Historically, fan scholars have focused on conducting deep dives into singular cases and revealing trends by comparing cross sections of those cases. While there is undeniable value in conducting close analyses of such instances, the... more
Historically, fan scholars have focused on conducting deep dives into singular cases and revealing trends by comparing cross sections of those cases. While there is undeniable value in conducting close analyses of such instances, the reliance on this method can limit our assessment of long-running trends. By supplementing—or, more productively, combining—specific case studies with diachronic perspectives, we can better situate, contextualize, and trace emerging trends like the evolution of fan/producer dynamics. To model this approach, I analyze 4 years' worth of fan-targeted promotional campaigns on the official Teen Wolf (2011–) Tumblr. The activities—fannish and/or promotional—of all participants in a shared ecological system like Tumblr are significant. They continuously construct, deconstruct, nuance, and challenge the ever-evolving context of fandom and fan/producer dynamics. Supplementing a close analysis of one of Teen Wolf's recent promotional campaigns—the commissi...
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FAN STUDIES, DESPITE THE FIELD’S LONGEVITY AND interdisciplinarity, largely lacks the historical scholarship that many disciplines boast. There are, of course, exceptions—notably, Francesca Coppa’s “A Brief History of Media Fandom” from... more
FAN STUDIES, DESPITE THE FIELD’S LONGEVITY AND interdisciplinarity, largely lacks the historical scholarship that many disciplines boast. There are, of course, exceptions—notably, Francesca Coppa’s “A Brief History of Media Fandom” from Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays (2006)—but the fact remains: there is a gap in the historical literature in both the history of media fandom and fan studies. In The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse address that gap by combining foundational and more recent scholarship to highlight and historicize fan fiction. While the themes and histories mapped throughout the collection could easily apply to fan studies more generally, the focus on fan fiction allows for a more targeted approach that easily borrows from established traditions in literary and cultural studies. From the field’s inception, fan fiction has served as an exemplar of new trends and an entry point for new scholars. As suc...
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Review of Henrik Linden and Sara Linden. Fans and fan cultures: Tourism, consumerism, and social media. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, hardcover, $152 (234p) ISBN 978-1-137-50127-1.
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Historically, fan scholars have focused on conducting deep dives into singular cases and revealing trends by comparing cross sections of those cases. While there is undeniable value in conducting close analyses of such instances, the... more
Historically, fan scholars have focused on conducting deep dives into singular cases and revealing trends by comparing cross sections of those cases. While there is undeniable value in conducting close analyses of such instances, the reliance on this method can limit our assessment of long-running trends. By supplementing—or, more productively, combining—specific case studies with diachronic perspectives, we can better situate, contextualize, and trace emerging trends like the evolution of fan/producer dynamics. To model this approach, I analyze 4 years' worth of fan-targeted promotional campaigns on the official Teen Wolf (2011–) Tumblr. The activities—fannish and/or promotional—of all participants in a shared ecological system like Tumblr are significant. They continuously construct, deconstruct, nuance, and challenge the ever-evolving context of fandom and fan/producer dynamics. Supplementing a close analysis of one of Teen Wolf's recent promotional campaigns—the commissioned #TeenWolfExhibit—with a diachronic perspective addresses the ever-evolving ecology of media fandom and traces the evolution of MTV's fannish literacy from 2011 to 2015. The #TeenWolfExhibit reproduces and reflects all the promotional successes, failures, and course corrections that predate it.