16th October Track 1

• SALON: Adolescent Fans and Material Culture

  7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

  Despite their relevance, adolescent fan communities have been a neglected topic in academic studies. However, the Internet and mobile devices, the fact of living in a multiplatform society, define and configure these communities. The question is how they relate to those mediated by analog instruments. To what extent do the traits characterizing the Western youth world of today beget new ways of being a fan? We look for an interdisciplinary and transcultural conversation about fan practices, and their ties to multimodal discourses, material tools, affect, or relationships with cultural industries. To open the discussion, the following issues will be introduced:

  • How do contexts mediated by digital technology transform discourses mediating relationships in adolescent fan communities? The use of discourse within fan communities may be approached considering that fans are text nomads or pirates. We will focus on how fans are producers and interpreters of multimodal texts, mediated by material tools, going further of writing and oral symbolic tools.
     
  • Why technology is transforming adolescent fan communities? Social networks are inseparable from the technology supporting them These social networks, the online audiences, are perhaps the starting point for constructing a community Technology transforms the space and time of human interactions that can be observed on many different levels. 
     
  • Who are the participants in adolescent fans communities and what are the role of cultural industries to design them? Fan communities may be explored emphasizing the social agents who take part in a multiplatform society, both the fans and the companies which bring together popular culture. 
     
  • What are the appropriate methods to approach these communities, mediated by digital tools?We will explore how the analysis supported by big data broadens the knowledge of these communities and to what extent they are compatible or complementary to other methodological approaches.

  Participants: Pilar Lacasa (University of Alcalá), Clarice Greco (Paulista University), Matt Griffin (University of Iowa), Namita Gupta, Enoe Lopes Pontes (Universidade Federal da Bahia), Iris Barrajón Lara (University of Alcalá), Araceli Parres (University of Alcalá), Julián de la Fuente Prieto (University of Alcalá), Alba García Vega (University of Alcalá) (moderator: Lori Morimoto)

• SALON: From the 'enormous dunghill' to the 'garishly diverse': Shakespeare and Anti-Fandom

  9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

  In 1623, poet and playwright Ben Jonson famously commemorated Shakespeare as “not of an age, but for all time.” Since that time, Shakespeare’s reputation and central place in the literary canon and as Britain’s national poet has only grown, such that today, Shakespeare enjoys cultural ubiquity in Britain and across the globe. However, from Robert Greene’s annoyance at his peer as an “upstart crow” in 1592, through Voltaire’s dismissal of the “enormous dunghill” of Shakespeare’s works in the eighteenth century, and down to the present, Shakespeare’s value and relevance has been continually challenged. Relatedly, amongst Shakespeare’s advocates, we observe regular debates about the ‘right’ way to perform and interpret his work, debates that can take the form of antagonism and trolling (such as in a recent Sunday Times television listing that mocked the 2018 RSC production of Romeo and Juliet for being “garishly diverse in casting”). Through the lens of anti-fandom, this salon aims to consider opposition or resistance to and within Shakespeare in a variety of forms and in various historical contexts, ranging from: attacks on the literary/theatrical quality of his works; the various strands of the authorship controversy; questions about his appropriateness for specific audiences or performers; hatewatching or hate-reading Shakespeare; gatekeeping and/or ‘purist’ arguments about Shakespearean ‘authenticity’ that seek to restrict access to his work by marginalized voices and interpretations. Ultimately, this salon asks, What does Shakespeare anti-fandom look like? What is at stake when policing authenticity? Can we think of Shakespeare – or interpretations of Shakespeare – as ‘bad objects’? And does relegating oppositional or resistant readings to the category of ‘anti’ simply reinforce problematic binaries? Participants are invited to discuss any texts in any medium that could inform this conversation.

