Undoubtedly, most of us are a fan of something and so do i. In terms of celebrities, i am a huge fan of Jackie Chan and Benedict Cumberbatch and whereas in terms of TV drama, i am a huge die-hard fan of âHow I Met Your Motherâ and âSherlockâ. Besides outlining the definition of Fandom, its pros and cons and my concluding sentence, i will share with everyone about my experience being a fan of those mentioned celebrities and TV drama.
I believe most of us know who is Jackie Chan although some 00â˛s might not familiar with him since i am a 90â˛s who grew up watching Jackie Chanâs filmography. Although Jackie Chanâs film is predominantly Cantonese-spoken, the funny fact is that the first Jackie Chanâs movie i watched was âRush Hourâ, one of the movies that made him successful in the US market and was English-spoken. Well, i dare to say i have watched almost 90% of his filmography although i outgrew him ever since Benedict Cumberbatch toppled up my idol list.
 Furthermore, despite Jackie Chan has gained in huge popularity worldwide for almost half century, one of the incidents about fandom that had traumatized him was that 2 Japanese girls who appeared to be his die-hard fans committed suicide by running towards the railway and getting hit by train as soon as they knew that Jackie Chan was married and during the 80â˛s, there was a group of Japanese girls forming a fan club entitled âStay Single For Jackieâ. Whaaatt!!!.
Since then, Jackie Chan settled down his wife and child in the US to prevent those paparazzo from pestering his personal life.
Yeap, because of him i had to outgrow my childhood idol, Jackie Chan. To be honest, i seldom watch any movies starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the only reason why i knew him was âSherlockâ season 1. It was exactly 10 years ago when i was still a wimpy pupil awaiting to take UPSR and Netflix did not even exist then, my cousin bought me a âSherlockâ season 1 DVD from the UK during his typical European summer break and since then, i was obsessed with English culture and started to work hard on my English language and now, i am proud to say that i am able to watch any English sitcoms and movies without referring to subtitles and sarcastically, i still rely on English subtitle whenever i watch dramas and movies since i need to learn some specific phrases (Crime, fiction and documentary) and even American and British slangs. Therefore, instead of my English teacher, Benedict Cumberbatch was a motivator for me to learn English.Â
One of my favorite US sitcoms that helps me to improve my English and frankly speaking, i watched it only because of Cobie Smulders but gradually, i fell in love with this sitcom. This sitcom basically depicts the life of a bunch of adults who met each other in New York and soon they all became good friends and some among them became an engaged couple (Lily and Marshall) and even ex-couple (Ted and Robin), followed by each episode has different story plot which has interconnection to others and basically reflects upon our life journey (From unknown to known, followed by outgrow and meet new things). That is how our life should be: Live at the moment, accept the unknown, let bygone be bygone and embrace the future.
Once again, i watched it only because of Benedict Cumberbatch. Well, basically this television series is quite derailed from the original novel. I have a whole set of Sherlock Holmes novel as my collection but now i can barely even remember the story of every series. Sorry earthlings, for the whole series of 4 (television series) i cant make sense of the association between each episode since it is too hard to fathom (scientific and psychological). Under my impression, i know that Jim Moriaty was the final big boss (villain) of the whole series, every series revolves around the rivalry between Sherlock and Jim Moriaty. Too hard to digest the story plot.
Definition of fandom  (Jenkin et al. 2009; cited in Grinnell College n.d.)
Fandom is a term which describes communities built around a shared enjoyment of an aspect of popular culture, such as books, movies, TV shows, bands, sports or sports teams, etc. Fandom is an example of participatory cultures. Participatory cultures involve fans acting not only as consumers but also as producers and creators of some form of creative media. Though most fan cultures, including sports fans and fans of music groups, have elements of participatory culture, media fandom in particular encourages creative expression and artistic production by its participants.
A participatory culture more specifically as one that consists of:
Relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
Strong support for creating and sharing oneâs creations with others
Some type of informal mentorship in which the most experienced members pass along their knowledge to novices
Members who believe their contributions matter
Members who feel some degree of social connection with one another and care about other membersâ opinions about their contributions.
pros of fandom:Â Â (Environmental-Conscience n.d.)
You learn to deal with emotional highs and lows
Fandom is a great way to learn how to deal with emotional swings. Since you will experience many losses and wins, you will be on an emotional rollercoaster once in a while and through those experiences, chances are that you will also be able to deal with your emotions in a much easier way.
Controlling our emotions is not only important for fandom, it is crucial in various parts of our life and therefore, being a fan can also indirectly help you to succeed in life in general.
One important upside of being a fan is that you can experience a real sense of community. If you are in a sports stadium or at a concert of your favorite band, you will have many people around you that have similar interests and you can really feel like a valued member of a group.
Especially if you are a rather shy person who has difficulties to connect to other people, fandom can give you the opportunity to hang out with other people who will accept you as who you actually are.
Fandom gives you the opportunity to hang out with like-minded people
Another advantage of being a fan is that you will often hang out with like-minded people who have quite similar interests and attitudes towards life. In fact, if you join a fan club, chances are that you will be able to make really good friends over time, which may even last for a lifetime. Hence, if you currently looking to make new friends, chances are that fandom may give you a great opportunity to do so.
Cons of fandom:Â Â Â Â Â (Environmental-Conscience n.d.)
Being a fan can be exhausting
Apart from the many advantages of being a fan, it can also have serious downsides. One disadvantage of being a fan is that it can become quite exhausting in the long run. You will live through many highs and lows and some people are simply not able to deal with those emotional swings. Moreover, driving to away games on a regular basis can be quite demanding and can cost you quite a lot of time and money.
Fandom can lead to conflicts among family and friends
In extreme cases, fandom can even lead to conflicts between family members or friends. If your friends support different clubs, chances are that there will be conflicts sooner or later since everyone thinks his or her club is the best. In the worst case, friendships may even cease to exist due to rivalries related to fandom.
In our current state of the world, information can be spread on social media by everyone of us. Unfortunately, those channels are also used by people who actively try to hate against members of other fan clubs or players from other teams. In fact, many comments on social media are quite insulting and you may become victim to those haters yourself if you are not careful.
Fandom is a polarizing topic to argue since it has a mixture of pros and cons. Practicing a good fandom can bring benefits to our life in terms of emotional association and in pursuit of happiness. However, toxic fandom can lead to severe aftermaths such as distress, social security problem and extremism. In my opinion, fandom can be indulged but not to be immersed.Â
Grinnell College n.d., FANDOM AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE, Grinnell College,viewed 11 November 2020,
<https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/>.
Environmental-Conscience n.d., Pros and Cons of Being a Fan, Environmental-Conscience, viewed 11 November 2020,
<https://environmental-conscience.com/being-a-fan-pros-cons/>