Fan activism

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"The seventh book about Harry Potter goes on sale". The seventh book about Harry Potter in a Russian translation "Harry Potter and the Gift of Death" went on sale at the bookstore "Moskva" in Moscow on October 13. RIAN archive 168852 The seventh book about Harry Potter goes on sale.jpg
"The seventh book about Harry Potter goes on sale". The seventh book about Harry Potter in a Russian translation "Harry Potter and the Gift of Death" went on sale at the bookstore "Moskva" in Moscow on October 13.

Fan activism is the efforts of a fan community to raise awareness of social concerns or otherwise support the ideals expressed by objects of the fandom. The rise of fan activism has been attributed to the emergence of new media. [1] [2] A 2012 quantitative study by Kahne, Feezell, and Lee suggests that there may be a statistically significant relationship between youths' participation in interest-driven activities online and their civic engagement later on in life. [3]

Contents

Fan activism has become more politically and societally focused, and fandoms take up collective action often for issues that are not inter-fandom. Scholars share that "Fan and consumer activism are more visible than ever before, and the lines between these and traditional civic and political activities are blurring in today's increasingly "participatory" media and entertainment landscape". [4]

Examples of fan activism include campaigns for social equality, representation of minorities in entertainment media, [5] fundraising for organizations with common values, [6] campaigning for the continuation of a television program [7] or sporting team [8] and defending fan works from commercial exploitation and allegations of copyright infringement. [9] [10] Fans may be mobilized to support such causes in response to celebrity endorsements; [11] [12] however, activists may also leverage content worlds and fan-like activities as resources to be reconfigured for political engagement, as in the cases where real-life rights groups have used imagery and tropes from Avatar (2009 film) to attract mainstream media attention in the West Bank village of Bil'in [13] and Orissa, India. [14]

Notable groups that are historically associated with fan activism include Fandom Forward (formerly the Harry Potter Alliance), Fans4Writers, Nerdfighteria and the Organization for Transformative Works. More recently, K-pop fans have organized for a variety of political causes.

History

Fan activism was originally geared toward fans wanting to save their favorite television shows. For example, in 1969, Bjo and John Trimble led a letter-writing campaign to "save Star Trek" to guarantee the show survived more series. More recently, Stargate SG-1 fans quickly responded on the Internet to rumor of the show's cancellation. In this case, they were able to use information found on various websites to figure out how networks made decisions regarding TV shows and argued for its continuation. There is some debate whether or not this fan activism represents traditional activism. While fan activism is considered to be a form of cultural activism by fans and some political scientists, it is often overlooked in literature, "suggesting a residual distinction between high and low culture". Gene Roddenberry provided a strong base for fan activists when he connected a utopian and humanist philosophy with science fiction and further used science fiction to support gender and racial equality. [15]

The rise of fan activism has been attributed to the emergence of new media, [1] [2] and is described as "not about the mix between political concerns and culture but rather action that looks like political activism but is used toward nonpolitical ends." [2] Nevertheless, a 2012 quantitative study by Kahne, Feezell, and Lee suggests that there may be a statistically significant relationship between youths' participation in interest-driven activities online and their civic engagement later on in life." [3]

Fan activist groups

Fans throughout the years have mobilized to create platforms, groups, and movements to promote social change. Groups like Harry Potter Alliance, The Racebending Movement, and the Nerdfighters have historically attracted a significant amount of attention and research. In recent years, K-pop fans have also made headlines.

