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Key points
- The power of fans shaped popular culture in 2023, from Taylor Swift (and Travis Kelce) to Barbenheimer.
- Fans are loyal to old favorites, ensuring the continued success of "Star Trek," "Star Wars," "Hunger Games."
- Surprisingly, fans of sci fi, music, and sports all find similar benefits from fandom, such as belongingness.
- Being part of any fandom helps us get through stressful times, with community, relaxation — and fun!
Fandom was BIG in 2023.
Not only were people more comfortable than ever identifying as fans, but fandom was a motivating factor driving everything from movie reboots to football game attendance. Here are five moments last year that demonstrated the powerful impact of fans, and show why fandom can be good for all of us.
Long-Lasting Love Affairs
If you’ve ever questioned the lasting influence of fans, Star Trek fandom should convince you that once fans decide they’re passionate about something, that passion can last for a lifetime — and be passed on to the next generation too. (Yes, that’s a Star Trek reference). An actor I’ve known for many years, the talented Todd Stashwick, became part of the Trek franchise last year with a role on one of the current Trek series, Star Trek Picard. He posted on social media yesterday that his Star Trek posts were by far the most popular. Star Trek’s lasting success is a testament to the power of fandom. There have been more than ten Trek series, spanning more than five decades, and that doesn’t even count the movies!
We can’t talk about Star Trek fandom without talking about Star Wars fandom, another long-standing passion for many people that continued its popularity with fans old and new. Disney broadcast the new Star Wars series Ahsoka last year, and at its most popular, fourteen million viewers tuned in across the globe. The Fandom wiki lists Star Wars fandom as the largest fandom in 2023, adding new fans to its large and diverse community with new content consistently over the years, including The Mandalorian. Interest clearly hasn’t waned; this year I was a guest on a brand new podcast devoted to Star Wars in its many incarnations.
Other fan favorite franchises also demonstrated their staying power last year. A new Hunger Games movie premiered that’s a prequel to the films that began in 2012.
Fans of the original books and films were joined by new fans who discovered the fictional universe either on Netflix or in numerous fancams on Tiktok, leading to what the Daily Dot called a Hunger Games renaissance. Not only have the characters remained popular, but the dystopian themes resonate as much or more than they did when the first book was published in 2008.
One of the reasons that revisiting things we've loved in the past feels so good is nostalgia. Through the process of mental transportation, fans connect their past and present selves, resulting in a sense of continuity and greater meaning in life. This acts as a buffer against anxiety about mortality and existential threats, and is associated with higher self-esteem, optimism and well-being.
The Power of Fandom
The power of fans extends to new media also. Theatrical film releases have struggled for success recently, but when fans’ passion is captured by a film — or two — their enthusiasm can turn a movie premiere into a cultural event. That happened last year with the premiere of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same weekend. Fans turned the releases into an unlikely double feature, dubbing it “Barbenheimer” and creating long lines at the box office for people determined to see both films on the same day. CNN pronounced the phenomenon one of 2023’s defining pop culture moments, proving that capturing fans’ collective attention is the best way to “go viral.”
Fans showed their influence in every realm in 2023, including music. CNN also named Beyonce’s “Renaissance” tour and Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour as defining pop culture moments. Swift’s fandom continued to grow worldwide almost two decades after her first album release — she was even named Person of the Year by Time Magazine. Her long-time fans undoubtedly gave some I-told-you-so nods to people who wanted to see what all the fuss was about when her Eras concert tour became wildly popular. If you couldn’t get to a concert hall, you could still celebrate being a Swiftie — you could go see the movie made of the shows. Swift was so popular in 2023 that I was asked more than once to comment on whether she was in danger of being overexposed — but so far, fans have remained loyal and welcomed new fans to their ranks.
As if new music and a movie weren’t enough, Swift’s popularity also benefited from her very public romance with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. For the most part, fans have been elated at glimpses of the couple, applauding Swift changing the lyrics of a song to reference Kelce when he came to her concert and Taylor cheering for the Chiefs at his games. A real life love story adds another layer for fans to invest in a parasocial relationship with both celebrities.
Parasocial relationships, which are uniquely one-way relationships between fans and celebrities, were once pathologized. However, it turns out that fans are well aware that the relationships are not reciprocal, but enjoy the feeling of connection with someone they admire as well as the connection they find with other fans. That sense of belongingness and acceptance also bolsters self-esteem and reduces stress and loneliness.
For Taylor and Travis fans, 2023 was a great year, with Kelce coming off a Super Bowl win and Swift's record and concert sales soaring. Research shows that fans experience a sense of vicarious achievement when whoever they're a fan of is successful, adding to the psychological benefits of fandom.
No Matter What You’re A Fan Of, Enjoy It!
You might think that sci fi, music and sports fandom must be very different, but in fact fandom is fandom. Fans are fans, whether they’re passionate about Luke Skywalker, Katniss, Taylor Swift or the Chiefs.
Engaging in fandom, whether that means going to a concert or a football game or the new Hunger Games movie premiere, brings fans together — and that feels good. The feeling of belongingness can happen online too, whether it’s joining in the Barbenheimer memes or fanfiction for Taylor and Travis (is it Traylor? Swelce?) or deep discussion of Star Trek Picard’s continuation of Gene Rodenberry’s vision. We all need to find “our people” and many individuals find that in fandom.
Being a fan is also a powerful method of self-care – fandom is a form of leisure and play, offering a temporary respite from everyday stressors and a way to relax, unwind and simply have fun. That might be going to a concert or a film or a game, but it also might be meeting up with friends online to play Dungeons and Dragons or have a watch party for a favorite episode of a beloved television show.
So enjoy your fandoms, whatever they are. Fans were a force to be reckoned with in 2023 – and no doubt will be just as instrumental in shaping the popular culture landscape in 2024!
References
Deshler, K. (2023). With the Hunger Games renaissance, fans are making dystopia cool again. The Daily Dot. https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/fandom/hunger-games-renaissance/
Andrew, S. & Asmelash, L. (2023) Taylor Swift, Beyonce and celeb divorces: 2023’s defining pop culture moments. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/30/entertainment/pop-culture-year-in-review-2023-cec/
Hepper, E. G., & Dennis, A. (2023). From rosy past to happy and flourishing present: Nostalgia as a resource for hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Current Opinion in Psychology, 49, 101547
Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2018). Finding Meaning in Nostalgia. Review of General Psychology, 22(1), 48–61.
Wann, D., Hackathorn J., & Sherman, M. (2017) Testing the team identification-social psychological health model: Mediational relationships among team identification, sport fandom, sense of belonging, and meaning in life. Group Dynamics: Theory Research Practice, 21:94.
