Two Mundane Videographers at last year's Con...

Last year, one of the off-premise events was a reading of a play, written about Furry Fans. It happened Thursday night, in a small theater with attached bar, just up the street a couple blocks from the DLCC.

The producers of the play were hoping for "a few" interested furry fans to audit the reading, and then offer some feedback afterwards; what happened was the place was JAMMED with furries, many in full regalia, who presumably all had a good time, 'cause I didn't hear anything afterwards about a bad time.

Meanwhile, out in the Foyer, two men with some serious audio and video equipment were capturing the comings and goings of the more interesting-looking furfen, and occasionally tossing out a question or two for response. They were not with any of the local TV stations. I happened to stop and sk what they were about, and it seems - for a "College Project" - that they were going to try to make a "Documentary" or "Video Essay" about Furries. Judging by the sort of people they were filming, and the sort of comments they were making amongst themselves, I started to get the feeling that this was going to be another take on "strange people".

While everyone else was inside the play reading, I spoke with the soundman and the videographer for about an hour or so - though not on camera, - trying to give an honest take on anthropomorphic animals, the early fan movement, and how it has evolved with the coming of the internet and computer, video, and on-line roleplaying games. I told of everything from native american petroglyphs and stories through cave drawings in France to the Reynard the Fox story cycle, from Bestiaries, Fables, Epic Poems, from Kipling and The Jungle Book through George Orwell and Animal Farm, and even Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I invoked Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King, and all the other Disney Animated movies I could think of, right up to Ratattoui (sp?) and Happy Feet and Surf's Up and Madagascar, sprinkled liberally with references to Tiny Toons and Huckleberry Hound and Quick-Draw McGraw and Wally Gator and Yogi Bear and Lippy the Lion and Snagglepuss and a couple dozen other animated TV characters from the early '60s. And they seemed to find it of some interest, or at least they didn't show signs of giving me the brush-off or a cold shoulder.

Essentially, I tried to persuade them that focusing on even just a few furry fans misses the point of what we are fans _of_, and to try to look for that content behind the fans themselves. And I recommended that they approach the convention staff at ConOps, with a clear and honest statement of what they wished to do, and to see if they could arrange a time to speak with the chairman of the convention.

I am curious to know what became of them. Were they seen by anyone else, later during the convention? What became of their project? Did they in fact try to talk with the Powers That Be in the convention staff?