THE ART OF BEING A FAN
Martin Nohms - June 7, 2014
Fans
are not passive spectators, but paint and draw characters from their favorite
series in new contexts. The modern fan is not a member of an obscure sect, but
exchanges ideas and art in an active community. Even when their series stops, such
fans are still there.
The
other day, BuzzFeed - one of the most significant content-aggregating sites on
the web – put up a series of drawings. The artist was a Brazilian named Fernando
Mendoca, but it was not so much his name that caught people's interest as his
motives. His drawings imagined characters from the blockbuster series Game of Thrones in a Disney art style.
This fun mix of fictional universes was viewed over 600,000 times online. Over
half a million people therefore have a thorough enough knowledge of both the TV
show's characters and Disney’s special style to be interested and to send the
artist's drawings viral.
Mendoca’s
work is called ‘fan art’ and associated with fan fiction. It’s a genre that
reformulates others fictional universes and has gained immense popularity. The
phenomenon resulted in E. L. James' erotic bestseller, Fifty Shades of Grey, which was originally written as Twilight fan fiction. But what is it that
drives the fans?
University
of Chester researcher Dr Mark Duffett studies fan culture and offers a simple
definition of fans: “They do not just like a certain musician or series of
books, they love them. It is not necessarily an unconditional love - fans can
be among the harshest critics if they are disappointed about a new album or a
new movie - but they are passionate and have a huge interest in the fan
object.”
The
social community
Many
fans use the website deviantArt, a platform where people can publish their artworks
and which first showed the BuzzFeed paintings. I created a profile on the site and
directly addressed the community on with a question: “Why be a fan?” Several
people responded. A poster called Silverwraithh said that you cannot control what you are fan of: "I do
not think you choose to be a fan. You're just really happy to be interested in
something specific and will want to do, see and read everything that is related
to this particular thing.”
But
it is not only individual preoccupation that appeals to fans. Silverwraithh and
several others answering my thread attached great importance to the social
aspects of fan culture. As the user Sachi-Pon wrote, fandom can become a way to
creatively joint forces: "You speak with others who have the same feelings
as you, and therefore understand you completely. It is so much better than just
being a fan all alone. Along with other fans, you can create various projects
and events. "
The
idea of creating something together - whether it is a work of art or a
convention – is precisely what keeps not just fan networks, but also fan
objects, alive as phenomena.
"I
think it’s the fans with their fan art and fan fiction that keep things ‘alive’
for so long. Without them, a lot of series would not be saved, and a lot of
characters’ stories would end," wrote the user Cirprius.
Fan
Practices are Normal
Fan
art is something that develops in symbiosis with the media product that inspires
it. The practice has value for fan communities who can use it to immerse in
fictional universes and go beyond original texts. In that sense, the original
is just a starting point.
Portals
like deviantArt and other self-publishing sites provide a unique opportunity
for create communities as places where, for example, Harry Potter and the like
are kept alive.
These
online networks function as a new gathering place for fans. According to University
of South Wales fan researcher Dr Rebecca Williams:
"When
you look at the excitement surrounding the World Cup, it is clear that it is
seen as a completely ‘normal’ and acceptable fan identity to follow football.
But for less accepted fan cultures, social media plays a huge role. Before
sites like Twitter and Facebook, it was often hard to find places online where
you could talk about one’s fandom - and being ‘online’ at all was also seen as
a waste of time. The social networks have made fan activity visible to
mainstream media and society. Nevertheless, certain types of fan activity - as
fan art and fan fiction – are often still regarded as ‘strange’ and unusual.”
Mark
Duffett supports this idea that the perception of fans has generally changed,
and suggests that industrial shifts in the television industry have played a
role in making fan activity no longer appear uncommon:
"There
was a shift from satellite TV to cable TV. The market was split up more, and it
became relevant to create niche programs that had a small but dedicated
audience. Fans were targeted as the ideal media consumers. They were faithful
and could be used to introduce new media platforms. At the same time the DVD
boxes and streaming has emerged, and where one previously turned on the TV once
a week to follow a favorite program, it is now common to see a whole series
over a weekend, just to be able to speak about it to friends or colleagues.
What traditionally used to be fan practice has now become practice for all of
us.”
Duffett
also notes that changes in language indicate shifts in the perception of fan
culture, a concept like that of the ‘fan-girl’ being one example:
"Originally,
‘fan-girls’ were female science fiction fans who displayed ‘inappropriate’ emotions.
They brought elements from the culture of celebrity fandom into fan bases that
primarily defined themselves through textual appreciation. But now the concept
has been rescued, and 'fan-girling' has gotten a positive ring to it. "
Creative
'Fan-girls'
One
of women who rescued the ‘fan-girl’ concept is Tavi Gevinson. She was known
from as early as age 11 for her fashion blog, where she followed the trends in
the industry and was later invited to the big shows. Gevinson has, however, shifted
gear and since invested her energy in founding the online magazine Rookie, where the articles are aimed at
young girls. Its writers are rarely older than their readers, and it offers a
place where fan culture and fan activity are valued.
Last
year, Gevinson was invited to give a speech at the Sydney Opera House on ‘Her World’,
which more than anything else resulted in her defense for being a fan. “Fan-girling
is not so much about the subject of your fandom, it's actually almost entirely
a reflection of yourself," she said, explaining shortly afterwards why she
was more interested in One Direction’s fans than the band: “I am interested in their
enthusiasm and refusal to try to be cool, and how they love something almost as
a religion.”
For
Tavi Gevinson, fan-girling is a way to create identity, but it requires us to
see ourselves from a different perspective.
“It
dawned on me that when we think of personal identity, when we imagine
ourselves, we see ourselves from the outside. You see your face and your body
through the eyes of the outside world, instead of - what in my view is a more
accurate representation of who you are - how you see the world through your own
eyes. (...) I look at everything else, and that is who I am.”
During
the talk, Gevinson showed more pictures from her diaries; there is no simple
description of her daily life, but instead a hodgepodge of references and
quotes from Beyoncé, books, and whatever else she encounters. It’s like a very
personal scrapbook.
Fans
are therefore not just engaged in a perpetual search for knowledge about their
idols. They also aim to understand themselves. Being a fan-girl is a creative
process in which one sews together one’s own patchwork of people, texts and
video clips, and used it to define oneself. It means using icons from popular
culture to define ones own identity.
Post-Object
Fan Interest
Fan
art is maintained as part of a living fan culture even when a popular TV series
stops or a musician dies. Fans continue to be fans, even when there are no new
works from the original source. In recent years, active fan culture led to
Netflix reviving the comedy series Arrested
Development after seven years off air, while the series Veronica Mars was filmed after crowdfunding
from over 90,000 people. Star Wars
fans have even made their own remake of the classic.
Rebecca Williams specializes in this phenomenon, which she calls “post-object fandom,” arguing that fans often find ways to keep their fan cultures alive, despite the release of more recent cultural products:
“For
many fans, fandom an important part of how they define their identity. When the
television series ends after many years on the air, it can be an emotional
experience. There are many who do not stop being a fan, despite the lack of new
product. They respond by discussing old episodes, following the actors, or
asking script writers to make new projects, and also making fan art and fan
fiction. Many carry on their friendships with other fans online or in other
places such as fan conventions too.”
Fans
are therefore not passive spectators, but instead a creative community that
finds new ways to understand and interpret original works. Their creative urge
even challenges the idea of ‘originality’ itself and has proven enormously
powerful in helping fans to form lasting collectives and demonstrate a fighting
spirit.
So is
there any expiry date for the fandom? According to Dr Williams:
