Fandoms are the blood that makes a franchise soar…or fall.
No matter how good and meaningful, how important or well-produced something is, it won’t become a success without people to appreciate it. And it won’t turn into a multimedia franchise worth millions or billions of dollars without a devout body of fans who can be relied on to see all the movies, buy all the merch, and blast the message of glory from every corner of their favorite social media platforms.
But what is ‘fandom’ in the first place?
Infinite complexity
The idea of fandom is vast and deep, and many people have made it their life’s mission to delve into these depths to see what lies beneath the surface. On a cursory glance, fandoms look rather simple: a piece of media exists and has a community of fans who like talking about it. But there’s more, to it.
So much more, in fact, that it can’t really be explained fully in a short article.
One reason is that fandom isn’t just any collection of people who like something — that’s just a subreddit. Being a part of a fandom means that a piece of your soul is a shrine devoted to your favorite thing.
It means discussions about lore, paying close attention to merch releases, and creating transformative or original works of art… For most people liking something is a preference. But for people in fandoms, it’s an entire hobby in and of itself.
As for the second reason…
Their name is legion
There’s no single fandom, unless you mean the general definition of it. The fact of the matter is that everything has its own fandom, and they all tend to be quite different, with their own idiosyncrasies. The examples are inexhaustible, but just to give a few…
Take the Harry Potter books. When they were fresh and all the rage, you could see their fans spending entire nights lined up in front of bookshops to get their copy immediately.
Later, they’d fill out quizzes putting them in the Houses, spent money on merch like wands and even branded candy, and traced every extra bit of lore that wasn’t included in the books, composing their own image of the wizarding world in the fandom hive mind.
Even nowadays, nearly thirty years since the launch of the first book, the new HP game, Hogwarts Legacy drew the vivid attention of millions of people who surged to places like G2A or Steam to get their copy.
On the other hand, fans of the Cosmere, from the works of Brandon Sanderson, are textual sleuths of incredible skill. They delight in discovering tiny bits of foreshadowing and subtle (or not-so-subtle) references, which, when taken in, create the rich tapestry of a complex, and carefully planned universe spanning dozens of books.
The community spaces for this fandom are full of remarkably well-sourced revelations and theories. It’s the most studious fantasy fandom since the Malazan Book of the Fallen readers.
And who could forget about the Whovians, who back around the 2010s latched onto the new seasons of an evergreen British show about exciting time-travel adventures.
Truly, the Doctor Who fandom has defined a lot of geek culture of the time (but we shall not utter the portmanteau phrase which made the Internet tremble), and while it’s since gone rather muted, its legacy lives on, happy to re-emerge with a vengeance at a moment’s notice.
Become a Whovian and you’ll never look at an old police phone booth the same way.
Not always so serious
On the other-other hand, many fandoms frequently embrace the silliness of their favorite things and are quite devoted to shitposting – making seemingly low-effort jokes which are impenetrable to anyone outside of the given fandom, but usually riotously hilarious for people in the know.
This happens even for overall-serious franchises, as a fondly rebellious move. Just look at Warhammer fans, who love making memes and dorky jokes about the famously grimdark WH settings. Or ask a Cosmere fan about a stick. The answer will be weird, but you’ll make them happy.
Creative, not just receptive
A crucial element of a fandom culture is its creative side. A thriving fandom isn’t happy just to buy and consume. You’ll see thousands of artists sharing their artwork, you’ll hear original songs, and there will be many, many fan-created stories expanding, exploring, even rewriting what happens in the source material.
Sure, some of it is weird, like the infamous My Immortal, but some fan fiction might be even better than the originals, and more in-tune with the community. This is true especially for long-running shows which lose original visions to changes in the writers’ room.
Don’t underestimate the fandoms
Fandoms are a powerful force, and their power can be both empowering and destructive. Sometimes not even companies can resist a fandom united by a common cause.
While it is absolutely possible to see some toxicity on certain emanations of any fandom, just as often participating in fan culture can be a cozy experience. After all, what is more fundamentally human than sharing the love for something with other people?