ABSTRACT
Studies of fandom are part of a broader history of research on film spectators and the cinema (see Janet Staiger’s piece on Reception Studies in this volume). At the same time, they represent a break from film studies traditions. “Fandom” is a term strongly linked with “fan studies,” a line of research that emerged in the 1980s and 90s. Fan studies strategically moved away from the term “spectator” and many of the conceptions of spectatorship that were dominating film studies during this period. The research addressed in this chapterfeminist analyses of fandom-represents both a response to film theory prior to the 1980s, and a continuation of the work already being done by feminist film scholars of this period. Despite the complex relationship between spectatorship and fandom, the history of fan studies-and of feminist studies of fandom-is dependent on a legacy of feminist film studies scholarship. In the 1960s and 70s, apparatus and psychoanalytic theory were popular theoretical
frameworks in film studies. These approaches tended to see film spectators as a collection of individual psyches-minds that the film apparatus positions in a particular way. This view of cinema holds that film’s technologies, formal and aesthetic codes, and systems of production/reception hold spectators within specific ideological perspectives and privilege certain views of the world. While informed by this framing of spectatorship, many feminist scholars also found it limiting. Analyzing film through a psychoanalytic lens helped reveal the ways in which classical Hollywood cinema privileges a white, heterosexual, and male gaze (Mulvey 1975). However, there were numerous spectators who were not white, male, or heterosexual. Jackie Stacey argues that: “an implicit textual determinism defines assumptions about spectatorship. … the term spectator implies a unified viewing experience, and its usage carries with it a very passivemodel of how audiences watch films” (Stacey 2011: 646). Sharing these concerns, many feminist scholars began approaching spectatorship from additional angles (e.g. genre, target markets, television viewing habits) and blending textual analysis with more empirical research methods. Many film scholars also found themselves studying a broader range of media and production environments (e.g. film, television, and print). Annette Kuhn’s “Women’s Genres” (1984) is a useful starting point for anyone who
wants to understand this history. Kuhn outlines two ways of conceptualizing audiences: as spectators and as social audiences. Due to the different ways film and television technologies
organize audiences and shape narratives, Kuhn argues that film and television scholars tend to study spectators differently. Kuhn organizes these approaches on a spectrum, with one end emphasizing text and the ways the text positions the viewer (spectatorship/film studies) and, at the other end, context and the social/industrial circumstances informing reception (social audiences/television studies). For many feminist media scholars, the 1980s were marked by a move away from the study
of spectatorship, or at least spectatorship as it had been understood prior to this period. Many scholars increased their focus on cultural contexts, systems of representation, and the structuring of identities and ideologies across media. There were also broader moves to research various production and reception contexts, incorporate trans-media analyses, and to study audiences using empirical research methods. In the process, one of the audience groups these scholars turned to was fans. The interest in viewing contexts, the influence of television studies, and the focus on
the social is evident in fan studies scholarship. Corresponding with Kuhn’s binaries of spectatorship/film studies and social audience/TV studies, a great deal of the research on fandom has been connected to television texts and audiences rather than film. However, all forms of research come with their own limits and affordances. Wherever their work falls on the spectator/social audience spectrum, it is critical that feminist fan scholars consider how their approach to research will shape their questions, methods, and findings.
