Organized subculture

Fan activities

Sherlock TV series on an English telephone booth Fan art for theTV series on an English telephone booth Members of a fandom associate with one another, often attending fan conventions and publishing and exchanging fanzines and newsletters. Amateur press associations are another form of fan publication and networking. Originally using print-based media, these sub-cultures have migrated much of their communications and interaction onto the Internet, which they also use for the purpose of archiving detailed information pertinent to their given fanbase. Often, fans congregate on forums and discussion boards to share their love for and criticism of a specific work. This congregation can lead to a high level of organization and community within the fandom, as well as infighting. Although there is some level of hierarchy among most of the discussion boards in which certain contributors are valued more highly than others, newcomers are most often welcomed into the fold. Most importantly, these sorts of discussion boards can have an effect on the media itself as was the case in the television show Glee. Trends on the discussion boards have been known to influence the writers and producers of the show.[10] The media fandom for the TV series Firefly was able to generate enough corporate interest to create a movie after the series was canceled.[11] Fan Some fans write fan fiction ("fanfic"), stories based on the universe and characters of their chosen fandom. This fiction can take the form of video-making as well as writing.[12] Fan fiction may or may not tie in with the story's canon; sometimes the fans use the story's characters in different situations that do not relate to the plot line at all. Especially at events, fans may also partake in cosplay (a portmanteau between costume and play) – the creation and wearing of costumes designed in the likeness of characters from a source work – which can also be combined with role-playing, reenacting scenes or inventing likely behavior inspired by their chosen sources.[13] Others create fan vids, or analytical music videos focusing on the source fandom, and yet others create fan art. Such activities are sometimes known as "fan labor" or "fanac", an abbreviated form of the phrase "fan activity". The advent of the Internet has significantly facilitated fan association and activities. Activities that have been aided by the Internet includes the creation of fan "shrines" dedicated to favorite characters, computer screen wallpapers, avatars. Furthermore, the advent of the Internet has resulted in the creation of online fan networks who help facilitate the exchange of fanworks.[14] Cosplayer. She-Hulk, 2012 Some fans create pictures known as edits, which consist of pictures or photos with their chosen fandom characters in different scenarios. These edits are often shared on social media networks such as Instagram, Tumblr, or Pinterest.[15] In some edits, one may see content relating to several different fandoms. Fans in communities online often make gifs or gif sets about their fandoms. Gifs or gif sets can be used to create non-canon scenarios mixing actual content or adding in related content. Gif sets can also capture minute expressions or moments.[16] Fans use gifs to show how they feel about characters or events in their fandom; these are called reaction gifs.[17] Fandom is sometimes caricatured as religious faith, as the interest of fans sometimes grows to dominate their lifestyle,[18] and fans are often very obstinate in professing (and refusing to change) their beliefs about their fandom. However, society at large does not treat fandom with the same weight as organized religion. There are also active fan organizations that participate in philanthropy and create a positive social impact. For example, the Harry Potter Alliance is a civic organization with a strong online component which runs campaigns around human rights issues, often in partnership with other advocacy and nonprofit groups; its membership skews college age and above. Nerdfighters, another fandom formed around Vlogbrothers, a YouTube vlog channel, are mainly high school students united by a common goal of "decreasing world suck".[19]

In film

In books

Fangirl is a novel written by Rainbow Rowell about a college student who is a fan of a book series called Simon Snow, which is written by a fictional author named Gemma T. Leslie. On October 6, 2015 Rainbow Rowell published a follow-up novel to Fangirl. Carry On is stand-alone novel set in the fictional world that Cath, the main character of Fangirl wites fanfiction in.[21]

Relationship with the industry

See also