Towards a Topography ofFandom(s)

Paul Paul Mason

Abstract Abstract Fan Fan studies is a relatively new field of enquiry and as yet its parameters are only hazily

defined. defined. The present paper a抗empts to provide an ove円 iew of some of its constituent elements, eschewing eschewing the taxonomic and media-oriented approaches which have been adopted elsewhere for for an exploration of the various forms in terms of links and commonalities. A roughly

chronological chronological structure is used to introduce areas of fandom, and the concept of νectors is introduced introduced as a means of grouping fan activities.

Introduction

Fans constitute an intense form of media audience and hence are best approached using reception reception theory. By subjecting fans to theoretical scrutiny we can learn much about the way the disparate disparate aggr巴gation of consumers actively receives media, constructing identities in dynamic interaction interaction with the information environment. Or not. The fundamental problem with the above paragraph, more significant than any quibbles quibbles readers may have with specific phrasings, theoretical implications, or recommended action, action, is that its first word contains a massive complex of unexamined assumptions, a complex all all the more insidious for being so widely shared by those involved in fan studies. This This paper will, at the very least, examine some of these assumptions. I have no problem with with the academic examination of fans as a media audience, or with reception theory, per se. But it it does appear that in the world of fan studies, the media exert an almost inescapable gravitic attract10n. attract10n. Ironically, Ironically, it was media studies that rescued the fan from a previous distortion in the academic academic space-time field. As Jenson (1992) so aptly put it,“The literature on fandom is haunted by images of deviance.” Both academic and public discourse constructed the fan as pathological, as as someone stigmatized for an excessive attachment to something. The reason for this in the

(248) (248) 53 人間文化第 28 号

academic academic field is rather obvious: psychologists were interested in studying pathology, sociologists

were interested in studying social deviance; neither group was as interested in studying the natl江e of attachment. Fans were constructed as pathological deviants by the gaze directed on them. Fans were also stigmatized by public discourse, which is always quick to demonize difference.

Bacon” Smith’S Enterprising Women (1992) and Jenkins' Textual Poachers (1992) are key texts texts that initiated a widespread rehabilitation of the fan in academic circles. Both of these texts are are based on ethnographic research , and explicitly limited in scope. Enterprising Women features ethnographic ethnographic study of Star Trek fandom , while Textual Poachers’ opening bears reproduction:

Textual Textual Poachers offers an ethnographic account of a particular group of media fans, its social institutions institutions and cultural practices , and its troubled relationship to the mass media and consumer capitalism. capitalism. There are, of course, many different types of fans-rock fans, sports fans, movie buffs,

opera opera enthusiasts, etc.;“fans” have a much longer history， 自抗mg more generally into longstanding debates debates about the popular consumption of fiction or audience response to popular entertainments. As Cultural Cultural Studies has directed more attention on the process of reception, and as researchers have begun to to conshuct more precise accounts of both historical and contemporary audiences, we are beginning to to develop a more sophisticated understanding of how these groups relate to the mass media and draw draw upon it as a resource in their everyday life. I focus on only one of these fan cultures here an amorphous amorphous but still identifiable grouping of enthusiasts of film and television which calls itself “ media fandom.”

This This introduction both acknowledges the disparate forms of fan attachment, and defines its limits . Indeed both Jenkins and Bacon-Smith are careful to draw attention to the specificity of their their accounts, yet the subsequent explosion in fan scholarship has seen the word “fan” at times taken taken to mean only participants in “media fandom.” Sandvoss, for example, despite explicitly recognizing recognizing the variety of fandom , and even identifying himself as a sports fan, nevertheless writes :

The The way in which fans relate to such texts and the performances that follow 企om this relationship vary

between between different fan cultures, and indeed 合om fan to fan. Yet, they are all forms of consumption in which which we build and maintain an affective relationship with mediated texts and thus share fundamental psychological, psychological, social and cultural premisses and consequences. (Sandvoss, 2005)

Earlier, Earlier, Sandvoss has acknowledged the dangers both of fans writing scholarly accounts, and of scholars with inadequate knowledge of their object of study . He also warns of the dangers of of a normative definition tied to an already formulated hypothesis . And yet, he essentially does that that when he defines fandom based on the hypothesis that it necessarily involves the consumption of a text. In a sense , he has no option: he is caught in an inescapable むap. He draws attention to to Hills’s (2002) assertion that the nature of a fan is common knowledge. Yet at least Sandvoss attempts attempts a theoretically-grounded definition of the fan (i え perhaps, rather reminiscent of

