39 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Yep, I'm a girl, and I'm 21, I love my computer and I... live in my parents'..... *trails off*
Well, damn.
Hey, at least I didn't end up moving in with that one guy like I was planning to. Prefer living here in a nice house than wherever else I might be.
Especially since he has trouble holding a job. And plays too many video games.
Oh, wait. I do that too. Not the same kinds or quite as often but...
Well, damn.
But I can hold a job!

**********************************

**********************************

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Monday, July 24, 2006 5:03 AM

ADAMWANKENOBI

So... can someone please explain to me what most people are refering to when they say someone "has no life"? I say this because, to me it sounds silly. Of course they have a life! It's a life they choose to enrich and decorate with their Firefly/Serenity or whatever obsession of their choice!

I mean, what about those men who spend every waking hour thinking about football and watching football games and obsessively keeping up with team statistics. I'm sure they have lives.

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Monday, July 24, 2006 6:01 AM

WOLFPOET

Come on, I go to church youth group parties on Fridays for lack of better things to do. Although that's when I first saw Serenity, but yeah, technically I do not have a life. Mostly because I'm still trying to figure my life out but also because I am a loser (yay).

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."
"I think we should call it YOUR GRAVE!"
"Oh, no, sudden yet inevitable betrayal."
-Wash

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Monday, July 24, 2006 6:19 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Society has this annoying habit of having to label everything and everyone. You have to fit into a catagory of one form or another and if you don't it throws everything into a tail spin. I find it ridiculous that the stereotyping need has gotten so far out of hand, but there it is.

I am not 40, I don't live with my parents, I have a white collar job that pays well, I own my own home, have well developed children, and I don't dress like Captain Kirk or any other fictional character. The stereotype sticks though because when someone hears you like science fiction that is the first image that pops into everyone's head.

Makes me think that moving to a ranch in Montana 100 miles from the nearest person is a good idea.

__________________________________________

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

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Monday, July 24, 2006 10:41 AM

LWAVES

Unfortunately stereotypes are something we have to live with and probably always will. Sci/fantasy fans do seem to get the brunt of it though.

As a side note I remember back in the 80's when home computers became a big thing (BBC Micro, Speccy C64 etc. My mate Gaz was the first one to get a Speccy and everyone thought it was great so we all got one).
Then times moved on I updated to an Amiga and so di he but he hardly used his.
Then I went to the PC and he didn't. I felt I was doing more and more stuff with it and felt great for being able to use it. He joined the group that said it was nerdy and all I ever did was 'play' on it.
Then PC's were everywhere.
He got a job that required using a computer (he's an accountant of sorts). Suddenly he knew nothing about them and was calling me up asking 'how do you do this', how do you do that'.
He eventually bought one for his home, and still refuses to learn how to do simple things with it (he can't even be bothered to figure out how to hook up to the net (no offence to others that can't either)).
I get such joy reminding him of my 'nerdy days'.

Now I'm not particularly blaming Star Trek here, coz I do like the shows, but from an outside perspective I can understand why SciFi gets such a bad rep.
This was the first instance that I know of that had such loyal fans. They saved the original show, they held conventions, they dressed up and all that other stuff. From an outside point of view it may look weird.

But I always consider this.
Sports fans go dressed in the tops of their favourite team. They'll buy badges, car stickers, flags and whatever else they can.
Collectors will hunt for hours at markets, auctions etc. for just the right item, sometimes travelling far to find it.

Are these people any different??

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Monday, July 24, 2006 11:00 AM

DONCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stereotypes are sometimes good, but as we know they are usually offensive to the members of the particular group that do not share the defamatory trait.

They are also offensive to the members of the group who do share the defamatory trait.

It is, after all, a negative characterization. Nobody who applies the stereotype thinks that being a 40-year-old male living at home and having no life is a good thing. And those who fit that description may not like being that, either -- and even if they do, they don't like having someone point out how pathetic their life is (in the opinion of the pointer-outer).

The real problem is, we all apply stereotyping in one way or another. Whether it's racial, gender-based, sexual-orientation-based, Fox-programming-executiveness-based, or some other category, we all tend to put others into boxes. I do it myself sometimes, without even thinking. Actually, always without thinking, since when you're thinking you can catch yourself and resist the impulse to stereotype others.

Maybe the real lesson of this thread is: be more aware of the log in our own eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Monday, July 24, 2006 11:13 AM

TEACHDAIRE

Well, I'm a thirty two your old male, I live on my own, and I still have no life. *shrugs* Must be something to do with this "no personality" thing everybody tells me about.

For every battle honour, a thousand heroes die along, unremembered and unsung...

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Monday, July 24, 2006 11:16 AM

SIMONWHO

One of the things that keeps my interest in the verse is that the demographic doesn't match the standard stereotype - witness the high percentage of female fans at the Serenity conventions over here.

Then again, that Triumph the Insult Dog bit at the queue for Episode 2 (the 2 minute wait I had to see it was too long, let alone 6 weeks) was utterly hilarious.

Triumph (to a group of stereotypical nerds): Hey, are you guys trying to avoid spoilers? Well, I've got a spoiler for you; you will die alone.

Triumph (to a rare female in the crowd): You have your pick of hundreds of men who have no idea how to satisfy you.

Triumph (to a little girl dressed as a character): Which of your parents did this to you?

Ack, the whole thing is comedy gold. Enjoy:

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Monday, July 24, 2006 11:21 AM

RMMC

Quote:
Originally posted by FutureMrsFIllion:
So being 40 and living in your parents basement is a bad thing?

Cause I would love to!

If my mother didn't make me more insane that River in 30minutes, I sure the heck would live there.

One gorram heck of a lot cheaper.

And for the record...40's single female geeky whose apartment is furnished in early American basement (eg: garage sale).

******
RMMC

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Monday, July 24, 2006 12:45 PM

ODDSBODSKINS

For the record, 21, male, notoriously vain, nerdish tendancies, left school moved out and started working, currently share a flat with a model, a publisher and a checkout boy, plus the models daughter, liberal attitudes to almost everything (except alan carr and justin lee collins, who should be keel-hauled) consider myself intelligent (although less then i used to) admit i'm indescribably lazy, unreconstructed male when it comes to housework, modern man when it comes to cooking and clothes, used to be athletic, currently anal-retentive about music, obsessive about films, always been an arsehole

i want a stereotype!

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Monday, July 24, 2006 12:52 PM

GRIZWALD

Wolfpoet, would you please fix your siggy?

(Maria, who has no life and occupies herself fixing Firefly misquotes)

___________________________________________________
* If you're a leaf on the wind
* If you aim to misbehave
* If they can't take the sky from you
* If you are going to the Special Hell
* If you like the taste of Mudder's Milk
* If you carry Serenity with you everywhere you go
then you are a Browncoat, and you're with family.

Click on my profile for my Annoyingly Long List of Firefly Links.

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