You Will Never Be Too Old to Take Part in Fandoms

Fandom is not just for the young folks. It is absolutely for the young at heart as well! On Friday at 2:30PM in Hanover AB (Hyatt), a group of “wiser” fans collected to discuss celebrating their favorite shows, movies, novels, and more in the “Age is Just a Number: Rethinking Age in Fandom” panel presented by the Diversity Track. Marc Lee moderated Kimber McDermott, Paul Benham, Connie Benham (known as Dawn Treader), Ann Evelyn Morris, and Margaret Parsons as they spoke about finding your place.

Before getting started, Lee asked by a raise of hands who the youngest attendees were in the room. He started with 30 and under and found there were two 15-year-olds attending. As a group, everyone appreciated that the young folks came to a panel about older fans and felt they were “obviously raised right.”

Moving into the main subject of fandom, the first question to the panelists was, “What is the most rewarding thing that kept you in fandom?” Answers ranged from Star Wars in the theater, Star Trek, Joe 90, Fireball XL5, Dracula movies, Godzilla movies, Ultra Man, and more. Morris mentioned that she started by reading books and didn’t learn until years later that they were in the sci-fi genre. Lee then noted that he also finds joy in watching the kids getting excited about Dragon Con. The panelists also agreed that some credence must be given to superhero movies as well for bringing a lot of older fans into the fandom.

Parsons mentioned she was grateful to McDermott for starting the “Dragon Con Over 40” Facebook page. McDermott stated she started the page to find people closer to her age as she kept finding herself hanging out with people much younger than she. Then one of the attendees mentioned the “Gen X Goes to Dragon Con” Facebook page and Benham mentioned Dawn Treader started the “Dragon Con Over 60” Facebook page as a spin-off from the Over 40 page.

Changing gears a little, Lee asked the room at large how everyone learned classical music. The room erupted into singing, “Kill the wabbit…” and other Looney Tunes classical tunes.

Lee finished up the hour telling everyone to join the Facebook pages and to remember you’re never too old for fandom.

Author of the article

Colleen Callahan is a freelance content writer and social media consultant specializing in food and beverage, writing blog posts, newsletters, and managing social media accounts. She recently sold her house and most of her possessions and moved into an RV with her two doggos. They live the full-time nomad life, traveling the US and chasing 70 degrees. Starting with A Wrinkle In Time and never looking back, Colleen is a huge fan of science fiction, fantasy, and the supernatural. Favorite time burners are anything by Joss Whedon, the entire Outlander universe, the occasional Neil Gaiman rant, and as many geeky TV shows as she can lay her eyes on. Recently, Colleen has decided to go back to her first love - writing. Since the third grade, creating neighborhood newsletters with a typewriter and copying them with a mimeograph machine (remember those?), the writing flame has been kept alive through short stints in industry magazines, copywriting for marketing projects, and writing on her blog, www.Sunrise2SunsetRV.com. Volunteering for the Daily Dragon was the first stepping stone in a journey towards her Destiny. Colleen can also be seen on her YouTube channel, Sunrise 2 Sunset RV.