Some Musings on Fan Theories
Through fandom, activities that are typically considered individual and isolating can become communal. Reading, for example, is no longer something you do quietly on your own, but rather something you share on TikTok or other places. You talk openly about what you’re reading, how you feel about it, and connect to others who are reading the same thing.
Meta-Folklore and Meta-Fandom
There is fandom, but then there’s meta-fandom. Meta-fandoms would be the fandoms within fandoms, or the commentary on fandom from the fandom about the fandom. It’s has it’s own folklore and mythology, stories that are spun and detailed. Speculations, theories, the stories fans spin to each other aside from the canon are all parts of this meta-fandom.
Fan Conventions and Places of Imagination
From a myth perspective, the idea of conventions as a place of imagination is actually kinda similar to the idea of legend-tripping, which is when individuals travel to places of urban legends or places in folklore in order to try and experience in some way the collective imagination of the story. The actualisation of the fan’s collective memory also, in some ways, sets up a type of ritual space.
Identity and Popular Culture Tattoos
Near the end of July this year, Katie Ode, a woman from Angsley, made some headlines by getting a tattoo of one of the stars of Love Island.
Religion, Popular Culture, and Everything in Between
My own personal research has always enjoyed pushing the term religion as far as it’ll go – and then seeing where popular culture crosses with it. The result is a bending of religion and pop culture that lands us somewhere in between. It raises, perhaps, a question: when does culture become pop culture? When does pop culture become just culture? But maybe the greater question: does it matter?
"Yeah, but does anyone actually believe this stuff?", or how people engage with serious play
When studying Slender Man specifically, the question comes up frequently. And while there are some people who claim “actual” belief in Slender Man’s existence, for example the two teenage girls who attacked their friend in Wisconsin, the rest of the community, and I dare to estimate this percentage at 99.9%, firmly know the Slender Man is, in fact, fictional. But does this take away the importance of these stories? Are the stories firmly believed as factually accurate the only ones academics should bother to study?