AMST 3680: Fan Studies

3 Credit Hours

This interdisciplinary course explores the culture and societal impact of participatory media audiences, commonly known as “fans.” Drawn from the word “fanatic,” the fan has often been cast in a negative light, but fans are also integral to media marketing and are increasingly prominent in popular culture. From Beatlemania to the Big Bang Theory, fans are not only consumers, but also the subjects of representation in popular media. As a result of this increasing media influence, there is now a considerable body of scholarly literature on the worlds of fans or “fandom.” In this course, students engage with a selection of classic and contemporary works in fan studies from a variety of academic disciplines, applying concepts and methods learned in the course to the study of specific fan cultures in order to understand the impact of fandom on culture and society.

Course Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

Apply academic concepts to research on fan cultures.
Interpret past and contemporary scholarly sources about a variety of fandoms.
Explore scholarly literature on the relationship between fandom and digital media platforms.
Practice academic research methods for the study of fan cultures.
Communicate effectively about fan cultures in written, video, and audio formats.
Analyze the impact of fandom on culture and society.