How Boy Throb and Its Fandom Got Famous—and Got a Visa
Was the boy band’s fame a result of Darshan Magdum’s visa, or was his visa a result of the boy band's fame? Yes.
Latest
Special Episode 39: The Vampire Lestat
“Congratulations for your historical proximity to me.”
Inside The Vampire Lestat’s Brilliant Production Design
Blood farms and custom guitars: TVL production designer Andres Cubillan shares insights into the season’s most memorable setpieces.
The Bachelor and the Fantasy of Performance
In Here for All the Reasons: Why We Watch The Bachelor, Ilana Masad imagines competing on the show, imaginary straightness and all.
What Spider-Man Can’t Save
In which our hero contemplates a career writing about superheroes and pop culture—and imagines an ending.
Special Episode 38: The Odyssey
“Wet and normal”—just two of many descriptors for Christopher Nolan’s epic.
African K-Pop Fans Are Building Their Own Spaces
While the K-pop industry largely ignores them, fans in Kenya and Nigeria create K-pop communities for themselves.
The Vampire Lestat: The Long Table
In episode 7, “The Failures,” Louis has a gruesome reunion with Armand, while Lestat faces judgment from specters of his past.
How Fans Make Fictional Languages Real
Na’vi, Klingon, and other conlangs get more use IRL than they ever have onscreen.
The Vampire Lestat: Sparing the Ambiguity
In episode 6, “Montreal,” Louis and Lestat share a tumultuous night ahead of Lestat’s farewell show.
Heated Rivalry is at the Center of Fanfic’s AI Reckoning
A controversial anonymous document exposing Claude remnants in fics has collided with a fandom culture of production at hyper-speed.
The Vampire Lestat: The Queen of the Damned
In episode 5, “New York,” Lestat strips back his rock-star facade and confronts his memories of Akasha.
Criticism
Be Gay, Do (Sea) Crimes: Pirate Tropes and Queer Resistance
As Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, pirate stories thrive on “all the old romance, retold exactly in the ancient way.”
Recaps
The Vampire Lestat: Hurtling Towards End Times
In episode 4, “The Devil’s Road,” Lestat’s reality begins to fracture as Armand returns with portents of doom.
Special Episodes
Special Episode 37: The Fruitful Void
Exploring the intersections of TTRPGs, fannish roleplaying, and fanfiction.
Features
The Global Crackdown on Creativity
Governments around the world are censoring—and criminalizing—the currents in which fanworks flow.
Recaps
The Vampire Lestat: You Have to Ask for It
In episode 3, “Toronto,” the show takes bold creative swings as Lestat tries (and fails) to rewrite his own sexual trauma.
Features
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dragons
Working in the Game of Thrones content mines killed my fannish feelings for the franchise. Here’s how I got them back.
Recaps
The Vampire Lestat: The Oedipiphany
In episode 2, “Toledo,” Gabriella stars in a Freudian trip down memory lane, pairing flashbacks to Lestat’s youth with a sleazy mother/son date in Ohio.
Criticism
Drake and His Fans vs the World
The chart-topping album Iceman has broken records—and done little to quell ongoing criticisms of the artist. Where does that leave his fandom?
Recaps
The Vampire Lestat: Sex, Drugs, and Unstable Narrators
In episode 1, “Detroit,” Sam Reid reintroduces Lestat as a messy, self-destructive rock star—and proves he was born to play this role.
Criticism
The Limits of Fan Service in Thailand’s Vibrant GL Genre
Thai “Girls Love” thrives on real-life star pairings—for better and for worse.
Criticism
Too Big To Fail (On Television)
TV’s structure was perfect for tech’s failure narratives—but as Silicon Valley embraces a post-failure mindset, will audiences still tune in?
Criticism
Good Omens’ Final Love Letter to Fanfiction
The author is dead. Long live the authors.