54 54 (247) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason )

Baudrillard). Baudrillard). Hills never really does, opening with common knowledge, discussing the problems i nvolved in a theoretical definition, and then arguing that “... fan cultures cannot be pinned down through through singular theoretical approaches or singu la r definitions.”(Hills, 2002 ）羽市 ich is a fair comment, except that in his book Hills nevertheless considers only media fans. With these two heavyweights refusing to tackle head-on the diversity of fan types, it is hardly hardly surprising that other researchers follow suit. They are a lso restricted by the vagar ie s of academic academic publishing. Portie伊αtions is a journal publishing material on fans, for exa mple . But it it is subtitled “Journal of Audience & Reception Studies.” Even the Journal of Popular Culture, which contains no such limitation in its remit, contains very little fan-related material outside of the the media. Many other venues implicitly limit the potential definitions of“ fan” by their academic e mphasis. In In this paper I will not be analyzing the media consumed by fans. I will not be great ly concerned concerned with fans as m巴mbers of audiences, or on their reception of texts. Hills pointed out that that fan cultures cannot be pinned down w ith singular definitions; in practice they have been. I wi ll not claim that the definition I adopt in this paper is significantly less of a singular d巴finition than than that of the media -heavy approach. But it is a (partial) definition that shi抗s the focus of a仕ention away 企om fan ob ject, and on to fan b巴havior per se.And in doing so it accommodates a slightly slightly different-and perhaps wider -range of cultures to those typically explored. As should already be clear, the definition I will be adopting is based on an assumption that there there is a greater diversity among fans than is widely recognized in the literature. The definition has has two components . First ly, it accepts as fans any individuals or groups of people who se lfｭ identify identify as fans. This is a pragmatic decision, but it is based on the principle that identificat ion of someone as a fan must be based on characteristics or behavior of that person and not of some external external object. Moreover, it recognizes the extent to which being a fan is a matter of identity, and and that identity is partially self-constructed.

The second component of the definition extends beyond se lf-i dentification, and recogniz巴S that that fan behavior lies on a spectrum. Thus a subject is more or less a fan to the ex tent that they derive derive en jo yment from strong attachmen t to something; participate in activities relating to that that something; acquire objects relating to that something; and share their involvement in that something something with others (Thorne & Bruner, 2006). The term “something” is chosen deliberately here. here. Far 企om being the media text and nothing else, the “something” can range from a text to a person to an activity or even an idea. Scholars of aud i ence studies may assert that ev erything can can be considered a media text, and that reception is consumption. Whether or not this is a valid assertion, assertion, it has no bearing on the definition adopted here, and in practice has led to a form of myopia. myopia.

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A further point which is essential to the project being initiated in this paper is the recognition that that fans are not neatly separable into their various categories. A large proportion of fans have multiple multiple interests and affiliations, and this very multiplicity generates some of the shared characteristics characteristics which can be observed between different areas of fandom. Hence, this paper is aimed at providing a topography of fandom: a description of some of the surfaces and extents of the the conceptual “ space” occupied by fans. The term taxonomy might be considered appropriate. It

is is not used here because the classification it implies is based on difference. In this pape巳 although different different types of fans will be described, the goal is to draw attention to commonalities.

Structure

Definitions Definitions and taxonomies frequently have an unfortunate side-effect: “[S]omething is always always made peripheral, something is always pushed to the border, or over it, when we engage in definition.”(Harrigan & Wardrup-Fruin, 2007) This is what has happened with the study of fans . The media emphasis of most of the scholars concerned with the field has resulted in the media taking taking center-stage, and other forms of fan expression being made peripheral. The proble m is that any definition, taxonomy, or description, will lay emphasis .A graphic representation representation of fandoms will have a center; a des criptive passage of writing will have a beginning beginning and an end. For For this reason, the present paper adopts a loose chronological structure. It is hoped that such such a stmcturing mechanism may also serve to draw attention to the nature of connection and development development in the fields of fandom being studied. The graphic representa tion of fandom(s) in Figure Figure 1, an inevitably simplifi ed attempt to show some of these con nections, similarl y adop ts

chronology chronology as a loose organizing principle. Here, the center coηesponds to the origin (though as as the next section will explain, this origin is a provisional construct based only on linguistic

criteria) , and the rest of fandom is depicted as an “explosion”丘om that originary point. In th is

way, way, the (graphic) periphery, far 仕om being peripheral, contains the most recent phenomena, amo ng them the areas which have received the most scholarly attention . There There is another important consideration h ere which is often ignored in writ ing on fans and their activity: the international dimension. English-language scholarship on the media often often banishes foreign and foreign-language material to the periphery . This has been especially true true of work on popular culture . Thus, journals such as the Journal of Popular Cultur e and

