How The Other Half Live

Hello and welcome back to the final post in the Fangirling for Beginners series, sob!

This time we’re flipping things on their head and looking at fan culture from the point of view of the subject a.k.a. the celebrity. More specifically, how does it feel to have all of that fame and adoration thrust upon them, are they grateful or is it downright annoying? Furthermore, what happens when your loving fan base turns hostile? Should celebrities create as much distance as possible or kiss and make up?

As mentioned in previous posts, being a hardcore fan involves a lot of artistic effort and a hell of a lot more emotional investment. For a celebrity, having that kind of raw emotion directed at you on a global scale can seem like a daunting prospect and one that involves a certain amount of tact.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock

However one person who has not followed this rule lately is the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch.

That’s right. The Cumberbitches have turned.

During a recent interview with OUT Magazine, Cumberbatch expressed his distaste towards fans who in his eyes “want to make John [Watson] into a sort of cute little toy, or me into a cute toy, or we’re fucking in space on a bed, chained together.” Not a very nice thing to say to anybody, never mind your devoted fans, but what if that’s the only thing you get exposed to?

In recent years as the general public have become exposed to fan culture, media outlets have begun to cash in on the cringe factor of showing celebrities some of the more explicit pieces of fan art or fan fiction. It’s painfully obvious that the person being showed these things are uncomfortable, but we still keep watching in morbid fascination. It’s something that happens quite regularly on prime time chat shows like Graham Norton, but it’s now happening at official screenings and Q&A sessions. The most controversial one being the BFI Sherlock panel with Caitlin Moran when she made Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch read out some explicit fanfiction she’s found on the internet, much to their dismay. It was so awkward that in official recordings, the segment has been cut.

Fans are not happy after Caitlin Moran’s stunt at the BFI screening last year

The original posters and fans however are not seeing the funny side either. And as Dr Brooke Magnanti quite eloquently puts it in this article for The Telegraph, “Some of the people writing fanfic… are grown women and mums finding an enjoyable and productive outlet for having fun. They don’t want to see the fourth wall broken any more than the actors want to do it.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom for fans! In a recent interview I conducted with The Wombats front man, Matthew Murphy, he had this to say about his fans:

Matthew Murphy

“We have definitely had a fair few [crazy fans] in the past, but all our fans seem like a lot of fun, very raucous, very down to earth and cool and very warm individuals. I’ve only ever had positive experiences. If it wasn’t for them we’d be absolutely fucked!”

And I think that’s the perfect note to end this blog series on. Throughout this process I’ve explored just how  much love, passion, hard work and time goes into being a hardcore fan. At first I used to sneer from a distance, but now i’m kind of envious! Fans are not afraid to show their passion for a particular subject and although it may be incredibly overwhelming for an outsider, once you’re in it’s not a bad place to be. So show your passion, draw that picture, cry at those series finales and scream I can’t even!

Thanks for reading! As ever, please like/reblog/share. I’d be interested to know what you think about the relationship between fans and celebrities so please comment below. X

I’d like to give a special thanks to Tumblr user folieassdeux who was really helpful and without whom this blog post would not be possible.

 

50 Shades of Fan Culture

Welcome back to Fangirling for Beginners, it’s been a while hasn’t it!

The third installment in this series focuses on the power of the fandom to get stuff done. We’ve all heard of the term strength in numbers, but in fandom this can have a powerful impact. From social equality campaigns to tying up loose ends of a TV show.

As seen in my first post (which I know you’ve all read and if you haven’t, why not?) internet fandoms can be a place of camaraderie, support and creativity that span continents, languages and ages. But should creators of TV shows, books, films, music ect. listen to their fans and and take that on board or should fandoms and creators remain relatively separate? And what happens when fandoms decide to tackle issues outside their chosen subject?

One example of this would be the issue of consent.

TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SAM PEPPER, ALEX DAY

In the previous year, consenting to sex and sexual activities became a hugely talked about issue in various fandoms across the internet after notorious youtuber and prankster, Sam Pepper posted a ‘social experiment’ where he sexually assaulted women with a fake hand. The world was supposed to laugh, but they didn’t (and rightly so). During that year, various women came forward with stories of sexual assault, including some while under the age of consent (that’s 16 in the UK) from various youtubers including the hugely popular Alex Day who had over 1 million subscribers and reached number 4 in the UK charts during Christmas 2011 with his song Forever Yours . I don’t claim to be be an expert in this so if you’re interested then there is a reliable masterpost of the whole scandal here which includes original sources, reactions from both sides and links to support websites.

Alex Day

Even though what happened was terrible and shocking, the youtube community managed to rally round and become a support network for victims. Some even managed to make funny and informative videos about consent like this one from Jack and Dean.

