ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on an earlier project in which they introduced insights from gerontology—the interdisciplinary study of age and aging—into fan studies. Fandom in youth and adolescence has received considerable attention over the years from industries and scholars alike, reflecting both the profit potential of the youth market and long-held associations between fan practices and childhood development. Physiological changes associated with later life phases—such as changes in physical stamina, sexual arousal patterns, and physical appearance—are only being explored in fan studies. Life course scholars are interested in the social and historical changes that impact a particular generation at a particular point in time and shape the ways that "members of that generation make sense of a presently remembered past, experienced present, and anticipated future". The life course is conceptualized within this framework via general patterns of stability and transition rather than evolutionary or hierarchical stages.
