Abstract

Fandom or fandom culture is pretty broad in the online space and derives itself from a following of a source material. With some potentially being endorsed by the official source or acting independently from it. To an extent it affirms or shapes an individuals identity. Creating a safe community space for those to express themselves. This however presents the question on whether fandom communities influence growth in personal identity or hinder it in favour of a collective identity. All in all, the introduction to fandoms in the online space has influenced the way we interact with pop culture and identify ourselves within our interests for better or worse, this will occur continuously as technology advances.

Introduction

Within modern society, pop culture has began to seep into everyday life in intricate ways that makes it almost intangible with our identities. We process and consume media which in turns shapes the beliefs we have or ideologies we follow. A fandom is a subculture categorised by a following of individuals that share a common interest; an example of this would be a sports team and their cult-like following. We shape our identities within the confines of the fandoms we follow (Peyron, D. 2018). This community will have its own ‘ecology’ so to say, from content creation to social interaction between members. The phenomenon has only grown larger in magnitude with the introduction of the internet, connecting communities that were otherwise considered unreachable prior to mainstream coverage. This isn’t to say that the likes of fandoms that have exceedingly large members didn’t exist during that time. On the contrary, some could argue that fandoms then were far more impressive due to the technological limits to connect such individuals. The fandom lifestyle and communities in its past prior to modern technology has led to many historical moments, the internet has shaped these communities further into something unique and has impacted the identity of its respective members.

Part 1 Affirming or reforming Identity and the role it plays with engagement.

The definition of a fandom is equivocal but from my understanding of the term: a fandom is a subgroup that identifies with the media or topic it discusses. One instance would be as mentioned prior to this is a sports club. Members of this fandom will interact with one another in a multitude of ways which either reinforces their current identity or mould it to something new entirely. This results in gradual growth and reshaping of core beliefs, which creates a shift in their established identity thus far. An example would be fans of the premier league team, Manchester United. They have a following worldwide who actively engage with the team as fans and as critics. Sport fandoms tend to be quite vocal in comparison to others. As previously mentioned, over the course of some time, these values and identity within the fandom may shift resulting in disagreements between members.

This is a sensitive topic within any community which could lead to discourse amongst members. Members who actively engage in a fandom will have the majority when it comes to being vocal thus representing their fandom on an online space. Creating a shared identity of the masses that subscribe to that ideology. It also differentiates themselves from others who aren’t participating in this fandom as much in a form of “cultural segregation”. Albeit unintentional, this phenomenon of othering occurs quite often (Groene, S. L., & Hettinger, V. E. 2016).

Like all social constructs, a hierarchy begins, seniority and order is established. They determine the identity of the fandom and its members with set rules. Knowledge and contributions to the community influences the social standing of a member; this is evident in communities such as the Harry Potter and Twilight fandoms. This drives engagement through the sense of belonging, the social needs of interaction are met through engagement within the fandoms space. What makes fandoms difficult to navigate is how vast they can be, certain fandoms have introduced chapters within their ranks to accommodate their community. They host themselves on a multitude of platforms with multimedia formats, from text forums like 4Chan to content creation sites like Deviantart. Some are locale orientated and some are language based. Often times, this happens independently from its original fandom and branches into its own sub culture. It is the fandoms that determine the influence it has based on its capabilities to both appeal and reach its intended audience. Fandoms that are successful will maintain relevancy in mainstream media meanwhilst fandoms that fail to cater to their fanbase either through user generated content or from the media text itself will eventually die out.

Part 2 The Self and The Community

There is an understanding that the reason why fandoms gain traction is because these fans share a bond with the subject of the fandom. However, at what point does it become more than just an identifier of character and instead become the identity itself? Individuals that cannot defer from their online personality within a fandom are called fanatics, blurring the line between the reality and the fiction. One could argue that passionate fans base their life or personality around their respective fandoms create this almost symbiotic or parasocial relationship with them. In this case, does it become less of an outlet for creativity or identity and more obsession? (Serigina, A., & Schouten, J. W. 2016).

The crux of the problem is the severity of this overlap could potentially lead to an existentialism issue. That being said, are the decisions we choose to make dependent on our interest or the inverse? A critique I would place on this particular scenario is that, this is not necessarily a symptom of fandomship but instead a symptom of failure with safeguarding oneself from online spaces. The groups and media we interact with could potentially overwrite our core beliefs if we so happen to be incapable of protecting ourselves from indoctrination. Although in most cases it is harmless, certain fandoms can promote negative and even harmful beliefs.

