Jennifer Merlyn Scherler
Hi, hello! <3 Look at this thing that I love!
In my eyes it renders humans as such cute beings.
When they have their little something something
That makes them blush
Without caring
When sharing
All their feelings and thoughts about
their little something something.
Look at this thing that they love!
Can you feel it too?
In my eyes it renders humans so cute
When they have their little something something
And they will go out all their way
To accumulate every little bit of knowledge about this thing.
Not in a neo-liberal capitalist way or logic.
Not knowledge that can be turned into power
Or capital
But just accumulating
(what daddy of fan culture studies Henry Jenkins would call)
“worthless knowledge”.
Just because
They love this thing
And want to know more
About this thing
And the more they know about this thing
The more they will love this thing.
(their little something something).
Through obsessing
Through learning
Through researching
Through fanning
They dig themselves
Deeper
in their love
for this thing.
Let me learn about this thing that I love!
Let me learn about this thing that I love!
––––––
Oh, so you’ve memorized all scenes in “Merlin”,
The early 2000s BBC TV show,
You’ve memorized all scenes that radiate homoerotic energy
Between the two main protagonists
King Arthur and the sorcerer Merlin?
You’ve memorized all moments
When they look at each others lips?
When gaze diverts
From eyes to lips
From lips to eyes
And eyes to lips?
In this show
Where Merlin and Arthur are struggling
To understand their destiny.
When you know
Their destiny is ***each other***.
When the plot is *actually* love,
so you’ve memorized all their lines of sassy banter?
You’ve memorized all of that?
Ok, tell me all about it.
Don’t hold back, let your cheeks blush without caring.
Let the pink steam roll over you.
**And let me look at this thing that you love <3.**
––––
There is so much knowledge
that we can‘t contain it
as a single person
so how amazing is it
that we can contain it together?
––––
Social media scholar “Nancy Baym has discussed the
important functions of talk within online soap fandom: “Fans
share knowledge of the show’s history, in part, because the
genre demands it. Any soap has broadcast more material
than any single fan can remember.” Fans inform each other
about program history or recent developments they may have
missed. The fan community pools its knowledge because no
single fan can know everything necessary to fully appreciate
the series.“1
Let me help you
Look at this thing
That we love.
“Fans are motivated by epistemaphilia—
not simply a pleasure in knowing
but a pleasure in exchanging knowledge.”2
The more we know
The more pleasure we feel about this thing that we love.
“[...] love is not opposed to theory, to thought or to critique
[...]. Instead, love enables a certain kind of knowledge. We
know the things we love – we know them intimately, as we
say – and we know them in a different way from the things
we do not love.”3
And the more we know
The more we can share knowledge with other people
Who might also love this thing
Or share it with people
Who might not love this thing yet
But we will share it
In the thought of:
Hey, look at this thing
this thing that gives me words for things I feel
this thing that speaks to me
both in thought and emotion
this thing that excites me so much
that it tells you about who I am.
I want to share it
and my knowledge about it with you
because I **want you in my world**.
And then knowledge becomes this weird thing
Where it’s not about knowledge
In terms of being right about something
But knowledge as in
Hey! <3 look at this thing that I love!
Footnotes:
1 Jenkins, Henry: Fans, Bloggers, Gamers. Exploring Participa-
tory Culture. New York University 2006. P. 139
2 ibid.
3 Willis, Ika: Fan Theory/ Theory Fan or I Love This Book. In:
Grant Catherine and Random Love, Kate: Fandom as Methodo-
logy. A Sourcebook for Artists and Writers. Goldsmiths Press 2019