Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture

by Mark Duffett

Fans used to be seen as an overly obsessed fraction of the audience. In the last few decades, shifts in media technology and production have instead made fandom a central mode of consumption. A range of ideas has emerged to explore different facets of this growing phenomenon. With a foreword by Matt Hills, Understanding Fandom introduces the whole field of fan research by looking at the history of debate, key paradigms and methodological issues. The book discusses insights from scholars working with fans of different texts, genres and media forms, including television and popular music. Mark Duffett shows that fan research is an emergent interdisciplinary field with its own key a tradition that is distinct from both textual analysis and reception studies. Drawing on a range of debates from media studies, cultural studies and psychology, Duffett argues that fandom is a particular kind of engagement with the power relations of media culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fandom, Psychology, Pop Culture, Academic, Sociology

342 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2012

About the author

DR MARK DUFFETT is an Oxford-educated popular music researcher whose career has focused on understanding Elvis Presley and music fandom.

Dr Duffett's insights have been featured in media content from Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Discovery Channel and BBC World Service. He has been an invited speaker at conferences in Holland, Finland, London and Moscow.

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Reviews

[Zdenka Horváthová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posouva myslenky Henryho Jenkinse, ktery se opira prevazne o fan studies vychazejici z literarniho zakladu… Duffett rozsiruje i o kontext napr popularni hudby. Idealni na uvod do problematiky. 🫡

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a longtime fan with a recent interest in fan studies and acafandom, I figured this would be a good starting point in gaining an overview of the major theories, works, and scholars in the field of fan studies. I certainly was not left disappointed. While Duffett's text didn't really say anything that surprised me, putting it in the context of scholarship and history was very helpful. Duffett takes the time to explain the origins of fan studies and the breaks down the study of fans and fandom into a number of different areas before concluding with ideas on new frontiers for fan studies going forward. Though sometimes it seemed like he was mostly just quoting or paraphrasing Henry Jenkins (a pioneer in the field and one of the foremost current scholars in the area), Duffett contextualized Jenkins' statements and offered some of his own perspectives into the discussion as well.

I definitely recommend this for someone wanting to get an overview of the current state of fan studies - it's a relatively recent publication so is up-to-date. It does skew a bit more toward an academic and scholarly audience, but I think it's still a beneficial read for any fan.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffet's introduction is well ordered and guides the reader through several aspects of fan and media culture. It is written easily with all scholarly terms explained in which he achieves that the text still appears fluent and not stunted. All terms that are commonly used and are thus in a scholarly level "basic knowledge" are typed bold for easy recognition and the glossary at the end also shortly explains the terms.
Something that bothered me immensely in the beginning was that in one chapter it appeared as only quoting and thus repeating what Jenkins and Hills had already written. Even though Duffet relies heavily on both the before mentioned authors he ties it in well with his explanations of the basics to fan culture.

If anyone is interested in reading on pop and culture & if you are looking towards this topic for academic research then I can only recommend it as it is an excellent explanation of the basics.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just taught this book in an upper-level undergraduate class on fan studies, and while it was OK as a basic intro to central concepts in the field, I wish there were a better book available. Much of the book is repetitive - such as the focus on how various theories perpetuate negative fan stereotypes. The treatment of gender and sexuality is pretty weak and the discussion of race and/or non-white fandoms is non-existent.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful introduction to key theories, ideas, and considerations in fan studies.

[Dru Pagliassotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive introduction to contemporary fan studies/fandom research, written in a manner accessible to the interested undergraduate or independent scholar. This single-authored book covers the major theorists and their theories and covers the stereotyping and pathologization of fans, the process of becoming and being a fan, various fan practices, the role of the fan community, and issues of fandom, gender, and sexual orientation. It also discusses the different types of fan scholars, from the outside observer to the aca-fan, and addresses the controversies surrounding each type. I found the book particularly interesting inasmuch as it doesn't simply cover what it calls "telefantasy" fandom (fandoms for TV series and movies), but also addresses sports and music fandoms.

I recommend this book as an entry-level text to anybody who is seriously interested in understanding or studying fans and fandom from a scholar's perspective.

[Shannon Sauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overview on the state of media fandom research. I have a feeling I will be referencing this regularly. As a fan, the most engaging was Chapter 4 on the pathological tradition which outlined a history of mislabeling fans and the very gendered myths that problematize male and female fans. As a fan researcher in applied linguistics, the final chapters (9-11) that dealt with online fan communities, researching fandom, and the frontiers of fan research are most relevant. They provide a historical grounding in online research on fandom that can inform an outsider coming from applied linguistics.

[Diem Shepard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but unwieldy. I am not convinced that there is an overarching theory that can "explain" how one becomes a fan. Casting a net widely enough to capture all forms of fandom, from music to actors to telefantasty to characters etc., Duffet allows some considerations to slip out of his grasp and truncates others to make them align. I have to say though, that the book itself is full of typos and misprints. I was shocked at what I can only consider sloppy editing.

[Stacey Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sloppy editing begets sloppy thinking. So many typos it was hard to take the author's POV seriously.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this overview of fandom studies, and it came in very handy for my own thesis paper on the topic of musical subcultures.

[Mills College Library]

302.23 D856 2013