Tトansformative Works and Cultures feature pap巴rs on TV shows such as Qu ee r As Folk (Hunting, 2012) 2012) and The Offi ce (Detweiler, 2012). One has to read carefully to learn that th ere are British versions versions of these “ American” shows. One has to be even more attentive to realize that these “American” shows are act ually US versions of originally British productions. And this is an

56 (245) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason)

Figure Figure I. The Explosion ofFandom

Manga

Harry Harry Potter

Diplomacy Diplomacy GAMES MUSIC Hollywood stars RP Gs Star Star Trek

τhe Beatl es Y医LEVISION Nintendo Nintendo

Bu伶 the Punk V ampire Slayer C ospl ay

Justin Justin Bie ber

K ey

CATEGORIES OF FAN O隠』ECT

Ex amp les o ffan o旬 eel s

－－一一一一一 Example ofconne ct ion between categories and objects

ex ample 合om within the English-speaking world, of mainstream television ！羽市en it comes to foreign foreign fandom, coverage of activity outside the English-speaking world is patchy at best. In the

11 11 volumes of one of the most inclusive journals, 7トansformatiνe Works and Cultures , there have so so far been only 6 papers covering fan activity outside the English-speaking world. And yet , this is is inevitable given the language barriers.

This paper, too, will inevitably concentrate on English-language fandom . This is not to dismiss dismiss or marginalize fandoms in other pa1is of the world . Indeed , the influence of Japanese manga and anime on English-speaking fandom is so great that the Japanese term roughly correlating correlating to fan , otaku , is now used in English to denote a fan of these Japanese cultural

(244) (244) 57 人間文化第 28 号

products . The concentration on English-language fandom, with only passing mention of other countries countries is, rather, an acknowledgement of the limit at i ons of th e au thor . Nev ert he less, in attempt ing to show the diffuse and complex natur e offandom(s), includ ing are as of commona li ty and overlap as well as diff erence , this paper w ill propos e that the same can be expec ted of nonｭ Eng lish fandom(s) : namel y th at there w ill be di st in ct iv ely diff erent features, but also areas of surpris ing similarity and inte ract ion .

Before the name

“Fans” were first call edb y that name in th e 19th century, but behavior which would later be associated with the term h as been identified b efore this. Simonova (2012) identifies activity

which s he suggests co汀esponds to modern fan fict ion in the 17th century , namel y continua tions

of Philip Sidney’ s unfinished Arcadi。. But Simonova also mentions earl ier examples of behavior which may be considered analogous to that of fans. The interest in g point she makes here is that that fan activity-understood by her as derivative or tra nsformativ e act iv ity based on another’s work - i s really a consequence of the invention of the modern author. Th e latter , as Rose (1993) exp lain s, is inextricably bound up in the development of copyright in the eighteenth century. The exte nt to which fan activ ity can be defined pure ly in terms of suc h tra nsformational ac tiv ity is is qu estionab le.N ev巴rthe less it is uncontrovers ial that fan activ ity d id not emerge from a vo id ; rather rather it represents the ado pt ion and ada ption of prev ious ly-existing practices . On th e other hand, we should beware the w id ening of th e defi nit ion of “ fan activity” such such that it no longer has any power to diff erentiate .As it is now under st ood, the nco cept of the the fan al so entails an idea of community. Fan fict ion thus entai ls not only the interpretation, transformation transformation or cont inu at ion of an existing text, but also the comm u nity that both produc es and shares shares such work. As an example of historical fan activity that did in volve such a sense of community, Ke ll er (2011) (2011) describes the activ it ies of lovers- aficionados “primarily of practices, ideas, and entit ies rat h er than of individu als "- in the early modern period, especia ll y the 17th century. Ke ll er con trasts this with w h at she sees as the modern focus of fan activity: being dir ecte d towards individuals. individuals. As th e present study will a悦empt to show, such a focus may not be as uni ve rsa l as Ke ller s uggests. Nevertheless , the “ lovers” she discovers do demonstrate the charac teri st ic s of fa ns. Simil ar ly, there are m any affin iti es between fan activity and coll ecting . The acc umul at ion of of objects by collectors ' goes back centuries if not more. Baudrillard provocative lyc laim s that co ll ectio n is essentia ll ya pre幽pubescent urge w hi c h tails off w ith the onset of sexua l activ ity and later re - emerges as sexua l drive diminishes (Gottdiener , 1994) . This suggested stat us as a

58 58 (243) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason) displaced displaced sexual activity hints at the notion of strong emotional affect or attachment, which is crucial crucial to fans; collection is often a manifestation-here termed “vector”ー「of fan activity. It It is possible to uncover the roots of fan practice in any number of locations throughout history .It is possible to theorize some of these as the actions of“fans” even before that term was employed. employed. Yet the advent of the word itself provides a useful provisional origin point, the very provisional provisional nature of which reminds us that origins should be treated with as much suspicion as centers. centers.

