It's really quite shocking how much fandom has changed over the years. Like..... Genuinely, being openly into some kind of fandom was seen as somewhat taboo back when I was young. In a way, it was pretty sincerely countercultural to be so deeply into and passionate about something that wasn't sports. But now fandom has become part of the norm. It's become a part of and is now an expected part of culture. And as nice as it is for me to be an open freak about my fandoms now, some things have definitively been lost that makes fandom a much worse place to exist within.
Case in point, the gift economy which used to typify fandom culture is now kinda all but dead. Once capital interests infiltrated fandom spaces, the sincerely anti-capitalist gift economy that largely defined fandom feels like it's faded away. Which is a damn shame! And it should be brought back!
