Whether it is football fans in England protesting ticket prices or Black fans of the NFL demanding that their city leaders embrace professional sports teams, fan activism draws on a broad range of core concepts. The essays in this special issue explore the simultaneously transnational and local dimensions of such efforts, with a particular focus on how these movements leverage popular culture as a public engagement keystone.
For example, Ashley Hinck considers the Harry Potter Alliance, an activist group that uses the fictional world of Hogwarts to help revitalize public discourse around issues ranging from Darfur to the economic injustices of global capitalism. She shows how the HPA draws on core ideas from the literatures on social movements and the public sphere to construct a narrative that enables them to mobilize supporters.
Meanwhile, Tom Phillips argues that while the popularity of certain filmmakers such as Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) may influence which issues they encourage their followers to support, they are not necessarily effective at generating the enthusiasm and cohesion necessary for sustained protest. Phillips demonstrates that his research on the unsuccessful attempt by Smith to get his fans to write letters to Southwest Airlines about the airline’s policy on overweight passengers illustrates this point.
Other essays in this special issue examine how fan activists use popular cultural images to inspire their activism, often drawing on blockbuster franchises such as Star Wars and the Marvel Comics universe. Jon Gray explains how such images proliferate during labor rights protests in Madison, Wisconsin, because they offer a common reference point that binds together diverse participants in the movement.