Abstract
With the maturation of fan studies as a field, longitudinal approaches to fandom across time have been gaining more attention. Both the ageing of participants within fandoms and the ageing of fandoms as collectives have been topics for study. Popular music fandoms are particularly relevant for such studies, due to the strong connections between music and memory that often endure over years. This article investigates the negotiation of subcultural capital in one ageing music fandom, grounded in enduring and long-term experience of older participants, as it is held in tension with the construction of a cross-generational ‘we-sense’, which includes younger and less experienced participants. The fan forum under study is the subreddit r/falloutboy, which was selected as a stable archive dating back over a decade; as well as the applicability of a band fandom that has enjoyed varying degrees of popularity of over twenty years. I argue that fans in this this ageing fandom, on the one hand, remain invested in a sense of distinction based in age and enduring fandom and on the other hand recognize the need for change and adaptability for any fandom to survive, including an influx of new and young members.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 179 - 199 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | The Journal of Fandom Studies |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 2-3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2024 |
Bibliographical note
© Fathallah, JM 2024. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in The Journal of Fandom Studies, vol. 12, no. 2-3, pp. 179 – 199, 2024. https://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00098_1Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.
Keywords
- distinction
- fan generations
- life course
- memory
- music
- subcultural capital