42 Fandom, Dank Memes and Elon Musk: A Study of Cultural Power
42 Fandom, Dank Memes and Elon Musk: A Study of Cultural Power
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“ELON, I THANK (Sic) you for taking humanity to another level and I hope that you will take us further,” (Tesla) “was the only thing that was giving me hope, you know, to keep going”. “Everything I’ve learned about Elon Musk has been against my will”. “I’m the Elon Musk of bad ideas.” These are just a small handful of quotes and comments that were found during the research phase of this essay. These comments are notable due to their affective intensity which seems to evidence a pair of particularly strong fan bases that surround Elon Musk. The first of these fanbases appears to be an unusually fervent fandom that evidentially possesses an admiration for Musk that borders on genuine, messianic levels of reverence similar to that of a particularly prolific cultural icon (Kim, 2022) or a greatly influential politician. This can be seen with the personal use of Musk’s first name referring to him as one would a close friend “Damn! I never realised how huge of a man Elon was” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO8w6XcXJUs).
Therefore, The public image of Elon Musk that is reinforced throughout pop culture attracts significant traction among pre-established fandoms to generate interest and discourse alongside equally dedicated anti-fandoms to maintain a form of influence in pop culture that rewards him power and influence through his relevance.
How exactly Musk can inspire such an unusually strong virtual following and reactions across the spectrum of the internet is a case that remains both an interesting and highly perplexing subject of debate for social scholars and analytical netizens alike.
The result of this highly emotive discourse provides a constant source of audience attention and more influence on culture for Musk. Although the majority of Musk’s international influence comes from the scope and power of his businesses, Musk’s influence among the general population stems from his online presence. It can be argued that this is due to Musk’s significant online presence within internet culture and his continued efforts to appeal not just to those people and businesses that can directly impact his finances, such as investors and world governments, but also to mainstream audiences and consumers who possess a form of collective influence on popular online discourse that far exceeds anything a single person or entity could typically achieve. An example of Elon Musk’s influence online and in the wider world can be found in this article by the magazine SlashGear where Max Miller writes: “To his critics, he’s a dangerous egotist playing Pied Piper to a gullible and increasingly insular cadre of investors and Twitter Blue subscribers” (Miller, 2023). Celebrities are playing a bigger role in internet culture than ever before, and it is for this reason that research into the groups they affect most is valuable and relevant in modern audience studies.
‘Fandom’ can be defined as an extensio