The first fans

Baseball Baseball in the US provides the first recorded instance of the use of the word “ fan”(Shulman, 1996). 1996). What is noticeable is that this coining coincides with the rise of baseball as a spectator2 sport, sport, which in tum coincides with baseball’s tum to professionalism . It is often forgotten that prior prior to the 20th century, baseball and cricket were both played in America. Indeed, the first international international cricket match in the world was between the US and Canada, in 1844 (Williamson). But while cricket resisted professionalism , baseball embraced it. By the third decade of the twentieth twentieth century, baseball reigned supreme. The 1887 use of the word “ fan” to describe baseball aficionados not only conveys the intensity intensity of affect (“fan” is widely considered to derive 合om “fanatic ”） but also the community alluded alluded to above . For baseball fans appreciated the game as an audience , not just as individuals. Spectators Spectators of a sport share in the spectacle-obviously but fan activity transcends this . For the the modem concept of fans to be fully invoked, we must also look for affiliations away 仕om the games, games, and here we note the organizations that sprang up around teams, bringing together fans (or (or “supporters” as they were known in the UK) to share their enthusiasms and, crucially , their knowledge. knowledge. Jenkins Jenkins (1992) suggests that the word fan was subsequently applied to the “Matinee Girls" who exemplified the newly emergent female audience for theater at the end of the nineteenth century. century. On the one hand this appears to be a convenient way of establishing a claim for the early use use of “ fan” for media fans, while establishing the strand of fan theory which associates fan activity activity with female discourse . Nevertheless, the idea of Matinee Girls being fans in the sense just just established is supported by Schweitzer’s (2009) description of the formation of the “Bachelor Girls' Girls' Club" in 1902 :bringing together women who wanted to visit the theater without having to be be dependent on an accompanying man. Cavicchi (2011) supports Je 凶dns ’ s argument that these were fans in the sense of their attachment to their idols: something which attracted to them the same sort of normative accusations of deviance that have bedeviled fans through their history. Women fans of the cinema soon had their own magazines:“. • fan magazines appeared

(242) (242) 59 人間文化第 28 号 on the UK market from the 1910s.”(Stead, 20 11) These should not be co nfused with fanzines , which are actually produced by fans, though the division between material targeted at fans, and that that produced by fans, is not always as clear-cut as it appears It It is also important to note here antecedents of literary fandom. The chronological approach approach of this study draws attention to the ways in which fandom propagates and influences diachronically. diachronically. In some cases, strands of fandom appear to "die out." This would apply , for example, example, to the Matinee Girls and their clubs, alt hough echoes of their activity can be detected in in later movie and media fandom, such as the formative Star Trek fandom described by Baconｭ Smith Smith (1992). In other cases the fandom survives, albeit transformed, into the present. We can thus thus observe fans of baseball who are direct descendants of the first fans. In the field of literature both both of these trends are evide nt. There is, so far as my researches have extended, no l onger an active active fandom for Philip Sidney’s Arcadia . On the other hand , the Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan-Doyle provide an instructive examp le of a fandom that has persisted. From publication they they attract巴d readers whose att achment to the works marked them as distinct. Not only did many aficionados aficionados to like suspend disbelief as to the fictionality of the hero , but they exhibited two other other fan characteristics. One was the desire to extend and transform the works, in both storie s a bout Holmes and pseudo-scholarship refer red to as Th e Grand Gam e, which dat es fro m 1911 (Polasek, (Polasek, 2012). Another was the aforem ent ioned desir e for community . Two soc ieti es were founded founded in 1934 to accommodate this in the UK (The Society) and US (Lellenberg); many more have have subsequently sprung up . Sherlock Holmes fandom has also seen dramatically transformed offshoots offshoots as a result ofrecent re -interpretations in other media : the most notable being the BBC’s Sh e rlock (Gatiss & Moffat , 2010) and the film Sh e rlock Holm es (Ri tchie, Sherlock Holmes , 2009) 2009) and its se quel (Ritchie, 2011).

