Fandoms: The Good, the Bad, and the... well, Nasty (To Fangirl Or Not To Fangirl?)
by aeroplanets

Fandoms are a phenomenon that millions of people dedicate their entire lives to, go to "war" for, write novels about, discuss in length, and spend huge amounts of money on (and it's not religion). Fandoms are everywhere. Many humans today live in a transmedia-based world, and such access to the vast and never-ending Internet leads many people to join others in various fandoms - or obsessions, some might call them. To some, the word "fandom" is unknown. (As so eloquently quoted on page 42 of the Rainbow Rowell novel Fangirl," 'What the f*#k is 'the fandom?'") According to the Oxford Dictionary, a "fandom" is "The state or condition of being a fan of someone or something." While this is an adequate description, it doesn't convey the full meaning of the word. For many fangirls and fanboys, fandoms are a lifestyle based on a particular book series, television show, music group, etc. They dedicate a substantial amount of money, time, and energy to one or more fandoms, which can lead to a conflict of interest.

While this may seem like a random, trivial issue, it is a larger problem than one might think. Fandoms are actually a large part of the minds of children, teens, and young adults. Fandoms have been known to change the mindset of the people in them on some major issues such as LGBT+ rights (Tosenberger) or cause a person to think more critically about certain pressing topics. Several important and popular novels in recent years have started as fanfictions or came from the minds of fanfiction authors, such as the immensely popular book series After by Anna Todd or The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Even the 19th-century epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton is technically a fanfiction (#AmReading). Therefore, the fandom life has an important impact on this Internet-based world and should be recognized.

Knowing how much fandoms mean to many people, the question becomes far more pressing. Are fandoms detrimental to a young person's mind, distracting them from academics and other responsibilities or causing them to have a shifted sense of reality; or are fandoms a gateway for these young people to explore their own interests, give them a sense of community, and inspire their creativity? The answer is almost as messy as the question itself.  I believe that fandoms can be a positive addition in a young person's life because they ultimately expand one's mind to be more open to others, inspire them to be creative, and help them build a community with others; however, there is a line between the good and the bad that should not be crossed. If crossed, there are many ways in which fandoms are detrimental to someone's life.

One upside to fandoms relates to the word "fandom" itself. When the word is broken into parts, there is, of course, the word "fan", which is self-explanatory. Then there is the suffix "-dom", meaning "dominion" (i.e. kingdom) (Rutherford-Morrison). A dominion isn't anything without a lot of people, which leads to our first upside: community. Fandoms entrance millions of people worldwide and in each fandom, most people find a sense of belonging with those that share a common interest.

A fandom that has become hugely in the last several years that consists of smaller fandoms is the Kpop fandom. Kpop can be loosely defined as Korean pop music, but it is completely different than Western pop, as the music groups are created by entertainment companies. One of these groups that is notable is SHINee, a male group. A fan of this group went to a concert and recalled in an article how welcoming the other fans (known as "Shawols") were to her, giving her food and sharing an umbrella with her.  She says, "I offered my umbrella to anyone interested and a Japanese girl, Misaki, accepted it. We stayed close in the cold together before we were allowed inside the venue." The author states that she "look[s] forward to meeting more Shawols as they seem to be a caring bunch, sincerely looking after each other" (Sisterhood of the SHINee Fandom). [9/30/2018 EDIT: In the wake of recent events, the author would like to express her sincere condolences to all Shawols. It is times like these that a community and a sisterhood is a comforting thing to be a part of.]

In a very different example on the side of fiction, in the young adult novel Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, the main character, Cath, and her twin sister are fangirls of the fictional fandom called Simon Snow, a popular book series in the novel. When their mother leaves them, the twins find comfort in the books, and later in the community that the fandom provides them. For years, the two of them converse over the books. When they are older, they become fanfiction writers online and begin communicating with thousands of readers from around the world. As these two stories show, fandoms bring people together. Sometimes people need the kind of reassurance that a feeling of community can provide, thus making this a positive outcome of fandoms. It is possible that one might argue that a relationship based on a shared interest isn't a real one. However, this can be countered with the question of if a relationship isn't based on mutual interest in something, then what is it based on? Personal experience has shown that over time, friendships based on fandoms can go far beyond just that shared fandom. Therefore, I do believe that fandoms are good for young people in that they create community - and inspire creativity.

