Saturday, July 2, 2022

Truthless Heroes (a random thought on fandom and heaven)

I recently posted two comments on a Patreon post. It made me think that I've been sharing my thoughts in comments on other people's posts, but sometimes I'd like to remember my own thoughts, and keep them here for me--and anyone who might care to read them.

In this Patreon post--a podcast--Andrew Schwab of Project 86 was talking with a long-time supporter. They briefly touched on how famous people have to learn how to interact with strangers who know them (i.e. fans).

my comments:

Describing the "meeting a fan" experience is so interesting. I've been trying to wrap my brain around it for years... If I were to meet so-and-so... what would I say? They don't know me. I don't know them. I'm emotionally invested in their music, their words, their voice, the characters they play on the screen, the characters they wrote into a book, etc.--in love with who I imagine them to be.
How would I connect with them and express how their influence has affected my life? Because they don't know me... and I don't know them... I've just made up a narrative, creating heroes in my head.
I want to get to know them for real... but there's no time for that. We can't be friends and go hang out.

This thought keeps coming to mind, so I'm back to add on to my previous comment. After reading C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, I began to re-imagine heaven as a neighborhood where my neighbors are all my best friends and family. Likewise, all of their neighbors are their best friends, and somehow, we are just eternally surround by all our best friends, family, and favorite people, etc...
I know that's silly. What does it say about me that my idea of heaven is being surround by people that I love?