Even though some of the people accused of these crimes have tried to work their way back into the youtube community, they’re having none of it. It has created a stronger and more open community that can only move forwards.

Consent is not just an issue in the youtube community either. At the 2014 New York Comic Con the cosplay does not mean consent campaign was launched which tackled the growing number of people who felt objectified or threatened when dressed up as their favourite fictional characters. i only hope that this growing awareness and tolerance will continue well into the future.

PSA at New York ComicCon 2014

 

TRIGGER WARNING OVER

On a lighter note, recently fandoms have proved their love for TV shows by bringing them back from the dead! Shows that are over 20 years old like Twin Peaks are getting a reboot due to the devotion of their cult fan base. Speaking of cult TV shows, when firefly was cancelled after only 16 episodes, fans banded together to bring the cast and crew together for a one off film that tied up all of the loose ends of our favourite space cowboys. Even more recently, some of the plots in the BBC adaptation, Sherlock have included little nods to their fans, which have been greatly appreciated.

The official announcement of the return of Twin Peaks

This just goes to show that when it comes to getting stuff done, fandoms know what they’re doing and they get results. But if fans are having a direct impact on the show, could this ruin it for less invested fans, or does it shine a light on the screenwriters of the future?

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think in the comments below! x

I wanna live like common people

Hello again!

I’m back with another installment of Fangirling for Beginners with even more information and hopefully a little less controversy (looking at you Mumsnet)!

This time around I shall be looking at the origins of fandoms. Do new celebrities just pop up overnight or is there a super sinister corporate machine that is telling us who and what to like? (A bit creepy I know, but bear with).

Obviously there will always be a massive corporate machine behind the constant churning out of bands, books, films and TV shows, but recently there seems to be a new type of subject to obsess over… the civilian.

Yep, people just like you and me are getting thousands of hits on their blogs, worldwide recognition and in some cases, making it their full time job. Of course with all of that inevitably comes the fans.

One example of a normal person becoming famous just for well, being them is 20 year old student Peter Bevan. On a daily basis he is inundated with messages, gifts, fan art and even the odd creep! As of January 28th 2015 Peter had 36,715 Tumblr followers. Why? Because he’s good looking! But casual blogging has made quite an impact on his life.

This photo of Peter now has over 2000 notes

According to Peter, “I get a lot of really nice messages on Tumblr and a lot about how people like my blog/like photos of me that are going around on Tumblr. But I also get quite a few creeps who make fake accounts with photos of me that I don’t even know how they find, but I love having my blog and I mainly get the followers from photos I put of myself on Tumblr I don’t even know how to be fair, and I get recognised every now and then!”

Despite the obvious downsides to his internet fame, Peter is hoping to utilise his followers in order to pursue fashion. Hopefully he can “transfer some of [his] followers and actually make something of it”.

As Peter is looking to take his career further with his blog, some people have now made it their full time occupation. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 12 months you would have definitely heard the names Zoella and Alfie Deyes countless times. They are both hot young things who are taking the world by storm and single-handedly changing what it means to be famous, all of this from the comfort of their own homes!

Zoella at Vidcon

Alfie’s channel PointlessBlog has now spawned the PointlessBook

For those of you who don’t know, these two are now considered to be youtube royalty, but they both came from humble beginnings. Since 2009, Zoella’s (real name Zoe Sugg) hair and make up tutorials, along with personal stories about her battle with anxiety captured the hearts of teens across the country and now has a beauty range at Superdrug and her debut book (although ghostwritten) sold nearly 800,000 copies in one week! In fact, when news of her book signings were released, the Waterstone’s website crashed and the venues were only released a day prior to the event. Her boyfriend Alfie has had a similar experience, whose daily vlogs have now attracted over 3 million subscribers and has also lead to to a book deal.

But what about others, can they make it big on youtube now? According to Hank Green, the godfather of youtube and one half of the vlog brothers, no. The youtube industry is now a very tough nut to crack with people being drawn to big names and pretty faces. But if you do have something interesting to say or a talent to show off, then by all means go for it!

Obviously I can not state that the traditional record company/tv network/actual hard work and dedication structure is completely defunct, but what I am saying is more and more people are turning to individuals for their entertainment. Maybe we’re sick of being told what to like by Simon Cowell and Rupert Murdoch? The new generation of home grown celebrities are real people, with real lives and interests. I suspect that the rawness and personal touch of their content creates a bond that the big corporations can only dream of.

Once again thanks for reading, don’t forget to like, comment and share (fun fact, just reading doesn’t count, I need you to fuel my ego). If you have any comments or questions feel free to put them in the comments section below, the link is at the top of the page. I’d be most interested to know what you think of normal people being turned into idols, creepy or creative? What about youtubers? If you have a genuine passion, does it matter if you don’t have a company behind you? And would you now be inspired to seek out internet fame for yourself?

