This collection is the first to offer a close study of fan generations, which are defined not only by fans’ ages, but by their entry point into a canon or via their personal politics. The contributors further the conversation about how generational fandom is influenced by and, in turn, influences technologies, industry practices, and social and political changes. As reboot culture continues, as franchises continue expanding over time, and as new technologies enable easier access to older media, Fandom, the Next Generation offers a necessary investigation into transgenerational fandoms and intergenerational fan relationships.
“Utilizing a range of methodological approaches, Kies and Connor have assembled a collection of essays that are brimming with original data to explore the importance of the often-overlooked axis of intergenerationality to the ongoing construction and performance of fan identities. Through analysis of fans of a range of media franchises that span expected cult properties such as Star Wars and Sherlock to previously unconsidered texts like Jem and the Holograms and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., diverse topics including nostalgia, technology’s impact on consumption habits, and reboot or legacy media arise. Central to all of these essays is the concept of identity—both individual and collective—and how gerontological issues are deeply intertwined with other aspects of fandom’s intersectional identity politics. The essays in this collection thus initiate important debates that will hopefully frame fan studies for generations to come.”—Ross Garner, Cardiff University
“Fandom, the Next Generation investigates how fandom persists over time, whether in one person, transmitted intergenerationally, or around reboots or new content. With case studies from sci-fi to celebrity culture to novels, from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, the book provides a rich variety of approaches to an under-studied topic.”—Mel Stanfill, author, Exploiting Fandom: How the Media Industry Seeks to Manipulate Fans
Maria Alberto, University of Utah
Mélanie Bourdaa, University of Bordeaux Montaigne
Meredith Dabek, Maynooth University
Simone Driessen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Yektanurşin Duyan, Mardin Artuklu University
Dan Golding, Swinburne University of Technology
Bethan Jones, Aberdale, Wales
Siobhan Lyons, Sydney, New South Wales
L. N. Rosales, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Andrew Scahill, University of Colorado, Denver
Janelle Vermaak-Griessel, Nelson Mandela University
Cynthia W. Walker, St. Peter’s University
Dawn Walls-Thumma, Coventry, Vermont
Neta Yodovich, University of Haifa
