I have a variety of fandoms – Doctor Who, Supernatural, Marvel comics, Deadpool, Wonder Woman, steampunk (to name the primary ones). This does not include the broader geekdoms (books, scifi/fantasy, the paranormal, etc.), just a few of the more specific areas. Anyway, I feel like I can legitimately call myself a fan of these things. I know the history, I’ve read things, watched things, researched things, taken part in deep geeky discussions about characters and plots and relationships and “what ifs”.

But over the past few years a type of “fan” has emerged who is not a true fan. Sure, they claim to be part of the fandom, they know the names of characters, they wear the t-shirts, they can describe appearances. But these are what are commonly called tumblr fans or what I consider “fandom light”. They most memes and gifs on tumblr of scenes from movies or shows. They like a show or character for the look of it, the “geek cred” of liking it. They don’t read the comics that inspired the movies; they don’t watch “classic” episodes to get a history of the show; they believe what’s on screen is all there is to know. It’s all very shallow, a surface fandom.

It’s a disappointing phenomenon for which mainstream media and retail holds a lot of blame. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that geek culture and fandoms are so popular now because we’re getting so much more in the way of geek movies and shows and merchandise. But the mainstream still doesn’t get it. Being a geek means immersing yourself in a fandom (or three or four), not just seeing red and black and thinking “hey I like how that character looks, so I’m a fan”. Yes, it makes me a snob of sorts, but I have little respect for tumblr fans.