LibGuides: IST 605: Popular Media and Fan-Cultures: Optional Reading

Optional Reading

This page will list some useful resources to learn more about fan-culture history.

Fan-culture has a far longer and more colorful history than you might imagine. From fansites created at the dawn of the internet, to the printed mail-order zines that fans used to share fiction and art with before the Web was created, to even the fan-cultures that existed before the contemporary era, such as the one that arose from the massive popularity of the Sherlock Holmes series of books, these articles, videos, and books will teach you all about how fan-culture started, grew, and evolved.

For recent history and events, I recommend that you look through some of the links in the previous pages, such as the Fanlore wiki, the Know Your Meme wiki, and various community wikis located within various Reddit communities.

Fandom is older than you think
By Piper Hays on Hindsight.

Beginning with the fan-communities surrounding historical literary classics and ending by discussing modern fan-communities surrounding video games and live-streamers, this is a detailed, yet also relatively brief and accessible introduction to fan-culture history.

I read it in about ten minutes and I found it fairly accurate and engaging.

One thing to note though is that this article provides no citations, so it may not be useful for deeper research.
The Social and Technological Evolution of Fandoms Through New Media and Mass Communication
By Gabrielle Fiorella on TwoTwoOne.

A much deeper look into fan-culture history, as well as a study of how fan-cultures affected community members differently between different decades.

I read this in about 25 minutes and found it to be a deeply fascinating and well-written read.

This does cite its sources, though I wasn't able to find out if it was peer-reviewed, as TwoTwoOne is a student-run journal, so this may be less scholarly then works published in larger journals.
The Rise and Fall of Geek Culture
By Sarah Z. on Youtube.

A nearly hour-and-a-half long video about how "geek" culture has changed over the years.

Sarah Z. is a fantastic YouTube creator who manages to make their videos a perfect blend of informative, engaging, and funny though well-written scripts and dedicated research into the most niche of topics. They make a lot of other videos on fan-cultures, so check them out as well!
Before Fanfiction: Recovering the Literary History of American Media Fandom
A book by Alexandra Edwards. About ~$20 as a paperback or as an ebook.

Discussing fan-cultures in the late 1800s to the mid-1940s, this book takes a special look at female authors of the period and their fangirls.

I did find that parts of this book felt a bit dry, but for the most part, it was a surprisingly engaging read for a history work, and at around 190 pages long, it's by no means a long read either. It took me about 3-4 hours to finish.

Here is a link to its Goodreads page.

CIST Student Sandbox

IST 605: Popular Media and Fan-Cultures

Optional Reading