Science fiction

In In terms of influence on subsequent self-identifying fandom s, the most signifi c ant developm ent w as that which built up around th es cience fiction ge nr e during th e 19 30s . Th e history history of its form ation has be en ext ensive ly cov e red els ewh ere (fo re xampl e, B a con-Smith, 2000; 2000; Florida Association for Nucleation and Conventions , 20 l0). For the purposes of this paper, the the most significant features of SF fandom are its structure and characteristics, and its influ ence . The most important deve lopment of SF fandom was its nature as a community, specifica ll y an an imagined community .Anderson (1983) co ined this term in ord er to provide ane xpl ana t ion of tionalism, nationalism, but in doin g so he provid ed a way of und erstandin g a numb er of form so f human affiliation affiliation beyond the physical community. falsity /genuineness , but by the style in which they are imagined.” Thus SF fans “ imagined” into 60 60 (2 41) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason) existence existence a distinctive, diffuse virtual community with its own jargon(s) and customs (Merrick, 2004). 2004). Bacon-Smith (2000) describes some manifestations of this community in 1990s USA, but but includes enough references to other times, if not other countries, that we can see some of 出 breadth. breadth. She describes how in the age before the World Wide Web the community was Jin ！匂d both both by fanzines and by the “ mobile geography” of conventions. The particular customs and jargon of SF fandom have been well documented, not least by Bacon-Smith and other scholarly accounts, but also in the material produced by SF fandom itself. itself. It should be noted that there is a complex and partially illusory distinction being made here. here. A high proportion of active members of SF fandom are academics themselves; many of the the products of SF fandom are produced with academic rigor . Thus although not “ scholarly” by strict a strict definition based on affiliation with an educational institution , many of these products are are certainly scholarly in the wider and older senses. SF fandom is one in which the vectors of knowledge knowledge and criticism are especially significant. Over and above this , it has been argued that SF fandom not only inculturates its participants with with jargon and customs , but is in fact associated with distinct speech patterns . Unfortunately there there has not been significant follow-up research to an unpublished 1999 report by speech therapist therapist Karyn Ashburn that SF fans differed from the mainstream in pronunciations , articulations ,sentence length/word choice and body language. SF culture went on to influence ｷ the culture of a number of other areas of fandom. For example, example, Pustz (1999) describes how people who were interested in both SF and comics, “so­ called called ‘double fansγ ’ were instrumental in the creation of an active comic fandom, complete with with fanzines and conventions . Similarly, the postal Diplomacy hobby was created when SF fan John John Boardman realized that a fanzine-he already ran an SF fanzine could be used to organize games by post (Agar, 1994). Anecdotally, music fanzines also emerged in the late 1960s as a result result of SF fans applying their practices to a different subject. In the case of the role-playing games hobby, the influence was both direct, from SF fandom itself, and indirect ，合om Diplomacy fandom. fandom. Influence Influence propagates in other ways , with probably the most celebrated being the Star Trek fandom which emerged in the early 1970s. Rather than a straightforward transmission of ideas, much of Star Trek fandom emerged from tensions in behavior and expectations between the established, established, predominantly male bastion of SF fandom, and the influx of new fans of television rather rather than print, many of them women. The result incorporated many of the structures of SF fandom (not least, fanzines and conventions) but with different approaches and values (Walker, 2011 2011 ). Star Trek fandom then formed the template for subsequent “ media” fandoms generally based based on television series or movie 企anchises. In the age of the World Wide Web, media fandom

(240) (240) 61 人間文化第 28 号

became so dominant that it, in tum, served as the model for fandoms of book series (for example, Harry Potter, Twilight) that might otherwise have taken their cues from the more literary SF fandom; fandom; as already noted, the same applies to Sherlock Holmes . Science Science fiction also provides an example of th e spread of fandom around the world . Even before before the Internet made such things routine, the cu ltur e of SF fandom was jumping from co un try to to country. Although it originated in the US in the early 1930s, SF fandom was rapidly taken up in the UK: indeed there is a debate long-running on whether the first true SF convention was in Philadelphia in 1936 or Leeds in 1937 (Hansen, 1994; Lync h, 2001). As one wo uld expect, expect, English-speaking countries linked up early on, but even non-English-speaking countries established established connections with the great “ virtual community" of world SF fandom. In Germany, for for example, the origins of an SF fan community are seen in the beginning of a letters column in in Utopia -Magazin in the 1950 s, at the instigation of a British fan . Simi larly, in Japan, existing Japanese Japanese SF fans in the post -war period linked up with world SF fandom thanks to contacts with

SF fan m巴mbers of occupying armies (Lync h, 2001 ).

