Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom

Much has been made (by media fans) of the tension between old school literary science fiction fans and new media fans when first the two clashed in the 1960s and 70s. SF fandom had been around in the United States since the 1930s when sf was delivered via pulp magazines and was beginning to differentiate itself from other pulp genres like horror, fantasy, and superhero comics; Star Trek, premiering in 1966, was the first American science fiction television show to produce a major fandom, although the sf genre had been televised in the United States before (Lost in Space). Meanwhile, Doctor Who appeared on British screens for the first time in 1963, though it was and remains more mainstream in the U.K. than Star Trek is in the U.S. Nowadays both book fans and media fans are considered science fiction fans. Many larger "science fiction" conventions (both for-profit and non-profit) combine many fannish interests all under one tent -- literary sf, TV and movie sf, anime, gaming, comics, etc. 
Much of the early jargon and fan activity of media fandom came directly from SF fandom (fanzines, letterzines, BNF, filking and more). However, "media fandom" is defined differently in different contexts. While the earliest media fandoms were mostly science fiction television shows, and therefore all media fans were also sf fans (according to their understanding at least), "media fandom" has since been used to describe fandoms for all television shows (and more!), regardless of genre. Thus, someone who draws fan art for Community might be considered a media fan, but not an sf fan (unless they also like Doctor Who).
==Similar Relationships and Divides==
* Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom
* Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek 
* Blake's 7 and Star Trek 
* Star Trek and Starsky & Hutch
* Star Trek and Space: 1999
* Star Trek and Star Wars
==Culture Clash: Star Trek and SF Fandom==
The huge influx of Star Trek fans in the late 1960s and the 1970s were an example of some of "free range" fannishness. While the terms Feral Fandom and "gatekeeping" weren't yet used, the fannish divide over space, power, and tradition is similar. 
There were many, many instances of the old school, general science fiction fans being very unhappy with the influx of Star Trek fans whom they felt to be huge mobs of immature neos uneducated in the ways of fandom; folks who didn't know the language, didn't know the customs, hadn't "paid their dues," were female (!), were too young, hadn't learned at the knees of the "right" people, supposedly weren't interested in "real" science fiction, and essentially invaded traditional fannish places. And vice versa: Star Trek fans found the general SF/sf fans to be hostile, unwelcoming, snobbish, rigid, and overwhelmingly male and older. The culture clash was huge and long-lived and a major source of discussion. 
Robert Runte, editor of the 3rd edition of "The NCF Guide to Canadian Science Fiction & Fandom," points out the three specific problems of what he calls the "1970s' Barbarian Invasion": 
In 1981, David Gerrold wrote extensively of his conflicted relationship with being known as a TPTB in the Star Trek fandom: 
===Some Fan Comments===
===1974===
A fan wrote of his or her impatience with the influx of Star Trek fans at Houstoncon: 
In a 1989 issue of Comlink, a fan groused: 
===1990===
 
 
===1995===
The consequences of increased visibility, misunderstanding, and invasion:
===2006===
A fan in 2006 wrote of discovering science fiction fandom because of Star Trek and writes of the tensions between the two groups: 
==Star Wars Zine Discussions==
The Star Wars letterzine Southern Enclave contained extensive discussions about sf vs. media fans in issues 8-11.
==Gender Differences==
Historically, SF fandom was overwhelmingly male, so much so that some female fans have been made to feel unwelcome. To this tension -- the sense that fandom for televisual sources, the sense that female fans were "doing it wrong" -- is attributed the splitting off of female-dominated media fandom from sf fandom beginning in the late 1960s. 
From a 2010 interview with Paula Smith in Transformative Works and Cultures: 
A fan in 2007 posted: 
In 1992, Henry Jenkins wrote:
==Money==
:See also: Fandom and Profit
One example of the differing cultural expectations of how money, and value, changed hands: 
==21st Century==
A Daily Dot article in 2014 pointed to Worldcon as a vestige of this old divide between book and media fandom that otherwise has ceased to exist in online fandom and younger generations of fans:
The article went on to report that at least one person did not know that slash fanfic was still popular because he didn't see them in zines any more. (This lack of knowledge is not exclusive to Worldcon; this editor distinctly recalls a panelist at Arisia in 2013 saying something similar.aethel. ,
 posted to dreamwidth, 20 January 2013. To be fair, if you weren't looking to read it yourself, you may not stumble on it.)
==Further Reading/Meta==
* With Jaundiced Eye by Ted White (1968)
* The Awful Offal by David Gerrold (1969)
* Frank Catalano, "Coming Apart at the Seams". In Destiny of Science Fiction 3 (Fall 1975)
* No Trekkies allowed, gang, and this means you! by Paula Smith (1975)
* The main problem is, however, that we suddenly found ourselves, at SF conventions, up to our collective necks in screaming Trekkies. by Bjo Trimble (1975)
* Trekkie... Trekkie... What is Trekkie? (1977)
* Science Fiction TV Fans: We Don't Get No Respect, Strange New Worlds, December 1993 
* Do we need rec.arts.sf.fandom.media? (Nov 12, 1994) 
* In a dreamwidth post about RaceFail 09, oliviacirce made some comments about the media fandom vs. sf book fandom divide. (May 2009)
* Emma England's 2013 fanhackers post questioning whether the separation of media fandom and sf fandom is true or not.
* Some Thoughts on Media Science Fiction and Fantasy by Joy Harrison, 1984.
==References==
Category:Science Fiction Fandom
Category:Media Fandom
Category:Star Trek TOS Events
Category:1960s Events
Category:Science Fiction Fandom Occurrences