Fame and Fandom: Functioning On and Offline

Celebrities depend upon fans to sustain their popularity and livelihood, and fans are happy to oblige. With social media they can follow their favorite (or least favorite) celebrities’ every move, and get glimpses into their lives, homes, and behind-the-scenes work. Fans interact with celebrities now more than ever, and often feel that they have a claim on their time, attention, and accountability. In Fame and Fandom, the contributors examine this tumultuous dynamic and bring together celebrity studies and fan studies like never before.

In case studies including Supernatural, Harry Styles, YouTube influencers, film location sites, Keanu Reeves, and celebrities as fans, readers find new approaches to fan/celebrity encounters and parasocial relationships. This is the go-to volume on the symbiotic relationship between fame and fandom.

Celia Lam is associate professor of media and cultural studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She is coeditor of Aussie Fans: Uniquely Placed in Global Popular Culture (Iowa, 2019). Lam lives in Sydney, Australia and Ningbo, China.

Jackie Raphael is an honorary research fellow at the University of Western Australia, and works at Murdoch University. She is coauthor of Celebrity Bromance: Constructing, Interpreting, and Utilising Personas. Raphael lives in Perth, Australia.

Renee Middlemost is lecturer in communication and media at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is coeditor of Participations. Middlemost lives in Wollongong, Australia.

Jessica Balanzategui is senior lecturer in cinema and screen studies at Swinburne University of Technology. She is author of The Uncanny Child in Transnational Cinema. Balanzategui lives in Melbourne, Australia.