3 Fandom as Participatory Culture
The last chapter ended with the suggestion that fans might constitute not only the most active of audiences, but also exemplary cases of participatory culture. This chapter explores how this might be the case. We have to first clarify what we mean by fans and how such an identity is distinguished from different types of audiences. Then, we have to clarify what fan-based participation in our contemporary networked media era looks like.
First, what do we mean when we aim to study fan-audiences? Perhaps the best way to understand fans is by contrasting them with other types of audiences. “Fans are more than simply consumers in view of their commitment to construct elaborate interpretations of their cult objects of consumption”[1] All audiences are consumers of something, but not all consumers are fans (even though, increasingly, it seems in vogue to say that people can be fans of anything). Fans, it must be said, don’t only orient themselves to cult objects but orient themselves in a cultish fashion. A “fan” is not merely an “aficionado” of something; a fan is much more of a “fanatic” in terms of their devotion. Not simply consuming or appreciating, a fan’s audience habits tend to be associated with “religious and political zealotry, false beliefs, orgiastic excess, possession and madness.”[2] One early example of this was frenzy was termed “Lisztomania”, remarking on audiences’ hysterical (as in hysteria or madness, not funny) response to performances by the composer Franz Liszt in the 1840s.[3]
He/ she is also a person driven to explore and participate in fannish practices.”[4] Therefore, though I might say I’m a fan of my dentist because he solves my dental problems, this isn’t what we mean by participatory fandom. I might be a fan, active in participatory culture through posting a google review for to share my thoughts and guide the potential future decisions of others, but I’m not taking up a social role through “fannish practices” like remixing videos or engaging in cosplay. To be a fan means “more than participation, which also covers prosumers, citizen journalism and so on. Being a fan is accompanied by interpersonal interactions and personal affective investments.”[5]
The notion that a fan is typically some form of “elite” audience member marks fans as active contributors to participatory culture, elevated above mere followers. “Followers are described as those who regularly consume and enjoy media texts/objects but claim no larger social identity on that basis.” Meanwhile, “being a fan is not merely about activity; it involves parallel processes of activity and identity.” It is widely assumed that fans go beyond using the media as directed and actively co-opt and create media content, often in an unruly or undisciplined fashion. Fans are “do-ers” versus “be-ers.”[6] Of course, followers participate in networked media culture too as they selectively consume media content and generate new understandings and