Fans And Fandom

Neal Gabler’s 1998 book, Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, brings up controversial questions about the necessity or unnecessary want of entertainment. Scholars may claim that entertainment breaks family bonds, undermines community, and decreases people’s integrity. Certainly, entertainment in the 21st century in the form of movies, video games, and social media are more widespread than ever. However, not all forms of enjoyment are obscene; sports, television shows, and fan conventions can promote social involvement, reduce stress, and improve collaboration skills.

I argue that authors and producers often attempt to impose their own set of cultural and political ideologies on its audience through a certain depiction of right and wrong. In this manner, works of fiction might influence, perhaps even alter, the ideologies of the audience.[3] Accordingly, analyzing the depiction of ideologies in media content can serve as a basis for further research on if and how producers intend to influence their audience.

I chose to read and review was Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. Raving Fans begins with a recently promoted Area Manager familiarizing himself with his new office while his mind races with his thoughts of the recent conversation he has just had with the president of his corporation. As the new Area Manager he is struggling to wrap his mind around the concept of customer satisfaction. As he is steadily thinking his fairy Godmother, Charlie shows up. The recently promoted Area Manager and Charlie leave the office and Charlie makes the suggestion to go play golf. After the round of golf, Charlie takes the newly promoted Area Manager to meet Leo and Leo reveals the first secret

It is no wonder that many try to avoid being called a “fan,” not if this is the image that it conjures up in contemporary culture. This is true even within the Sherlock Holmes fandom, where some fans are associated with egregious behaviour and that often makes those in the fandom disassociate themselves with the word. When Pearson interviewed several Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts, their responses were indicative of this negative view, where “the perceived ‘loony’ or irrational nature of the fannish response that puts these Sherlockians off” and that “rationality is a key distinction between the Sherlockians and those whom they think of as fans.” The terms they do prefer are “admirer,” “enthusiast,” “devotee,” and “aficionado,” all of which

“Popular forms of entertainment have always existed.” Popular culture exists not just in the recent hundred years, but also in the ancient world. Marcel Danesi wrote ‘Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives’ to introduce different way of existence of the modern-day popular culture, in order to open up debates on the pop culture. There are twelve chapters in this book, the first three chapters are providing an overview of popular culture. The following eight chapters are depth discussion on the forms of popular culture, including the advent of the media, the relationship between media and pop culture, also the impact of different forms of popular culture on the society. The last chapter is a conclusion on the previous eight chapters, also a prospect of popular culture on the Internet. Marcel Danesi raised a question ‘What is pop culture?’ at the beginning which is linked with another question ‘Who owns pop culture?’, as we know pop culture is populist, unpredictable, and ephemeral, so how to determine who is the owner of pop culture. The fact that popular culture is created by people, but also for people, so popular culture represents the taste of a generation. In the following eight chapters, Marcel Danesi provided comprehensive information about the forms of popular culture, also stated his views towards different forms of popular culture. However, there is common feature regarding the forms of pop culture. Marcel Danesi stated that technology is the key element of pop

Everyone is a fan of something, whether it is a band, a sports team, a television show, or a certain brand of shoe. There is something for everyone. Fan studies is the study of fans and their cultures, looking at how fans interact with each other, how they express themselves and “‘secondary texts’ produced by fans, such as fan fiction, art-work inspired by a particular cultural object or performer, and other forms of cultural production” (Gasher Skinner Lorimer, 137).

This approach to fandom is another common stream in the literature, something Sean McCloud (2003) once dubbed “parallelomania.” “Parallelomania” stems from the tendency of Fandom-as-Religion scholars to draw endless parallels between popular culture and religion and fandom and religion (see McCloud 2003). One location where Cavicchi examines this parallel is through “becoming-a-fan” narratives, something not well understood in fandom studies (see Duffett 2013a; Hills 2014; Sandvoss 2005; and also Harrington and Bielby 1995). Cavicchi likens such narratives to a conversion experience “or significant change in one’s attitude and behaviour toward the music and image of Springsteen” (1998, 42). Fans, he claims, “use the idea of conversion in specifically

Fandoms are among the so-called ‘fabrics of culture’ that comprise our lives, regardless of our age, gender, nationality, and whatever differences that we may have. Fanfiction Terminology defines a fandom as “the fan-based community dedicated to a particular TV show or other cult-inducing medium, including movies, books, comics, and other source material” (Common Fandom Terms 1). Someone may be invested in collecting Beatles albums, and another person may have memorized every character in the Marvel universe. Many people may be caught up in lamenting over episodes of Doctor Who, while some may be disturbed yet thrilled by the storyline of Death Note. When these people aggregate to enjoy particular media together, fandoms begin to expand.

