Critical Fandom positions fan authors as rhetoricians and fan fiction as an action. Every fan author navigates—implicitly or explicitly—the politics of their fandom, the media they love, their lived experiences, digital technologies, reader expectations, and a larger culture. To better understand critical fans, Cara Marta Messina analyzes Archive of Our Own tagging practices, fan fictions, and interviews from four different fandoms.
Fans of The Legend of Korra celebrate queer relationships while understanding representation is just the first step in the face of systemic homophobia. Game of Thrones fan authors challenge racism and heteronormativity in both the community and the show. In online forums for Black Panther, fans make space for sapphic romances and explore the humanity of Erik Killmonger, ultimately contending with harmful stereotypes of radical Black men. And the Our Flag Means Death fandom demonstrates how a show can flourish when it centers queerness, especially for trans fans. Even in these moments of joy, there’s conflict. Critical Fandom seeks to answer what comes next.
“This is the book for fan scholars and scholar fans alike. Messina takes up a robust mixed-methods approach to a multi-year study that showcases the social, political, and cultural complexities of writing fan fiction. Messina’s critical reading of multiple fandoms elucidates how fans have the power to influence popular media and their own communities toward more representative and joyous futures.”—Ashanka Kumari, coeditor, Mobility Work in Composition
“Critical Fandom demonstrates how fan fiction authors do far more than reimagining their favorite stories. These creators engage in sophisticated acts of cultural criticism, challenge systems of oppression, and create spaces for liberation through their writing practices. Through her innovative analysis of fan fiction communities and deeply respectful interviews with fan authors, Messina reveals how these often-dismissed digital spaces are vibrant sites of critical consciousness, community-building, and resistance that offer profound lessons for anyone interested in writing, representation, and social justice.”—Jason Tham, Texas Tech University
