Full Description
Being a fan helps people to discover their identities, find friends, develop a sense of belonging, express themselves creatively, and act as powerful creators and participants in a capitalistic system. At times, however, being a fan becomes problematic, especially when clashes with other fans occur both inside and outside of their fandoms and fan communities. As their communication becomes contentious, power imbalances destabilize collectives and fans experience fear, sadness, pain, and harassment. Such problematic situations can become "fractured fandoms." Fractured Fandoms: Contentious Communication in Fan Communities observes the problems or fractures that occur within and between fandoms as fans and fan communities experience differences in interpretation, opinion, expectation, and behavior regarding the object at the center of their fandom. The book demonstrates the fractures through an examination of self-interviews, collected news stories, and previous research regarding these problems, ultimately providing an assessment of the causes and effects of such fractures and the larger social and cultural issues they reflect.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Dark Side of Fandom
Chapter 2: Communication, Power, and Fractured Fandoms
Chapter 3: Identity, Situationality, and the Fractures
Chapter 4: Harassments Arising from Fractured Fandoms
Chapter 5: The Negative Impacts of Fractured Fandoms
Chapter 6: The Positives Emerging from Fractures
Chapter 7: Resolving Fractured Fandoms
Chapter 8: Beyond Fractured Fandoms
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
