The Quidditch World Cup: Fandom
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Harry Potter and the Sacred Text 4.8- The Quidditch World Cup: Fandom Vanessa: Chapter Eight: The Quidditch World Cup. “Clutching their purchases, Mr. Weasley in the lead, (Intro Music Begins) they all hurried into the wood following the lantern lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them. Shouts and laughter, snatches of singing…” Vanessa: I’m Vanessa Zoltan Casper: And I’m Casper ter Kuile Casper: And this is Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. (Intro Music Fades) Vanessa: So Casper, we’re really excited because our opening story today, about the theme of fandom, is gonna to be told to us by Kevin T. Porter. So we’re about to have Kevin on the show, but, we’re going to meet him in a few weeks. Casper: In person. Vanessa: Yes. Casper: In Seattle. Vanessa: Yes. th th Casper: On the 9 and the 10 of December, it’s the first ever PodCon, and it’s brought to you by the same people who do VidCon every year. And Hank and his brother John Green are kinda behind it and you can get 10% off if you want to buy a ticket and use our offer code: “Potter.” Vanessa: And if you are at all interested in podcasting, or in podcasts, this is going to be an absolutely incredible Con. Some of your favorite podcasters are gonna be there. From Kevin T. Porter to Roman Mars, to the Green brothers, everyone from the Night Vail podcast. I mean, like, it’s just gonna be an incredible, super nerdy, super fun event. And we are doing a mini live show. Casper: And we’re each doing a panel event as well. So Ariana, Vanessa and I are each doing different panels so you can come hear us and say “hello.” We’d love to meet you. Vanessa: Yeah, so if you’re at all in the Seattle area or looking for an excuse to go there go to podcon.com and just, we would really love to see you there. I think its gonna be so fun and we’re gonna learn so much. Vanessa: We are very excited this week to welcome Kevin T. Porter who is a writer, a comedian, he’s from the amazing podcast Gilmore Guys and now from the incredible new podcast Good Christian Fun. And he’s gonna tell us a story about the theme of fandom. Kevin, welcome so much and thanks for joining us! Kevin: Hey guys, thanks for having me here. What an honor to be here. This is my first Harry Potter podcast so it’s uh, it’s a big deal for me. Casper: And we should say, we were inspired by Gilmore Guys as one of the ways to think about how we could read the potter books and look for joy and meaning. So, thanks for all the work you’ve done on that. Kevin: Aw, that’s so lovely. Thank you for saying that. I like the idea of using a topic as a vehicle for another kinda conversation. So, it’s like, you know, your show is technically about Harry Potter in the sense of that’s what you search for to find it. But, it’s about so many more other things and, and, Gilmore Guys, even though that was not the intention, it ended up becoming about “other things” the more and more we did the show. So, it’s nice to see shows kinda carry on in that tradition rather than just like: “I like that Harry did this. I don’t like that Harry did that” in that kind of binary way of criticism rather than: “Oh, but what does this say about us? What does this say about the characters in the broader themes of what they’re talking about?” Vanessa: Yeah… Casper: Exactly. Vanessa: And we wanna hear more about, ‘cause that’s a lot of what you’re doing with Good Christian Fun too. But, let’s hear your story and then we’ll ask you a little bit about your new project. Does that sound good? Kevin: Sure! Yeah. Vanessa: Okay. Kevin: So, on the topic of fandom, I feel like the fandom of which I’ve belonged to the longest, or one of them, would be for Mr. Bruce Springsteen. So, it’s 2008 and I go to my first Bruce Springsteen and The E Street band concert ever. Now Bruce Springsteen, for me, that was kinda the Alpha and Omega in high school as far as music goes. I didn’t have a wide palette of tastes, I listened to some musicals, some soundtracks, and pretty much exclusively Bruce Springsteen. Through luck and happenstance that night we got on the front row of that show and had a concert experience unlike anything. We had never gotten into the pit before, we had never seen him up close and personal and it was like, it was a transcendent night. It was everything that you would want from a concert in a show like that. Singing along to every song, knowing every word, exchanging glances with everyone in the band including Bruce. And it’s th one of those things, every time the date comes up, it was April the 14 , I send them a little text like: “Can’t believe it’s been 5 years… 6 years… 7 years… 8years ago.” And that night I met a woman named Leslie who had become a friend of mine that I would see occasionally at these shows over the years. So, cut to 4 years later and I’m in Phoenix, Arizona, he’s on a different tour, it’s a different time, and who should I happen to see at the show again but Leslie, who I met in Houston that first night. We see each other, we freak out, we give each other a hug, we talk about how we like new album, what we don’t like about the new album, and all the fun and nuance that comes with being a longtime fan of someone with a body of work like Bruce Springsteen. But after that conversation, it kind of strikes me that’s not the same anymore. Even in a, not that old age of 22 years old, I felt that sort of alienation and a “not belonging” anymore. Even though that first night in Houston lives in my memory as epic and legendary and nothing can ever take that away, there is something about growing up, growing older, moving away, starting a career of my own and a life of my own. And even seeing old friends like Leslie who I enjoy and love, it’s a nice reminder of, sometimes being a fan is not an “all in” “all or nothing” commitment for the rest of your life, forever. Sometimes fandoms and the way they function in your life is just for a season, and just for a time, and just because you don’t care as intensely and as deeply as something when you were 16 that you do at the age of 26, it doesn’t mean that there’s less value to having participated in it at all. But, I think, sometimes it’s okay to engage and to walk away. Casper: Kevin I so resonate with your story because I think fandom and just the experience of intensity that you have with, whether it’s music or with theater or even with podcasts, like, they come and they go and they speak to a specific time in your life. And, those moments of fandoms are really about having an intense experience from which we then grow and, I don’t know, we might need a different fan experience. I think the idea of loving something, like beyond rationality, is something that maybe is gonna be there forever but what it is changes. I, I love that your story kind of illustrates that. Kevin: Well, I feel like it’s, it’s almost like some relationships, just because they don’t- Casper: Yeah- Kevin: -work out in the indefinite sense and you marry that person and you’re with them forever, doesn’t mean that they’re either a waste of time or failures. It just means that certain things are for certain seasons and they can have value for those times in your life without, you know, being infinite in that way. Casper: But I do wonder, like, there is something about fan love which feels, it’s kind of like nerdiness. That there’s an unashamed, unabashed, enthusiasm about it. That, like there’s something raw, and beautiful, and like, I don’t-I don’t know what it is. And, I wonder from your work from the Gilmore Guys podcast, what did you learn about yourself being a fan? Did it end up shaping how you were able to love other things and people? I’m just so curious about that. Kevin: Yeah, so I think-I think doing the podcast made it so… Because I was a fan of the TV show before I did the podcast, I think all the things I really enjoyed about the show, I enjoyed even more. And the things I didn’t like about the show, or kind of would rush past, I deeply disliked or resented about it. I think, overall, the-the experience of doing the Gilmore Guys podcast taught me cultural discernment in the sense of, everyone’s always saying something even when they’re not saying something.