Fandom

In light of recent events in the fandom world, I felt that I needed to state a few things for the general public...mainly for people who do not understand what fandoms mean and think that those of us in fandoms are "stupid" or "silly" for being part of them or for caring this much right now.

For those of you completely out of the loop, Cory Monteith died yesterday. He played the character Finn Hudson on the popular TV show Glee.

Glee is a show I followed the first few years it was on TV...but eventually I got tired of it and the high school drama that the storylines revolved around. But while I didn't watch it, I did keep up with the storyline from time to time through tumblr and other areas of the internet...and I knew it would hold a special place in my heart. With the passing of Cory, the show will be drastically changing in the future. My heart goes out to the cast and people who have been affected by this tragedy. 31 is just too young.

Now for who I will deem the "haters"... I have seen/heard/observed many comments about how people shouldn't care this much that someone from a TV show has died, or that a celebrity has died...someone that the average Joe on the street has no personal relationship with. Why should we care if someone we didn't personally know has died?

Because to those in the fandom, those characters, those actors, and those stories MEANT something. Maybe for some they were the stories they latched onto when their own real life was falling apart. People can name different shows, movies, songs, and other things that helped them get through difficult times in their lives.

For a lot of young adults, Glee was that thing. It was their thing to go to when they were feeling sad and feeling like they couldn't carry on. They formed attachments to characters and their stories because for that hour, they had a break from their own lives and had something else to focus on. The stories brought them joy, sadness...and they gave these people a purpose when their real life gave them nothing.

So today, those of us in other fandoms are coming together to be there to support the Glee fandom. We might not like Glee...but we do understand the attachment one can have to a fandom. We understand your pain, Gleeks.

And we are here for you.