Features
Bridgerton and Period Drama Fandom’s Enduring Racism Problem
Complaints about historical accuracy and acting quality are often dog-whistles: some fans only want to see white actors—and white history—on screen.
Features
Reporting, interviews, and more
Features
The War That Almost Broke a Classic Fandom
Blake’s 7 fans and actors mixed regularly at cons and on the pages of zines—until an anonymous letter changed everything.
Features
Bringing Fanfiction Into the Classroom
Fic does something that my traditional English classes cannot: it places the power in the hands of the student.
Features
The Beatles Live!
New generations of fans are cultural archaeologists, working with the materials of the past to create the passion of the present.
Features
The Scream Fandom’s Enduring Divide
Nearly a year after star Melissa Barrera was fired for pro-Palestinian social media posts, fans remain torn over the future of the franchise.
Features
The Traumatized Gatekeepers of Broadway
Theatre fans measure their passion by nitpicking. Does it do the industry more harm than good?
Features
The Yellow Balloon Movement
Within jam band fandoms often dominated by substance use, clean and sober fans are building their own communities.
Features
The Pain Fandom
How whump—one of fandom’s oldest and most divisive genres—gained a fanbase of its own.
Surveys
The Fic and the Source Material
Do you need to know the canon to read the fic? Breaking down the preferences of the 6,744 people who responded to our most recent mini-survey.
Features
The Ever-Mutating Life of Tumblr Dot Com
Reports of the platform’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Features
You Did the Thing
A conversation with Gretchen McCulloch about the language of fandom.
Features
Shipping Survey: Methodology and Tools
Commas, smushed ship names, and one long-suffering data professional.