By: Courtney Elisech
The Delta Collegiate would like to introduce a new recurring column exploring the many fandoms people immerse themselves in. Fandoms provide a place for fans to obsess about the same thing with like-minded people spread across the globe.
What is a fandom you ask? According to Mark Duffet with Bloomsbury Publishing, it is a community of fans who share a connection based on a common interest and feelings toward a subject. Fandoms are often formed around pop music icons, romance novels, comics, sports, films, and television shows. All things that one may hold near and dear but that are dismissed from the dominant value system.
A fandom gives fans a place to express themselves and show their love for the subject, it provides a safe place for their imagination to roam. To debut the random fandom collections please turn your attention to Taylor Swift.
The Swiftie fandom is thriving as Taylor Swift dropped a trailer for the cinematic experience of her ongoing concert tour the morning of Aug. 31. Moments after the trailer was released visitors to the AMC movie theater website waited in a queue to purchase tickets. Seats were selling out faster than fans could get through the checkout process.
Prior to this announcement Swift spent the past year traveling the US and Mexico as part of her Era’s tour. Fans spent the better part of the year engaged in the great war with Ticketmaster to obtain tickets to the shows. Many spent hours and thousands of dollars just to see the star perform. Some even signed up to work the events as security and concessions when they couldn’t obtain tickets.
People drove for hours for the merch trucks at the concerts and waited outside hoping tickets would become available. Dedicated fans inside the concerts live streamed for viewers who couldn’t get tickets or just wanted to see another show. While the quality was not always great and you had to repeatedly find a new stream to use, millions watched together at the same time while not actually being together. And they were thrilled to do it.
Most fans in fandoms are dedicated to supporting their cause and knowing what’s going on all the time. The Swiftie community is no exception. Learning every little thing and finding all the easter eggs is a fun time for any Swiftie. People spend countless hours and money replicating an iconic Taylor Swift outfit. For the Era’s tour fans took part in making and exchanging friendship bracelets with others in attendance.
Why is Swift so loved? What makes her so special? Many feel like they grew up listening to her music, growing and changing as she did. She can be real, sad, honest, and imperfect. It makes the fans love her more. Her mistakes are celebrated.
The Era’s tour has lovingly been dubbed the “Errors Tour” on social media as users compile videos of her word mix ups, wardrobe and equipment malfunctions, silly rants, and the weather fighting her. And it’s not to ridicule her. They have done it to show how amazing and real she is. To show that they love her more for being unapologetically herself.
Millions of people wait and thrive when she posts on social media, when she shares or reposts or comments. Her merchandise store crashes when new things are added, sells out in minutes. Albums are purchased by the thousands in advance and hit the top of the charts on day one. Her fans have supported her through every endeavor and hardship. When she went through the process of re-recording albums so she could own the master copies and rights, not only did the fans support her, they shot the re-released albums to number one.
Swift supports and stands up for her fans, such as yelling out at a security guard mistreating a fan while still performing “Bad Blood” in Philadelphia. She puts on the show and the performance fans are expecting and wanting every time. The fans come up with chants for different songs and she embraces them, chanting and singing along with them while on stage.
It is easy to fall in love with Swift and become part of the fandom. Wanting to own all the merchandise and albums, attend each concert, and buy the costumes to match her perfectly. It is easy to justify spending thousands for one night of fun. How it was thrilling to wait three hours for a storm to pass and she still comes out and plays an epic show until 2 a.m. in the pouring rain.
