The Dominance of Fan Videos
Fan vids, or rather fan videos are not a new form of fandom activity. However, thanks to massive advances in technology, it’s way easier. In theory, anyone can just hit record on their laptop or on a smart phone, and then upload it online for other fans around the world to see. There is more to it then that, and technical skills required, but it’s still an extremely accessible way for fans to interact – both for creators and for other fans consuming the vids. The result? Fan vids are one of the dominant mediums for fandom.
Due mainly to YouTube, there are fan videos for basically every conceivable type of fandom activity, even ones you wouldn’t thing lend themselves well to a visual media. I’ve seen videos where people show the creation of fan art – sketches of different characters from a TV show. I’ve also seen fan art music videos – namely, an animated, fan created video to accompany a song they like. Mostly I’ve seen this with songs from Hamilton (a huge object of fandom and arguably a work of fan fiction in it of itself), but I’m sure there are more.
There are also video versions of fanfiction, including the actual rewriting of stories, a fix-it piece of fan fiction. For example, there is a YouTube channel called “How This Should Have Ended.” The creators, like many fanfiction writers, rewrite the objects of their fandom to accord to their own wishes. The best one I’ve seen is the “What if the Star Wars Prequels Were Good?” Series. The creator, who is clearly a huge Star Wars fan, created a series of videos “fixing” Star Wars Episodes 1-3. The videos are not only great, but they build on each other, so the creator’s version of Episode 2 takes into account everything he changed about Episode 1. Just as movies are fiction, videos like this are fan fiction.
Another form of fanfiction videos are shipping vids. These are, in my experience at least, are typically music videos implying a relationship between different characters via spliced together clips set to a specific song.
There are also music fan-vids that use a song to elucidate or emphasize themes in the story itself, including canon relationships. These are similar to shipping vids but they are different because they are limited to the actual official canon. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan video, “Coin Operated Boy” is an excellent example of this as it uses the song and video clips to make commentary about Buffy’s relationships throughout the course of the show.
Another major, arguably dominate, kind of fan vid is the theory vid. These are videos made by fan creators creating and discussing various theories about a given work. These theories can be silly or serious; trying to explain plot inconsistencies or predict what will happen next in a series. They cover everything possible, and the most popular fan culture/metafan creators I’ve seen on YouTube have done a significant amount of theorizing.
But of course, fandom and thus fan videos are far from exclusive to nerd culture, even if that subculture gets the most visibility. Other genres of fandom, music/musicians, musicals (like the aforementioned Hamilton), and sports all also get fan videos. My absolute favorite fan vid is from 2010 and is sports related – the Giants 2010 Don’t Stop Believing Anthem. And it literally starts with the line “Just a loyal fan, trying to do the best they can.” Also, it is completely amazing.
Fan vids can also encompass the same things as traditional media for an object of fandom, such as reviews, recaps of movies/episodes, and commentary about different aspects of a work, or putting them in context. All of these are things traditional media has done, and continue to do – there is a reason sports get an entire section in the newspaper – but fans will do them as well.
Historically, fandom has largely either been either written – from theories debated in internet forums to fanfiction novels – or performative – going to conventions, games, or midnight film or book releases. I definitely went to midnight release parties for Harry Potter books 4-7. But over the past decade, YouTube and individual content creators have exploded as a major source of culture, music, and entertainment. This in turn has led to a fan video explosion. Any kind of fan video you could imagine, for anything you could possibly be a fan of, is now easily accessible on a platform you are likely already using on a daily basis. Fan creators may have extremely popular YouTube channels, with literally millions of subscribers. At the end of the day, the fan vid might be the most mode of expression for fandom today.
