Fandoms
The first use of the term ‘fandom’ was in 1893! Fans of the detective Sherlock Holmes are widely considered to have comprised the first modern fandom, holding public demonstrations of mourning after Holmes was killed off in 1893. A fandom is the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc., . Another way to describe it as a community of people who bond over a common interest. That interest can be a movie, game, character, band, anything. You name it, and there is probably an extraordinarily intense group of people who have formed a community based on their shared enthusiasm for it. A large amount of people see fandom and internet groups as being silly and frivolous, full of nerdy teenagers and introverted adults who hide
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There are different opinions when it comes to the obsession that comes with being in a fandom. One opinion being that being a part of a fandom is dangerous when it becomes more than just an idle interest. It becomes dangerous because you don’t leave your room for self improvement when you spend a large chunk of time involved in something that only serves as escapism. Another opinion says that it’s more than just escapism. It is the displacement of emotions and feelings onto a character whom you relate to. You begin to live vicariously through another, even if it’s fictional of unattainable. It becomes an issue when a person fixates on the problems of a fictional character rather than their own problems and fixing them to improve the quality of their own life. According to Dr. Ramsey, a onetime Dexter enthusiast who gave away his television to rid himself of the temptation to get hooked on other programs, it’s not the unrealized potential of the fan that makes his or her passion problematic — it’s that their pursuits offer no chance of rewards. “Fandom is reasonably unsatisfying,” he says. “It doesn’t return something specific to the individual.” Wait, but sometimes it does! Is it not exciting when your favorite team has a comeback? Or what about when a show we are addicted to has a revelatory climax, like, after 53 episodes of Breaking Bad, we saw FBI agent Hank finally realize that his brother-in-law, Walter White, was the drug kingpin he’s been looking for? “There’s a moment that might be exciting, but then that moment passes, and what do you have?” asks Ramsey
Celebrity worship is a term given to those who obsess over one or more celebrity. Jake Halpern's "The Popular Crowd," discusses how loneliness increases the likelihood of someone worshiping celebrities. Worshiping of celebrities is not necessarily bad, it can be helpful for those who have a social need that they need satisfied. However, this worshiping can sometimes lead to stalking and violence towards celebrities. Once this happens celebrities are put in danger. Some celebrities receive phone calls, letters, emails, and more from stalkers. They might not feel like this is a sign of danger, but it is. In order for celebrities to remain safe, they need to be educated about dangers that come with having fans.
In his article “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten,” Henry Jenkins addresses the function of fandoms, more specifically the writing of fan-fiction, and further in the context of the Star Trek fandom. He claims that fans are “textual poachers” who take pieces of the original text that they deem as worthy, and rework, or improve areas that they find problematic or contradictory to the overall purpose of the piece. This “poaching” that is transformed works into fan-fiction are heavily written by females, at least in the Star Trek fandom. Jenkins states that this is due to the fact that women have a rather limited and highly stereotyped portrayal in science fiction. Thus, in writing fan-fiction, women are able to express themselves and their own
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of the character Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. He was a Scottish writer and physician, he wrote many things in his life. Doyle did not just write detective mysteries he also fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. Even though he wrote many other thing he is mostly well known for writing all of the canon Sherlock stories. Doyle himself had a career in the medical field there he meet many influential people to base his characters from. A letter was found where he wrote to one of his colleagues whose name was Joseph Bell that the most important traits of his character Sherlock was mostly based on him. Bell himself had the career title of forensic
...eness to Traynor’s death. In the years before his death Jackson’s life had gone downhill at an alarming speed and nothing seemed to stop it. However, upon news of his death people began listening to his music again praising him and watching movies in which he had been in. The term that can be used for this is “bandwagon” in which anyone joins in and doesn’t have to have extensive knowledge of the thing or person, they only need similar interests or reasons. Michael Jackson’s cds Thriller and Bad are the examples that can be used because people would take Thriller the cd’s title song and Smooth Criminal and replay them constantly claiming to be “True Fans”. The definition of a true fan is someone who not only knows the artist’s background but their music as well and enjoys listening to more than one song and doesn’t listen to them just because of physical appearance.
The term “fan” was originally used to describe sports fans during the nineteenth century and was later adopted by science fiction enthusiasts in the 1920s. The term “fan,” however, is used for describing a type of person who is enthusiastic, or fanatic about a certain subject. Popular fan culture, nicknamed “fandoms,” have become an integral part of society in many countries, and have connected people sharing a common interest through online communities where they can freely discuss fan related topics. Popular fandoms today include Directioners, Beliebers, and VIPs. People who are part of fandoms usually show their devotion by participating in fan conventions such as Comicon, writing fan mail, creating fan art, or by promoting their interests to others. Being a fan also comes with the responsibility of changing one’s lifestyle in order to accommodate time and energy into the fandom. Fan culture also offers people the chance to feel passionate about something or someone in order to satisfy the emotional needs they lack from their daily life.
