candidate no. 2029 centre no. 16607

Fan culture has always been something that has interested me, which was why I decided to listen to an episode the podcast 'Fandom made me' featuring Henry Jenkins speaking on The Future of Fandom and Media Consumption. After being introduced to listeners as the 'father of fandom studies', Jenkins very swiftly denies the position of being a patriarch in what he refers to as a feminist field. For the most part, he is correct in this idea. Many fan spaces in terms of media consumption have always been female-dominated, which has led to many dismissive ideas about not only these women, but also the certain types of music and film they tend to engage with. Jenkins, however, continually emphasises the importance of fans for the media industry; after all, without consumers there would be no room for any products. He speaks about how social the act of media consumption has become for everybody in more recent years with the rise of platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The a...

Following on from our trip to the BFI in January, I became particularly interested in the work of music journalist Hannah Ewens, more specifically her book 'Fangirl'. Released in 2019, the book delves into the modern world of music fandom through the eyes of girls and women. Chapters with titles ranging from ''We Are The media': Inside the Hive Mind', a clear reference to Beyonce, to 'Witches Always Live Through This: Courtney Love's Older Fangirls' explore a whole host of themes and different music artists.  She also references the work of countless other scholars and those who have published commentary relating to fan studies. Some of these include Henry Jenkins, Lori Morimoto and Allyson Gross, who have all contributed different ideas about modern fandom. Ewens also takes the opportunity to cover some more heavy topics, writing at length about the Manchester attack and the death of Amy Winehouse. At the forefront of both of these chapters remains ...