SDCC2019 - Fan Culture 101
Comic-Con is truly a melting pot. It brings together people from all walks of life, with a variety of interests, all focusing on one thing - popular culture, and comics, sci-fi and fantasy culture in particular. In addition to the countless booths on the Exhibit Hall Floor, the celebrities in Hall H, and the 'experiences’ set-up by companies like Amazon Prime, there are panels and workshops for professionals, panels for academics and educators, and, as I learned today, panels by fans for fans.
Eager to attend more than one of my pre-planned activities today (#linecon strikes again), one of my colleagues kindly accompanied me to a trivia panel that I had been looking forward to this evening (thank you Jasmine!). In the back end of the Marriott Hotel’s Grand Ballroom area are the Fan Culture Programs - and I had been dying to get to this trivia activity… because there were prizes for the winners.
The event got off to a slow start because this area of the Marriott is notorious for being a Wifi and Cellular dead zone and the entire event operated off of the online quiz platform, Kahoot!
Thank goodness Jasmine was able to connect for the first round! Although some of the attendees quickly gave up due to connectivity issues, 70 attendees stuck it out and participated in trivia night. Despite nicknames like “ThisWifiSucks”, the room was full of laughter, cheering and even singing as we competed against each other for homemade prizes that the Kunes’ family had crafted themselves.
Jasmine and I stuck around for photos with the Kunes’ family (pictured below) after the event, who were in town from Texas for their panel. We learned that at past Cons they found there was a shortage of family-friendly events at SDCC and wanted to fill that gap. Wifi issues aside, as my colleague very astutely pointed out during our conversation with the Kunes, their activity united people with a diverse set of interests, from a diverse set of fandoms.
And that is just the start of the power of comics…
With the Kunes family, from Texas, who planned and executed a successful fan-trivia panel at SDCC2019. Photo taken on July 19, 2019.