Fandom Forward

Fandom Forward (Formerly known as The Harry Potter Alliance) is a nonprofit organization that was initially run by Harry Potter fans but that has since expanded to include members of various fandoms. It was founded by Andrew Slack in 2005 to draw attention to human rights violations in Sudan. Since then, the organization's campaigns have focused on topics such as literacy, United States immigration reform, economic justice, gay rights, sexism, labor rights, mental health, body image, and climate change. They have received recognition from many popular figures in the Harry Potter community and have been the subject of multiple academic studies on fan activism and civic engagement among youth. It consists of more than 100,000 members who support several causes including Doctors for Health, Free Press, and The Gay-Straight Alliance. This movement, which was established in 2005 by its non-profit leader Andrew Slack, parallels Harry Potter's endeavors to combat Voldemort to the broader society's goals to challenge dominant power structures that oppress marginalized groups. The HPA has been active in its strides toward providing financial relief toward populations in need. For example, following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, the HPA assembled to raise approximately $123,000 to provide five cargo planes that supplied medical resources to the country following this momentous event. The HPA also organizes its members into four Hogwarts houses to strengthen group solidarity and encourage members to spread awareness about social and political issues. Like in Harry Potter , these houses compete to earn points based on their abilities to inspire change and encourage direct action. [15]

The Racebending Movement

Following the release of the 2010 live-action film, The Last Airbender, the Racebending Movement emerged to promote racial diversity in the Hollywood film industry. The film received criticism for casting white actors as the main characters who came from predominately Asian heritage. As a form of protest against the whitewashing of non-white characters, a community of fans created the Racebending.com website to advocate the fair representation of minority groups. On this site, a large number of users post comments that instigate debates among active community members. [5] This movement also has a strong presence on Tumblr where users cast people of color as traditionally white characters such as Bruce Wayne, Hermione Granger, and Luke Skywalker. [16]

Nerdfighters

Hank and John Green created the Nerdfighters community in 2007 after gaining popularity from their Brotherhood 2.0 project where each brother posted a video to YouTube every other day for a year. Unlike fan activist groups such as the Harry Potter Alliance and the Racebending movement, the Nerdfighters community does not dedicate its efforts only toward promoting change. Rather, this community has a multifaceted creative output that incorporates music, fiction, and other forms of media with challenges, pranks, and games. The activities of the Nerdfighters community derive themselves from the work and interests of Hank and John Green; for example, the community's Positive Pranking Project consists of pranks that are similar to those found in John Green's novels Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska. The commonalities that appear between Green's books and the Nerdfighters include the objectives of establishing an environment that reinforces respect for others, intellectual and philosophical beliefs, linguistic play, and the goal to make world a better place for everyone. [17]

Fans at the BTS world tour concert 'Love Yourself' in Los Angeles bangtansonyeondan weoldeutueo konseoteuseo 'Mei jeolmeun ceung maeum sarojabneunda' (43593313235).jpg
Fans at the BTS world tour concert 'Love Yourself' in Los Angeles

K-pop Fans

Korean pop music—or K-pop—fans, are known for mobilizing in political spaces. Originally finding community online due to their shared love of K-pop and the idols who create the music, they later "became celebrated online vigilantes". [18] K-pop fans are cited as participating in everything from human rights campaigns to education programs throughout the years, often in tribute or honor of the idols they love. [19] In 2020, large subsets of the K-pop community began a movement to disrupt a rally being held by Donald Trump as part of his reelection campaign. [20] The rally was held at Tulsa, Oklahoma's BOK Center, with a 19,000-seat capacity. [20] The Trump campaign in 2016 reported receiving one million ticket requests for the event. [19] Despite the capacity and requests, the Tulsa Fire Department reported that the fire marshal counted 6,200 scanned tickets of attendees. [20]

Many believe this to be the work of the K-pop fans who began requesting tickets in large quantities following a tweet by the Trump campaign inviting supporters to register for free tickets. [20] They did this knowing they would not attend and shared the instruction for others to do so on their social media platforms. [20] The social media posts, especially on TikTok, garnered millions of views as the idea spread and the movement found "Alt" or "Elite" TikTok, "on the quiet side where people do pranks and a lot of activism". [20] As social posts gained more views and more people created their own content, many young internet users outside these two subsets began to participate. [20] Although K-pop and young social media users take credit themselves for the largely empty venue, and media attributed the event to these subsets, it is difficult to fully prove that they were responsible. The social posts made ahead of the rally to encourage reserving tickets "were strategically deleted to ensure the guerrilla nature of the campaign, and concerns about COVID-19 may have further reduced ticket holder desire to show up". [19]