Follow me on Twitter @Portia_Fahey and on Tumblr at porshizzle.tumblr.com for more updates and whatever weirdo crap is on my dashboard that night!

The Anatomy of The Fan

Hello! My name is Portia and welcome to your first crash course in fan culture, otherwise known as fangirling or fandom. This post is the starting point for my fangirling for beginners blog series and contains loads of basic definitions that you’ll need if you read the other posts. So sit back, relax and lets explore the world of the fandom together.

I once heard a poem about an extreme fan that said if you cut one in half like a tree, you will see the word ‘saddo’ all the way through, but I don’t think that’s true.

Yes I admit that that could be said for some extreme fans, but if you scratch under the surface of all of the screaming you will stumble upon an unending wealth of creativity, love, dedication and bravery.

So why do I feel do detached from it? I’ve been lurking round the internet for a long time now and I consider myself to be an out, loud and proud nerd, but I’ve never felt the need to draw numerous portraits of my favourie tv show character or write a 250,000 word story about a game I’ve just played, but there is a vast number of people that do.

This isn’t a new phenomenon either, the idea of ‘the fangirl’ has been around since the birth of rock and roll in the Fifties and then Beatlemania that swept the world in the 1960s (think about that when you’re giving the stink eye to directioners).

However, being part of a fandom is much bigger today than screaming wildly at and pining over your favourite singer, covering your bedroom walls with posters of them and listening to their album over and over again, much to the disdain of your parent’s eardrums and sanity. It now looks a lot more like this.

In this blog series I will explore how being part of a fandom has changed over time, what exactly it entails and why do people take part. But first of all, lets start with a definition.

“The community that surrounds a tv show/movie/book etc. Fanfiction writers, artists, poets, and cosplayers are all members of that fandom. Fandoms often consist of message boards, livejournal communities, and people.” – Urban Dictionary

If all of that makes no sense to you then you’ve come to the right place. If your child locks themselves away in their room and the only noises you hear from them are screams of “omg I can’t even!” then they’re probably on the fandom side of tumblr.

Tumblr is a micro-blogging website where the vast majority of fandoms now reside and debate over particular topics and events in their fandom, but they also share artwork and fictional stories (known as fanfiction) with like minded individuals. In fact, Tumblr is now so popular that there are now 217 million blogs on it. Of course not all of those are fandom blogs, but tumblr has become synonymous with fandom.

Internet fandoms sure have come a long way since the chat rooms of the late 90s, fans now use multiple platforms to connect with each other and even the subjects of the fandoms themselves. There is always the obvious dangers of meeting people on the internet, but this BBC news article suggests that it might actually make them better behaved. And through my extensive procrastination research on Tumblr, I’ve found most people to be genuine and a general sense of camaraderie.

Absolutely anything can be the subject of a fandom, as long as you like it and show you like it, then it’s fandom from Downton Abbey to Doctor Who. There’s even a kitchen fandom!

Okay, so you like the thing, you’ve set up your Tumblr account, what do you do now? Participate of course! Say you’re in the Harry Potter fandom, you can contribute to 700,000+ Harry Potter stories on fanfiction.net, draw something like this and then save up your money to attend Geekycon in the summer and meet up with fellow fans. And if you’re an even bigger fan you can put on a series of musicals based on the events of the books (bonus points if you can spot the young celebrity)!

All in all, being part of a fandom is being part of an emotional community that laughs together, cries together and is a fantastic outlet for people’s creative energies, but most of all it’s an escape. As Tumblr user ivyblossom puts it,

“I participate in Sherlock fandom because I really love this story and these characters, and I’m really enjoying playing in this universe, thinking about what’s going on under the surface, constructing arguments out of evidence, contradicting myself over and over as I read, and write, and think about things differently, and discussing the whole enterprise with other passionate fans. I love all that stuff.”

Which brings me back to my original point. If you cut a fan in half, would you see the word saddo inside? No. What you’d see is the inside of a prison cell you weirdo!

But in all seriousness, I think that the world of the internet fandom is something we can learn from and it needs to lose the stigma surrounding it. People are not afraid to show their true passions in life and they can form real bonds with people thousands of miles away that somebody only 15 years ago could not even dream of.

Thanks for reading and see you next time! X

In my next blog post I shall explore the different types of fandoms and how they come to be? Are we told what to like or do things build momentum on their own.

Anything you’d like to ask or see me write about? Comment below or follow me on Twitter @Portia_Fahey to see my blogs as soon as they’re posted.