ABSTRACT
To study media fandom is, as its core, to study the relationship between people and media: what people do with media, how they consume it, the role it plays in their lives. Studies of fans, particularly early ones, documented a relationship between fans and their media that was unusually close and symbiotic, blurring and troubling boundaries between consumption and production. The most visible activities associated with media fandom are productive practices in which fans create new content and meaning that incorporates or expands upon the source text. Media fandom is a continuum of forms of engagement, both individual and social. However, the means for this engagement are not necessarily a given. In order to fully participate in media fandom, particularly on an interpersonal level, fans must possess certain competencies. Each fan community will have their own particular set of values and moralities that may or may not overlap significantly with other fandoms.
