The birthday is
coming up. And, what one definitely shouldn’t do as that holiday nears is this:
decide to immerse one’s self in Tumblr and finally take the time to see what
microblogging is all about.
Blogging, as
performed on this very page, is comforting and easy to grasp for those of us
who are products of previous generations. It’s basically keeping a public diary
out on the internet. Diaries have been around forever, so keeping one on the
net, even if it’s topical, is no great breakthrough.
The post-literate
world of Tumblr, however, is a little different. Every time I went to it, I found
myself going “Where are the blogs?” It was all pictures, captions, and
Facebook-like comments. “Visual retweets” are the best way to describe a lot of
what is on Tumblr, and it’s galling to have to use a word referring to another
social network just to get that far.
Why should a
Sherlockian bother with Tumblr, you ask? Well, if you’re asking, you’re
obviously above a certain age, like myself. Because Tumblr is the great hub of
fandoms these days. And Sherlockiana is a fandom.
The thing that makes
Sherlockiana unique is that we like to think we aren’t a fandom. The fact that
Sherlock has been around for a hundred and twenty-five years, more or less,
means we can do actual historical research about our hero and our fandom, which
makes us feel all the more legit than Potterphiles or Twilighters, but truth be
told, we’re still just fans. We get pissy about all the same stuff.
We have fanwank and
shipwars, two words I just learned today from my Tumblr immersion. And we’ve
had slash and Mary Sues, two terms I’ve known about since the Trekkie fan
generation. But even Trekkies are hoary ancients these days, along with the
Dungeons and Dragons crowd.
The thing that makes
me laugh is that my current middle-aged state is where a Sherlock Holmes fan
was just hitting his prime, only a couple of decades ago. And back then,
middle-aged Sherlockians worried about the lack of younger fans. Well, the
younger fans are here now and the hysterical thing is that we old-school sorts
don’t fully realize how fully invested they are, because we don’t get things
like Tumblr or even “the twittering.”
But there’s fun to
be had in this energetic new Sherlockian world, if we long-time Sherlockians can
see past the old, well-travelled paths we are used to. It just takes a little adapting, and damned
if it won’t make you feel old.
But, hey, Sherlock
Holmes has been very, very old before, too. And look where he is now.
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