Monday, January 14, 2013

Artemis Fowl: The Forgotten Fandom

       A while ago I discovered a great book series called "Artemis Fowl." The first one was published in the early 2000's, and the conclusion was published July 2012. After I read it, I was shocked. It was the kind of book that should have had a pretty big fan following and a movie or two, yet I hadn't met anyone else who had even heard of it.
  I did some research and dove into the deep dark history of "Artemis Fowl" and finally found the sad truth. This book was old news. The fans have come and gone, leaving only a few desperate old readers, and a couple of newer ones who had discovered it more recently.
  Apparently, there had been big plans for a movie, which was never actually made. For months, movie rumors, news, and daydreams floated through the multiple fan sites for the series. It was like "The Hunger Games" only instead of living up to its legacy, it just slowly faded away, leaving nothing but dust behind.
  You'd think that after a while it'd eventually be rediscovered, or that a few fans would still be out there obsessively passing the book on, but sadly, the only remain of it is a few new fan fictions every month, and an empty page for it on the Fandom.net.
    Part of the reason, I think, is the way people talk about. It is not a romantic book. There are no love triangles or any room for many ships to sail, but there are fans who are convinced that there is. A few of the fan fictions written for it are just pairings between characters who would never have a chance together. Not that that is a bad thing—there are several brilliant fan fiction authors out there and it’s great they’re writing about Artemis and it takes a lot of creativity to write that sort of stuff.*
  Another reason is the plot itself. While totally brilliant, it's hard to describe without making it sound like....well, here's how I've heard it been described. "It's about a rich evil genius boy who kidnaps a fairy!"
  Kidnaps a fairy? Seriously? Sounds like a preschool book.
Unfortunately, what no one realizes until they actually read the book is that it is nothing like that. It is in no way cliché, overused, or predictable, (at least in my opion.)The evil villain is not truly evil, but he doesn't have a huge change of heart at the end and become all goody-two-shoes. Not to say he is an unlikeable character. On the contrary, he is beloved by many Fowl Fans over the globe. He is the main character, after all.
  The second biggest misconception is about the fairy. It's not a tiny little girly thing. Instead, she's a kick butt police officer type fairy with an attitude. It sounds weird, but trust me, read it and you'll see that it's weird in a good, non corny, awesomey way. 
    This series is brilliant, creative, hilarious, action packed, and over all a good read.
So what happened to it?
  Maybe the lack of a movie discouraged people. Maybe all of its fans grew up. Maybe it was just marketed wrong. Or maybe all the fans all moved to Ireland where the book takes place and stopped promoting it online. Whatever the case, this is just one of the many lost or faded fandom’s out there that needs to come back, and soon. Movie or no movie, this is an amazing series and it need's recognition. Sorry if this sounds like another add (why do all my posts sound vaguely add like?) but it's true.
If you have any post ideas, thoughts, lists of other forgotten fandom’s, or anything to say at all, leave a comment!
*Let it be known that I greatly respect all fan fictions writers and admire their bravery. It takes true courage, creativity, and genius to post something on fan fiction websites and they deserve more credit than anyone can ever give them. I mean them no disrespect. In any way. At all. Period.

4 comments:

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  2. I love this series.I wish the fandom had a name though...

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  3. Thankfully, me and another person in my class are doing book talks for the 1st and 2nd books. But still. D'arvit!

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