Category: Fandom
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The Pop Culture Lens on The Dark Knight Returns
In the thirteenth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I welcome friend of the podcast, and unofficial third co-host, Joe Belfeuil to discuss the lasting impact of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. We were all fans of the comic book / graphic novel at some point in the past, but…
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Conversations of GamerGate and Fractured Fandom
One of the things I have been doing this year (i.e. 2015) is trying to better understand what I mean when I say “fractured fandom” and how it manifests in the world. I’ve been writing about it for a couple years now, I have done an online interview study to gather people’s stories, I have…
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Star Trek: Episode 12 of The Pop Culture Lens
In the latest episode of our podcast, The Pop Culture Lens, Christopher and I are joined by good friend and Associate Professor at DePaul University, Paul Booth, to discuss the longevity of Star Trek. All three of us are huge Star Trek fans, and we had a rousing good conversation about why the series has…
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The Pop Culture Lens: Episode on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Fandom
On a special episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I discuss a subject that has been one we have debated numerous times in our private lives and has become one that I have been focusing on as a research project: fandom, is it good or bad? We begin the conversation with…
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Fandom as Repeatedly Returning to What Matters Most
Being a fan can mean many different things to many different people. It may mean a person likes to collect memorabilia for a favorite sports team. It may mean a group like to wear costumes and reenact an important event. It may mean individuals compete with one another to test their knowledge in trivia contests.…
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Pop Culture Lens Podcast: The X-Files
In the sixth episode of our ongoing podcast, The Pop Culture Lens, Christopher Olson and I discuss my favorite television series of all time, The X-Files. I was a huge, huge, huge fan of this series; I can still recall sitting there when the show premiered, on that magical Friday night back in 1993, with…
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On the Nature of Being a Fan
I have an idea. An idea for how to look at fans, fandoms, fan communities, being a fan. It’s an idea in its early stages, one I need to ruminate over and let gestate and grow. It’s an idea that relates to my fractured fandom thoughts, but it goes beyond that, into a view on…
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Fractured Fandom and Contemporary Issues in Fan Communities
Today I launch an online survey to gather people’s anonymous and confidential stories of their experiences dealing with other fans. This survey is part of my ongoing research into the phenomenon I call fractured fandom. Primarily, with this story, I want to hear people’s real problems of dealing with fans, whether they were fans of…
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Categorizing Fractured Fandom
Defining Fractured Fandom According to the discipline of fan studies, at this point in history, being a fan is considered a positive for any individual. Being a fan helps people discover their identities, and to determine what they like and do not like. Being a fan helps people find friends, establish communities, and develop a…
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In Defense of Fans via Fractured Fandom
In defense of fans and fandom, I want to make clear that I would not argue that fractured fandom happens all the time or involves a majority of the population of any particular fandom. What I would say about fractured fandom is that it reflects a larger social and cultural issue, in the United States…
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