The object of fandom

It It sho uld be evident from the above that there is a wide range in w hat has been dubbed the “object” of fandom . Indeed, this term ma y be misleading, for its suggestions both of singu larity and and passive reception. Fans are fans of sport at various levels: they are fa ns of sports in ge neral ; of teams; of players within those teams. Other fans are fans of the theater; of specific authors, or or of specific performers. Still others are fans of literary works; of gemes; of authors; even of fictiona l characters. This This variation in the leve l on which the fan response operates h as persisted from the earliest earliest times to the present day. So called “media fans" may operate on any or all of these levels. levels. Naturally, there are tendencies: certain genres are more likely to attract fans than specific

producers producers or performers within those genres (examples would include the horror genre(s), or 11u x ia movies, though there are exceptions even here , such as Jacky Ch加） . Moreover , the le ve l on

which a fan operates m ay b巴 hypothesized to influ e nce the nature both of the fan activ it y, and of the the fan affect. To take music as an example, a fan of Justin Bieber can be expected to take a very

different different approach to that of a fan of experimental German elec仕onic mu sic of the 1970s. Thi s

is is not to fall into the trap of dismissing th巴 fans of Bieber as being no more than caught up in an infatuation, infatuation, or those of German electronic music as being passionless pedants .Nevertheless fan

activity activity and affect have numerous dimensions, and these are s仕onger in so me instanc es than in others. others. A further important implication here is that many forms of fandom operate across what

62 62 (239) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason) appear appear at first sight to be boundaries . One of the dangers of the focus on “media fandom” is that it it can reinforce the notion of such boundaries. Fans can be compartmentalized within specific forms forms according to the fan object. Yet the foregoing identification of the levels on which fans approach approach fan objects also demonstrates how such levels represent bridges between differing forms. forms. For example, a fan of Sherlock Holmes may at first sight appear to be a literary fan. But

Sherlock Sherlock Holmes is an emphatically transmedia phenomenon (Stein & Busse , 2012) . Our fan’S interest interest in Sherlock Holmes extends to dramatic，自 lm and TV adaptations; it may even extend well well beyond these to historical or criminological interests. Similarly, a fan of football may be interested interested not only in following a favorite team , but in playing or managing , or perhaps enjoying soccer-based soccer-based entertainments or games. A Star Wars fan may in practice devote fa r more time and resources resources to the collection of Star Wars paraphernalia, than to enjoying the original movie series. Fan act ivity manifests in multiple vecto rs. Figure Figure 1 offers a highly expressionistic view of this varied yet interconnected nature of fandom . The center of the circle represents the coining of the te口n fan, and the perimeter of the circle circle co汀esponds to the present. Categories of fan object can be seen to have emerged over time, time, some developing out of others. The figure also includes a few examples of specific fan objects , and traces some of the connections between them . Only a few important connections are illustrated; illustrated; to draw in even all of the connections between the selection of items on this figure alone alone would render the figure unreadable! Thus fandom, in general, does appear to spread out and cross the boundaries that others seek to to impose on it. One of these is even constituted by the fan “affect” itsel 王 It is taken for granted by many that a fan likes the fan object; indeed, for many , the meaning of “ fan” is one who is bound up in uncritical adulation. And yet the reality is that many fans are among the harshest critics critics of their fan objects. Examples of fans highly critical of the creators of their object abound: Jenkins Jenkins detailing Beauty and the Beast (1992, pp. 120-151), Johnson describing the passions aroused aroused by h砂 the 陥mpire Slayer , and its fans' criticism of the program’ s creators (2007 ,pp . 285-300) 285-300) and Hills documenting the way in which fans of Doctor Who even coined a derogatory t巴rm，“fanwank，” for material which appeared to be explicitly designed to appeal to fans rather than than non-fans (2010 , pp. 58-61). Hills asserts:“Seemingly paradoxically, being a fan means being being disappointed by the object of fandom as much as it means appreciating it.”(2010, p. 6) This This effect was also evident in another, contrasting, branch of fandom, the punk fanzine movement that sprang up in the UK in the 1970s . Earlier music fandom had taken its cues from from science fiction, or consisted of fan magazines produced by fan clubs. However the do-it ｭ yourself yourself ethos associated with the punk movement resulted in a torrent of publications ostensibly associated associated with punk bands, but in practice covering a range of topics, and quite as ready to

(238) (238) 63 人間文化第 28 号

express express criticism as approbation.

