Wise words

[dalekboy]

"...they don’t think they need saving. I mean, they haven’t changed for years, have they? They’re not designed to be wanted because they don’t want to be wanted, not really. They want to be left alone to do their thing, and they don’t want any loud new people in the room. They serve a dwindling audience, and they have to be aware of that — so they have to be in it to simply serve that audience, to provide that presumably cosy experience to their people until the last light goes out. Otherwise they would have done something different years ago."

That's Warren Ellis talking about sf magazines, but he could be talking about the majority of sf fan clubs and conventions in Australia.

Just because your friends turn up, doesn't mean it's good.
Just because it breaks even, doesn't mean it's a success.
Just because something runs, that doesn't mean it's still relevant.

More on this later...

Comments

[angriest.livejournal.com]

coughWestLodgecough

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you've had a lot more to do with it than me, but that's certainly my impression - an incredibly conservative club that wants nothing to change, and wants to remain simply a nostalgia exercise.

I understand JAFWA has managed to get declining attendance at the same time as anime enjoys unprecedented popularity, too.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

well why bother getting off one's arse and going to a meet if you can download it off the net?

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Sure. But doesn't Wai-Con show that you can get hundreds of anime fans to attend other sorts of anime events?

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that's 2 days a year - as opposed to making a weekly commitment. I have students planing on going to Wai-Con. They've been saving for it. But they don't have the time/ resources/ transport to go to something regular like Jafwa (and that's if they even KNOW about it).

[angriest.livejournal.com]

But JAFWA's problem is that they were created as an opportunity for people to see this wonderful exotic thing called anime, and now you can rent all the anime you want from your local Video Ezy.