The Fanstory Project
Abstract
Popular media is resonant, and when media fans interact with each other to engage in creative labour, a fandom forms. Fans are reactive and subversive creators who interpret and transform the source material. Through creating fanworks such as fanfiction, fanart, zines, music, and interactive works, fans show appreciation of published works and each other. Fannishness has become an axis of identity.
The Fanstory Project is an undergraduate level thesis that shares portraits of fans to demonstrate fandom’s cultural value. Interviews were conducted with fans to document current fandom history, and their stories are presented through poster, publication, and interactive experience. This thesis looks at methods of creation and consumption; the structures of community; the reasons behind the fannish identity; and the experiences behind and value of transformational fan labour.
Fannish Interviews
To explore fandom cultures, I interviewed fans who created or consumed fanworks. The fan experience is vast, and I was interested in understanding the diverse modes of fannishness beyond my own and the scholarship I read. The drawback of fan scholarship is that fan scholars are influenced by other fan scholars, and the scholarship community itself has a specific perspective on fandom. Fandom has a diversity of perspectives and focused experiences, and I think it’s important to acknowledge them.
I produced a series of posters to allow fans to relate to topics of fannishness and a series of zines so people can see a portrait of each interviewee. The overall goal is to allow fans to better understand themselves and their communities, as well as to educate non-fans about, perhaps, their fannish friends.
Using footage from my interviews and motion graphics, I also produced a highlights reel of the different subjects prevalent in the interview series.
Fandom Primer Zine
Even though my interviews shows in-depth portraits of fans, and the video shows an overview of what fannish activities might exist, none of this contexualises the history of fandom. I wanted to:
1) Help fans articulate their motivations in ways that were perhaps abstract before.
2) Teach people about communities they may not have realised have a tangible culture.
Build-A-Fic Game
One of the things about fanworks is that the same tropes will appear over and over again! People enjoy fanworks not only for the familiar characters that they already love, but for familiar story elements. So, I created a story generation game! Fans will recognise their favourite tropes, but everyone can have fun with this activity.
Process Book
I documented my progress through the year in my process book, posted in its entirety below!
