The Star Trek plate collector, the connoisseur of all the Dr Who interpreters, the one who would rather live in a galaxy far, far away, or one who, by the way, belongs to Hufflepuff House… All these people- there, they are called “the fans”. And science is not going to leave them alone. “Fans Studies”, initially confined to American universities, are gradually arriving in France.
Among the pioneers of this kind of study, Helen Breda, lecturer in information science at the Sorbonne Paris Nord Universitystudies several fandoms, including that of the series Hannibal. For 20 minutes, and as Harry Potter fans around the world celebrate the return of their favorite wizard to Hogwarts, she explains the challenges of “Fan Studies”. A field of investigation so vast no one will hear you scream.
How would you define “Fan Studies”?
As the name suggests, it’s about studying the fans. Individuals but also communities, their practices, their identity, who they are and what they do. As defined Melanie Bourdaa, researcher at Bordeaux Montaigne, in her reference book on the subject, it is an “active and committed” public. Fan Studies demonstrate that recent cultural phenomena are not mass cultures that we receive passively.
Are Fans Studies present in many universities in France?
No, in France, quite a few. The name Fan Studies often remains in English because it comes from the English and American research tradition of Cultural Studies, the study of what audiences do with cultural objects, their way of interpreting them, of appropriating them . And sometimes beyond reception, Fans Studies look at the practices and identities that are formed around these cultural objects.
Today, it seems that everyone calls themselves a fan of such and such a thing.
The way of defining oneself as a fan has evolved. Today we will say quite easily “I’m a fan of game of thrones » and that will not cover the same reality as stamp collectors, Tintin enthusiasts, Star Wars fans… The word fan has entered everyday language and has been almost completely rid of its negative connotation. But we try to get away from it with our colleagues…
For what ?
Fan comes from fanatic, a term that has a religious dimension and describes someone obsessive and locked up. Whereas we are interested in people who have a strong investment in their object of passion, without religious worship.
What do a “One Piece” fan and a Beethoven fan have in common?
To make generalizations about the fans is complicated. We can work on a specific fandom and we can also build corpuses, like fans of TV series. Within a fandom we will study a specific theme or practice. For example, Mélanie Bourdaa works on the reactions among LGBT fans to the coming out of characters in TV series.
Fans Studies can focus on any type of fan community?
We mainly work with fans of popular cultures and imaginary cultures. There are also a few music fans, fans of the Beatles, of Madonna… At the moment there are a lot of studies on fans of series or reality TV.
Are sports team supporters considered fans as well?
Yes, supporterism is sometimes studied as a fandom. This affiliation with a team, the feeling of belonging to such and such a house, is something that is often found within fandoms, that of Harry Potter in particular, of course.
Are Fan Studies exploited by popular license operators to maximize their profits?
Without a doubt. I work on the Disney fandom, and I have seen how much the Disneyland authorities in particular capitalize on the fans. They have created their own influencers for example. At the creative level, we are also studying the notion of “fan service”, the fact, in a film or a series for example, of winking at the fans by showing a character or a plot popular with the most popular fans. engaged.
For Barbie, Mattel has been accused of relying on “anti-fans”, haters, to get people talking about his film.
Anti-fans are also a studied phenomenon, but they are not really close-knit communities that would be defined by the rejection of a work. On the other hand, there are “toxic fandoms”, communities within which negative movements are created, with phenomena of pressure, devaluation, harassment in particular. We also study the political aspects of fandoms. For example, there are several communities that attract reactionary fans. The extreme right was able to penetrate the movements of fans very early on thanks to a great mastery of social networks. Fan Studies are not angels. All is not rosy in the land of fans. No matter how much we love our field of study, we can see the negative fields there.
Can you study Harry Potter fans without being a fan yourself?
So that is THE question. Among the American pioneers of Fan Studies, Henry Jenkins studied Star Trek fans, and was a fan himself. He invented, for himself, the term “acafan” for “academic fan”. As a fan he decides to focus on the study of a community which he claims. He then reflected on his position as a researcher. Conversely, still among Star Trek fans, Camille Bacon-Smith has an anthropological approach with an outside perspective, a more distanced observation, she is not a Star Trek fan. In France, Mélanie Bourdaa, who participated in the export of Fans Studies, defines herself as an “ethnofan”, without being a fan at first sight, she will immerse herself in online communities to have this vision from the inside.
This method somewhat clashes with an important principle in academic research, on the step back from its object of study. Is it for this reason that Fans Studies are still underdeveloped in France?
Cultural studies in general are lagging behind in France. The French university has disciplinary fields divided in such a way that Fans Studies have no place there a priori. The development of these themes is still difficult.
Is there a phenomenon of snobbery? Studying Britney Spears fans wouldn’t be considered serious enough?
There is also sometimes contempt for the objects of study, yes. Fields of study that will be considered minor, not very legitimate. We work, with a few colleagues, against these received ideas, especially since university research is a structure of cultural legitimization.
Several very contemporary themes, such as the fight against sexism or LGBTphobia, are at the heart of Fans Studies. Many fandoms are seen as “safe havens” for discriminated minorities.
Yes, and it’s very interesting. The notion of refuge is found in many fandoms such as Pokémon or Disney. But there are more astonishing examples. I study the fandom of the Hannibal series. We are not too much in the “cute nice” since it is a series about the cannibalistic fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. This ultra morbid and gore series is also a queer series, which has therefore attracted a queer fandom, the “fannibal family”, with LGBT people or people out of step with society. The notion of refuge is not born only in the kawai universes. We can have a “safe” community space, that is to say reassuring for people who are discriminated against, with cultural objects that are not, a priori, comforting. The solidarity and security of the members comes from the fans themselves.
Are some fandoms more welcoming than others to women?
There are, within certain fandoms, specialties that are more feminine than others. For example, the exercise of fan fiction is more feminine. The cultures of the imagination have long been supposed to be reserved for a male audience who made it their preserve. This is often felt with a treatment of female characters that is either not very positive or non-existent. Since women still love science fiction, they wrote fan fiction to balance it out. For example, by creating plots and characters.
We sometimes see the fans as scholars, very attentive to the respect of the work. Isn’t this contradictory with this trend towards fan creativity?
The two tendencies coexist, sometimes with the same fan. You can feel responsible for the respect of a work and participate in its extension. In the cultures of the imagination, the notion of “world building”, creation of worlds, is essential. The worlds of Tolkien, Star Wars, Harry Potter are immense in potential, the fans will seek to furnish them, extend them, these universes, to continue the work. But all this with respect for the work. Being a fan can be drawing cards, writing stories, or dressing up, learning lines by heart or making collections. It is really very rich.
Would you describe yourself as a fan of Fans Studies?
Sort of (laughs). With colleagues, we created the GREF, Groupe de Recherches en Etudes de Fans. There was a Study Day in Bordeaux in June 2023 and we are developing various projects for the coming year (online Hypotheses notebook, webinar, etc.). There is an emulation and a generation effect with a lot of theses being written on the subject of fans.