Recently I decide not to do away with Action but to express him differently as a bear in the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) universe. Over the last few months, I find myself drawn in to Hello Kitty / Sanrio Fandom because of their acceptance of me as an older male fan.
The big gripe I have with the furry and anime fandom is they are mostly young and tend to be stand offish in respect to older fans. I have not seen much hostility but I seem to be ignored; being a loner, being invisible at Furry or Anime conventions is not an issue for me. I do not fall into the mistake of try to act younger than I am. In addition, the young fans who cannot acknowledge the fandom has existed before they were born bother me
I have another fandom to compare with various fandoms. There are a fair number of Hello Kitty fans in their 30+ at Hello Kitty Junkies. At Hello Kitty, junkies I am only one of 36 male fans of 2566 registered. I am a player of Hello Kitty Online MMORG. I was invited to join the sailor Scouts guild, made of many players who played since the open beta of November 2008. My Hello Kitty blog was recognized as blog of the week at Sanrio town. Yes, I sue my blog to share not just my interest in Hello Kitty but to explain Furry Fandom to this outside Furry fandom. I get a much more positive response than furries and anime fans.
I not sure one can do anything about it. As I said, I am not going to act younger as a vain attempt to try to relate. I feel online relationships to furries and anime fans are distant at best.
One question you may want to try answering for yourself from the perspective of a new fan is: “so the fandom is decades old – so what?”
If you can’t give a convincing reason why new fans should care, and don’t care much about what they find interesting, then you should not be surprised when they do not pay much attention.
Bear in mind that the vast majority of furry fans are here for the art and the community – and in particular they may not be that interested in older works and artists/writers. Indeed, many of those who were revered back then now look distinctly dated.
That does not mean older fans are irrelevant. But fandoms do change, and you may find that what you liked about furry is now only appreciated by a portion of new members of the fandom.
My answer is not the one you may be looking for. I may not be able to give an answer becasue a shift in lives of todays youth.
I am not surprised by your comment. “So what” has been the mantra of today Generation X, Y (i.e. those born after 1978)
This is not a furry issue but a culture and social problem as many young people turn inward to their peer group. From my schooldays, I have a keen interest in Sociology and philosophy. Not only I like both furry and anime fandoms both are giving me a front row seat of problematic issue with today’s youth.
It started with online poll of youth over the best artist music of the 20th century. I was miffed the it seem the responses stopped no older than Nirvana, no Jimmy Hendrix, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman or Robert Johnson. I see the same in the both furry and anime fandoms: a willful ignorance of history.
The answerer came by CSPAN of a speech Mark Bauerlein of the book The Dumbest Generation, How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans. The digital culture is not opening up the young to a new would but closing their mind and off from the adult world.
Mark Bauerlein explains the issue better than I can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzNkW2eyR-I
It is one thing I notice about furry fandom: as goes society, so goes furry fandom