Real or not real? Whether or not we want it to, Hunger Games news is really slow, to say the least, and this is no place for an editorial-based fansite (on fire.)
Let’s start by saying this isn’t a goodbye. It’s a “See ya when we see ya.”
It became clear about three weeks ago that we needed to give our accolades to the Hunger Games fandom as the activity level dies down… aaaaaaand then I hesitated for three weeks. We’re still going to post when there’s big Hunger Games news we wanna talk about–watch our social networks just in case!– but as things change, we know regular updates aren’t feasible. We cannot survive on actors being cast in other unrelated films, red carpet appearances, and selfies alone (so seriously, Willow Shields, cool it on the selfies.)
Being part of this fandom has been an incredible journey so far. I’m going to be selfish for a minute, but hopefully amuse you in the process, by talking about some of my experiences you may not know about:
- Victor’s Village got started because I wanted to work on a Hunger Games fansite, but couldn’t get involved with existing sites. I “applied” for Mockingjay.net but lost out to Sam Cushion– who is lovely and was straight-up famous in the fandom long before I got involved. And I had A LOT OF FEELINGS. So starting my own op-ed arrangement just seemed right. And I’ve been really, really lucky since.
- I was first approached by Savanna New from Hunger Games Fireside Chat to work on The Potter Games and later to be a guest on Hunger Games Fireside Chat, I’m pretty sure I had heart palpitations because they liked me, they really liked me!
- When The Potter Games developed into The Fandom (which I now co-own with my dear friend Nat,) I talked to Adam Spunberg about the site development so much that my then fiance/now husband expressed concern.
- I’ve met each of my three wonderful co-writers on this site over the course of its run– Rebekah, Tiffany, and JJ– once apiece in person. Don’t care. Still love em!
- If you thought our opinions were sometimes harsh, you weren’t the only one. We’re not saying that a certain studio has contacted us for expressing opinions they didn’t like before, but we’re not saying it didn’t happen, either.
What can you do now? Well, there are still awesome Hunger Games fansites out there with straight news– try Down With The Capitol, Jabberjays, and Panem Propaganda. For some more multi-faceted business including comic and YA genre books, movies, and shows you can still follow me over at TheFandom.Net. You can also hit us up on Twitter at @kaitmary and @jj_dash.
Like we said, if there’s big news, we’ll be around to talk about it. But if it doesn’t come anytime soon, let us leave you with this message: LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE LOUD AND PROUD. Fandom is huge and encompassing, but there are people who will always be asses about it. “YA is immature,” “The thing you like is formulaic/too weird/overrated, etc,” or “There are other things you should invest your time in.” Does fandom make you happy? Does liking things make you happy? Then screw all of ’em! As a 20-adult in fandom, I constantly struggle with this. My 50-something year-old co-workers absolutely don’t think my love for The Hunger Games is worthwhile, but I never let that keep me from this community of like-minded friends. Don’t let wayward opinions from judgmental people sway you either. If you love a band, a book, or a movie, just love it and let everyone else deal with their opinions all by themselves.
After all, there are much worse games to play.
Thank you. Truly.
The Girl With The Pearl