Anti-Fandom

A revealing look at the pleasure we get from hating figures like politicians, celebrities, and TV characters, showcased in approaches that explore snark, hate-watching, and trolling The work of a fan takes many forms: following a favorite celebrity on Instagram, writing steamy fan fiction fantasies, attending meet-and-greets, and creating fan art as homages to adored characters. While fandom that manifests as feelings of like and love are commonly understood, examined less frequently are the equally intense, but opposite feelings of dislike and hatred. Disinterest. Disgust. Hate. This is anti-fandom. It is visible in many of the same spaces where you see fandom: in the long lines at ComicCon, in our politics, and in numerous online forums like Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and the ever dreaded comments section. This is where fans and fandoms debate and discipline. This is where we love to hate. Anti-Fandom,a collection of 15 original and innovative essays, provides a framework for future study through theoretical and methodological exemplars that examine anti-fandom in the contemporary digital environment through gender, generation, sexuality, race, taste, authenticity, nationality, celebrity, and more. From hatewatching Girls and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo to trolling celebrities and their characters on Twitter, these chapters ground the emerging area of anti-fan studies with a productive foundation. The book demonstrates the importance of constructing a complex knowledge of emotion and media in fan studies. Its focus on the pleasures, performances, and practices that constitute anti-fandom will generate new perspectives for understanding the impact of hate on our identities, relationships, and communities.

Together, the chapters in Anti-Fandom provide much of the groundwork needed to provide a framework for anti-fan theory, and anyone looking to jump into this emerging area of study will find this book both interesting and useful.

Melissa A. Click is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Gonzaga University. Her work has been published in the anthologies Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World and Cupcakes, Pinterest, and Ladyporn: Feminized Popular Culture in the Early 21st Century. She is co-editor of Dislike, Hate, and Anti-fandom in the Digital Age, The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, and Bitten by Twilight.