A Short History of Fan Culture
Holly Rose Swinyard
- Regions:
- South East, Bristol, Somerset, London
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Unknown: travel expenses and speakers fee
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 23rd September 2024
- Tagged:
- Popular Culture | Media | Author | Games
Do you have a Google alert for you favourite band going on tour? Or maybe you have a pull list at your local comicbook shop? Or perhaps you’ve got a season ticket to your sports team of choice? That would make you a fan, whether you realise it or not, and there’s a lot more to fan culture than you might think.
In the 21st century pop culture is everywhere; you can’t move for a new superhero film or major franchise appearing in our lives and we love it. We’re just jumping into the media landscape headfirst in order to get more of our favs, track down spoilers and deep dive about plot lines on social media. It’s hard to deny fan culture as part of the world now, there’s a fandom for everyone, but what does that actually mean, and where did it come from?
From ancient times to modern media humans have shared their love for the stories that mean something to them and brought in others to be fans of them too. We’ve written ourselves in, made art of, and celebrated with others who love the same things as us all in the name of being a fan, even before the word fan existed. There’s a whole lot of who, where, what, when, why, how and huh to look into when it comes to fan culture.
Let me walk you through the nuts and bolts of how we got to the place we are with fan culture taking over the world. From Shakespeare to Superman, Dickens to Daleks, and fanfiction to Frodo there is so much more to fandom than meets the eye. And a whole lot of references to pack in too.
About Holly Rose Swinyard
Holly Swinyard is a pop culture and games writer with a love for telling stories both real and fictional. They have worked on many gaming projects including board games, chose your own adventure RPGs, table-top roleplaying and, most recently, indie video games. On top of this have written for multiple national publications including PLAY magazine, The Guardian and Marvel UK, as well as having worked with the BBC and Channel 4 discussing pop-culture, costume and gender. As co-host of podcast I’m A Fan of That they deep dive into the wonderful world of fandom and what pop culture really means to us, and have written and acted in the critically acclaimed Ray Gunn and Starburst as well as the up and coming series Project: Daydream. Outside of writing, Holly works as freelance LGBTQIA+ educator with charities, schools and businesses, as well as being an all-round pop culture enthusiast volunteering at comic cons, running cosplay events and competing in national and international cosplay competitions (yes that is a thing). Their new book, A History of Fans and Fandom: The Passion and Power of Fan Culture was published by Pen and Sword in Spring 2024.
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