Opinion poll on required familiarity

So I wanted to gather opinions from different people on a question I'm sure I'm not the first to ask. The question is this:

Do you need to be intimately familiar with (i.e. a long-time fan of) a genre in order to write any work analyzing its various tropes? Is there a metaphorical "barrier to entry" for those who are experienced with the genre, but not necessarily well-versed, or a "true believer"?

What do you think?

To an extent. Just like any other field of study, you need to do research in the area in order to say anything interesting. Most physicists aren't really able to comment on biology (and vice versa). That's not the same as being a fan of the genre, but I would guess that most people with the required level of familiarity are fans.

However, it doesn't require a great deal of reading to pick up on certain things. The lack of female characters in a lot of sci-fi/fantasy, especially the older stuff; the flat nature of a lot of the characters; the loltasticness of '20th/21at century American capitalism in space forever'. So it depends on what exactly you're trying to do.

Not at all. You can just be a casual fan to be aware of its tropes. The important thing is (not crucial, but recommended) you have to actually see them in context, like for sci-fi, reading a sci-fi book or TV show. You don't have to be a die-hard fan, but if it's enough for you to see a trope listed on this site and go "Oh yeah, I know this one! I saw it in that one place...", then I think it's good enough to use that trope.

Of course, that's just to begin. If you want to be more thorough, then yeah, some familiarity is needed, but not to the point of utter fanboyism, I think, as it may affect your view. Fanboyism is fine if you want to just utilise a trope! Just not if you want to deconstruct it and tear it apart, as the affection may be there.

As an example, I don't usually like sci-fi, but I liked mecha and Powered Armor, and I liked girls in skintight suits, so I made a story about girls in skintight suits wearing Powered Armor, a la Infinite Stratos (not the best sci-fi example, I know). It wasn't that great compared to the other stuff I did, and I'd chalk it up mostly due to my unfamiliarity with the genre to fully and faithfully utilise it the way I want to.

edited 28th Mar '14 3:16:09 AM by Nadir

No. If your not a long-time fan, you can bring an outsiders perspective into the analysis and might even be more objective.

But you do need the minimum familiarity to avoid what are considered "obvious" mistakes.

While knowing the proper terms of art of a series may make you more interesting to read to fans of that series, it doesn't really add anything for everyone else, or improve the quality of your efforts.