Also in 2020, K-pop fans became active in the Black Lives Matter movement, raising money and infiltrating hashtags originated by those opposing the movement. In a specific instance during the protests following George Floyd's murder, K-pop fans caused technical difficulties for the Dallas Police Department. [21] The department sent a Tweet requesting people share videos of "illegal activity protests" through the iWatch Dallas app. [21] Soon after, a different tweet urged K-pop fans to send fancams to the app instead. [22] Two hours after the tweet encouraging the spam, Dallas police tweeted "Due to technical difficulties iWatch Dallas app will be down temporarily." [22] The app also garnered more than 4,000 ratings and reviews, the majority negative. [22] In a press release regarding the event, Dallas police did not name a cause for the app being temporarily down, stating that a cause was "still being determined." [23] The app was active again shortly. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fandom</span> Subculture composed of fans sharing a common interest

A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices, differentiating fandom-affiliated people from those with only a casual interest.

Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex. While the term "slash" originally referred only to stories in which male characters are involved in an explicit sexual relationship as a primary plot element, it is now also used to refer to any fan story containing a romantic pairing between same-sex characters. Many fans distinguish slash with female characters as a separate genre, commonly referred to as femslash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipping (fandom)</span> Desire by fans for fictional characters or real-life people to be in a relationship

Shipping is the desire by followers of a fandom for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters, to be in a romantic or sexual relationship. Shipping often takes the form of unofficial creative works, including fanfiction and fan art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media activism</span> Form of activism using media for social or political movements

Media activism is a broad category of activism that utilizes media and communication technologies for social and political movements. Methods of media activism include publishing news on websites, creating video and audio investigations, spreading information about protests, or organizing campaigns relating to media and communications policies.

An anti-fan, hater, or anti is someone who enjoys writing, discussing or in some cases making derivative works about a piece of media, but solely for the purpose of railing against or parodying it. Someone who opposes a ship is called an anti-shipper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan fiction</span> Type of fiction created by fans of the original subject

Fan fiction or fanfiction is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual properties from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. Fan fiction ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can retain the creator's characters and settings, add their own, or both. It is a form of fan labor. Fan fiction can be based on any fictional subject. Common bases for fan fiction include novels, movies, comics, television shows, musical groups, cartoons, anime, manga, and video games.

Transformative Works and Cultures is a peer-reviewed open access academic journal published by the Organization for Transformative Works. The journal collects essays, articles, book reviews, and shorter pieces that concern fandom, fanworks, and fan practices. According to Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC), the journal "supports the [Organization for Transformative Works's] mission to promote the legitimacy and sustainability of non-commercial fan creativity by providing a forum for innovative criticism in fan studies, broadly conceived."

<i>Born of Hope</i> 2009 British fantasy fan film by Kate Madison

Born of Hope: The Ring of Barahir is a 2009 British fantasy adventure fan film directed by Kate Madison and written by Paula DiSante based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954–55 novel The Lord of the Rings. The film centres on the communities affected by Sauron's war; the Dúnedain bloodline; and the story of Arathorn II and his relationship with Gilraen as they would be the parents of Aragorn, who became a key leader against Sauron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supernatural Wiki</span> Wiki for American television series Supernatural

Supernatural Wiki, also known as SuperWiki, is a wiki-powered online encyclopedia for the CW's horror television series Supernatural, associated projects and events.

Fandom Forward is a nonprofit organization that was initially run by Harry Potter fans but that has since expanded to include members of various fandoms. It was founded by Andrew Slack in 2005 to draw attention to human rights violations in Sudan. Since then, the organization's campaigns have focused on topics such as literacy, United States immigration reform, economic justice, LGBT rights, sexism, labor rights, mental health, body image, and climate change. They have received recognition from many popular figures in the Harry Potter community and have been the subject of multiple academic studies on fan activism and civic engagement among youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nerdfighteria</span> Online community

Nerdfighteria is a mainly online-based community subculture that originated on YouTube in 2007, when the VlogBrothers rose to prominence in the YouTube community. As their popularity grew, so did coverage on Nerdfighteria, whose followers are individually known as Nerdfighters. The term was coined when John saw a copy of the arcade game Aero Fighters and misread the title as Nerd Fighters.

