Friends and the Fandom

Jul 17, 2008

Posted by: John Admin

Uncategorized

   The fandom clearly means a lot to me. That much should be clear by now, right? Well, one of the coolest things about the fandom, in my own opinion, is our ability to get together and talk about our common love of potter and get along regardless of race, religion, etc. On TLC’s forum, Leaky Lounge, and their 3D interactive chat, the Chamber of Chat, I have met and befriended countless numbers of people that have made the fandom very enjoyable for me.
   The best thing about making these friends isn’t necessarily just that I have made so many new friends– but the awesome thing about having internationally located friends is that you learn things you never knew before. I’ve met people from France, Canada, the U.K., and one of the coolest of them, the UAE, among others. And before Harry Potter and the fandom, I didn’t know that in Britain they spell color “colour”, or that Canada had an independence day three days before ours in America; and while that may sound like “stupid little things that can’t and won’t make a difference in your life,” the friends I have made through the fandom mean a lot to me and truly have changed my life.
  I had/have several friends that I speak/spoke with almost daily. These friends would be some of my best friends if I met them in the “real world.” The great thing about the potter world is that we base our friends on how they are as a person, as in, their personality- and not their looks, their race, or how they talk- because, quite frankly, a lot of times there isn’t a way to even know what the person you’re talking to looks like or talks like. And for me, that just shows how true-hearted the entire fandom really is because we accept each other for who we are as people.
  What makes friendship online such a different thing from real life, however, is the fragility of the ‘relationships’. I’ve known people that have disappeared off the face of the internet, and I had no way to ever get back in touch with the said persons. That is what is hard about friendship online. But, overall, the friends I have met online have taught me loads of things. I had never directly spoken to a British citizen while in America on a friend to friend basis before Potter. The fandom has given us all the once-in-a-lifetime chance to connect to people from across the world who all share our love and common interest of Harry Potter- which I find to be one of the coolest things in the world. If I hadn’t joined this fandom, I wouldn’t know people from New York City, I would not have friends in Great Britain, and if I had not joined the fandom, I wouldn’t have those wonderful things to be able to truthfully say.
  And when all is said and done, and I have children for myself (kinda like a “19 years later…” situation for Harry), the fandom is going to be an awesome story to tell about. I truthfully and honestly think that this fandom is the group of the coolest people on Earth, something that would be impossible to ever replicate again. And because of all of this, my life has been forever changed in a corny sort of way… that means the world to me.





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