Humans have the tendency to become obsessed, regardless of how strange the person or thing may seem. From sporting teams to musicians or restaurants to films, people love having something to call “theirs.” It comes as no surprise that moviegoers attach themselves to movies and invest their time and money into supporting it. The term, cult-following, has changed from a negative connotation of drinking the Kool-Aid to an aspiration for film-makers. Without knowing it, Ethan and Joel Coen created a foundation on which fans could build and expand upon their experience with The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998).

Fandom is one of the defining concepts in the modern society. But what exactly makes it so important? The answer is fairly simple. Fans. „It is fans who identify and build an audience“(Branston and Stafford, 2006). The people, who, out of their own free will participate and create communities which are based around a certain artefact of their choosing. These communities then proceed to debate and often create their own content, which is subordinate to their chosen text, such as any fan work – fanfiction and fan art- or memes (Slade, Narro and Givens-Carroll, 2015).

Towards the end of sixth grade (I think), I found out about fandoms. A fandom is a community of fans, participating in fanac and interacting in some way, whether through discussions or creative works. Some people feel that those in the same fandom as them are like family. We talk to each other, try to make each other happy, support one another, and give advice and suggestions. Before you continue, I highly suggest not looking up any animes, shows, or web-comics that I may mention, no matter how awesome I say they are, unless you are okay with staying up until one in the morning because you wanted to know what happens next. Also, you might end up spending a lot of money if you want to cosplay as a character. The Warrior cat books by Erin Hunter are great, and you probably won't lose sleep of friends because of them, so go ahead and check them out!

The past two years has seen the media landscape undergo significant developments. New technology, such as the Internet, has fuelled the emergence of new media forms and schisms within the media industry. Mario Armando Lavandeira’s Hollywood celebrity gossip website, PerezHilton.com, exploits a new brand of journalism – blogging. There are innumerable media theories which could be used to analyse such a specific example of the media. This essay will explore Mass Culture Critique and its critical relation to PerezHilton.com by investigating mass communication concepts such as hegemony, aesthetic levels, economic motivation, and passive consumers.

In 2009 I finally came to a conclusion, I couldn’t continue playing this game despite the various expansions that were created after the original in 2004. As I decided to stop, I witnessed my brothers continuing on without me. Along with this I started to build up the curiosity of how much popularity this game has brought about, in order to build a demand for these expansions. It then occurred to me that the fans of the game built the continuation of playing. Most commonly we assume that we need to associate the concept of being a fan to a celebrity. After reading through chapter 8: Media fandom and audiences subcultures I was able to come to a new redefining aspect of looking at fans with the help of Jenkins and later scholars when indicating that “… fan audiences are deeply engaged in their favorite media texts. Fans often reinterpret media content and create their own cultural productions in response.” (Sullivan, p. 193). This constantly made me think back to why was I the second

The concept of field within sociology was developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu defines what exactly a field as “a field of forces within which agents occupy positions that statistically determine the positions they take with respect to the field, these determine the positions that they take with respect to the field, these position-takings being aimed either at conserving or transforming the structure of relations of force that is constitutive of the field.” In other words, fields are social systems which individuals and other parties share interests, concerns and characteristics. Those who participate within the field agree and adhere on rules conventions that govern the field. Within these fields, products are produced and are defined not by the individual creator, but by the actors within that field from professionals to members of the field audience. This inclusion of audience is crucial to this dissertation as it is the call of hysteria parents and the rise of social conservative politics that led to a subcommittee hearing on the contents of comics and whether or not they had a lasting negative influence on children in the United

The past two years has seen the media landscape undergo significant developments. New technology, such as the Internet, has fuelled the emergence of new media forms and schisms within the media industry. Mario Armando Lavandeira’s Hollywood celebrity gossip website, PerezHilton.com, exploits a new brand of journalism – blogging. There are innumerable media theories which could be used to analyse such a specific example of the media. This essay will explore Mass Culture Critique and its critical relation to PerezHilton.com by investigating mass communication concepts such as hegemony, aesthetic levels, economic motivation, and passive consumers.