This line will be instantly familiar to anyone who has any geek tendencies whatsoever. You're artificially introduced to this person that you're alleged to have something in common with, following which you end up doing this weird kind of mating ritual where you verbally circle each other, trying to figure out what level of geek the other is to see if you have any kind of connection at all. Not that the non-geeks ever seem to understand that there might in fact not actually be any.
I've been a Bond fan since I was very small. I actually still remember my mum taking me to the cinema when I was five to watch 'The Spy Who Loved Me' on a Monday night at a cinema (now a pool hall) a tube stop away from their house in London. I must have had some serious pester power, as my folks really didn't have much money when we were younger so this turn of events was pretty much unprecedented. Fandom can have many reasons; not everyone affected always knows why they've been blessed with whatever their particular pleasure is, even if the effects are often similar. I suspect that I became a Bond fan because I enjoyed the escapism. But that's not the reason I'm still a fan today. This may or may not be something I have any control over, but it feels like the latter. For me now, being a Bond fan is a thread that runs through my life. The first time I see a Bond movie relates to every other first time I saw a Bond movie, all of which I can of course remember in pretty good detail. Being a fan is about a completely irrational passion. Like a mad crush you can't or just plain won't grow out of. Being a fan is about knowing in as-close-to-an-objective-opinion-as-you-can-muster that a film isn't very or sometimes even any good, but loving it anyway.
If nerds truly rules the world, as I've read two or three times in the last couple of days, then surely the world can respect us enough to recognise that we're all different. Geekdom doesn't just come in levels, it actually comes in flavours. You wouldn't just say "You'd like X, he's gay too!" would you? Although actually someone would, as I'm embarrassed to admit that I was once on the receiving end of that particular line. For the record, I'm into Bond movies way more than I'm into the novels (my favourite of which wasn't even written by Ian Fleming - Colonel Sun was actually by Kingsley Amis).
Star Trek fans are a lot of fun, as are Whovians. And both sets always seem to be into a lot of other things too. Star Wars fans seem to take it all a bit more seriously even though (in my very limited experience) they don't actually seem to have quite as much fun with it. But Bond fans? I have to admit that I often don't like the Bond fans I meet. A few have been absolutely wonderful. But most of them are quite dull and occasionally slightly unhinged men. And they nearly always seem to be men. Well apart from my sister, but you get the general drift. I suspect that many of them secretly really think they either are or just want to be James Bond. I mean, like, REALLY.
I was once introduced to to an alleged Bond fan who was wearing £1100 of watch as per the latest Bond movie, but who didn't own any of the films on DVD and who loved "which was the one with that huge volcano?". How could my heart not sink? I mentioned that I'd blagged my way into a Goldeneye press screening thanks to being such a fan, but that I just didn't like it. Although after a few weeks had passed, I had gone to see it at the cinema again. Another twelve times. Did I mention that I'm not your regular Bond fan?
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