Disha Murugupandiyan - Week #9 - The Fandom Effect
Everything has a good side and a bad side. An angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Fandoms are no different.
Fandoms can be built around music artists, movie universes, sports, and much more. I myself have been part of several fandoms and for the most part, they each have been extremely enjoyable experiences. There’s a sense of community in each of them, comfort found in the fact that there are others like you who admire the same content or qualities that you do. For many individuals, the content they admire helps them escape from reality as well as the problems that they must suffer through in their daily life. Some are even lucky enough to find friendships built off their shared interests. It’s a different kind of experience when you can just ramble on about a random topic that you guys are interested in, and it’s more than just for fun. It makes you feel known, understood, and comfortable.
Take conventions or concerts for an example. At conventions, it’s one of the few places where adults can unapologetically dress up however they want, even when society tells them they’re too old for it. What makes it so fun is that everyone does it together. It’s the same at concerts, when everyone is crying to a certain song. They’re brought out of their normal lives and into this environment where everyone around them is here to enjoy the same content.
However, as much as fans have the power for good, they have the power to do the exact opposite as well.
One such capability is cancel culture; if enough fans gang up on a certain piece of art or celebrity, their popularity and reputation can disappear as quickly as smoke. And usually, there’s absolutely no recovering from it all. Imagine that. All the time put into a piece of work, everything the celebrity has worked for their entire life, gone.
Celebrities go through so much in their lives, both in the spotlight and out of it. There’s no way to know what happens in their personal life while they are off camera. As a result, fans tend to speculate, make jokes, and try to figure out as much as possible. It’s harmless to a certain extent, but there have been multiple situations where it has simply gone too far. Some fans love their idols so much that they stalk them, find out their phone number, or follow them to their hotel room. It’s genuinely terrifying what certain fans choose to do just to get close to or interact with their idol.
In the end, all of this—the events and collective unforgettable experiences, but also the stalking and harassment—it all stems from the very human feeling of not wanting to feel alone. Whether fans are coming together to discuss theories for the next episode or to threaten an individual, it’s all done together. As negative and depressing as it sounds, it’s proof that you truly never walk alone.
Hi Disha! Fandoms are such a fun environment to be in when everyone has the same feelings about the same show, movie, etc. I’m glad you mentioned that there are upsides and downsides to being in a fandom, because sometimes it seems like all sunshine and rainbows, but in reality, fandoms typically conflict or split into groups because of differences in their opinions. This reminds me of a statement that my friend had said last weekend that she was quite “ashamed to be in the My Hero Academia fandom” because it was known to be “cringey.” Even though it was partly true, only a few members out of the millions worldwide displayed this type of cringeiness, but why is everyone suddenly titled from the actions of a few? As united as these fandoms may seem, typically the larger the fandom gets, the more everyone gets unfairly categorized.
ReplyDeleteThe controversy around fandoms will inevitably thrive because humans are social creatures who depend on seeking others to communicate with. But whether they will change for the better or worse will depend on the people themselves, and whether they decide to stay in this fandom even after the claims and allegations made about the entire fanbase.
Wonderful blog, Disha!
Hey Disha. I love the idea that you brought up about the power a fandom has and how you compared both the good and bad sides to an angel and devil on one's shoulder. I feel like people often brand one fandom as either good or bad but rarely see the opposite. For example, the My Hero Academia fandom always gets a lot of hate for the actions of its fans but there are some fans who really just want to talk to other people who also enjoy the show. Speaking of talking, I agree with you when you said that the best part of being a part of a fandom is being able to get together with friends and yap forever about a shared fandom. I think the community fandoms bring power all to themselves. It's crazy to think about the power fans have on the fate of a show. Whether a “good” fandom allows for the creation of more of that media or the “bad” fandoms leading to a decline of viewership and/or the cancellation of said media. I also like the point you brought up at the end of your blog about the good and bad even within events meant to celebrate the form of art in which everyone there enjoys. It really does put into perspective how many things have a good and bad side to them. Anyways, I am so glad you are in my cohort and I can't wait to see what you write next!
ReplyDeleteI love how you chose to write about fandom culture, as it’s a very pervasive aspect of how everyday people, especially in Gen Z, interact with popular media. As you point out, it has its pros and cons, and it has consequences in real life outside of the Internet sphere. There is an aspect of fandom culture, however, that I feel can’t really be categorized as a pro or con—that is, fandom’s permeation into visual art. Prior to the rise of fandom culture, artists primarily created original works; they created their own characters, settings, and situations, and they drew from information gathered in their real lives (such as their own experiences or interpersonal relationships and interactions) to create art. Artists gained popularity by showcasing originality and innovation in their own works. However, as fandoms have gained traction as the primary way in which the youth interact with art, common themes in artistic subjects have shifted. While creating original works with original concepts was the norm before the rise of the Internet, many visual artists now gain traction by creating fanart. Artists create works centered around already existing pieces of media, which allows them to gain commercial traction by building off of the success of whatever media they’re creating fanart of. This has caused fanart to become an extremely pervasive aspect of modern art that cannot be ignored. On one hand, this might sound bad—if artists begin relying on others’ works to create their own works, what will happen to originality? Will artists slowly lose their creative agency, instead simply chasing the works of others and using that to create their own work? While I think these are worthwhile questions to discuss, there are also many positives about fanart that make it something we should tolerate or even encourage, rather than shame. As previously mentioned, creating fanworks allows artists to gain traction using the success of the original canon work, helping to more organically propel talented people into fame, as opposed to Renaissance artists who had to obtain commissions to create art. Fandom itself, and especially fanart, have also brought the transformative nature of art and literature to a whole new level, with more people being open to reinterpreting and even rewriting media instead of just passively consuming it. I think a healthy balance is necessary—the continued flourishing of fanworks is a new way of ensuring that artistic traditions and the value of art in life is preserved, but it is additionally important to remember one’s own creative agency and exercise it. Thanks for writing about this!
ReplyDelete