WorldCon and the Aftermath
My boys (ages 12 and 14) and I did attend Sasquan (the WorldCon located in Spokane) this year and it was a first for all of us.
I’ll freely admit that we are new to this convention circuit, so it was with very little preconceived notions that we arrived.
Let’s suffice it to say that the only thing I had to compare it against was a Comic-Con, which WorldCon is certainly not. It is a much smaller venue. Somehow, I’d call it less commercial, which is neither good nor bad. The convention itself I thought was reasonable, but there was a tension in the air.
Much of the tension I won’t even go into simply because I leave this blog to mostly literary topics and I try to leave politics out of the things I might discuss. However, since I mentioned it – I’ll simply say that the WorldCon is also where the Hugo awards are given out, and my kids were actually fairly excited about that.
Behind the Hugo awards, there’d been much gnashing of teeth, both with regards to what was on the ballot and the perceived quality of this year’s works. Suffice it to say that there is an “old guard” established within WorldCon. Folks who’ve been participating for literally decades. And then there was what I’ll call the “new guard” – the ones who only recently came to WorldCon and found the works that had been winning the Hugo awards were unsatisfying.
Being that I and my kids are total newcomers, we didn’t have a particular ticket on this political ride, but into the maelstrom we went.
In fact, my kids were sufficiently excited (because they could participate) that they read the material on the ballots and went about deciding which they thought were deserving of the best of the list.
Since my POV tends to be much more sober and expecting the worst, I’ll try to represent my children’s views and reactions. Let’s just say, I think we’ll be sticking to Comic-Cons from now on.
The picture below is just before us walking into the Hugo ceremonies. They’re excited about it all (yes, that’s my older son’s excited look – what can I say, he’s 14.)
I just find it a pity that they didn’t feel anything other than bewilderment and bitterness toward the people in the auditorium after the ceremonies.
“Attending the Hugo Awards from the perspective of a 12 and 14 year old.”
I took my kids to WorldCon to expose them to Fandom and I’ve consciously shielded them from any of the politics of the kerfuffle associated with the literary “sides” that were in play.
When we attended, we had good seats and they were excited to see if some of their choices would make it.
They couldn’t understand why their short story choice evaporated into something called “NO AWARD.”
As I briefly explained, the audience was cheering because of that decision and the MC made a point of saying that cheering was appropriate and boos were not.
My kids were shocked.
Shocked not by not winning but by having an entire category vanishing into thin air and then having all the adults (many of which were old enough to be their grandparents) cheering for something my kids looked at as an unfair tragedy.
I’ll admit to having feared this outcome – yet this was my children’s introduction to Fandom.
As we drove home, they made clear that their opinions – they aren’t particularly interested in this “Fandom” thing.
I find that a great shame – and I blame not the people who established the ballots to vote for (for my kids enjoyed a great deal of what they read on the ballots), but as my kids noted – they blame the ones who made them feel “like the rug was pulled out from under me.”
I’d offered Fandom my boys – my boys now reject them.