Fan Rant: When Movie Fandom Gets Crafty

Fandom. It makes people do crazy things. People worship; people cherish; and people band together to fight. These days, we have heard all about that Fanboys debacle, which rages on while the film sits, tapping its impatient fingers. But that's only one aspect of fandom. There's also those love-filled homemade fan creations.

But this post is really all due to the picture above. Now, I've seen many funky fan crafts over the years, but this one I just loved. David Lynch isn't the sort of man who gets a ton of fan recreations, and honestly, aside from my still-unfinished oil painting of Jack Nance, this is the first one I've seen. It's simple, yet oh so bloody cool.

I have to admit it: I have an addiction to creating and appreciating funky things -- whether they be large, wine cork platters, a chess-themed birthday cake, or making a pair of underwear with Christopher Walken's face on the front. (Yes, I have a pair of Walken underthings. No, I will not share a picture.) I've always liked making things because, well, it's fun to do. But it also allows you to be original. Instead of paying someone to show your inner fan or inner taste, you can make something unique and filled with your own time and appreciation.

My earliest memories of fandom, that went beyond my own Hulk PJs or Michael Jackson doll (with the glove and leather, but not the Pepsi), came during visits to the house of a family friend. They had intricate recreations of Star Wars scenes set up with those cool old-school figurines. As little, insidious kids who break things, we weren't allowed to touch them. They just sat there taunting us under an invisible protective shield of fear -- fear of the wrath we would suffer if we so much as looked at the figurines in the wrong way. This was when I realized that fandom isn't just about buying and using, but creating and cherishing.

Since then, I've seen all sorts of recreations. Some recreate worlds, others whip up funky tees, and some put it all into a tasty cake. But more recently, everything has just kicked up a notch. The obviously amateur fan creations have paved the way for impressive odes to media -- some of which look sleek and professional, rather than just uneven and filled with TLC.

You can make origami and funky paper replicas. You can grab some dye and make green eggs and ham. You could even grab some knitting needles and recreate wardrobe pieces like Jayne's infamous hat. But that's just the first level. We've got professional cake makers creating huge, Simpsons creations for Food Network Challenges. We've got excellent recreations of famous movie scenes using, of all things, Peeps.

And we've also got apartments. That's right, in case you haven't heard, at least one person has taken their fandom to the ultimate level, making their apartment look like it's right out of Star Trek. You've got to wonder -- how well do they upkeep their creation? Does it always look slick and new, or are their often piles of dirty clothing in the corner, crumbs on the counter, and a bottle of beer on the coffee table? It certainly leads to other questions as well -- how far should a person go for love of their media? Just when is enough really enough?

I have included a gallery below that shows some of the pieces I've been writing about, from that crazy apartment to John Cusack as a Say Anything peep. Check out these wonders of fandom and then weigh in below about your own forays into fan crafts and cool odes to media that you've come across.