In 2024, Fandom Conquered the World

On September 28, Bowen Yang carried out one among 2024’s most resonant items of political theater whereas dressed as a pygmy hippo.

Yang was behind the desk on Saturday Night time Reside’s “Weekend Replace” section, dressed like Moo Deng, who on the time the present aired was the web’s present fave. What he was saying, although, sounded extra like feedback by pop star Chappell Roan, who’d lately taken to social media to ask followers to be extra respectful about approaching her in public or saying inappropriate issues to her on-line. “Don’t yell my identify, or count on a photograph, simply because I’m your parasocial bestie, or since you admire my expertise,” Yang stated, encased in a rubbery Moo Deng costume.

The bit was performed for laughs, however in 2024, the actions of followers—to one another, to the folks they’re followers of, to the world at massive—entered an entire new part. Greater than half a century after John Lennon noticed that the Beatles have been extra in style than Jesus, fandom, fueled by ever-churning social media platforms, has taken on a form past spiritual furor.

In the course of the US election, it was evident in the manosphere and MAGA hats. Additionally, in Vice President Kamala Harris’ embrace of the “brat” ethos. In popular culture, it was Taylor Swift stan accounts leaving X for Bluesky over frustrations with Elon Musk’s involvement in president-elect Donald Trump’s marketing campaign. It was additionally the return of Gamergate, manifesting in an entire new harassment marketing campaign towards range and inclusion efforts in online game improvement. It was Kendrick Lamar turning his beef with Drake right into a group occasion in Los Angeles.

Throughout mediums and pursuits, being a fan of somebody or one thing didn’t simply imply shopping for a T-shirt or a film ticket, it meant selecting a facet.

Superfans, Supersized

In keeping with Simone Driessen, an assistant professor of media and in style tradition at Erasmus College Rotterdam, 2024, greater than something, marks one other 12 months by which folks acknowledge, and even reconcile with, the truth that followers have actual energy.

“The MAGA second, for me, has its roots in the January 6 moment. It was nearly as in the event that they have been cosplaying a coup—however it was very actual and with very actual penalties,” she says. “Brat summer season, Swifties for Harris—they’re attests, to me, of how these fannish expertise one builds by being a fan (from looking Easter eggs to making a group) will also be politically precious.”

Proof of that is all over the place. As my colleague Makena Kelly wrote this 12 months, 2024’s marketing campaign cycle was the influencer election. Individuals with cameras, microphones, and huge followings turned, she wrote, “tastemakers, meme sharers, video creators, and organizers; in addition they wield important energy in the case of encouraging their followers to vote.” Individuals like Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and conservative YouTuber Ben Shapiro had the facility to have an effect on what occurred on the polls. Whether or not or not a candidate did Joe Rogan’s podcast turned headline-making information. (Trump did; Harris didn’t.)