Oh Well: Fandoms aren’t enjoyable anymore

My X notifications have been flooding since redownloading the app. The quantity of fan pages I devoted my time to interacting with was stunning, till I noticed all of the reposts of latest superstar sightings or inside jokes. As I rolled my eyes, I spotted being part of a fandom isn’t enjoyable anymore. 

This distaste for fandoms has appeared largely in Taylor Swift’s “Swiftie” tradition. An ex-fan, person @kikiandhercat, shared on Reddit about precisely why they don’t work together with Swift’s model. 

“She claims to hate the insane parasocial relationships that many of her fans have with her, but she enables it so heavily,” they wrote. “The line has been irreversibly blurred between Taylor Swift the person and Taylor Swift the brand. She’s become this larger-than-life, untouchable, uncancelable force that could never be threatened.”

It appears celebrities are impersonal in comparison with what they was. Swift was praised for the dynamic she constructed with followers, however she hasn’t gone above and past since her final “Secret Session” in 2019, when she would invite followers to take heed to her album earlier than launch. 

It is frequent for followers to go away fandoms as soon as the canon, or unique content material, has ended. In a Swiftie’s case, it’s toxicity and the criminalization of criticizing Swift. For different fandoms, it is so simple as the story ending. Possibly, the tip of a e book sequence or the sequence finale airing causes most followers to maneuver on. Some followers even depart due to main plot developments that trigger unhappiness, much like how followers really feel towards Swift. 

Lack of content material and satisfaction aren’t the one causes followers depart fandoms. Another purpose is overconsumption of overlapping tasks. This is named fandom burnout, the place followers are mentally exhausted from the amount of content material or the route of content material. It has been seen in franchises like Detective Comics, Marvel and Star Wars. 

In 2025, DC rebooted its cinematic universe with James Gunn’s “Superman,” which had blended evaluations at first due to the devotion to Zack Snyder’s run with the DC cinematic universe. However, evaluations of Gunn’s Superman have been constructive, because it proved what folks loved concerning the iconic superhero. 

Even with exhaustion from the amount of content material, it takes one film to shift the course and produce hope to followers. In the case of “Superman,” it introduced new followers to learn comics. However, fandoms nonetheless really feel empty, as in the event that they aren’t driving tradition anymore. 

Navin Chetty wrote in an article on Medium about how popular culture has misplaced its character. Chetty says that though the 2010s birthed “cringe,” it was a transition for millennials to flee their childhood and develop into adults, which precipitated tradition to show “corporate.” 

Now, it appears tradition and identification are cringe. People are afraid to criticize celebrities or else they are going to be criticized. People are afraid to make waves as a result of their digital footprint lasts perpetually. 

Fandoms are supposed to be enjoyable. We are supposed to be middle-school-level obsessive about “Off Campus,” Olivia Rodrigo or “Dancing With The Stars.” We don’t need to carry out in our fandoms like we’re destined to work for the model we love.

The repair to reviving fandoms so they’re enjoyable once more appears to be constructed on being open-minded and caring much less about folks’s perceptions of you. Write dangerous fanfiction or share your opinions with out the worry of being attacked. Oh nicely, I’d draw fanart later. 

Cassidy McClurg is a junior learning journalism at Ohio University. Please observe the opinions expressed on this column don’t characterize these of The Post. Want to speak to Cassidy about their column? Email [email protected]