Meta on fandom

[sakura_no_miko]

Well, this is certainly a title:

The Science of Stanning and Why You Want Your Fave to Run You Over With a Bus

Alas, strong fan reactions have historically been relegated as a phenomenon unique to manic teenage girls, from Beatlemania to the boy band craze of the late 1990s. “A lot of this has to do with the fear of female sexuality, that we are uncomfortable when teenage girls are acting out and talking about sexual things with celebrities,” says Booth.

Yet, fans of more “masculine” media, like professional sports, still exhibit outward displays of emotion when it comes to their devotions. (Take both the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Cavaliers fans who ate horse feces when their teams won respective championships.) “We know that sport fans don’t act rationally in so many regards,” says Greg Greenhalgh, Ph.D., associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. In a 2015 study, Greenhalgh and his research team found that fans who reported high emotional investment in a team placed more (and more irrational) value on the team's success, meaning “that your emotional attachment is what’s going to end up leading to your level of fan identification… how much in your personal identity is wrapped up in being a fan,” Greenhalgh continues. “Once you get to a certain level, fans try to outdo certain fans: I’d eat horse poop to show you what a great fan I am.”