'Do you have a Google alert for your favourite band going on tour? Or maybe you have a pull list at your local comic book shop? Or perhaps you’ve got a season ticket to your sports team of choice? That would make you a fan, whether you realise it or not, and there’s a lot more to fan culture than you might think.
'In the 21st century pop culture is everywhere; you can’t move for a new superhero film or major franchise appearing in our lives and we love it. We’re just jumping into the media landscape headfirst in order to get more of our favs, track down spoilers and deep dive about plot lines on social media. It’s hard to deny fan culture as part of the world now, there’s a fandom for everyone, but what does that actually mean, and where did it come from?
'From ancient times to modern media, humans have shared their love for the stories that mean something to them and brought in others to be fans of them too. We’ve written ourselves in, made art of, and celebrated with others who love the same things as us all in the name of being a fan, even before the word fan existed. There’s a whole lot of who, where, what, when, why, how and huh to look into when it comes to fan culture.
'From Shakespeare to Superman, Dickens to Daleks, and fanfiction to Frodo there is so much more to fandom than meets the eye. And a whole lot of references to pack in too.'
Fandom, it's everywhere today, and it's never been a better time to be a fan of something. Social media has brought many fans together, despite also sparking 'fan wars', conventions are happening all over the place, and geek culture is more popular than ever. But, whilst people think of geeks when they hear the words fans and fandom, these are far from the only areas that fall into the category of fandom. Being into music and following a particular band, or supporting a sports team all fall into the realm of fandom. This is what A History of Fans and Fandom: A Journey into the Passion and Power of Fan Culture seeks to explore, as it's author, Holly Swinyard, takes a look at this ever evolving form of sub culture, and it's origins.
Chances are, especially if you're part of a fandom and geek culture, that you'll have ideas of the origins of modern fandom. I came into the book thinking I might know where the story might start, thinking back to both the popularity of the original Star Trek television show and how it spawned fan fiction, and the hype that surrounded the Sherlock Holmes stories and how Arthur Conan Doyle was besieged by fan mail. But I was wrong, Swinyard takes readers back even further in time to learn about the Shakespeare Festival that seems to be the start of fan gatherings and the genesis of what we might recognise as the convention.
Learning about these origins, way back in the 1830's was an eye opening read, and Swinyard takes us through it with a very calming and relaxed way of writing that feels less like reading an academic paper or a simple retelling of history. Swinyard writes like you're sitting down with them and having a chat. It's very conversational, very chill, and it eases you into a book that you'd expect to be a heavy going examination of this global phenomena in a way that makes the topic that much easier to digest. Swinyard's writing might not be what everyone would expect, but I found it to be a great mixture of informative and friendly.
The book is split down into several chapters, each of which caters to a different aspect of fandoms. Posed as questions, the chapters are When? Why? How? Who? Where? Huh? The End?. This approach makes the topic a bit easier to understand, and takes the reader through a much more manageable approach. The When dives into the history of the topic (my favourite part of the book), whilst the Why and How take a look at the psychology and the drive behind fandoms, and Who goes into the various types of people who call fandom home and shows how it's much more varied than people often assume.
One of the most important parts of the book for me was that it felt very accessible. It felt open to all readers, and there was never a sense that you needed some education on the topic already to be able to pick it up. The beginning of the book goes over some of the relevant terms and phrases that have developed within fan circles, especially online, over the last decade or so just enough that when they get mentioned you're not jumping to Google to understand what the author is describing. Thanks to how quickly online fan circles change their language there were even some terms in there that I was thankful for a breakdown of.
With the ever growing nature of fandom, with it reaching more and more people and becoming an accepted part of todays culture in ways that it just wasn't historically it feels like there's never been a more important time to gain an understanding of it. We don't want to slip back into those dark days of people being mocked for their passions, and instead we need to embrace and love them. Everyone has something that they love, some niche subject or piece of media that speaks to them and that they are in some ways fans of. Picking up this book can certainly help people understand a little more about this very important phenomena, and might even spark you into realising that you might be a part of a fandom yourself too.
Thanks for the review Amy! It's so lovely to see people enjoying the book and getting all of this out of it :)
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