Racebending was coined as a term of protest in 2009 as a response to the casting decisions for the live-action film adaptation of the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The starring roles of the show were coded as being of East Asian (Aang) and Inuit descent, but were played by actors of European descent in the film. The initial protests such as "Saving the World with Postage," were created in a LiveJournal online forum that initially responded to the casting decisions by "inundating Paramount with protest mail." However, the cast went unaltered and when production began, the leaders of this protest responded by founding the advocacy group and accompanying website Racebending by "playfully borrowing the concept of manipulating elements (bending) from the Avatar universe."

<i>Doujinshi</i> convention Type of event dedicated to sale of doujinshi

A doujinshi convention is a type of event dedicated to the sale of doujinshi, or self-published books. These events are known in Japanese as doujin sokubaikai or doujinshi sokubaikai. Thousands of doujinshi conventions take place in Japan every year. Doujinshi conventions can also be found in some other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archive of Our Own</span> Nonprofit repository for fanfiction

Archive of Our Own is a nonprofit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users. The site was created in 2008 by the Organization for Transformative Works and went into open beta in 2009. As of 1 March 2024, Archive of Our Own hosts 12,600,000 works in over 63,880 fandoms. The site has received positive reception for its curation, organization, and design, mostly done by readers and writers of fanfiction.

In South Korea, fandom culture has largely formed around K-pop idols and Korean dramas. These fandoms support a large market for official and unofficial fandom memorabilia. Fandoms in South Korea are politically viewed as a mainstream culture and not as a subculture. Fan culture in South Korea emerged post-war, and has contributed to South Korea's economic growth. South Korean fan culture differs from other fandoms due to the fan's involvement with their favorite groups. K-pop fans contribute to the group's success through promotions, merchandise production, streaming, voting for awards such as MAMA, Melon Music Awards, and Seoul Music Awards, and creating fan accounts on social media that serve as a way to promote idols and their group. This kind of heavy engagement with K-pop artists creates a fan culture that deviates from Western fan culture, developing relationships with artists that span beyond the music itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Hellekson</span> American scholar

Karen L. Hellekson is an American author and scholar who researches science fiction and fan studies. In the field of science fiction, she is known for her research on the alternate history genre, the topic of her 2001 book, The Alternate History: Refiguring Historical Time, and has also published on the author Cordwainer Smith. In fan studies, she is known for her work on fan fiction and the culture of the fan community. She has co-edited two essay collections on fan fiction with Kristina Busse, and in 2008, co-founded the academic journal, Transformative Works and Cultures, also with Busse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesca Coppa</span> American scholar of literature

Francesca Coppa is an American scholar whose research has encompassed British drama, performance studies and fan studies. In English literature, she is known for her work on the British writer Joe Orton; she edited several of his early novels and plays for their first publication in 1998–99, more than thirty years after his murder, and compiled an essay collection, Joe Orton: A Casebook (2003). She has also published on Oscar Wilde. In the fan-studies field, Coppa is known for documenting the history of media fandom and, in particular, of fanvids, a type of fan-made video. She co-founded the Organization for Transformative Works in 2007, originated the idea of interpreting fan fiction as performance, and in 2017, published the first collection of fan fiction designed for teaching purposes. As of 2021, Coppa is a professor of English at Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania.

Fan studies is an academic discipline that analyses fans, fandoms, fan cultures and fan activities, including fanworks. It is an interdisciplinary field located at the intersection of the humanities and social sciences, which emerged in the early 1990s as a separate discipline, and draws particularly on audience studies and cultural studies.

