"From Westeros' #vemprarua to the shipping of the gay kiss on brazilian TV". Fan activism: concepts, resistances and practices in digital culture

• Main Authors: Adriana Amaral, Rosana Vieira Souza, Camila Monteiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontíficia Universidade Católica de São Paulo 2015-05-01
• Series: Galáxia
• Subjects: ativismo de fãs; cultura digital; resistência; cultura pop
• Online Access: https://revistas.pucsp.br/galaxia/article/view/20250

From a creative and cultural perspective fan activism is a form of resistance. In this paper, we seek to reflect upon the mobilization of these groups of fans towards their idols, as well as discussing how the search for privacy and closeness in the relationship between celebrities and their fans foster a number of activities that shape, (re) define and transcend the boundaries of fandom. We observe, from a theoretical reflexion about such phenomena and from the discussion of everyday life examples, how the rich universe of digital practices and its productions - fanfics, fanvids, fanzines, etc. - create sociocultural events such as the ‘rolezinho’, crowdfunding, fanmades in protests, offering new meanings to what we understand as resistance and problematizing the duality between the ‘world of consumption and pop culture’ and the ‘world of citizenship’.