The rise of fans and fandom

粉丝和粉丝群体的崛起

The Forum

社会与文化

2024-12-21

49 分钟
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When the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his most famous literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, readers were so angry that thousands cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine in which the stories appeared. The editor and Conan Doyle himself were overwhelmed with letters from a furious public - fans who instead of accepting the death of their favourite fictional character then started to write and share their own stories featuring Holmes. They eventually formed clubs and appreciation societies, brought together by a common interest. This practice is something we recognise today across the globe. In areas as diverse as sport, music, film and TV (to mention just a few), fans are not just passive consumers as the recent activities of Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) demonstrate. They’re actively engaged, creating content of their own and connecting with others to nurture a shared identity. The internet has made that easier than ever before, with fans now using their platform to influence political discourse too. Iszi Lawrence discusses the history and inexorable rise of fandom, with guests Paul Booth, Professor of  Media and Pop Culture at DePaul University in Chicago in the United States; Areum Jeong, Assistant Professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University in the US and Corin Throsby from the University of Cambridge in the UK, whose research focuses on Romantic literature and early celebrity culture. The programme also includes contributions from Julian Wamble, Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University and the creator of Critical Magic Theory: An Analytical Harry Potter Podcast, and listeners around the world share their fan stories. Produced by Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service. (Photo: Fans wait to pay for items of merchandise as they visit a pop-up store of South Korean K-pop sensation BTS. Credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)
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  • I do have a TikTok page, so I do create videos.

  • Mostly, I do it to support what BTS are going to be producing, what they're going to be coming out with next.

  • I went to Korea for the first time in April, and while I was there,

  • I went to get a tattoo from a tattoo artist who has actually tattooed all seven members of the band,

  • so they all have this little number seven friendship tattoo.

  • I didn't get the interest only in the music, but also the culture itself.

  • I got interested in Korean language, Korean history.

  • I started a channel with a friend of mine, and we call it all about that K-pop life.

  • And through that channel, we talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the worst of them between.

  • And what we say is that it's content made by the fans for the fans,

  • and it's a way for us to communicate with other people who are like us, who are fans,

  • who maybe have the same viewpoints, maybe have different viewpoints,

  • but really just to talk about the genre and totality,

  • and what it means to be a fan of K-pop.

  • Traveling to Korea from countries thousands of miles away, learning the language, even getting it to two.

  • It's amazing the lengths that fans of Korean pop music, otherwise known as K-pop, will go to show their appreciation.

  • And in doing so, precious Luis, Ali and Wendy,

  • listeners to this forum from the BBC World Service, have all found a sense of community.

  • K-pop fandom is but the latest manifestation of a kind of behavior that has been with us for hundreds,

  • if not thousands of years.