Fan Disillusionment: Difference between revisions
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''So much for rock and roll''|'''Reel Big Fish''', "So Much For Rock and Roll"}}
The word "fan", originally descended from "fanatic", suggests a sense of loyalty to something, usually a particular media franchise. And most fans are, for the most part, a fairly resilient breed who will put up with a lot. However, you can only push them so far; if a fan perceives their loyalty to have been abused or betrayed, the disillusionment that follows can be bitter indeed. Whilst some may soldier on, resulting in the formation of various [[Broken Base|Broken]] and [[Unpleasable Fanbase
Sometimes, such disillusionment may stem from an overall decline in quality (or a perceived decline, in any case) in the material itself. The show may suffer from one too many mistakes, [[Did Not Do the Research|glaring errors]], or [[Kill'Em All|cullings of the cast]], all of which can lead to fans just giving up. There's only so much you can quietly resign to the dustbin of [[Fanon Discontinuity]] before throwing your hands up in exasperation and storming off in a huff.
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Occasionally, however, the reason for a fan's desertion, or loss of enthusiasm, is because they feel that the people who create their favourite show, book, game, or songs have let them down in some way. Sometimes this is justified when the person in question is deliberately cruel to their fans, but sometimes this is entirely the fans' fault for crying [[Ruined FOREVER]] at every sign of something happening that they don't appreciate.
Not surprisingly, this phenomenon is depicted frequently in fiction. Either a bitter artist may drop numerous [[Take That
Compare [[Artist Disillusionment]]. See also [[Ruined FOREVER]] for just how many times fans will claim this is happening in perfectly healthy franchises.
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* The British TV comedy/drama one-off ''Cruise of the Gods'' is about all of the confusions, disappointments and shattered illusions that result when the fans, writers and actors of an old science fiction series meet up at a shipboard convention.
* Joey on ''Gimme a Break'' watched a TV show starring Captain Jerk, whom he idolized. After meeting him in person he discovered the actor playing Captain Jerk was a racist, which crushed Joey. He finally confronted the actor and told him he was going to tell all his friends to stop watching Captain Jerk's show and start watching Mickey Mouse, adding "and Mickey Mouse is black!"
* A slightly [[Narm|hilarious]] version of this occurred on ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|SVU]]'' when Elliot found out that his famous astronaut
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor and Martha encounter Shakespeare and experience Fan Disillusionment upon discovering his loud and bawdy behavior, more akin to a frat boy than a literary legend. Martha remarks, "You should never meet your heroes." However, they eventually grow to like him.
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* As with [[Artist Disillusionment]], this is a plot line in ''[[Megatokyo]]''. It's suggested that not-entirely-inaccurate rumours of Erika's violent nature affected her image badly, a jarring contrast to her [[Genki Girl]] voice-actress persona. However, apparently it didn't do enough damage to keep her more obsessive fans away. Kimiko constantly worried about "letting her fans down," although she more or less stopped this since encountering the unpleasant side of fan obsession.
* ''[[Something Positive]]''
** A [http://somethingpositive.net/sp03132005.shtml storyline] about Mike's Fan Disillusionment upon learning that his favourite sci-fi author disagreed with him on gay rights. (The author was a thinly disguised Orson Scott Card, whose own views were in the news at the time, but he could just as well represent Heinlein, Clarke, or any number of
** ''[[Something Positive]]'' also featured a couple of the main characters writing "Neko Neko Holy-chan", a webcomic which was an over-the-top catgirl parody... that acquired a large and very obsessive fanbase consisting of the very catgirls they were mocking. After fan disillusionment
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** An episode depicted Arnold in search of a missing children's author who has turned extremely bitter and reclusive. {{spoiler|Through sheer persistence and a massive guilt trip, Arnold gets the woman to write again; her first new book begins with "A boy with a strange-shaped head and a nasty witch who no longer believed in magic".}} The author's name, Agatha Caulfield, is a reference to real-life [[Artist Disillusionment|reclusive author]] J.D. Salinger.
** Another episode of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' focuses on Eugene finding out that his favorite superhero, "The Abdicator," [[Nice Character, Mean Actor|is a jerk when the camera's not on him]]. Eugene goes on a [[Poke the Poodle|badboy rampage]].
** In another episode, Phoebe meets a famous pop star whom she idolizes and finds out that he's really a shallow [[Jerkass]]
{{reflist}}
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