Fanzines Fanzines in the UK mostly affiliated themselves to punk (and spent the bulk of their energy debating

w h at the spirit of that movement had been and 自ghting over who had fo ll owe d the true path) . But in lots of of ways their vibe rem ind ed me more of hip-hop. The writer-ed itors were like MCs, all swo ll en ego and co m petitive hostility, unack n owledged leg i slators of the music world who we re tota ll y convinced of the righ teousness of the ir taste. (Reyno lds, 2009)

This amorphous nature of the fan object is taken to a higher leve l with one distinct ive phenomenon, explained in the next section .

Fandom itself

“[A]s various fans have observed, fandom in many ways now spends as much time talki ng about about itself as it does ta l king about TV shows and movies and comics. ”(Busker, 2008) No matter how much researchers attempt to draw boundaries around fans and their act ivities , fans fans find ways of transcend ing them. In this respect, it is instructive to consider the para ll els between fan activity and the social media ushered in by the World Wide Web (Merrick, 2004; Mason, 2012). While fandom is frequently viewed as an activity driven by content, it is perhaps better better understood as a medium, a form of commu nity, with associated types of int erac tion . The interaction interaction may originate in response to a fa n object , but it is n ot constrained by that, any mor e than than the contents of a blog are constrained by topic.

Fandom isn’t about Spock and space ships, Vincent and Catherine in the Tunn el World under New York York City, or Dr .Sam Beckett le api ng through time .One does not become a fan merely by watching a television television show. As any true fan can te ll you, fa nd om h as become as mu ch about the friends we make, the the ties that we es tabli sh,t han just about the shows we love. (Yost, 1 994)

The vector of commun i ty is based on the idea that although fans may be brought toget h er by a shared interesting in something, once the co mmunity is constituted, the fan relationship itself itself may become, effectively, the object of fandom. Hence in man y fandoms we find apparentl y ex traneous material. I att end ed the Science Fiction Worldcon in Glasgow in 2005 not on ly to to study th e science fict ion fan community, but also to participate in the academic stream of convention convention programming, which concerned the present state of the Un i ted Kingdom in the light of Arthurian legend. Political discussion of this kind, whether or not informed by the object of

fandom，合equently appeared in fanzines in SF, media , D伊lomacy, music , games and man y other fie lds .

Beyond this, howeve r , lies a realm where the “ fan object" all but va nis hes . Personal zin巴s , or

“perzines,'’ sprang up in a number of fandoms, rang ing from science fict ion to gaming. Althoug h apparently apparently asso ciated with a particular fandom through the affiliation of the editor, a per zi ne was

64 64 (237) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason)

in in practice an expression of the full range of interests of the editor. In this respect, they are clearly direct direct forerunners of the modem blog or Twitter account. Perzines did encounter resistance from some fans who objected to their failure to limit themselves to a singular object of fandom. On the the other hand, perzines thrived on the overlapping margins of fandoms. For example, during the the 1980s in the UK, a number of fandoms acquired significant overlaps. Science fiction, postal gaming, gaming, media, role-playing, and even some branches of music, shared a significant common audience. audience. The result was an explosion ofzines with combinations of these topics, and, inevitably, which then became perzines, defined not by the specific fandom in which they operated, but by the the tastes of the editor. Much of the scholarship on fandom to date has taken for granted the fundamental status of of the fan object, and has presented fandoms as almost hermetically sealed groups. What the perzines perzines reveal is that the fan object is not fundamental (though it is, of course important), and that that fandom is both uncountable and countable, consisting conceptually of both a large number

of of (sometimes overlapping) groups, and of an amorphous al トencompassing entity. To examine it, therefore, it is important to combine a grasp of the fields of fandom based on fan fan object, with the various forms of fan activity, or vectors, as they are here termed.

