The title says it all. To paraphrase Tolstoy, all happy fandoms are pretty much alike, but unhappy fandoms are dysfunctional in their own particular ways. And if a fandom has lasted for any length of time, and if a fan has participated in that fandom from the beginning, there is plenty of opportunity to witness various types of dysfunction, or even to get caught up in said kerfuffles personally.
Taking my own main fandom, Queer as Folk, as an example, I want to examine troubles, scandals, feuds, and just plain wank, and how they impact (and sometime destroy) a fandom. Queer as Folk has been beset by a number of these troubles over its 13 years of existence, yet the fandom has survived and, with its release on Netflix, is enjoying a revival and an influx of newbies. But often such an incursion brings with it a new set of problems.
Among the issues I’ll take up will be Shipper Wars, Fandom Splits, Feuds, Factions, Wank (including the LiveJournal/Journalfen “Fandom_Wank” group), and, finally, Impersonations. This last was one of the most controversial and emotionally charged of QAF fandom troubles, as it involved one of the most popular (and beloved) fan fiction writers who turned out not to be at all what “he” claimed to be. This impersonation brought out issues of loyalty, secrecy, and also the divide between gay male fans of the show (the original demographic) and the straight females who make up the majority of active fandom participants and fan fiction writers and readers. I hope this examination will shed light on how fandoms work (or don’t work), their successes and failures, and the psychology of being a fan.
About the presenterGael Anne Sweeney
I teach in Syracuse University’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition in the areas of Queer Culture, Popular Culture, and Creative Nonfiction. I’ve given and published papers on everything from Elvis Presley, Hugh Grant, Cary Grant, and The Beatles, to The Lion King, A Christmas Story, Ed Wood, and Showtime’s Queer as Folk, everywhere from Harvard to the University of Newcastle. I’ve recently taught “The Culture of Fandom,” “Questioning Gender,” and “Reading Popular Culture.”