Performance in the Postmodern World: Fandom

Introduction

What comes first in your mind when you here the word “fandom”? Are you

included in a fandom? Furthermore, was idolizing something or somebody can make a

great impact to one’s life? How can we say that a person is involved in a fandom? These

are only some of the questions that this paper will aim to answer.

We know that being a fan of something or somebody is somewhat common

to our society. But, we really don’t know the exact impact of this to lives of fans. It is usual

to see people idolizing artists, music icons, novels, books, sports icons and many others. As

a fan, it is ordinary to buy their albums, collect their pictures, read their articles, watch their

performances, and go to fan club meetings in order to show admiration to their idol.

Oftentimes, due to this sensation of being a fan, they even try to be like his/her idol, from

his/her looks and style, fashion, speech, and most of all, their personality. This

phenomenon refers to what we call “fandom.”

Performances connote a deeper understanding than the idea of “an act done

on stage”, but rather it includes the performer, the stage, fashion, act, and its audiences. The

performances vary because of the factors that affect it such as the talent of the performer,

creativity of the act, catchy design of the stage, and others. Every performance plays a vital

role on the audiences’ minds - either good or bad. Their mind might grasp the ideology

they have seen on the performance and then, criticize or manifest admiration into it.

The word “fan” for many is just the same as the word “fandom”, however,

according to Andrea MacDonald, a fan has an involvement in many activities that is

many other functions of his/her idols, for example, trying to be look like his/her idol, form

fashion accessories, clothes, looks, style, and is already performing the personality of

his/her idol, it is now considered as “fandom”.

Fiske (1990) has a different meaning of fandom. According to him, fandom

is a typical amenity or benefit of popular culture in the individual society. It chooses from

the repertoire of mass entertainment performers, and takes them into the cultures of a

selected audience. He associated the phenomenon of fandom to the cultural forms that

masses dominate - such as pop music, romance novels, comics, movie and television shows

and icons, and even in sports.

Fan has notoriously been regarded as a dupe, a passively blind receptor to

corporate propaganda and establishment ideology, and an obsessive, strange, social outcast.

The word “fan” itself describes those who enjoy already-disfavored genres such as soap

operas, romances, science fiction, or pop music. Thus, proving that fandom includes social

instability which is exhibited by audience passivity.

Being a fan satisfying his/her own admiration promotes self-understanding,

belonging and identity while they grant opportunities from personal growth, pleasure, and

social influence. The very nature of fandom involves a strong feeling considerable interest,

enjoyment, and fulfillment. The popular image of fans can be described as socially

inadequate nerds; it may be well in their interests to defend themselves from further abuse.

Due to this, there will be effects of being in a fandom world. It will have the ability to

transform an individual not only physically, but as well as psycho-socially.

participation and immersion the original cathartic moment experienced during the first

viewing of the originating material.

There are also people who can be considered as anti-fans - they are readers

or viewers who find the cause for their dislike in something which may vary from having

previously watched the show and having found it intolerable; to having a dislike in genre,

directors, or star; to having seen the previews or ads, or seen or heard unfavorable reviews.

On the other hand, there are also non-fans. They are the readers or viewers who do view or

read text, but do not have any intense involvement. Being a fan requires discipline, whereas

being a non-fan is considerably more open and nebulous in category and practice,

involving considerable in and out of different viewing positions.

In relation to fandom, there are people who are fans of postmodern

performances. However, what is postmodernism and how is it related to a performance?

According to Mitchell (1989), postmodernism is actually an undefined word, however, he

tried to described fandom as a set of critical, strategic, and rhetorical practices employing

concepts such as differences, repetition, traces, similarities, and hyper-reality to destabilize

other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and

univocal meaning. On the other hand, Abunag & Co (2004), defines postmodernism as a

consciousness, a way of thinking, a mode of life and thought, which maybe conscious or

not, a perspective that defines one’s attitude towards reality and existence. Robinson (as

cited by Mitchell, 1989), stated that it is a suitable label of a set of attitudes, beliefs, values,

and emotions about what it means to be living in the modern world. Relating it to a

performance, there are principles underlying the concept of postmodernism. It is stared that
for a performance to be postmodern, it should oppose the original interpretation of a

traditional performance, such as in a theatre, and therefore it can be open for changes, such

as in translation. There, the performer is more of an artist than a character in a performance,

and there is always something new and unusual in the whole context of the presentation.

Therefore, postmodern performances try to change everything that is usual, and it seeks

more attention from the audience and fans than in a typical performance.

Himmelfarb, however, stated the would-be negative effect of being amazed

in postmodernism. He said that “Postmodernism entices us with the siren call of liberation

and creativity, but it may be an invitation to intellectual and moral suicide.” This statement

can prove that postmodern performances affect the people’s mentality and how they

perceive life negatively. For example, viewing inappropriate videos such as those who

includes suicidal and hideous crimes and events can bring menace and hostile activities in

one’s personality.

Consolidating the different views about postmodernism and fandom, its

continuous existence is a boundless realm of the performances of such great talented artists.

Thus, “fandom” in the postmodern world creates a deeper, concrete, and ambiguous picture

of the performances which will lead us to another definition of this word as one of the

research paper objectives. This paper also aims to examine how the postmodern

performances greatly affect the artist and their fans. This paper also aims to evaluate

“fandom as a performance” and “fandom as a form of escapism”. It does not include those

fans who patronize text materials but rather, it only focuses on the fans that perform

onstage, just as their idols. It is also limited to the discussion of the unreal world that was

created by the fans’ minds due to their lackness or deficiency in psychological and/or social
perspective which can be said, their way of escapism. In order to identify the reality behind

the concept of fandom, there is a need to evaluate the fans’ activity, action, language,

fashion, behavior, personality, and even sexuality. These factors would be a great help in

understanding the questions in this paper.

The significance of this study is to first, help the readers understand the

ideology of fandom; second, for the fans to know if they are being involved in fandom and

eventually, realize what kind of fandom they are in, including its effects; lastly, for the

artists/performers grasp the concept of postmodern performances and evaluate if they are

into this kind of performance, and if it helps them become a better onstage image for their

fans.

In general, this research paper argues that fandom, itself, is a form of escape

whereby, the fans fulfill the lackness in their personalities or cope to their personal

instabilities. As they perform like their idols, they create an unreal world wherein, they can

act, speak, perform and dress far different from the way they are before. At the same time,

their admiration was fulfilled because of their performance. And this performance was

influence by the postmodern period.