Fans create the world around us. And that’s even more so in the digital age where creators, athletes, companies – whoever – can communicate directly with their fanbase. It’s got to the point where fans opinions about their favourite things can change what the object of their fervour evolves into. Simon Morton spoke to the co-author of Superfandom, Zoe Fraade-Blanar.
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It’s a different story for traditional celebrities, who often all but vanish after massive scandals. Movie star Mel Gibson kept a low profile for nearly a decade after a video surfaced of him in 2006 making anti-Semitic remarks. YouTube fans are more likely to defend their beloved stars because the online personalities are more connected to their audiences, Fraade-Blanar said.
“When you’ve made something a part of yourself, whether it’s a Yankees shirt or subscribing to a certain YouTube celebrity, you have a huge incentive to make that thing look good,” she said. “Because when they look bad, you look like a fool for following them.”
Hard-core fans can help determine how YouTube’s performers will fare after a controversy. Logan Paul’s legion of subscribers apparently don’t have an issue with his suicide forest video, and for now they’re keeping him afloat.
Speaking of history, two books cross genre lines to examine social and cultural concepts through music: Ann Powers’ Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music looks at the ways in which we use music to communicate such fraught issues as race and sex; Superfandom by Zoe Fraade-Blanar and Aaron M. Glazer explores fandom itself — its history, stigma, psychology, and, of course, its effects on our economy.
