A crowd of fans at a concert

Ash Sutton

The role of “fandom” in identity formation has grown substantially in importance with the rise of the digital age. Passive media consumption has transformed into these communities actively creating content themselves and building relationships with other fans.

Individuals are beginning to find a sense of self in the things they love, and this is becoming all the more important as social media grows and our ability to form our own identities through being online becomes much easier. “Fandom”, or “the state of being a fan of someone or something”, derives from the idea of “participatory culture,” as set out by American media scholar Henry Jenkins. In this, the social connections that can be formed and strengthened through being a fan become a reason for joining fandoms in the first place. Being part of a fandom has become ultimately much more than simply enjoying the content, and is now a way to make friends and explore your identity.

The Media is Changing

Fandom at its strongest and most authentic can be found mostly within the fantasy and sci-fi genres, with the likes of Trekkies and Potterheads. However, recently this has moved into the music industry. Swifties, Livies and K-Pop stans have taken over social media.

It has become as much about making content as consuming it. Fans are writing and publishing original stories in the form of fanfiction, Twitter has become an influx of appreciation edits and videos and Instagram has started to consist of more fan accounts than genuine ones. There is clearly a creativity in fandom that wasn’t as present before.

Remixing content and head cannons (deeming fan-made stories as part of the existing story) has become such a common practice that fan communities now impact media production. They have become so influential that writers and creators are starting to take fan-made storylines and incorporate them into new seasons of their show. Doctor Who often does this, with their 2011 Comic Relief sketch specifically being written by a group of young fans being one example.

The Effects on Us

Fandom now has a more important role in identity formation, giving people a place to express themselves in a way they may find difficult in the real world. According to Healthline, belonging to a fandom positively affects mental health. They state: “Being part of any group helps people feel connected.”

“It provides a safe space for users to feel understood and seek advice”

It also can benefit self-confidence, with everyone sharing similar experiences and communicating with each other on a common ground that is difficult to find in real life, especially as a teenager. It provides a space for users to feel understood and seek advice in safety. Trends in which communities would post pictures of themselves as an ode to their favourite celebrity in hopes they might stumble upon the hashtag and ‘recognise’ their fans (one that I remember taking part in myself as a teenager was #smilesfordnp, referring to the YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester) did wonders for young girls’ perception of self-image in being able to see so many other people just like them.

YouTube marked an incredible shift in the nature of fandom and community, taking this mostly online concept and moving it to a real-life setting with the likes of VidCon and Playlist Live. It provided a space for online friendships to develop and strengthen offline as well as an opportunity for fans to meet their idols in a (mostly) controlled environment.

Is It All Good?

Of course, like all popular things, there is controversy around fan communities. They have been called toxic on many occasions, with the K-Pop fans being one of the most disliked fandoms on social media. A huge scandal arrived in 2019 when Twitter users began spamming political posts with ‘fan-cam’ videos, ruining some genuinely serious topics, most namely any professional announcement about Brexit, with no-context videos.

“The belonging that comes with finding a group of like-minded individuals hugely outweighs any annoyance”

The fan-cam rose as a trend in K-Pop on Twitter where users would spam videos of their favourite group as a no-context comeback. It could be considered a way to promote their idol or stunt political debate, but due to the irrelevance in response to the posts they are commenting under, it quickly became a troll-move and a general aggravation to Twitter users. As this became popular, it grew substantially outside of the K-Pop fandom and the Twitter platform, to the point where it seemed as though you could not escape the videos regardless of which comments section you were scrolling through.

Granted, fandom communities can be overbearing and irritating at times. However, the belonging that comes with finding a group of like-minded individuals hugely outweighs any annoyance. Social media has given us a platform to express our most authentic selves. Ultimately, belonging to a fandom can be something genuinely beautiful and overwhelmingly important.

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Featured image courtesy of Vinícius Caricatte on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.

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