Fansplaining

In Episode 72, Flourish always knew that someday she'd hear the words written on her wrist— In Episode 72, Elizabeth is a florist. Every day Flourish walks past her flower shop and— In Episode 72, "Alternate Universes," Elizabeth and Flourish are joined by Morgan Leigh Davies, co-host of the "Overinvested" podcast, to discuss alternate universe fanfiction. Topics covered include the relationship b...

In Episode 71, Elizabeth and Flourish welcome back fan-scholar Dr. Lori Morimoto, who was last on the podcast in 2016 to talk about shipping and activism with Rukmini Pande. This time, she digs into transcultural fandom, including concepts like "contact zones" and "ontological security," and how fan communities define themselves by what they include—and what they exclude. They also discuss the cur...

In Episode 70, "Our Most Passionate Fans," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss the ways that corporate America interacts with fandom—especially when fandom behaves badly—through the lens of the Rick and Morty /McDonalds Szechuan Sauce debacle. (Spoiler: corporate America does not do well.) They also continue to discuss fan tourism and read a listener letter about what happens when your own fandom desce...

In Episode 69, "Fan Tourism," Elizabeth and Flourish consider the different ways that people travel to experience their fandom, settling on a spectrum of fan tourism, spanning immersion into a fictional place to craft-focused television set visits. They also discuss being a fan of a source material set in a culture or time period other than your own, the differences between Disney and Universal St...

In Episode 68, "Stephanie Burt: Part 2," Elizabeth and Flourish wrap up their conversation with poet, professor, and X-fan Stephanie Burt, covering topics from transitioning in public view to allegorical versus literal representation to queer themes in superhero comics. They also discuss a pair of listener letters: one on fandom, capitalism, and ethical behavior, and one on fanfiction's prominence...

Episode 67, "Stephanie Burt: Part 1," is the first half of a conversation with Stephanie Burt, a Harvard poetry professor and comics fangirl. In this segment, they discuss poetry criticism, the similarities between fanfic and hardcore punk, taste and quality, situating your critical perspective, and the way various academic fields—from fan studies to the English department—treat feeeeeeeeeelings.

In Episode 66, "The Humanizing Turn," Elizabeth and Flourish use a Star Wars meta that Flourish recently published as a jumping-off point to discuss tropes, characterization, and what we want from stories, in both canon and fanfiction. When do we grant stories complexity—and when do we simplify them, slotting characters into archetypes? They round out the discussion by responding to a listener que...

In Episode 65, "Fandom and Capitalism," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss exactly what it says on the tin: fandom and capitalism, from a variety of different angles. First they read a thought-provoking listener letter about how market pressures spur more diversity on our screens—and whether fans' own "corrective" ecosystems might be doing harm by cutting off that feedback loop. Then they consider the...

In Episode 64, "The Year In Fandom 2017," Elizabeth and Flourish talk about...the year in fandom! Sticking to tradition, they start by recapping their 2016 list and seeing how those trends have evolved over the past year; then they dive into a new list of trends and themes from 2017. Topics covered include the limits of fandom mainstreaming, shipping and social justice activism, and fandom and the...

In Episode 63, "Fanworks and Counterfeits," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss a recent brouhaha in the Outlander fandom involving fan group closures, counterfeit merchandise, what counts as acceptable fanart to The Powers That Be, and more. Topics covered include historical knitting drama, the bounds of fair use, Scottish tourism woes, and the centralization of Facebook as a corporate power. They als...

In Episode 62, Elizabeth and Flourish talk with Adrian Hon, co-founder and CEO of the independent game developer Six to Start and one of the creators of their most popular game, "Zombies, Run!" Topics covered include ARGs, moderating forums, POV in games, fan/creator interaction, accessibility in gaming, and more. Plus Flourish pitches him what will surely be the next big hit in fitness games, "Zo...

In Episode 61, "Episodic," Elizabeth and Flourish read a wide range of recent listener responses: on the purpose of fandom history, why adults read YA fiction, the difference between privacy and secrecy, and how happy endings and reader expectations vary across time and place. Then they discuss Elizabeth's recent presentation at "Episodic," a conference that brought episodic storytellers from diff...

Elizabeth and Flourish have a wide-ranging chat with (you guessed it) Orlando Jones, of American Gods, Sleepy Hollow and those 7up commercials. Topics covered include the differing definitions of "fanboy" and "fangirl," Orlando's secret passion for R2D2/C3PO slash, race and racism in TV production, Rashomon's applicability to fandom wank, and which Batman is the best Batman.

