fanthropology: When is a fandom dead?

tikatu (

tikatu) wrote in

fanthropology,
@ 2007-06-20 15:08:00

Current location:	In front of the air conditioner... again
Current mood:	curious

When is a fandom dead?

This blog entry recently came to the attention of one of the most active Thunderbirds messageboards.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/06/15/when-a-fandom-tribe-dies/

It poses an interesting question: what happens when a fandom "dies out"? Now, using Thunderbirds as an example turned out to be, as Ms. MacDonald discovered, a clarion call to the fans of the show to stand up and be counted. She mentions this in a follow-up blog:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/06/19/thunderbird-are-still-go/

But is a fandom ever really dead? How is the life of a particular fandom measured? Is it, as Ms. MacDonald says, the lack of internet presence, the discovery of multiple dead links and dead sites when someone goes searching? Is fandom death more likely to be assumed among smaller fandoms or older franchises? How do you tell when a fandom has finally flatlined?

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flowrs4ophelia
2007-06-20 08:12 pm UTC (link)

I would personally define a fandom as being "dead" when one fan can no longer get on their computer and be able to find another fan to connect with and share their love for the work with. I'd say even if things are slow on all the sites, if there is any LJ community or message board where someone can get on and say "I was watching some old episodes and feeling nostalgic today..." and start some kind of discussion, then that fandom isn't dead. I find the essence of fandom to be communication between fans of the same thing, not necessarily all the creating of fanfic and art and stuff that will usually die down once the canon is done.

(Reply to this)

kusanivy
2007-06-20 08:14 pm UTC (link)

I think to define the death of a fandom you have to define the birth of a fandom. When does a fandom come into existence? Does a personal fandom count (ie if one person likes it, is that considered a fandom)?

You can have fandoms that go into extreme and deep comas but I don't think you can truly consider a fandom dead until the source material or a copy of it no longer exists in any way, shape, or form, and anyone who was a fan of it is dead.

Because even if one person still views the material as a personal fandom then they have the potential to introduce a like minded person to the material, who then introduces another person... and before you know it you have a resurrected fandom.

(Reply to this)

dragonscholar
2007-06-20 08:59 pm UTC (link)

First of all, it depends on what dead means. To me a dead fandom means there are no at least semi-oganized fans involved with each other through various activities - so active discussion groups, viewing groups, cons, etc. count.

Secondly, I assume that dead doesn't mean it can't be revived.

So pretty much, I figure its really hard for fandoms to die. For a fandom to truly be dead would mean to me that there's basically no one actively sharing love and interest of a particular media property with each other. There are "fans" but nothing to form a fandom.

(Reply to this)

	tekiclutch 2007-06-20 09:08 pm UTC (link)
	I always judge the livliness of a fandom by the volume of Mary Sue fics it's putting out. :P (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lyndseas 2007-06-20 11:43 pm UTC (link)
	So does that mean that DC Comics fanfiction is dead in your book, since there's rarely an OC, much less a Mary Sue? Of course, considering the canon characters, there isn't much need for Sues. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	yourlibrarian 2007-06-20 10:06 pm UTC (link)
	Interesting blog postings. I noticed the columnist was surprised that most of the respondents were women (and that fanfic was written) (Reply to this)

dao_of_meow
2007-06-21 01:16 pm UTC (link)

I think just the fact that someone is looking for a fandom means it hasn't died out. The interest is still there. As others said before, a fandom hasn't died out officially till the original source has been lost and all original fans have died. Otherwise, there will still be those people who jump on the bandwagon years later ready to kick up some discussion.

An easy way to examine the "death" and "birth" of fandoms would be to look at the smaller movie fandoms. It's a simple way to see the quick start and quick dwindling of a fandom. Often the larger fandoms follow the same pattern of decay, only on a bigger scale and over a longer time span.

(Reply to this)

angiepen
2007-06-22 09:47 pm UTC (link)

[Here from

metafandom. [wave]]

I think Ms. MacDonald is sadly out of touch with modern fandom. [wry smile] While it's true that the fanfic end of fandom is only a fraction of the whole, declaring an entire fandom dead without bothering to check to see whether there's fanfic being written about it strikes me as bizarre.

Also, I don't think the existence of dead links, even quite a lot of them, has anything to say about the morbidity of a fandom. I find a lot of dead links whenever I go over my rec list to post or e-mail to someone. The fact that half a dozen out of a dozen or fifteen story links in a single fandom have gone dead doesn't mean that fandom's dying. All it means is that the fans who had those stories posted have moved on, gotten new journals, new web sites, taken their stories down from that particular archive. Almost every time I'm able to find those old favorite stories posted elsewhere, if I spend some time with Google. I'll bet it's the same for old links to pictures, meta, and other fan pages on the web.

On the larger issue, I'd say that a fandom isn't dead so long as there are two fans getting together to talk about it. No internet necessary -- fandom existed before the internet and while it certainly makes it easier for fans to find one another, I think it's rather presumptuous for online fans to declare that a fandom can't exist without it. Unlikely? Sure. But not impossible by any means, so long as we're talking about definitions.

And so long as those two fans are still enthusiastic, there's always the possibility that the fandom might grow again.

For that matter, so long as the originating canon material is still available, even a dead fandom can be resurrected. :)

Angie

(Reply to this)

	tikatu 2007-06-22 10:54 pm UTC (link)
	Interestingly enough, Ms. MacDonald found this thread, but before it made metafandom http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/06/21/fanthropology/#comments (Reply to this)

	mawaridi 2007-06-22 11:51 pm UTC (link)
	the discovery of multiple dead links and dead sites when someone goes searching? Well, certainly not that. Harry Potter fandom is awash in dead links and un-updated sites, but it's far from dead! (Reply to this)

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