“And so the fan groups of Tolkien, Star Trek, Spider-man, Japanese kiddie-cartoons etc. develop an almost cult-like character.”
I like some of all of these examples, and I agree there are horrible, asinine elements to all of them. They all have ludicrous philosophical positions, arbitrary physics, inane plots and villains with motivations that manage to be incoherent and predictable at the same time. Although I’ve seen every episode of every series of Star Trek before Enterprise, I have to say I spend most of my time watching it making fun of the gaffs and absurdities. I don’t know that I’m typical, but Star Trek wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t so plainly atrocious. The absurdity is, for many people, an appealing aspect of it.
Jack Vance is one of the few ‘science’ fiction authors I can find no significant flaws with (other than that the term ‘science’ is rather misapplied to his genre), and although he has many dedicated fans you are right that there are no Demon Princes Conventions where everyone dresses up with giant earlobes and exchanges mining company stock.
I think it’s also probably true that widely popular fiction is so bad at least partially because people have demands on fiction that is only tangentially related (if at all) to plot coherence, believability and skilled writing. Some of Stephan King’s most popular books are ones that he considers to be poorly written.
Star Trek, Spider-Man, and anime have something in common that Tolkien and Vance lack (and I don’t think Tolkien belongs in the group you put it in): they’re visual media, and not only that, they’re visual media with a lot of distinctive clothing and devices. You can watch Star Wars and actually see the uniforms and the light sabers. Of course you’ll see a lot more people dressing up for those than for Vance, or for Tolkien or Twilight.
Also, I’m not convinced that the lack of Jack Vance conventions is caused by the different nature of the fandom as opposed to just the smaller size. It’s quite possible that the Jack Vance fans who exist are proportionately as passionate as Harry Potter fans.
“And so the fan groups of Tolkien, Star Trek, Spider-man, Japanese kiddie-cartoons etc. develop an almost cult-like character.” I like some of all of these examples, and I agree there are horrible, asinine elements to all of them. They all have ludicrous philosophical positions, arbitrary physics, inane plots and villains with motivations that manage to be incoherent and predictable at the same time. Although I’ve seen every episode of every series of Star Trek before Enterprise, I have to say I spend most of my time watching it making fun of the gaffs and absurdities. I don’t know that I’m typical, but Star Trek wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t so plainly atrocious. The absurdity is, for many people, an appealing aspect of it.
Jack Vance is one of the few ‘science’ fiction authors I can find no significant flaws with (other than that the term ‘science’ is rather misapplied to his genre), and although he has many dedicated fans you are right that there are no Demon Princes Conventions where everyone dresses up with giant earlobes and exchanges mining company stock.
I think it’s also probably true that widely popular fiction is so bad at least partially because people have demands on fiction that is only tangentially related (if at all) to plot coherence, believability and skilled writing. Some of Stephan King’s most popular books are ones that he considers to be poorly written.
Star Trek, Spider-Man, and anime have something in common that Tolkien and Vance lack (and I don’t think Tolkien belongs in the group you put it in): they’re visual media, and not only that, they’re visual media with a lot of distinctive clothing and devices. You can watch Star Wars and actually see the uniforms and the light sabers. Of course you’ll see a lot more people dressing up for those than for Vance, or for Tolkien or Twilight.
Also, I’m not convinced that the lack of Jack Vance conventions is caused by the different nature of the fandom as opposed to just the smaller size. It’s quite possible that the Jack Vance fans who exist are proportionately as passionate as Harry Potter fans.