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Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships Lynn Zubernis and Katherine Larsen, Editors. Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
Fan Culture: Theory/Practice Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis, Editors. Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
These two publications by collaborators Lynn Zubernis and Katherine Larsen are welcome entries to the expanding scholarly research of fandom studies.
While drawing on the work of foundational and more recent influential scholars in the area of fan culture, Fandom at the Crossroads distinguishes itself by examining a single fandom from within as well as from without. The book is not narrow in its applicability, however, as the methodology and observations here could serve as a model for future studies in a variety of fan contexts. It is also a useful text for those studying popular culture and American Studies, especially as they concern observations about the Internet's effect on commerce in general and entertainment specifically.
This is a detailed, engaging, and in-depth study of the fans and fan communities surrounding the long-running American television series Supernatural, which entered in its ninth season in Fall 2013. But unlike previous studies that approached fan cultures in a more ethnographical way, the authors write as scholars as well as fans (or "acafans"). They begin with the assumption that "in order for a media text to be a successful cultural attractor, there must also be a way in for fans, with meaningful ways to participate" (3). One of the most compelling aspects of the book is the authors' exploration of the possibilities of "safe" creative participation available via the Internet and other new technologies. They examine how the boundaries between producer and fan are increasingly flexible, as they are continually negotiated in fan spaces with varying degrees of privacy, while also offering an insightful look at the gendered variations of fandom, fan expression, and "fan shame," they untangle cultural assumptions about female sexuality as it relates to objects of desire.
First, in Chapter One: "Lost in Space: Participatory Fandom and the Negotiation of Fan Spaces," the authors articulate degrees of fan participation and examine the ways in which fans have historically protected the integrity of their online fan communities (particularly those in which fan fiction is exchanged) and...