Having been to (only) a couple of WorldCons, and one EasterCon, really doesnt give me a big enough sample; but... Ive been on the receiving end of this kind of attitude. Some of the elite dont like the fans being anywhere near the real reason for the cons - the business meetings & the meetings where final decisions about awards are made. Why? For the same reason that a Met Office Weather Forecaster looked down his nose at me one time - he saw me reading a Heinlein book & asked if I was a Sci-Fi reader. When I said yes, he asked if Id read a particular Philip K Dick book; I said no, as I didnt *enjoy* reading Philip K Dick. I was then informed that if I didnt read Sci-Fi books I didnt enjoy, then I *wasnt* a proper Sci-Fi reader & shouldnt call myself one. And thats it in a nutshell - elitist literati, out of step with 90+% of people who actually buy & read Sci-Fi/Fantasy & all associated genres. Who make up the vast majority of those attending cons; because they *enjoy* reading the books; because they *enjoy* meeting the authors who write the books they read; because they *enjoy* meeting other people who *enjoy* reading those books too. Not because they want to dissect the deep meaning of every word the author has written (possibly a deep meaning that the author themselves didnt realise was there), the impact of those words on the literature and their merit. Oh dont get me wrong here - check out the history of Sci-Fi/Fantasy conventions & youll see that elitism at the core of how & why some of them began. They were where the business of the serious writers organisations took place. The annual event where they all came together... and, yes, gave out awards. WorldCon is, at its core, one of those elite conventions. It may play host to thousands of fans, and the WSFS (World Science Fiction Society), who choose the recipients of the Hugo Awards and the locations & committees of WorldCons (and NASFiCs), *is* made up of *all* those who are members of the current WorldCon - including all of those fans - but WSFS *is* a literary society; and woe betide any fan who stumbles into one of their business meetings. Personally, I find Wossie to be too OTT for my liking some of the time; and hes certainly said, and done, some stupid things; but, as a Hugo awards host he would have been fantastic. He would have been outrageous, yes, but funny, and would have known who he was introducing and the people he was talking about. The reason he keeps showing up as a host for awards ceremonies on TV? Hes *good* at it. And thats the kind of person we need doing the Hugos. The extra (good) publicity would have been a bonus.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 10:24:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015