Fansplaining

In very self-isolated Episode 122, "Wash Your Hands and Read Some Fic," Elizabeth and Flourish share the results of a mini-survey about people's fiction habits in times of crisis—the personal, the global, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Are people more interested in fluff or angst? Do they seek escapism or catharsis? Is this a good time—or the worst time—to watch Contagion ? They also read a mes...

In Episode 121, Flourish and Elizabeth revisit the themes of an earlier episode about fanfiction and money in the wake of the recent brouhaha about apps like Fanfic Pocket Archive Library. They talk to fanfic author and copyright law professor Earlgreytea68 about "the AO3 App Wars," digging into topics like the basics of U.S. copyright law, the AO3's non-monetization policies, and the legal, moral...

In Episode 120, Flourish and Elizabeth welcome back one of their earliest guests, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, to talk about her book about race, fantasy, fandom (and more!), The Dark Fantastic . Topics covered include what Ebony's work as a reading professor entails, the themes of the book, Barnes & Noble's "diverse book cover" controversy, and what to do with the problematic canon of children's liter...

In Episode 119, "Ask Fansplaining Anything: Part 6," Flourish and Elizabeth tackle a new stack of listener questions and comments. Topics covered include actors' shipping preferences, #OwnVoices in profic and in fanfic, what counts as "canon," why we get stuck in fandoms we no longer like, and Flourish's true feelings about fictional demons.

In Episode 118, "The Craft of Writing (Fanfiction)," Flourish and Elizabeth interview Betts, a fic writer and professional writing instructor, about how different writing practices can inform each other on a craft level. They discuss how fanfic utterly altered Betts's career path, what role it plays in her classroom, the effects of changing norms around fic critique and feedback, and why many peop...

In Episode 117, "Fans and the Man," Elizabeth and Flourish talk about whether fandom really has "gone corporate" in the last decade—and if so, what parts of fandom, and in what ways? Topics covered include whether fans have "sold out," been exploited, or both; whether it's a good thing for fandom to be intertwined with corporations; and whether "curatorial" and "transformative" are even still usef...

In Episode 116, Elizabeth and Flourish revive their end-of-year tradition and revisit big fandom trends in 2019. What changed, what got better, and what got worse? (According to Flourish, everything got worse.) Topics covered include the premature death knell for Tumblr, myths about the "monoculture," truths and falsehoods about "fantitlement," the messy rise of 8,000 streaming services, and, of c...

In Episode 115, "Power Plays," Flourish and Elizabeth discuss three listener letters that deal with the use (or misuse) different kinds of power in and adjacent to fandom. How do we navigate a social media world where creators can find—and fuel a backlash towards—negative critique? How do the amorphous structures of the fanfic world give some readers and writers more power than others? And what ca...

In Episode 114, "Live From GeekGirlCon," Elizabeth and Flourish take the show on the road and record their first-ever live episode—from the 9th annual GeekGirlCon in Seattle, Washington. They're joined by Kristine Hassell, the con's director of community engagement, to talk about diversity and inclusion at geek-oriented events, especially around disability, race, and gender. How can volunteer-run...

In Episode 113, Flourish and Elizabeth look at brand social media accounts' relationships with fandom, from direct appeals to adopting the persona of a fan. When a musical, a breakfast restaurant, or a streaming service tweets about a Star Wars ship, what exactly do the people managing these accounts hope to achieve? They also answer a listener question about private vs. public fannish spaces onli...

In Episode 112, Flourish and Elizabeth talk to Rainbow Rowell, author of Fangirl, Carry On, Wayward Son , and many other novels, as well as the current run of Marvel's Runaways comics. They dig into the fandom experiences that inspire Rainbow's fiction, the differences (and similarities!) between fanfic and original writing, and Flourish feels the pain of being the only non-lurker in the conversat...

In Episode 111, "Canon, What Canon?" Flourish and Elizabeth discuss listener questions about the relationship between fans and the source material—including what happens when fans are more interested in fanon than canon. Topics discussed include headcanon orthodoxy, fanworks about fanworks, characterization, "death of the text," and whether Agent Dana Scully would prefer Herbal Essences or Pantene...