In Episode 59, "Fandom Histories," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss common narratives of fandom history and lay out their approaches to thinking about the antecedents of modern fan culture. Topics discussed include 19th century amateur press associations, early science fiction fandom, gatekeeping, the concept of "feral fandoms," and myths about people in the past. They also respond to a listener que...

Episode 58, "Flourish Attends A Concert, Or, Elizabeth Agrees To Talk About Harry Styles For Half An Hour," does exactly what it says on the tin. The morning after Flourish attends a Harry Styles concert in Boston, they discuss the concert itself, differences and similarities between music, sports, and media fandoms, how the fans you interact with affect your behavior in fandom, and the experience...

In Episode 57, "Nerf Herder," Elizabeth and Flourish start things off with the Fansplaining Patreon Pledge Drive before they talk to Parry Gripp, the lead singer of the band that wrote and performed the Buffy The Vampire Slayer theme song. They discuss the evolution of nerd culture, how music gets into television shows, and different types of band fandoms. Elizabeth and Flourish later discuss Joss...

In Episode 56, "Ships and Showrunners," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Lilah Vandenburgh, a long-time fan who is now a writer, director, and showrunner for film and television. They discuss how shipping culture has evolved in recent years, the pressures on showrunners and other entertainment pros to interact, and the ways that structural inequality shapes fan behavior. Also Elizabeth reports back...

In Episode 55, "Happy Anniversary #2," Flourish and Elizabeth once again welcome back the guests from the past year to talk about what's changed in fandom, on a global level, a personal level, or both. Global topics included the recent crop of Hugo winners, Marvel's Secret Empire storyline, and the intersections between fandom and U.S. politics. The more personal included the intersections of fann...

Elizabeth and Flourish interview Sean Stewart, ARG (alternate reality game) writer, Star Wars tie-in novelist, and Sherlock Holmes narrative video game creator. Topics covered include definitions of a variety of gaming terms, the collective intelligence of fans, and fannish conspiracy theories and their messy intersections with conspiracy theories around real-world events. (A note to listeners: we...

In Episode 53, Elizabeth and Flourish discuss what could be called "stealth fandom": subtle cosplay, non-narrative ways that people feel close to their favorite topic or story-world, all the tiny things that remind people of their fandoms (even if they don't make sense to anyone else)—and how that differs from official merchandise. They also answer a pair of listener questions: one about whether o...

In Episode 52, Fanfic v. FANtasies, Elizabeth and Flourish discuss the new Fullscreen webseries FANtasies, in which YouTubers act out scenarios loosely based on Wattpad fic. They discuss the show in concept and in practice, changing ideas around fan/creator interaction, rethinking conceptions of the fan-to-pro path, and more. They also read a letter from a listener who loves female original charac...

In Episode 51, "Desi Geek Girls," Flourish and Elizabeth talk to another pair of podcast hosts, Preeti Chhibber and Swapna Krishna of the eponymous pop culture podcast. Topics covered balancing joy with critique in pop culture conversations, Star Trek and Star Wars (and the experience of being brown at Star Wars Celebration), traveling cross-country to see "Monsoon Wedding" onstage, the ways that...

In Episode 50, "Bookcon(s)," Flourish grills Elizabeth about the book publishing industry and book fandom following Elizabeth's visit to BookCon, the consumer-facing wing of industry trade show Book Expo America. Topics covered include how books get from publishers to readers, the evolving relationships publishers, booksellers, and authors have with their customers, the way authors talk to fans, p...

In Episode 49, "Defining Fanfiction: The Results," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss the results of the Fansplaining Definitions Survey, in which more than 3,500 respondents offered a variety of perspectives on what fanfiction is—and isn't—to them. They explore a variety of themes: is fanfiction derivative? Is it written by and for fans? Must it include shipping and fannish tropes? And they talk abou...

In Episode 48, "Con or Bust," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Diana Pho, a Tor editor who runs "Beyond Victoriana," and Mark Oshiro of "Mark Reads" and "Mark Watches." They're both board members of Con or Bust, an organization that raised money to help fans of color attend conventions. Topics covered include the philosophy and the practice behind Con or Bust, Diana and Mark's congoing experiences,...