#let's prove that directioners are not a dead fandom

[arcticclaymore]

Fandoms, Support and Complications

Ahh Fandoms, we live in the era of fandoms, now more than ever you can be a fan of so much, you can be a fan of K-Pop groups, you can be a fan of anime, you can be a fan of movies, a fan of tv series, a fan of professional wrestling, a fan of sports or you can even be a fan of toy collections!!! Let me not get ahead of myself though, we need to answer what exactly is a fan and what are these so called fandoms? Now dont get clever here, I am not talking about a cooling apparatus, I am talking about the other kind of fan, the human one, the individual, the person who is an ardent and loyal admirer of a specific interest or even an object, that is the fan I am talking about, a person who exhibits the kind of interest and love for an entity that sometimes exceeds normality (Wang 2020). A fandom is an accumulation of fans who are as a community interested in an interest or an object. So now that the definitions are clear lets look into the strongest of fandoms, shall we.

The Strongest of Fandoms

I don't even have to really lob up and start the subject and I guarantee when you saw 'strongest' and 'fandom' together you were thinking of K-Pop and more specifically about BTS. They are a very, I dont think there is an adjective to describe them, but I will rephrase and say they are an extremely popular 7 member boy band group that practice the arts of dance and music and if you haven't heard of them you are either dead or you are lying because there is no way you haven't heard of them. They have earned tremendous success through their craft and on their journey they have cultivated the strongest fandom of all time called, the BTS Army (Milakovic 2021). In a controlled census the results showed they have a whopping 44+ million fans all over the globe, thus further proving that they sit atop the fandom throne (Ali 2021). Other strong fandoms include the Potterheads, the fans of the Harry Potter Franchise, and who can forget the Directioners, perhaps the greatest fandom of all time, a fandom that is still holding out hope that their favorite band gets back together.

Fandom Toxicity

You feel like you are in a metal prison when there is a community that is toxic and unbearably difficult. Fandoms are a community and the participants of these communities aren't always the most easy going people but rather they can be extremely toxic. The fans of these groups tend to be supportive of their interests but they can get slightly rambunctious and possessive for instance, Japanese Pop Idol groups are essentially considered to be entitled to their fans and they are expected to operate under them, if a member of a pop idol group does something that displeases them they will react negatively to this member in forms of harassment and abuse (Lefler 2021). Even if the fans are supportive of their interests they can be very rude or critical of other people that might have something to say about their fandoms or the interests they support. There could be posts of people asking well-intentioned genuine questions about fandoms but they get disrespected just because the fans are being overprotective of their groups (Bailey 2021). These fans feel like they are uplifting their fandoms, but in fact they are disrupting them and giving them bad press which could then lead to inaccurate stereotyping.

Fandom Positivity

Fandoms might get a bad rep sometimes, but when communities come together in support of each other, a lot of positives can result from it. There are a lot of positive acts these fandoms have done which have led to the societies around them being affected in a positive manner. For example, the BTS Army through the help of social media started a trend with the hashtag of #btsdonorarmy, in this trend the members of the ARMY donated blood to the American Red Cross which helped potentially save a lot of lives, furthermore the ARMY also helped donate money to UNICEF to help children with disabilities (Koreaboo 2018). If fandoms keep banding together with the goal of not only supporting their groups but also making a positive impact the world would simply be a better place.

References

Wang, L 2020, Handbook of research on the impact of fandom in society and consumerism, 출판사: Hershey, Pa Igi Global.

Milakovic, H 2021, “10 Biggest And Best Fandom In The World RANKED (2021),” Fiction Horizon, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://fictionhorizon.com/biggest-and-best-fandom/>.

Ali, H 2021, “ARMY CENSUS ‘SHOCKING RESULTS’: How big and diverse is the BTS fanbase? - The Silly TV,” Silly TV, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://www.thesillytv.com/bts-news-army-census-shocking-results-how-big-and-diverse-is-the-bts-fanbase/>.

Lefler, R 2021, “What’s Toxic Fandom, and What Creates It?,” ReelRundown - Entertainment, viewed <https://reelrundown.com/misc/5-Factors-that-Can-Cause-Toxic-Fandom-to-Arise>.

Bailey, L 2021, “Why Your Favourite Fandom is So Gotdamn Toxic,” FanFare, viewed 4 December, 2021, <https://medium.com/fan-fare/why-your-favourite-fandom-is-so-gotdamn-toxic-903c35f4076d#:~:text=Toxic%20Fandoms>.

Koreaboo 2018, “16 Things A.R.M.Y Did For BTS That’ll Make You Proud,” Koreaboo, viewed <https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/16-things-army-did-for-bts-make-you-proud/>.

#mda20009 #week 9 #fandom