Routledge Companion to Media Fandom

The field of fan studies has seen exponential growth in recent years and this companion brings together an internationally and interdisciplinarily diverse group of established scholars to reflect on the state of the field and to point to new research directions. Engaging an impressive array of media texts and formats and incorporating a variety of methodologies, this collection is organized into six main sections: methods and ethics, technologies and practices, identities, race and transcultural fandom, industry, and futures. Each section concludes with a conversation among some of the field's leading scholars and industry insiders to address a wealth of questions relevant to each section topic.

List of contents

Section One: Methods and Ethics

Section Introduction

1. The Ethics of Studying Online Fandom

Kristina Busse


2. Always-On Fandom, Waiting, and Bingeing: Psychoanalysis as an Engagement with Fans' "Infra-ordinary" Experiences

Matt Hills


3. Archaeologies of Fandom: Using Historical Methods to Explore Fan Cultures of the Past

Kathy Fuller-Seeley


4. Surveying Fandom: The Ethics, Design and Use of Surveys in Fan Studies

Lucy Bennett


5. Approaches to Understanding Identity: Gamers, Fans, and Research Methods

Libby Hemphill, Carly A. Kocurek, and Xi Rao


6. Vidding and/as Pedagogy

Katherine E. Morrissey


7. Fannish Identities and Scholarly Responsibilities: A Conversation

Will Brooker, Mark Duffett, and Karen Hellekson

Section Two: Technologies and Practices

Section Introduction


8. The Fan Fiction Gold Rush, Generational Turnover, and the Battle for Fandom's Soul

Mel Stanfill


9. Tumblr Fan Aesthetics

Louisa Stein


10. Fan Tourism and Pilgrimage

Rebecca Williams


11. Fan Curators and Gateways into Fandom

Derek Kompare


12. From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide

Bob Rehak


13. "We're not There": Fans, Fan Studies and the Participatory Continuum

Rhiannon Bury


14. "You're Terrible, Don't Ever Change!": How Identity, Rule Following, and Research Roadblocks Lend Meaning to Ambivalent Fan Engagement

Whitney Phillips


15. Music Fandom in the Digital Age: A Conversation

Nancy Baym, Daniel Cavicchi, and Norma Coates


Section Three: Identities

Section Introduction


16. The Queer Politics of Femslash

Julie Levin Russo


17. (Un)covering Masculinities in Cover Song Videos

Frederik Dhaenens


18. "He's a Real Man's Man": Pro Wrestling and Negotiations of Contemporary Masculinity

Sam Ford


19. Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture

Elizabeth Affuso


20. The Invasion of Loki's Army? Understanding Comic Culture's Increasing Awareness of Female Fans

Matthew A. Cicci


21. Accessing Fan Cultures: Disability, Digital Media, and Dreamwidth

Elizabeth Ellcessor


22. Class, Capital and Collecting in Media Fandom

Lincoln Geraghty


23. "Just to Pique Them". Takings Sides, Social identity and Sport Audiences

Vivi Theodoropoulou


24. Vidding and Identity: A Conversation

Francesca Coppa, Alexis Lothian, and Tisha Turk


Section Four: Race and Transcultural Fandom

Section Introduction


25. The Invisible Bag of Holding: Whiteness and Media Fandom

Benjamin Woo


26. (Black Female) Fans Strike Back: The Emergence of the Iris West Defense Squad

Kristen J. Warner


27. Filipinos' Forced Fandom of U.S. Media: Protests against The Daily Show and Desperate Housewives as Bids for Cultural Citizenship

Abigail De Kosnik


28. Charting Latinx Fandom

Jillian M. Báez


29. Transnational Media Fan Studies

Lori Morimoto


30. Exploring Local Fandom: Celebrities' Fans in the Global-Local Nexus

Hilde Van den Bulck


31. Advancing Transcultural Fandom: A Conversation

Bertha Chin, Aswin Punathambekar, and Sangita Shresthova


Section Five: Industry

Section Introduction


32. The Bigger Picture: Drawing Intersections Between Comics, Fan, and Industry Studies

Alisa Perren and Laura Felschow


33. Conspicuous Convention: Industry Interpellation and Fan Consumption at San Diego Comic-Con

Anne Gilbert


34. Fans and Merchandise

Avi Santo


35. Fannish Affect, "Quality" Fandom, and Transmedia Storytelling Campaigns

Melanie Kohnen


36. "Are you ready for this?" "I don't know if there's a choice.": Cult reboots, The X-Files Revival, and Fannish Expectations

Bethan Jones


37. Platform Fandom

Jeremy Wade Morris


38. Industry/Fan Relations: A Conversation

Ivan Askwith, Britta Lundin, and Aja Romano


Section Six: Futures of Fan Studies

Section Introduction


39. Negotiating Fandom: The Politics of Racebending

Henry Jenkins


40. Fantagonism, Franchising, and Industrial Management of Fan Privilege

Derek Johnson

41. Aging, Fans, and Fandom
 Lee Harrington and Denise Bielby

42. Class "Then" and Class 'Now' in Hotel Cerise

John Tulloch
43. Board Gamers as Fans

Paul Booth

44. Futures of Fan Studies: A Conversation

Melissa A. Click, Jonathan Gray, Jason Mittell, and Suzanne Scott

About the author

Melissa A. Click's work on fans, audiences, and popular culture has been published in Television & New Media, the International Journal of Cultural Studies, Popular Communication, Popular Music & Society, Transformative Works & Cultures, and in the anthologies Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World and in Cupcakes, Pinterest, and Ladyporn: Feminized Popular Culture in the Early 21st Century. She is editor of a forthcoming anthology on anti-fandom and co-editor of Bitten by Twilight.
Suzanne Scott is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has appeared in Transformative Works and Cultures, Cinema Journal, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and New Media & Society, as well as numerous anthologies, including Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (2nd Edition), How to Watch Television, and The Participatory Cultures Handbook. Her current book project examines the gendered tensions underpinning the media industry's embrace of fans within convergence culture.

Summary

The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom brings together an internationally and interdisciplinarily diverse group of established scholars to reflect on the state of fan studies and to point to new research directions.

Product details

• Authors: Melissa A. Click, Melissa A. Scott Click, Suzanne Scott
• Assisted by: Melissa A Click (Editor), Melissa A. Click (Editor), Suzanne Scott (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.04.2020
• EAN: 9780367528065
• ISBN: 978-0-367-52806-5
• No. of pages: 480
• Series: Routledge Media and Cultural Studies Companions
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > General, dictionaries