The capacity of fans to mobilize in response to media events has long been established (whether by slash fandoms rallying to save their favorite shows or the letter-writing campaigns that kept Star Trek on the air or soccer supporters protesting ticket prices or a club owner’s behavior). In recent years, scholars have started exploring the ways in which powerful experiences from fandom and content worlds can motivate more explicit efforts at social change. These efforts are often referred to as “fan activism.”
This issue of the journal features articles analyzing how news coverage shapes fan responses to protests. One study, for example, examines how stories about a high school teenager’s death that prompted a protest have an impact on attitudes toward the teenager and the protesters. Findings show that stories that humanize the teenager have more positive effects on attitudes toward both, and that these effect persist regardless of the person’s political leanings or how they view the protest.
Another article explores the way personal details about a fan’s life may influence what issues they consider worthy of attention or the tactics they use to pursue their concerns. For instance, Tom Phillips looks at the failure of Blackburn Rovers fans to coalesce around a strategy for exerting pressure on the club’s poultry-schilling owners. And finally, Cheuk Yi Lin reveals how a sexually ambiguous pop star in Hong Kong offers her fans new language and images to represent their own erotic identities but does not inspire them to participate in institutional politics.