FANDOM- Live long and prosper

So just what is Fandom? According to wikipedia it is
"is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices (a fandom); this is what differentiates "fannish" (fandom-affiliated) fans from those with only a casual interest.

A fandom can grow up centered around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions. While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, the term has its roots in those with an enthusiastic appreciation for sports. Merriam-Webster's dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903.^[1]

Fandom as a term can also be used in a broad sense to refer to an interconnected social network of individual fandoms, many of which overlap."

In this case I wish to explore the fan culture based around the popular sci-fi television show Star Trek. This is mainly due to having being brought up in a home that also houses an avid "Trekkie"- my mother. Although my mother does not have the time or resources to get as deeply involved within the Star Trek fan community, I have no doubt that she would if she could. It is interesting to note the different levels of involvement and commitment based around fandom. From researching it is intriging to see just how far fans will take their interests in comparision to others.

I myself am not a die hard fan but I wish to explore futher and greater understand its fan culture and the involvment it has in its participants daily lives, social interaction and gratification.


As it has been stated that Star Trek fans are likely the most analyzed fan communities in popular culture over the past several years, there are a lot of very interested articles. One of which is Lincoln Geraghty's piece "A Network of Support: Coping with Trauma Through Star Trek Fan Letters," who uses these fan letters to try and understand the way fans believe membership in some idea of a fan community has "helped them in daily life." Geraghty writes that he intends to try and understand "how far one might regard the Star Trek fanbase as a collective network of support.

Particularly, Geraghty examines ways in which the Star Trek is used as a way to deal with personal devastations, such as deaths in the family, and how the fan community can help cope with such tragedy. He writes about ways in which the Star Trek text and fellow fans are used as a form of encouragement or a way of recovery.

As with any fan culture they use there chosen interest and its outlets in an attempt to connect both intellectually and emotionally.

One fan attributes his creation of scifispace to Star Trek.

"Star Trek has had a long history - which I�ll write about here! For me, it�s a very personal thing as I got hooked on science fiction when I first saw the original Star Trek series when I was 12 (in re-runs - I�m not that old!). So you could say if it wasn�t for Star Trek, there wouldn�t be a Scifispace.com website!"

http://www.scifispace.com/html/sthistory.php

He goes on to detail a lot about Star Trek in the beginning, the lack of information and what it was like to be a fan before the invention of the internet. His writings give a very good insight into an example of fan culture, and just how in this particular case it began. The site displays in my opinon just how fan culture can be used to connect, share intellect and gain emotional satisfaction and support.

In researching about fan culture I found an interesting article which I would like to include.

In Convergence Culture Jenkins writes that fandom, as displayed within convergence
culture, is characterized by these five things:

  1. Appropriation; A person appropriates in their own life a
particular text, work, and practice relating to their fan object. Often these
objects are reinterpreted in their own life.
  2. Participation ; There is an openness for people to participate
at all levels within the community. They are so inspired by it they write music,
create events, etc.
  3. Emotional Investment – People become really invested in this
this object, topics, etc. It is something they are really into and something they
want to talk about.
  4. Collective Intelligence (rather than the expert paradigm;
There is room for everyone to have something to say and contribute to the collective
understanding of the group. Collective intelligence
doesn’t need credentials, degrees, etc., experiences and insights are
beneficial to the community and conversation.
  5. Virtual Community; These are communities that
are not necessarily built around face to face meetings. Some of these people know
each other and some are unknown, but more often than not these groups will have
times to meet face to face.

As well as this I discovered a very interesting book based around fan culture, star trek and women.

http://www.amazon.com/Enterprising-Women-Television-Contemporary-Ethnography/dp/0812213793#reader_0812213793.