Journal of Fandom Studies, The - Volume 5, Issue 2, 2017

Presence and copresence in Goffman’s sense are some of the main building blocks of fandom groups in online spaces. This article provides a definition of both especially developed to take the online environment of fandom into account. At the same time, a framework for analysis and design of fandom spaces is developed and used on existing fandom spaces.

This article considers fanfictional paratexts – including peritexts such as author’s notes, warnings, epigraphs and tags, as well as the related epitexts of comments, memes, recs and live blogs – in the context not only of the fanfiction they accompany but also of the critical conversations they generate and perpetuate within themselves. The parallels between premodern literature’s expansive paratextual spaces and the equally expansive – if virtual – spaces that frame contemporary fanworks, specifically fanfiction, point to similarly transactional qualities at work in both, balancing authorial intent, production/archival specifications and reader response. By considering these seemingly disparate literary worlds in conversation with one another, we can not only illuminate an antecedent for fanworks and fan community interactions but also offer medieval and early modern studies a potentially useful language for talking about premodern literary culture.

Certain groups within the fandom of the series Supernatural maintain that the network chronically fails to acknowledge or appreciate the support, discretionary income and above all unpaid affective labour of its young female audience – a viewership the series creators never anticipated. Such fans then create their own ways of engaging with both the show’s content and its public relations, using social media to craft personal spaces of both resistance and pleasure. This article examines three such creative efforts: a Twitter hashtag hijacking in 2015, when the CW perhaps unwisely invited viewers to ‘#AskSupernatural’; the fan-proposed spin-off Wayward Daughters (whose online petition has upwards of 3600 signatures) and fan-created YouTube series Kevin’s Continued Winchester Gospel (starring former guest actor Osric Chau). These labour-intensive spaces, created primarily by young women, speak to these fans’ perception of being disregarded by network public relations as well as the narrative of the series itself and its ongoing treatment of fan-favourite characters, particularly female ones, whether omitted from storylines or written violently off the show. In unprecedented volume, fans have merged creativity with collective action to craft playful yet highly publicized and efficient responses to the show’s public relations misattunement with its own audience.

Marc Bolan, lead singer of T-Rex and purveyor of the glam rock movement, died in 1977. The passenger of a Mini Cooper that crashed into a sycamore tree, Bolan was killed instantly from injuries sustained in the accident.

When reports began circulating in 1998 that the tree was in danger of being felled, fan Fee Mercury Moon formed the T-Rex Action Group (TAG) in an effort to save the tree and the site. The space has been preserved and embellished through TAG’s efforts and self-funded initiatives, transforming what was a space of grisly death into a location for worship, reflection and behaviours often echoing traditional religion.

While the shrine attracts pilgrims from around the world, a core Bolan contingent continues, almost 40 years since his death, to in-fight over who controls the right to the memory of Bolan, the place of his death and the rituals performed by visitors to the site. As ideas of heritage and history clash with rising property prices, fans face a battle in which they need to be united, instead of splintered over personal peccadilloes. This article will examine how a physical space, such as the shrine, allows for both the perpetuation of memory as well as the expunging of the icon from the importance of the place, as personal meaning and value become intrinsically tied into fan authenticity and religious rituals and behaviours.

Focusing on the lines for the San Diego Comic-Con’s largest promotional space, Hall H, this article draws on participant observation and mediated discourses in order to locate the place of fans at an event that has long been shaped and influenced by the promotional presence of the media industries. At Comic-Con, waiting in line suggests a divide between inside and outside, both in the literal sense of gaining entry and as a signifier of the exclusivity of the event and its attendees. But the line itself is a liminal space, neither inside nor outside. This article argues that the Hall H line at Comic-Con operates as hierarchized space in which fans follow rules and self-regulate in order to maintain their position. But the act of waiting in line also constitutes a form of labour, producing a heightened aura of exclusivity, increased publicity and surplus value around Hollywood promotion at Comic-Con. While a quotidian activity like waiting in line might be viewed much in the same way as media consumption – something one does with their ‘free’ time – this article argues that the prominence and proliferation of lines at Comic-Con make the work of being a consumer significantly more visible.