Vectors

Vectors Vectors identify fan activity, divorced from the specific nature of the fandom .They ar巴 here expressed expressed in terms of roles adopted by fans. The vectors which have been identified in this paper are as follows: collector, community, critic, critic, enactor, knowe円 spectator, tranゆrmer. All of these are behaviors which may be observed in in fans and non fans alike . What makes them fan behavior is the level of affect, and they are reinforced reinforced as fan behaviors by their coexistence with other vectors. This analysis is, at least partly, an expansion of the idea of “ Affirmational vs Transformational Transformational Fandom”(obsession_inc, 2009). The latter proposes a distinction within media fandom between fans whose main fan activities revolve around appreciating, and those whose main fan activities revo lv e around creating. I have expanded this distinction to a wider range of vectors vectors which may overlap. Vectors which are more likely to be affirmational are the collector, critic, critic, knower and spectator. The communi ty and enactor vectors are equally likely to apply to either, either, while the transformer vector draws directly on the theorized transformational fan. The vectors can be described in more detail as follows: Collector Collector

Accumulating Accumulating materials according to some organizing principle. This vector 企equently coexists coexists with the knower vector. If the material collected is in the form of media, then it may

(236) (236) 65 人間文化第 28 号

coexist coexist with the spectator vector. Possible examples of the co ll ector vector include Star Wars

fans fans collecting toy 白 gures, guitarists with multiple instruments, trad ing card (and trading card game) collectors, comics fans etc. Community Relating Relating socially to others with a shared interest. This vector is comp lex because, as explained explained above in Fandom Itself, it generally operates on a meta-level. That is to say, for it to be a vector of fan activity it must coexist with, and therefore reinforce, other vectors of fan activi ty. The apparent exception to this is the perzine/blog phenomenon . However, it is noticeable that even even in these cases other vectors provide the means of contact and introduction. Critic Critic Producing Producing exposition or commentary on a fan object. This will genera lly coexist with the knower vector . Science fiction and media fandom are prominent examp les of fandom which contain contain extensive criticism. Arguably, many academics who are passionately interested in a

field 古uch as the work of Jane Austen and political commentators, are fans in this sense. But such such criticism does not have to be so academ ic or literary. Sports fans are also prone to detai l ed criticism . Enactor Enacting Enacting involves becoming involved in activity inspired by the fan object. This may take the the form of performance or play of various kinds. There may be an overlap with the transformer, as, as, for example, in cases where fans perform “ original fan versions" of cultural propert ies . The most ce lebrated examples of this vector are the “re-enact ors” who dress in historic al costumes to to bring the past to life , or to create an ima gin ed ot h er world . It al so d es crib巴s costumers (also known as fans of“ cosplay”), and role -pl ay ing gamers .

Knowe1・ Much fan activity involves the acquisition and manipulation of relatively specialized knowledge. knowledge. Examples include th巴 music fan who painstakingly assembles a documentar y “ biography” of his or h er idol, and the sports fan who carefully tracks the performanc e of a favored favored team through stat istics , both current an d hi storical. Spectator Spectator A fan who appreciates th e cultural production of others can be described by this vector . It applies applies to fans of movies, books, television, music and various other forms . What distinguishes it it from e veryday consumption of cultural product is simply the level of affect involv ed . The spectator spectator vector indicat es emotional in vestme nt in th e object , and the emotion a l effect doesn’t fade fade away as it does with usua l audiences, but remain s s仕ong or incr eases, for some w hile if not indefinitely. indefinitely.

66 66 (2 35) Towards Towards a Topography ofFandom(s) (Mason)

Transformer The transformer takes some existing work or cultural property and uses it to generate a new creative work. is It distinct 企om the critic, which generates exposition or criticism, but not a new work. Transformers are most celebrated as fan fiction writers: amateurs who spin their own stories 企om the characters and situations of an existing text. But they include those who create videos videos and other works.

One extra dimension to fan vectors should be noted: that specific fan vectors can become fan forms in their own right. An example is cosplay. At first sight it appears to be an enactment fan vector vector of fans of comics, anime, movies and other entertainments. But it can become a primary form of fandom in its own right.

Conclusion

This This paper has offered a preliminary sketch of some of the observable shapes and surfaces of fandom (considered as a single amorphous entity). Its purpose is to widen the view of fan activity

企om the concentration on the media which dominates many treatments of the field . It is hoped that that further research will shed light on the interstices, the overlaps and margins offandom(s), the better better to understand how fandom works as a diverse social entity.

Note Note

1 This paper a悦empts to ident均 vectors of fan activ町 These common pa口ems or behaviors both demonstrate demonstrate the means by which fans can be identified as such, and link apparently disparate fandoms.

See See the section on 陀ctors.

2 The term “audience” could be used as an alternative way of denoting this vector of fan activity. However “audience” has acquired such a complex of analytic weight that “spectator” is preferable

as as a means of referring to the relatively passive activity of taking in media. Neither teロn is wholly satisfactory, satisfactory, as “ audience” privileges listening, while “spectator” privileges watching, while the intention intention here is to consider either/both.

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