Henry Jenkins: Theoretical Concepts: Defining Fandom
Henry Jenkins: Theoretical concepts
Defining Fandom
With the word ‘fan’ being an abbreviated term for ‘fanatic’, the word itself is dynamic for it has shifted in meaning and appearance over time with regards to the context in which it is found being with regards to religion (a devotee to a form of “any excessive and mistaken enthusiasm”). However the word’s underlying meaning remains intact in the form of expressing fascination towards something or someone within a negative manner (as found within the stereotypes of fan cultures) (Jenkins, 1992).
Jenkins emphasises the fans position within society being labelled automatically within society as one’s whose “interests are fundamentally alien to the realm of “normal” cultural experience and whose mentality is dangerously out of touch with reality”, the ‘reality’ for what it is conventionally assumed to be with regards to what is seen as ‘normal’ (Jenkins, 1992). The fan or people whom find themselves within a community (a fan culture) are isolated to those who do not find themselves in that culture. The stereotyped fan is seen as a threat to the norm for the fan allows for the “projection of anxieties about the violation of dominant cultural hierarchies” as a result of possessing a different taste (within their relevant fan culture).
Jenkins further informs the reader
Defining Fandom
With the word ‘fan’ being an abbreviated term for ‘fanatic’, the word itself is dynamic for it has shifted in meaning and appearance over time with regards to the context in which it is found being with regards to religion (a devotee to a form of “any excessive and mistaken enthusiasm”). However the word’s underlying meaning remains intact in the form of expressing fascination towards something or someone within a negative manner (as found within the stereotypes of fan cultures) (Jenkins, 1992).
Jenkins emphasises the fans position within society being labelled automatically within society as one’s whose “interests are fundamentally alien to the realm of “normal” cultural experience and whose mentality is dangerously out of touch with reality”, the ‘reality’ for what it is conventionally assumed to be with regards to what is seen as ‘normal’ (Jenkins, 1992). The fan or people whom find themselves within a community (a fan culture) are isolated to those who do not find themselves in that culture. The stereotyped fan is seen as a threat to the norm for the fan allows for the “projection of anxieties about the violation of dominant cultural hierarchies” as a result of possessing a different taste (within their relevant fan culture).
Jenkins further informs the reader