  Participants: Johnathan Pope (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar), Sophie Hanson (University of Warwick), Ronan Hatfull (University of Warwick), Taarini Mookherjee (Columbia University), Edel Semple (University College Cork) (moderator: Louisa Stein)

• SALON: Teaching Fandom: Fandom, Fanworks, and Fan Studies in the Classroom

  11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

  The salon discussion is guided by the question of why we teach fandom and fan studies. It not only offers room to think about how fandom can be taught and integrated into educational settings but also allows us to reflect on the issues connected with moving fandom out of its originary setting and on our responsibilities as educators, scholars and fans in this context.  Moderator Jonathan Rose has been inviting students to go down the fandom rabbit hole since 2016, looking at Victor/Clerval slash in his Frankenstein seminars, using Harry Potter fan theories to think about adaptations or literary theories or creating a multi-fandom fanzine together with his students, including those who hadn’t heard of fanfiction before.  

  Participants will share teaching experiences, discuss successes and failures in bringing fandom to the classroom, and reflect on what fandom and fan studies have to offer in educational settings. 

  Participants: Jonathan A. Rose (University of Passau), Tvine Donabedian (Simon Fraser University), Kelsey Entrikin (University of Strathclyde), Stacey Lantagne (University of Mississippi), Regina Yung Lee (University of Washington, Seattle) (moderator: Paul Booth)

• SALON: Fandom at Home: How COVID-19 Adjusted Perception and Participation

  2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

  The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a great deal of change, including forcing large social events (e.g. movies, sports events, concerts) to temporarily close or postpone. Many people self-quarantined in compliance with CDC guidelines. During this time, many digital programs were created for people to enjoy from their own homes.  Such programs have facilitated the transitioning of various fandoms from public to private spaces. This salon investigates fandom at home and how COVID-19 has influenced the way[s] fandom is perceived and experienced. 

  Participants: Kyle A. Hammonds (University of Oklahoma), Caleb George Hubbard (University of Oklahoma), Leah Dajches (University of Arizona), Jasmine Proctor (Simon Fraser University), William Staton (Georgia State University) (moderator: Paul Booth)

• SALON: Fandom: The Next Generation

  4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

  This salon proposes a discussion of reboot culture and long-running franchises as tandem forces that shape fandoms over time. Specifically, how might we consider fandoms as both intergenerational and transgenerational groups? What impact does generational difference create in fandoms, especially it is labelled and culturally defined by those in the industry (e.g. Boomers, Millennials…)? Today’s media landscape is a world where no IP is left behind. Media franchises, from sprawling transmedia universes like Star Wars and Marvel’s MCU to this summer’s sweet update of the children’s book series, The Baby-sitters Club, are constantly producing new content, being reimagined and rebooted. Additionally, many media franchises now stretch to durations previously unheard of for primetime television series: to date The Simpsons has aired 31 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy recently surpassed ER as the longest running medical drama of all-time, and fans of Supernatural were meant to tearfully say goodbye after 15 seasons…only to be thwarted by COVID-19 shutdowns. What, then, does it mean for fans of media franchises when content becomes insurmountable in size and spans decades in duration? How do writers and producers of rebooted and long-running media franchises seek to keep material fresh and attract new audiences without alienating core fans? How do longtime fans reconcile with changes, updates, and remakes to their beloved texts? In particular, we are interested in the ways that fan communities grapple with media texts shifting to reflect a desire for greater diversity in representations of gender, race, and sexuality—see, for example, the recent boom of gender-swapped reboots like 2016’s Ghostbusters and 2018’s Ocean’s 8. How might we understand generation as key component in these critical conversations?

  Participants: Megan Connor (Indiana University), Bridget Kies (Oakland University), Morgan Bimm (York University), Peter Cullen Bryan (Portland State University), Meredith Dabek (Maynooth University), Laurel Rogers (University of Texas, Austin), Dawn Walls-Thumma (Independent Scholar) (moderator: Lesley Willard)

• Plenary Event: K-Pop: Fandom, Politics, Digital Influence

  7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

  Panelists: Crystal Abidin (Curtin Univeristy), Crystal Anderson (George Mason University), Michelle Cho (University of Toronto), Miranda Larsen (Tokyo University)