Fandoms are defined as, “communities built around a shared enjoyment of an aspect of popular culture, such as books, movies, TV shows, bands, sports or sports teams, etc.”
Although fandoms can have benefits such as forming strong connections with others with similar interests; like fanfiction, fandoms also have affected the media. TV writers can go on the internet and see what fans say about the show. Although fandoms have their upsides there are also a lot of downsides to fandoms.
The deeper you get into fandoms, the more likely you are to sense some sort of aggression. One of the biggest examples of aggression is in the form of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping on social media specifically refers to “the intentional withholding of information, knowledge, access, or opportunity — keeping these things all to yourself.”
People who gatekeep artists, movies and music often use the excuse of, “they don’t get it like I do” for their behavior, which leads to fans hating on other fans within the fandom over a difference in opinion, or because they happened to join the fandom right before or when the fandom has hit its peak. Creating a hierarchy in fandoms is not really needed, since the purpose is to be in a community in which people share their thoughts on something.
Another toxic side of fandoms is how sometimes they have underlying tones of racism. The casting of actress Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase in the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” show came with an onslaught of racist comments towards the actress solely because she is a Black woman and not white and blonde like written in the books; similarly seen with the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” remake and now with the fan casting of Avantika Vandanapu for a live-action version of “Tangled.”
So far I have mentioned fandoms and specifically relating it to T.V. shows, movies and music, but sports fans are not exempt from the toxicity. In January, the news broke that prospect Cutter Gauthier did not want to play for his draft team, the Philadelphia Flyers, thus causing the Flyers to trade him to the Anaheim Ducks. When this happened, Flyers fans took to the internet sending death threats to Gauthier all because he did not want to play for the Flyers.
Fandoms are not only toxic at times, but they can become unhealthy to the people in the fandom. With the internet, fans can easily access their favorite creators at any time of the day. Because of that easy access, it can create superficial connections and investing potentially hundreds of hours into this is not healthy for anyone involved.
Fandoms have been around for a long time and are not going to disappear anytime soon. It is important to note that not everyone in fandoms engages in toxic behavior, and a good majority of fans are nice people who are very passionate about something.
Cassie is a sophomore studying communications at Ohio University. Please note the views expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk to Cassie? Email her at cb086021@ohio.edu.
