I’m sure at one point, even if you weren’t aware of it, you were part of a fandom.
Google defines fandom as “the state or condition of being a fan of someone or something”. This includes books, movies, TV-Shows, games, YouTubers, blogs, music artists-the list goes on. What it doesn’t say is that fandoms are a type of culture. They have slang, arts, traditions, and norms.
I personally indulge in my fandoms on Instagram and Twitter. One doesn’t have to look very far for tweets that say ‘Wig!’ or ‘we stan’ or the ever-popular ‘wbk’ (we’ve been knew). No matter what platform you use, there’s most likely a thriving fandom culture on it.
According to ‘The Top Tens’, a website where users decide the order, the most popular fandoms went as follows:
✬ Harry Potter - Harry Potter has been a thriving fandom since before I was even born. It’ll probably still be thriving when I die. It’s just that good.
✬ Doctor Who - Doctor Who has been alive and thriving for decades. In fact, its original run was back in 1963. Talk about a lot of material to work with!
✬ Supernatural - I’m sure at some point you’ve heard about this show. It’s what I would like to call a ‘cinematic masterpiece’ (but then again I’m not a movie critic so take that into consideration).
✬ Anime - Anime is a very broad term, even if you consider manga a separate fandom. Anime has been thriving in Japan for a while and has recently become quite mainstream. Also, watch Boku no Hero Academia for clear skin (I don’t make the rules).
✬ Star Wars - Even if you live under a rock you know about Star Wars. Your grandma knows about Star Wars. Even my cat probably knows about Star Wars. Everyone knows about Star Wars.
✬ Game of Thrones - HBO’s most popular show has been exciting people for years (I mean it has multiple genres including drama, horror, suspense, and romance. It’s final season finished airing recently, so if you’d like to binge something this is a
good place to start.
✬ Directioners - One Direction fans
✬ Phandom - Dan and Phil fans
✬ My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Have you heard of bronies?
✬ Marvel -The only surprising thing about Marvel on this list is that it’s under My Little Pony. How did that happen?
Now, I have a few more fandoms that I feel like belong on that list but were unfortunately left out but still are quite popular:
✰ Merlin (BBC)
✰Sherlock (BBC)
✰ Stranger Things
✰The Witcher Universe
✰ Pokemon
✰The Walking Dead
✰DC
✰ K-Pop (Notably BTS and Black Pink)
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about fandoms is the ‘fandom speak’. Fandom speak is a type of slang fans use to communicate with each other. Here are some basic words that may be used in the next few blogs. These definitions came from here and here.
⛥ Canon: The works of a particular author or artist that are recognized as genuine (ex: Harry Potter’s birthday is September 1, he has a lightning scar, he’s in Gryffindor, etc)
⛥ Fanon: Elements introduced by fans that are not in the official canon of a fictional world but are widely believed to be or treated as if canonical (ex:
‘Tempus’, a spell used for telling the time, is pure fanon and has never been used or referenced in the Harry Potter books/movies.)
⛥ Headcanon: A fan's personal interpretation of canon, such as habits of a character, the backstory of a character, or the nature of relationships between characters. If other fans share this interpretation, it may become fanon. (ex: Hermione Granger can’t cook, Crookshank’s was Lily and James’s Potter’s cats)
⛥ Ship & Ship names (AKA Name Smooshing): Shipping, initially derived from the word relationship, is the desire by fans for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters to be in a romantic relationship. When referencing the ship, fans typically smoosh the two character’s names together making a ‘ship name’. (ex: Hermione & Ron = Romione, Dean & Seamus = Deamus)
⛥ Shipper: Someone who ships ships. (ex: Everyone is a shipper of James and Lily. They’re literally soulmates.)
⛥ OTP: Stands for ‘One True Pairing’. Typically a shipper’s ultimate or favorite ship. Yet, there usually isn’t a limit to how many OTPs one can have- it doesn’t even have to be canonical.
⛥ Fanwork: A creative work produced by one or more fans, generally intended for other fans. A common defining phrase used in fandom is "by fans for fans," or something similar, though this definition might incorporate other fan activity as
well. (ex: fanart, fanfiction, fan edits, etc)
⛥ Fanfiction: Fanfiction is a type of fictional text written by fans of any work of fiction where the author uses characters or properties from another creator as a basis for their writing.
⛥ AU: Alternate Universe - Fanworks (mainly fanfictions) which change one or more elements of the source work's canon (ex- Harry Potter but set in America)
So there is the basic intro to the endless world of fandoms! Hopefully, this was a helpful beginner’s guide or a nice refresher. If you’d like to know more, I’d recommend opening a Tumblr account and just diving in. What are your favorite fandoms?