Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World

by Jonathan Gray (Editor), C. Lee Harrington (Editor), Cornel Sandvoss (Editor)

We are all fans. Whether we log on to Web sites to scrutinize the latest plot turns in "Lost," "stalk" our favorite celebrities on "Gawker," attend gaming conventions, or simply wait with bated breath for the newest "Harry Potter" novel--each of us is a fan. Fandom extends beyond television and film to literature, opera, sports, and pop music, and encompasses both high and low culture.

Fandom brings together leading scholars to examine fans, their practices, and their favorite texts. This unparalleled selection of original essays examines instances across the spectrum of modern cultural consumption from Karl Marx to Paris Hilton, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to backyard wrestling, Bach fugues to Bollywood cinema, and nineteenth-century concert halls to computer gaming. Contributors examine fans of high cultural texts and genres, the spaces of fandom, fandom around the globe, the impact of new technologies on fandom, and the legal and historical contexts of fan activity. Fandom is key to understanding modern life in our increasingly mediated and globalized world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fandom, Pop Culture, Cultural Studies, Academic, Sociology, Research

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[livewugreactions · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we think of the term "fandom" the contemporary conception is that of an internet community that has coalesced around a shared core text. Even though this book was written before the advent of more recent internet fandoms like those on Tumblr, the essays here still make an argument for the extension of the concept of fandom to fields as far reaching as Martha Stewart to the concept of the news. The emotional affect and incorporation of the text into individual identity is a core feature of what the scholars here define as fannish behavior, and its application to a broad range of media shows how fandom studies has expanded beyond its original focus on marginalized interests. I enjoyed most of the chapters, but I found odd Jenkins' argument in the last chapter that fandom may lose its analytic utility because of the increasing incorporation of fannish behavior into socially acceptable activities. Since the book was published in the mid aughts, I think the term fandom does is still a useful analytic category especially since the stigma against fan behavior persists despite the supposed democratization of content creation spurred by web 2.0. Nevertheless, I still encourage those interested in fan studies scholarship to read the book to see the wide range of communities that are well served by theories and analysis developed in fan studies.

[Rishi Choudhary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay; not bad, not great. It touched on sections of fandom culture that I found really interesting, but a lot of it didn’t interest me at all.

[aa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book and others I learned about from it* deepened my ideas about fandom.

I approached this field wanting to understand how people could be so ravenously into what I viewed as capitalist spectacles that brainwash us into adopting consumer culture.

I still agree with that sentiment about two-thirds as strongly as I did before, while also getting that it's more complicated.

*
Raymond Williams - Television: Technology and Cultural Form
John Fiske - Understanding Popular Culture

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I was hoping for the sort of papers that appear in Transformative Works and Cultures. Or at least I was hoping for more analysis of the activities of popular culture fans. This book included too little of that, and too many metatheoretical papers that were only of interest to established fan studies scholars.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I only read a few of the essays fully and merely skimmed the rest (for I only needed to read a certain few for my research), I definitely appreciate the diversity of topics discussed within this book. I also learned a bit about a few topics I'm not familiar with, such as music fandoms.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book on Fandom and how it falls into Modern Cultural Theory.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es una colección de ensayos que enfocan el tema del fenómeno fan desde muchos puntos de vista y precisamente ese es su mayor acierto. Aquí nos podemos encontrar análisis sobre el comportamiento de fans de música en el siglo XVIII, pasando por fans de los deportes (normalmente ignorados en el campo de los estudios de fans) hasta el proceso de desencanto de unos fans coreanos con un actor. Los temas son muy variados y aunque nunca se realiza una exploración teórica en profundidad, los distintos ensayos sirven para abrir nuevos caminos, reexplorar conceptos y aportar distintos enfoques en una disciplina que a pesar de su juventud tiende volver a los mismos puntos comunes una y otra vez.

La calidad de los ensayos es bastante equilibrada, y salvo uno o dos que podrían haberse eliminado, todos son lo suficientemente interesantes y bien desarrollados para llamar la atención del lector incluso cuando el tema no es de especial interés. Una obra muy interesante.

[Taylor Ellwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays on pop culture studies, circa 2006, so some of the content is a bit dated, but all of it is interesting to read. However, one thing which stands out to me about this book is that many of the essays never really focused on identity in relationship to pop culture. I mention that only because I'd hoped to see more focus on that topic, and of course its in the title of the book. However what I did like about the book is that a number of essays focused on non-traditional fandom, with a focus on classical music, sports, and news fans, among other types, which made for some thought provoking reading. If you're interested in pop culture studies, or like me if you want to see what you can apply conceptually to practice based approaches to life, this book may provide some useful insights.

[Casey Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for the sort of papers that appear in Transformative Works and Cultures. Or at least I was hoping for more analysis of the activities of popular culture fans. This book included too little of that and too many metatheoretical papers that were only of interest to established fan studies scholars. Although I only read a few of the essays fully and merely skimmed the rest (for I only needed to read a certain few for my research), I definitely appreciate the diversity of topics discussed within this book. I also learned a bit about a few topics I'm not familiar with, such as music fandoms.

[Pansity Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays included provide a good update to the classic studies of various fandoms such as Henry Jenkins' Textual Poachers.

[Mills College Library]

306.019 F1999 2017

[Evonne Maria Abi]

super book !!