Fanfiction is fiction literature about a medium such as a TV show, movie, or book, written by fans of the medium. It generally consists of many different genres and locations, but uses characters specific to the medium chosen. One of the most prominent parts of fanfiction culture is shipping or more specifically slash shipping. Shipping is the act of supporting two or more characters, personalities, or real people in a romantic relation-“ship” regardless of whether the relationship exists in real life or not; for example, “Bill Clinton/Hilary Clinton,” “Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky,” and “Bill Clinton/Michelle Obama/Monica Lewinsky” are all “ships”. Similarly, slash shipping is the act of shipping two characters, personalities, or real people of the same sex regardless of their original sexual orientation. While slash fiction in LGBT terms refers to any gay or lesbian fiction, fanfiction terms differ slightly in that slash fiction refers to gay fanfiction (as opposed to femme-slash which refers to lesbian fiction). On popular fanfiction archiving websites, simple searches show that more than 70 percent of all fanfiction is male slash fiction (“M/M Tag Search”). This abundance in male slash fiction brings up a puzzling question: why do so many fans enjoy it?
SpongeBob has been on air for 15 years and is still soaking up the top of the charts. It is broadcasted around the world in 25 languages and it has spawned an entire line of toys, clothing and food, with total sales estimated at nearly $1 billion a year (Karlinksy, Neal 2010). The comedic yellow sponge has attracted viewers from all different age groups- ranging from toddlers to grown adults. Being as popular as it is, SpongeBob Squarepants is seen as a producerly text. Excessiveness, obviousness and intertextuality make up the producerly makeup of Spongebob Squarepants. Fanfiction has also stemmed from the popular Nickelodeon show. Elements of fan fiction include relevance, intertextuality, and textual poaching. So, what exactly makes Spongebob so popular and why are fans so drawn into the happy sponge?
Lots of people have been obsessed with celebrities for thousands of years. In Collin Palmers short essay response, he mentions that being obsessed with celebrities is a healthy escape from our boring lives. Sure, being obsessed with celebrities can inspire people in doing good things, but it can also be negative. Although Palmer is somewhat correct with his statement, “being obsessed with celebrities is healthy,” some people can be obsessed with the wrong celebrities which can cause negative events in our society.
Mysteries have always held great fascination for the human mind, not least because of the aura that surrounds them and the realm of the Unknown into which they delve. Coupled with the human propensity of being particularly curious about aspects which elude the average mind, the layer of intrigue that glosses over such puzzles makes for a heady combination of the literary and the popular. In the canon of detective fiction worldwide, no detective has tickled the curious reader’s imagination and held it in thrall as much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The 221-B, Baker Street, London ‘amateur’ detective combines a rare blend of intellectual prowess and sharp wit to crack a series of baffling riddles.
The Influence of Sherlock Holmes Every once in a while, a fictional character is created whose name will live on forever. There’s King Arthur, Scarlett O’Hara, Batman; the list goes on and on. However, there is one character in particular that not only became famous in literature and movies, but also shaped modern detective techniques. This character is Sherlock Holmes.
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
In today’s day and age we live in a society obsessed with celebrity culture. This however, is not a new addiction; our society’s fascination with celebrity culture has been around for decades. Through the years, we’ve seen fandom come in various forms, shapes and sizes. From the groupies of the 60s, to the more recent digital-followers, one thing common among all fans is the pedestal on which they’ve put their favorite celebrity. Some people would argue that fans are not only the most important part of a celebrity’s life, but fans are quintessential in their success. Fans admire them, follow their every move: physical or electronic, and purchase anything and everything that might bring them in looking/feeling more like their desired celebrity. Many experts even believe that fan and fan-clubs often resemble religions. One can easily note the similarities between fans and a religious cult; from worshipping to organizing conventions and event recruiting new followers. To some it might even sound like a disorder, and Dr. Lynn McCutcheon after her intense research, was the first one to coin the term: (CWS) Celebrity Worship Syndrome. According to Psychology Today, CWS can be described as a mental-disorder where an individual becomes completely obsessed with the details of the personal life of a celebrity (Griffiths). A celebrity, as defined by Mark Griffiths, can be any person who is present in the ‘public eye’, including Politicians, authors, and journalists, but according to Dr. McCutcheon research they are more likely to be someone from the world of television, film and/or pop music. Continuing on Justin Bieber’s ad campaign, this paper examines the peculiar relationship between consumers and God-like celebrity figures. It showcase...
Fans are everywhere and while they continue to be a part of the community, they have created their own community. Enthusiasts have become something completely of their own creation. They are not just fans of a certain team or sport; they are FANatics. This is awesome, because as I stated before, without fans what would we do? The professional games wouldn't be aired on television and sports would not be such a big deal.
While the word “fandom” was originally used to refer to those who had a fascination with sports, it can now be used to refer to any area of interest. Among the most common are television shows, movies, books and celebrities. However the fandoms that exist in 2014 are varied and sites such as “Tumblr” contain many references to fandoms such as the furniture fandom, the cat fandom, the maths fandom and the science fandom.
Have you ever wondered why people are so addicted to watching their favorite shows on TV? Have you ever wondered why reality TV is so popular? This paper is an explanation of why large numbers of people watch reality TV shows. Proof and facts will be provided showing that reality TV provides entertainment, inspiration, the stirring of emotions, vicarious living, and a substitute for social life for many who watch. Here are a few examples of these statements.