I grew up chronically online and stumbled into corners of the internet that someone so young should not have been in. Binging YouTube and later finding Instagram led me to discover the boy bands One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer—both of which I still claim.
In 2020, I leveled up with Twitter. This was the hub for anyone I followed. Even though one of my best friends went to the same high school as me, we actually connected over Twitter. We were part of the fan culture: Update accounts posting when a celebrity would upload something new or where they were last seen. Fully devoted fan accounts with their entire profile dedicated to one person or group. And suddenly, being a fan meant the world to me.
These communities are built around common interests—media, celebrities, sports, and more. Fan culture dates back to the 19th century with the stories of “Sherlock Holmes.” After the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off the beloved character, fans began to write their own endings, creating fanfiction. The values around being a fan are important to study, not only due to how prevalent they are in the media, but also how this fanaticism contributes to politics. People prefer one candidate over another because their own values align is literally just fan culture, and should be acknowledged as such, even for someone who isn’t a celebrity or musician.
Some of the biggest fandoms include “ARMY” for the Korean pop band BTS, “Trekkies” for Star Trek enthusiasts, and “Potterheads” for the Harry Potter universe. These fandoms are notable because of their advocacy and charge towards social change in recent years. In 2020, BTS donated $1M to the “Black Lives Matter” movement and the fans matched this within 24 hours. They are an organized fandom which makes it easier to amplify and raise awareness for various causes.
Though there are plenty of positives to fan culture, it also comes with challenges. The internet is still full of people behind a screen, and there’s a lot of toxicity that comes with that. Harassment of other fans, gatekeeping, and “fan wars” that cause fandoms to hate on other fandoms are all problematic. Fandoms can also be responsible for directly harassing the celebrity and crossing their personal boundaries, which happens too often by overzealous fans, who have often created a parasocial relationship with this person. Plenty of notable figures have been canceled because of this, such as ex-YouTuber Jenna Marbles who canceled herself for unintentionally doing blackface where she covered her face black for a video and could not handle the backlash, and rap singer Doja Cat who had allegations of racism and racist language in her music.
Fandoms have taken a huge role in shaping media. The power of people using their voice and sharing their opinion can influence the storyline or a character change. This has caused directors to take an interest in what fans do or don’t like to better improve their work. “Zach Snyder’s Justice League” (2021) is an example of this where fans pleaded to view the director’s cut of the film “Justice League” (2017), and got it released.
As for the future of fandoms, the potential to rally for social change and even an uncut script is inspiring. Different communities being able to connect internationally, socialize around their opinions so freely, and foster creativity is revitalizing, especially to witness from afar, and, even better, be a part of. I hope to see this in future generations as fans create safe spaces based on their shared consumption of media. My One Direction stan Twitter will continue to beg for a reunion after nine years, and with enough plea, we might get it one day.
