On this, the 13th anniversary of Smallville‘s first episode airing on the now extinct WB, we couldn’t help but share how this groundbreaking show opened a gateway to the wonderful world of fandom for one of our writers.
Before the CW was the network of the hero origin story that it is now, it was home to a Kryptonian boy that just wanted to blend in and survive high school. Smallville is the story of how Clark Kent accepted his fate as the more than human hero and embraced the destiny that a birth name like Kal-El mandates.
I may have existed in a world with fandoms before Smallville and I may have dabbled in a bit of it here and there, but I didn’t fully understand what it meant to be an involved member until this show entered my universe. Chloe Sullivan, Clark Kent, and Lana Lang helped me to see what being a part of a fandom is truly about.
How it all started
In the fall of 2004, I was just beginning an adventure that was seriously scaring the heck out of me — college. Living away from home for the first time with a roommate I didn’t know and in a town that was all new to me, I didn’t spend much of my freshman year running around to parties and extracurricular activities like all the movies suggest. Most of my friends I made that year lived on my floor, so running up and down the hall and crashing on each others’ futons was how we spent the majority of our time together. Needless to say, outside of studying, any alone time was spent watching movies and checking out whatever marathons might be running at the time.
One rainy fall afternoon, with a huge pile of laundry to do, I clicked my TV on and discovered a Smallville marathon on ABC Family. I had never seen the show before, but as I have always had an appreciation for Lois Lane and the Superman mythos, I decided that it would make excellent background noise. Little did I know that later that afternoon, I would discover that this show not only was enjoyable, but was something I could relate to unlike anything I previously came across.
Soon after checking out the marathon, I went in search of the beginning of the series. The season airing on the WB (yes, before it was the CW) at the time was season 4, so I had a lot of catching up to do if I wanted to see the newest episodes live. A trip to Walmart with my roommates had me unwrapping Smallville season 1 within a week of my first exposure and I was hooked. I burned through DVD after DVD and soon found myself desperate to see what happened after Lana Lang got sucked up into that twister.
The extent of my obsession
If it had anything to do with Smallville, I wanted it. That’s the short version of the story. The DVD’s, the season companions, the calendars, you name it, I had to have it. I lived and breathed these characters. I spent night after night after night trying to convince my brother and friends around our summer campfires that this series is one they should be watching. I was Smallville‘s most vocal proponent. I think most of my friends (who are all incredibly stubborn) decided not to watch just to get to me. It worked, but I never relented in my pursuit to share the wonders that Smallville had brought to my life.
It was more than just a show about superheroes. These characters were not just the fixtures in Clark’s life, but were living and breathing examples of how anyone can be made to feel like an outsider, and it’s best to live happily by your own rules rather than miserably by someone else’s.
How I participated in the fandom community
I wasn’t a content creator. I didn’t write fan fiction or create fan art. I wish I would have, because then I would have a more tangible way to share and show my long-standing dedication to the show and its’ creators.
While I didn’t craft anything, I was insatiable in my appetite to imbibe any and all things Smallville. That’s where Kryptonsite came in. I would climb down from my lofted bed every morning, wake up my sleeping computer, and check my favorite Smallville fansite for the latest news and updates about the show, the cast, and all things Kryptonian. Kryptonsite was home base. I checked in as frequently as internet access would allow, and considering that most of my time was spent on a college campus where wi-fi is free pretty much everywhere, all the time, I was always up to date with the latest and greatest Smallville news.
The fan fiction was exquisite. Stories about couples that, canonically, would never be taught me more about fan culture than I would ever need to know. I learned terms like ‘slash’, was quickly educated on what exactly Chlois, Chlark, Clex, and Clana were, and why those names were important terms to know. It was a world I was completely unfamiliar with. Over the next four summers I would dive headfirst into the wonderful world of fandom with midnight screenings for huge films, book release parties when the latest Harry Potter book arrived on the scene, and endless debates over which TV shows were the best to ever grace our televisions. I have Smallville to thank for making me an informed and dedicated fan.
Why I got attached so deeply
During a time in my life when everything was changing around me in rapid succession, it was nice to have a solid foundation to start and end every day. Whether I threw in an episode of the show while I wrapped up homework at the end of the night, or scrambled to check and see if my favorite fic writers had updated the latest chapter of my favorite long running stories, I fell hard for everything the fandom represented. While I never had anyone in my ‘real’ world who loved Smallville as much as I did, I fully embraced my online friendships created while debating whether or not Chloe Sullivan was simply Lois Lane’s real name. No, I’m still not over that disappointment. That wound still twinges a bit, but let’s just keep moving along, shall we?
What stuck with me
I discovered a multitude of characters that never quite fit in, that have found themselves in an unfamiliar world, and that are struggling to figure out what to do with their lives (which is just about any character on a drama series set in high school.) At the time, those were exactly the things I needed, but that isn’t what sticks with me to this day.
The thing about my first fandom that sticks with me to this very day is the characters. I instantly bonded with Chloe Sullivan, and I carry the spirit of that character with me every day. She was feisty and righteous. She knew what she wanted from the very beginning of the show and never relented in doing what she had to in order to get what she earned. As far as role models go, a girl could do far worse than Chloe Sullivan, and I always thought myself lucky to have grown so attached to a character as worthy as she.
My fandom firsts
Smallville was where most of my TV fandom firsts were experienced. It was the first time I truly cried over a character death, the first time I was shocked when someone I thought to be dead popped back up on my screen, alive and well a few episodes later, the first time I found myself hoping beyond hope that my favorite ship would finally get their chance. Happiness, disappointment, shock, and heartbreak, all the ‘feels’ that we long for when watching our favorite shows, reading our favorite books, or enjoying our favorite movies. It was the first time in my life when I really cared what happened to a fictional character. That changed quickly as I began absorbing any and all fictional worlds I could get my hands on, but I definitely have Smallville to thank for popping that cherry. Little did I know just how dramatically it would affect my life.
The most important first that Smallville gave to me was my first case of ‘heartbreak by character’. I spent the better part of five years standing beside Chloe Sullivan and hoping that she would get everything she ever dreamed of. I longed for the fairy tale ending that would never come. She was the princess of the story in my eyes, and all I wanted was for her to get her prince and walk away happily ever after. It was then that I learned that stories, and the life they portray, don’t always go the way you want. That doesn’t mean that in your own version of this world, Chloe and Clark can’t be the cutest couple to ever rule the Metropolis streets, but in the canonical world, dreams don’t always come true. It was a hard lesson to learn, but it translates most effectively to life, and there’s no better way to learn it.
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