<i>Fallout: Equestria</i> 2011 fan fiction

Fallout: Equestria is a post-apocalyptic fan fiction novel based on the Fallout and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series. It was originally published by pseudonymous user Kkat on April 12, 2011. It is split into five volumes, totalling 620,000 words across more than 2,000 pages. The novel has been published as an ebook, an audiobook, and also as a physical hardcover novel. The novel is considered to be one of the most popular My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanworks, having developed a large following of its own.

Sandra Annett is a Canadian film academic. She published the book Anime Fan Communities: Transcultural Flows and Frictions (2014) and is co-editor of the academic journal Mechademia. She is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.

References

  1. 1 2 Jenkins H. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. NYU Press. 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 Earl J and Kimport K. Movement societies and digital protest: Fan activism and other nonpolitical protest online. American Sociological Association. 2009. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2009.01346.x
  3. 1 2 Kahne, Joseph; Lee, Nam-Jin; Feezell, Jessica T. (2013-01-01). "The Civic and Political Significance of Online Participatory Cultures among Youth Transitioning to Adulthood". Journal of Information Technology & Politics. 10 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1080/19331681.2012.701109. ISSN   1933-1681. S2CID   143748128.
  4. ↑ Brough, Melissa M.; Shresthova, Sangita (2012-06-15). "Fandom meets activism: Rethinking civic and political participation". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0303 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  5. 1 2 Lopez L. K. Fan activists and the politics of race in The Last Airbender. Sage. 2012.
  6. ↑ Bennett L.'If we stick together we can do anything’: Lady Gaga fandom, philanthropy and activism through social media. Taylor and Francis LTD. 2014.
  7. ↑ Scardaville M. C. Accidental activists: Fan activism in the soap opera community. Thomson Reuters. 2014.
  8. ↑ Moller M. Grassfoots ethics: The case of souths versus news corporation. Cambridge University Press. 2003.
  9. ↑ McLeod K. Confessions of an Intellectual (property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and my long and winded path as a copyright activist-academic. Taylor and Francis LTD. 2005.
  10. ↑ Bukart P. Music and Cyberliberties. Wesleyan University Press. 2010.
  11. ↑ Bennett, Lucy (2012-06-15). "Fan activism for social mobilization: A critical review of the literature". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0346 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  12. ↑ Jung, Sun (2011-03-31). "Fan activism, cybervigilantism, and Othering mechanisms in K-pop fandom". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0300 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  13. ↑ Brough, Melissa M.; Shresthova, Sangita (2011-03-30). "Fandom meets activism: Rethinking civic and political participation". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0303 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  14. ↑ Deuze, Mark (2010-01-01). "Survival of the mediated". Cultural Science Journal. 3 (2). doi: 10.5334/csci.33 . ISSN   1836-0416.
  15. 1 2 Jenkins, Henry (2011-03-31). ""Cultural acupuncture": Fan activism and the Harry Potter Alliance". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0305 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  16. ↑ Gilliland, Elizabeth (2016). "Racebending fandoms and digital futurism". Transformative Works and Cultures. 22. doi: 10.3983/twc.2016.0702 .
  17. ↑ Wilkinson, Lili (2012). "Nerdfighters, "Paper Towns," and heterotopia". Transformative Works and Cultures. 10. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0374 .
  18. ↑ Ohlheiser, Abby (2020-06-05). "How K-pop fans became celebrated online vigilantes". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  19. 1 2 3 Bruner, Raisa (2020-07-25). "How K-Pop Fans Actually Work as a Force for Political Activism in 2020". Time. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lorenz, Taylor; Browning, Kellen; Frenkel, Sheera (2020-06-21). "TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  21. 1 2 Reddy, Shreyas (2020-06-11). "K-pop fans emerge as a powerful force in US protests". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  22. 1 2 3 "Dallas police app back up after K-pop fans organized to flood it with videos". Dallas News. 2020-06-01. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  23. 1 2 Lee, Alicia (2020-06-04). "K-pop fans are taking over 'White Lives Matter' and other anti-Black hashtags with memes and fancams of their favorite stars". CNN. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
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