In Episode 110, "Ask Fansplaining Anything: Part 5," Elizabeth and Flourish answer a new collection of listener letters and voicemails. Topics covered include ageism, "valorizing" bad behavior in fic, multishipping, and further thoughts about the phrase "OOC," in real life and in fiction.

Amidst a string of mediocre-to-bad articles about fandom in mainstream publications, Flourish demands answers from Elizabeth: How does one of these things get made? They discuss different kinds of publications, pitching, editing, differences between academic and journalistic writing, and fandom's tall poppy syndrome. They also respond to a listener who asks whether there's a statistical way to det...

In Episode 108, Flourish and Elizabeth interview Claire Kiechel, a playwright and a writer on The OA , a Netflix TV show that was recently cancelled—and the subject of a passionate fan campaign to bring it back. They discuss fandom conspiracy theories, the impact of violent stories on our emotional lives, why Hollywood is shunning original story ideas, and, most importantly, how BBA is THE BEST.

Continuing an annual tradition, Flourish and Elizabeth celebrate their fourth anniversary with guests from the past year, who talk about changes in fandom from the global to the personal. Topics include shifting privacy norms, fanzines and other smaller-scale fan activity, stanning corporations, and that old chestnut, fan/creator interaction on social media. A note: this conversation was recorded...

In Episode 106, "The Neverending Franchise," Flourish and Elizabeth debrief after Fansplaining's panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, "Don't Dream It's Over: What Fans Do When Long-Running Stories End." They discuss the panelists' takes on the topic—what happens when specific iterations of a franchise come to an end—and dig into the (sometimes radically different) perspectives of various stakeholder...

In Episode 105, Flourish and Elizabeth talk to Emily Nussbaum, television critic for The New Yorker , recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and the author of I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution . The conversation focuses on the technological changes that have shaped television over the past two decades—and how those changes have altered the way we watch, discuss, and...

In Episode 104, Flourish and Elizabeth revisit the fannish version of the fourth wall—the barrier between fans and creators. In the first half, they look at fan/creator interaction around the new TV adaptation of Good Omens , from "death of the author" to validating fanfiction to the false dichotomy of "fan vs pro." In the second half, they tackle the dustup around HBO's Euphoria: Did the show go...

In Episode 103, Flourish and Elizabeth interview Leah Hennessey and Emily Allan, creators of "Slash: The Play," which they recently performed at Joe's Pub in New York City. Topics discussed include lurking, the appeal of "bad" writing, presenting ideas about fanfiction to people outside fandom, and the complicated interplay of irony and sincerity in fandom and in art. They also tackle the vitally...

In Episode 102, Elizabeth and Flourish talk about characterization: how fans interpret it, get attached to it, and fight about it. How do fans collectively come to an understanding of a fictional character? Does this change with textual vs visual source material? What does "OOC"—"out of character"—mean to people in different fannish spaces? They also respond to a listener letter about the history...

In Episode 101, "Stan Culture," Flourish and Elizabeth talk with Keidra Chaney, co-founder and publisher of The Learned Fangirl , about the terms "stan," "stanning," and "stan culture." They discuss the evolution of "stan" from a derogatory term to point of pride (for some), the structures of stan culture, similarities between pop music and sports fans, and the transactional nature of some stan be...

In Episode 100, "The More You Know," Elizabeth and Flourish celebrate the ways they've learned and grown in the past four years of Fansplaining, reflecting on key areas where they've changed their frameworks—and their minds. Topics covered include lurkers, the realities of TV production, racism in fandom, and our old friend, capitalism. Here's to a hundred more!

In Episode 99, "The Shipping Answers," Elizabeth and Flourish are joined by special guest and DATA PROFESSIONAL verity to analyze the 17,391 (!!!) responses to the Fansplaining Shipping Survey. How do these bazillions of people define "shipping"? Following along with verity's interactive data visualization, they discuss topics including "active" vs. "casual" shipping, how fandom impacts shipping p...

In Episode 98, "The After Effect," Elizabeth and Flourish talk about characterization and RPF, pegged to the release of the film After , adapted from Anna Todd's massively popular Harry Styles fanfic. What happens when different groups of fans clash over their interpretations of a celebrity—especially when some are interested in trying to divine the "truth" about their fave, while others are prima...