It is dependent on the social media used, sites like 2Chan and 4Chan are notorious for its communities or subcommunities being heavily controversial with political fandoms promoting potentially harmful ideologies. The anonymous nature of these forums with its lack of moderation allows for these fandoms to prosper without supervision. Users reciting and preaching violence against others because it has a cult-like following. An example of this would be perpetrators of school shootings in the United States of America having frequented these subcommunities and fandoms. Being young and easily influenced, these individuals identities would then be remodeled to one of spite and discrimination. The Buffalo shooting which occured nearly three years ago shedded light on unmoderated sites and fandoms such as the ones mentioned prior to have played an integral role in the suspects motivation. The graphic incident was shared on the platform with some praising the gunman for his actions. Threads upon threads continued to discuss the incident on the platform with mixed opinions. The gunman attributed his time on the platform and certain fandoms as inspiration to commit the shooting. We can conclude that in some extreme cases the identity of the individual can be overridden by the identity of the collective.

With that being said, how do we combat this issue? If the identity of self and fandom overlap further than the norm, could it be rectified and if not, what are the repurcussions? Anonymity could be a main factor as to why many feel comfortable creating fandoms that are problematic. The solution that I proposes is to practice self awareness and self-regulation as a form of safeguarding. This maintains freedom of speech in fandoms without indoctrinating others as easily with more informed net users. Preventing atrocities like mass murders and hate crimes influenced by an online community that preached these values of violence.

Part 3 Influence on Pop Culture: Fandom-inance

Fandom culture has become the norm almost worldwide, with it ranging from lighthearted topics to heavy subjects. There is always an online community or space for everyone should they have the desire to explore more. Platforms such as Tiktok and X host many fandom content for the mainstream audience as it has a larger user base; allowing for more outreach and larger fandom communities to prosper. Other sites such as DeviantArt serve more niche communities for artist to showcase their content; through the use of tags, an artist or user is capable of filtering content to something more in tune with their respective fandom. This includes original works and fanfiction which are well within their rights to be made but how does this influence pop culture?

The dedication of a fanbase can result in history being made and changes to the professional industry on a multi-faceted level. Roblox hosts user generated content (UGC) on its platform, allowing for its players to create games or “experiences” as they are referred officially, which has broken numerous records and boundaries in the gaming community. User, Alex “badcc” Balfanz, known for his game ‘Jailbreak’ hosted at one point a peak of 1.2 to 1.6 million players which over the course of a few months made him and his business partner: millionaires. The Roblox fandom is a large community built on a shared love for designing and playing, placing importance on the experience of users through creative freedom. Another aspect of Roblox is the well received avatar feature which allows users to showcase their characters in exchange for real world currencies. Allowing for UGCs to be created of a users fandom outside the Roblox spectrum thus resulting in an overlap of fandoms. This highlights two things, the flexible nature of fandom and the dedication of the fanbase that follows it using technology to satisfy their social needs.

Some fandoms have pushed innovation on their source material with some fan contributions resulting in newer pop culture. 50 Shades of Gray originated from a fan fiction submission of Twilight —titled “Master of The Universe”— and has become in its own right, a piece of pop culture removed from its source material with its own fandom. This piece of fictions success laid the foundation that allowed for self-publishing authors to prosper in the coming years with many signing with established publishers later on. It played an integral role on breaking conventions with ebooks being valued as genuine literature to some when previously it wasn’t taken as seriously. This also resulted in lower budget screenwrite adaptations to be greenlit more often because of the traction a fandom can generate would net a profit for studios. Films like The Kissing Booth or After are examples of fandoms influence on a media text. Without an established fanbase, these books would have possibly never been adapted into a film but because they had been recieved so well amongst its fans, demand was present. Fandom holds the leverage and power to create content that it forces the hand of industries to cater towards their wants or risk losing their fanbase. Fandoms are everchanging and a simple mistake could send the whole fandom into turmoil.

Conclusion

Fandom is an incredibly turbulent thing, it is something that occurs out of a necessity for a community, the need for interaction whilst satisfying the need for individuality. Although these engagements could be argued to either contribute nothing to society or yield some interesting results. Fandoms and their fanbase are more common nowadays due to the ease of access that permits them to connect with other individuals through the use of technology.

Fandoms have been around for a long time, with the likes of Beatlemania or the fanatics of Michael Jackson predating the internet. Modern day fandoms are more diverse and branch out much more from their source material which creates even more divide between chapters of fandoms. Fandoms could lead to unhealthy amounts of exposure to an online space as it becomes a dependency to validate their identity. Only time will tell if fandoms continue to innovate on itself and become something for more larger. In hopes of a better future, fandoms will continue to inspire and connect people further pushing the limitations of media and social spaces.

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