Seeing Fans : Representations of Fandom in Media and Popular Culture

Putting together a book like this takes coordinated eff ort from so many people, it would be nearly impossible to thank them all! First and foremost, Lucy and Paul thank all the contributors-your thoughtfulness, insight, and patience are to be commended. Our grateful thanks also to Matt Hills for writing the aft erword, and to Orlando Jones for the amazing foreword. We are also appreciative to all our interviewees: Robert Burnett, Jeanie Finlay, Luminosity, Laurent Malaquais, Roger Nygard, and Emily Perkins. Special thanks to Lynn Zubernis and Katherine Larsen for putting us in touch with Perkins. Th anks also to Katie Gallof and Mary Al-Sayed at Bloomsbury for the care and attention before, during, and aft er the production process. Paul wishes to thank all the fan classes he has taught, and the hundreds of students who have helped shape his ideas and perceptions about fans and the increasing popularization of fan studies. Th anks also to the furry ones (Slinky, Rosie, Gizmo, and Black Kitty) who are really good at listening to the day's ups and downs. And thanks as always to Katie, who is lovely beyond belief. Lucy would like to thank fi rst and foremost her parents and Jimmy for their incredible and constant support through everything. Huge gratitude also to her friends: Iñaki Garcia-Blanco and his very wonderful kindness, encouragement, and belief in me; Cheryl Jones, Claire Howard, Ellen Kirkpatrick, Janet Harris, and Rebecca Williams for their very lovely and extremely valued support toward me and this book; and to Bertha Chin and Bethan Jones for being there always, with hugs, enthusiasm, and ball pits. of the mass media to impact the interpretation of representation has been a major concern of media studies more generally, especially as this interpretation relates to subcultural groups like fans. In this edited book, we bring together over twenty international fan scholars to discuss how both fannish and mass media representations of fandom can have both empowering and disciplinary functions. Fans oft en participate in their own disciplinary activity, either specifi cally identifying and drawing out what they perceive as "negative" stereotypical traits or highlighting what they see as the more positive. Th is edited book connects fan representation to the economic, cultural, and ideological practices of fan culture, looking through the lens of scholarship, media creation, and fan work. Th e popularity of fandom has exploded. It is no longer considered "weird" to be a fan. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on San Diego, CA, each year for Comic-Con; trilogy, Supernatural ) and comedy ( She's the Man , Another Cinderella Story , Hiccups ). She has received a Leo award for her recurring role in Da Vinci's Inquest and has been inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame. She has a BA in Psychology and Women's Studies from the University of British Columbia. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables Foreword: Orlando the Fangirl Acknowledgments Introduction: Seeing Fans Part One: Documenting Fans: Shades of Reality 1. Beyond Exploitation Cinema: Music Fandom, Disability, and Mission to Lars 2. “We Live Round Here Too”: Representing Fandom and Local Celebrity in Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets 3. “I Was Stabbed 21 Times by Crazy Fans”: Pro Wrestling and Popular Concerns with Immersive Story Worlds 4. Interview with Roger Nygard, Director of Trekkies (1997) Spotlight On: Crazy About One Direction 5. “I Will Throw You off Your Ship and You Will Drown and Die”: Death Threats, Intra-Fandom Hate, and the Performance of Fangirling 6. A New Breed of Fan?: Regimes of Truth, One Direction Fans, and Representations of Enfreakment 7. Crazy About One Direction: Whose Shame Is It Anyway? Part Two: Fictional Fans: Reading between the Lines 8. Interview with Robert Burnett, Writer and Director of Free Enterprise (1998) 9. Fans on Primetime: Representations of Fandom in Mainstream American Network Television, 1986–2014 10. The Image of the Fan in Stargate SG-1 11. Marking the Line between Producers and Fans: Representations of Fannish-ness in Doctor Who and Sherlock 12. Hero-Fans and Fanboy Auteurs: Reflections and Realities of Superhero Fans 13. We See You (Sort of): Representations of Fans on Supernatural 14. Interview with Emily Perkins, Actor in Supernatural Spotlight On: Fan and Transmedia Works 15. Beyond Mary Sue: Fan Representation and the Complex Negotiation of Gendered Identity 16. The Digital Literary Fangirl Network: Representing Fannishness in the Transmedia Web Series 17. Interview with Luminosity, Fan and Vidder Part Three: Cultural Perspectives on Fan Representations 18. Straighten Up and Fly White: Whiteness, Heteronormativity, and the Representation of Happy Endings for Fans 19. Outdoor Queuing, Knicker-Throwing, and 100th Birthday Greetings: Newspaper Narratives of Mature Female Fans 20. Squee from the Margins: Racial/Cultural/Ethnic Identity in Global Media Fandom 21. Interview with Laurent Malaquais, Director of Bronies (2012) Part Four: Global Perspectives on Fan Representations 22. Slashy Rotten Pervs: Transnational Media Representation of Sherlock Slash Fans and the Politics of Pathologization 23. The Good Fandom: Depicting Japanese Female Fans in Moonlight Express, Moumantai, and Hong Kong Star Fans 24. Otaku: Representations of Fandom in Japanese Popular Culture 25. Interview with Jeanie Finlay, Director of Sound It Out (2011) Afterword: Participating in Hybrid Media Logics? Editor and Contributor Bios Bibliography Index Split into four sections, Seeing Fans analyzes the representations of fans in the mass media through a diverse range of perspectives. This collection opens with a preface by noted actor and fan Orlando Jones ( Sleepy Hollow ), whose recent work on fandom (appearing with Henry Jenkins at Comic Con and speaking at the Fan Studies Network symposium) bridges the worlds of academia and the media industry. Section one focuses on the representations of fans in documentaries and news reports and includes an interview with Roger Nygard, director of Trekkies and Trekkies 2 . The second section then examines fictional representations of fans through analyses of television and film, featuring interviews with Emily Perkins of Supernatural , Robert Burnett, director of the film Free Enterprise , and Luminosity, a fan who has been interviewed in the New York Magazine for her exemplary work in fandom. Section three explores cultural perspectives on fan representations, and includes an interview with Laurent Malaquais, director of Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony . Lastly, the final section looks at global perspectives on the ways fans have been represented and finishes with an interview with Jeanie Finlay, director of the music documentary Sound it Out . The collection then closes with an afterword by fan studies scholar Professor Matt Hills. Split into four sections, "Seeing Fans" analyzes the representations of fans in the mass media through a diverse range of perspectives. This collection opens with a preface by noted actor and fan Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow), whose recent work on fandom (appearing with Henry Jenkins at Comic Con and speaking at the Fan Studies Network symposium) bridges the worlds of academia and the media industry. Section one focuses on the representations of fans in documentaries and news reports and includes an interview with Roger Nygard, director of Trekkies and Trekkies 2. The second section then examines fictional representations of fans through analyses of television and film, featuring interviews with Emily Perkins of Supernatural, Robert Burnett, director of the film Free Enterprise, and Luminosity, a fan who has been interviewed in the New York Magazine for her exemplary work in fandom. Section three explores cultural perspectives on fan representations, and includes an interview with Laurent Malaquais, director of Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.0Lastly, the final section looks at global perspectives on the ways fans have been represented and finishes with an interview with Jeanie Finlay, director of the music documentary Sound it Out. The collection then closes with an afterword by fan studies scholar Professor Matt Hills A Book Length Study Of How Fans Have Been Depicted In Mass Media-- Edited By Lucy Bennett And Paul Booth. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.