This leads to my second benefit of fandoms: creative output. Both research and experience show that fandoms give fans, both young and old, creative inspiration in the form of fanart and fanfictions. Fanfiction, which makes up the majority of the creative output of fandoms, is fiction that is based on, uses characters or settings from, or is somehow related to a fandom. Fanfiction, which is incredibly popular reading and writing material, is a complicated topic in itself and has its own debates, as writers Gavia Baker-Whitelaw and Aja Romano discuss in their article "A Handy Guide to Everything You Don't Know about Fanfic". One concern for parents of young fangirls/boys is wondering if fanfiction offers any sort of help in increasing literacy. After all, most fanfiction writers are young, inexperienced people with no sort of writing background. Baker-Whitelaw and Aja Romano counter this with a far-too-long explanation that boils down to 1) if a teen is reading fanfiction, it may not be excellent in grammar or vocabulary but they are still reading something, and 2) fanfiction is a constructive teen hobby that is writing, and there are obviously worse things that a teenager could be doing with their time.

For a less graphic image of the positives of fanfic, in the novel Fangirl, the twins Cath and Wren write fanfiction that reaches thousands of people throughout their teenage years and they become practiced authors thanks to Simon Snow, as shown by Cath's success in a fiction-based creative writing class. (Rowell). In addition, Cath's novel-length work likely could have been published as an original story if she changed the names of the characters and the setting. In fact, fanfiction can go much further than just the Internet, which counters the idea that all fanfiction is written by uneducated writers. Fanfiction can become writing that is widely read by people of all ages. From young adult novels such as the previously mentioned and beloved Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare to epic poems such as Paradise Lost by John Milton, fanfiction is a creative output from fans that can lead some to become notable authors (Dunne). These articles and books show that fandoms can lead young people to discover constructive hobbies that they might not have knowledge of beforehand.

So, fandoms can lead to healthy relationships and creativity. However, the old adage "too much of a good thing is a bad thing" remains true when questioning if fandoms are good or bad. What happens when fandoms go beyond simple friendliness and fanfiction-reading? Disturbing things. This is something that Waukesha, Wisconsin knows well. According to FOX News, in May 2014, two young girls almost killed another girl their age under the impression that what they were doing was going to "appease" a Creepypasta character called Slender Man, whom they believed would kill their families. This case shows how in some rare cases, young people in fandoms can have the line between real life and fiction blurred by fandoms. Whether or not these girls would have committed a crime without Creepypasta still remains to be seen in the court cases debating whether or not they are mentally ill, but the fact remains: they almost killed a young girl because of a fandom.

A very different example of fandoms gone too far is sasaengs. In the aforementioned Kpop fandoms, there are horror stories of people known as "sasaeng" fans, people (usually females between the ages of 13-22) who become so obsessed with a group or a certain member of the group (an idol) that they become stalkers. Sasaeng fans are created by the Korean entertainment industry itself, which forces idols to be physically attractive and to tell their fans that they love them. This causes some fans to believe that the idols are speaking to them personally, leading to sasaengs being desperate for any sort of contact with their idol. There have been horror stories of popular groups almost kidnapped by sasaengs or idols being sent disturbing or unsanitary gifts through the mail ("11 Extremely Disturbing Sasaeng Stories From Idols"). Once again, it is entirely possible that these sasaengs are simply mentally disturbed people that just happened to give their obsessive devotion to an idol, but seeing as how it is believed that popular idols have between 500 and 1,000 sasaeng fans and at least 100 following them at any given time (Soh), it seems unlikely that these are all mentally ill people. This shows that fandoms can lead to people being physically or psychologically harmed, therefore, fandoms are not all as happy as they can be made out to be.

The idea of a fandom and what it means to be in a fandom changes for everyone, and that meaning could decide if fandoms are good or bad for one. In general, fandoms are a positive element to a fangirl's or fanboy's life because they provide a community of people with similar interests and could give creative inspiration in the form of fanfiction or fanart. However, there are cases where fandoms are detrimental to the lives of the fan and everyone around them due to some sort of exaggerated belief or over obsession.

What are the positive and negative sides of Fandoms in your opinion?