(no subject)

[learnedax]

Catching up on the olympics, thanks to TiVo, has made me realize how many strong parallels they have with Pennsic. From the athletic core which revives ancient tradition (with champions contesting points ranging from archery to fencing) to the strong cultural representations of diverse homelands, there's a big cognitive similarity. When landscape-transforming temporary construction, ingrained rivalries, and a healthy dose of pomp and circumstance are taken into account, I begin to seriously wonder whether the two events serve similar psychological purposes.

This nicely dovetails into two longstanding discussions that came up again at war: first, is there any significant difference between Pennsic and a large sci-fi convention, and second, is the role of martial activity within the SCA truly a critical element, or merely a historical quirk?

Specifically, if fighting, as the Olympic tradition seems to, serves a higher purpose than being yet another fun thing that people do, it represents a qualitative difference between the SCA and other things that the counterculture does... And if it's just a diversion for a bunch of stick-jocks, then what is Pennsic but a themed con?

Thoughts?

Comments

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I don't know any even remotely organized fun activities, from Masonry to Fandom to SCA to Gaming, that *don't* have some sort of giant central event.

I think, though, that if you look at it for most, if not all, of the remotely organized fun activities, the giant central event is not terribly central.

WorldCon is generally the largest science fiction convention of the year, but the calendar year of most fen is not altered by it. GenCon Indy is the biggest gaming convention of which I'm aware - but most gamers never attend any gaming con, much less GenCon itself, so it could hardly be central to gaming. The National Jamboree is not central to the Boy Scouts - the vast majority of Scouts never get anywhere near the event.

As opposed to Pennsic War, which between my own experience and anecdote, seems to shut down other SCA operations in the northeastern USA in the month of August. You can't swing a cat in any other SCA event without hitting a multi-year Pennsic attendee.

So, is it really fair to analogize between them? Rather than compare them as similar, perhaps you need to contrast them? Those other big, central events aren't really all that central. But Pennsic is. What is different about Pennsic? Well, the core excuse of fighting is one of the differences.

[jducoeur]

I'm still unconvinced. I mean, physical proximity is quite relevant here. Worldcon doesn't warp everyone's schedules because it moves around the world, but it *does* have a major impact on the region where it's being held each year. Pennsic does totally warp the Northeast, but its impact on the other coast is considerably smaller.

Also, it's important to note that Worldcon and Pennsic attendance look a lot more alike when you factor in activity levels. The highly active fen are very likely to be at Worldcon, just as the highly active SCAdians are at Pennsic. In particular, those who *identify* with the activity are far more likely to be at the central event; fringier members are far less likely.

And as for shutting down, it looks to me like the con schedule is pretty warped by Worldcon. I see relatively few SF conventions happening in Aug/Sept. (The one big exception being DragonCon, which is largely an illustration of the way that fandom seems to be schisming.)

Yes, there are major differences, and yes, Pennsic does seem to be somewhat more central to the SCA's life than Worldcon is to fandom's. But there are plenty of other factors that I think are likely to be more responsible for that than fighting is -- not least, having a stable location that permits us to build upon it, for something like three decades now. That's allowed the site and event to grow together in some unique ways that a hotel doesn't allow...