Some Musings on Fan Theories
Fandom is amazing. What I love about fandoms is how it gives space for unbridled creativity, and a place to love the things we love unashamedly. 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.
Part of this connectivity means that there is a heavier reliance on writing. Fans have to communicate their love through writing to connect to others. Today, I want to talk briefly about fan theories - one of the ways in which people connect to others through the things they love.
There are three types of fan theories: predictive theories, explanatory theories, and alternative theories. Predictive theories explore possible ways narratives will unfold. Predictive theories are the most temporary of the fan theory, because as the narratives continue they will be proven either right or wrong. These are not meant to be long lasting pieces, but momentary narratives and connections. Predictive theories primarily rely on the presented text. Every argument has to be rooted in the elements and pieces already presented in the narrative.
Explanatory theories are presented as ways to bridge gaps that are in the original narrative. These are for pieces that have not been fully explained, back stories for characters that have not been explored, or gaps in time in the narrative that has not been fully explored in the original. Fans use their knowledge of the text as well as personally creativity to fill in these gaps for themselves. Like Predictive theories, explanatory theories rely on what’s presented in the text, but also on what’s not presented. Where Predictive theories are looking for an outcome in the narrative, explanatory theories are more focused on the processes that arrive at an outcome.
The last type of fan theory are alternative theories, which are when fans create visions for their loved fictional worlds. In other words, these are when fan writers conceive of what could have happened if things happened differently, or it was a different genre. The previous two theories, predictive and explanatory, do not need to have as much connection to authorship in regards to the fan. In contrast, alternative theories are more heavily reliant on connections to authorship.
Regardless of the type of fan theory explored, fan theories provide an avenue through which audiences can directly interact with the stories they love. They can claim their love, and especially through a community, by writing alongside the authors of the original pieces of media. The fan theory, in many ways, provides a sense of power to the fan, but not one that overshadows the abilities of the original authors. Rather, its a way for fans to relate directly to the media through their own art and creativity.