Fan Culture

Fandom is a term that’s been around for years ever since the 70s with comic fanatics. A fan is an enthusiastic follower of a culture be it sport, music, film, book, any entertainment really. With the internet fan culture has been brought to a new level. A way for people to connect and collaborate online. Now people with similar interests can share thoughts, ideas and their appreciation of a common interest. There are millions of forums dedicated to bands, films, characters etc where fans can keep up to date with the scene, premiers, sequels, conventions and anything to do with there specific interest.

One of the biggest most obscene fan cultures would be the Star Trek followers, ‘trekkies’. These fans become completely immersed in the subculture. Becoming apart of its online community, attending trekkie convention where they dress up in extravagant costume of there favorite characters in the show.



Heres a documentary about a Trekkie convention.



As you can see they all live their lives around this subculture, in this subculture. Meet similar minded people and I guess get a sense of belonging which is what culture is all about. “I found this club and I found I wasn’t the only one”. “My wife is here and she and I met in a Star trek club”.

Moral Panic: Head Shops

In this post I will discuss a recent moral panic that resulted in new legislations been introduced. Head shops. In February last year this issue arose. Headlines such as ‘Doctors' fears as head shops force coke prices down WARNING: New plea for urgent ban on legal highs’ and ‘Head shop legal high almost killed this 17-year-old’ caused public uproar to get these shops shut down. The stores sell legal substitutes to such drugs as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and their paraphernalia. Product such as Spice, Blow and Whack sold at a fraction of the price of the illegal equivalent and give very similar effects.

Reports of cases where people suffered from hallucinations and anxiety after taking these legal highs from head shops drowned the media. Protests were held in towns all over the country.

But not only did this cause upheaval among concerned parents and the like but also notified drug dealers about these cheap substitutes. Head shops everywhere were targeted by these drug lords who were determined to get rid of their competitors. Various arson attacks were reported in stores on Capel street, Dundalk and Sligo but to name a few.




Eventually in May 2010 a new law was introduced to ban the sale of psychoactive drugs. Which fair enough removes them from their original shelves but realistically its simply pushing the whole issue underground. So now these users are just waiting for someone to find a loophole for other legal substitutes or of course buy illegally which I'm sure is happening. But as long as tits kept under wraps out of the media keep the public at bay until the next frenzy.

Moral Panic

Moral panic can be defined as a “condition, episode, person or persons emerge to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests” Stanley Cohen. Cohen’s book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) is where the term came about. The moral panic in which he is referring to the moral panic of the Mods and Rockers in the 60’s which I have discussed in previous posts. So we can see that moral panic has been occurring over time relating to various issues such as youth disorder in this case and common issues like drugs, violence and sexual freedom are also common. Each issue considered a threat to society at a particular time and blown out of proportion by the media, creating fear and hysteria among society. Some fade away after a short while but some result in more severe consequences such as legislation changes. This can be seen in such example as the Criminal Justice act 1992, the National Sex Offenders Register late 90’s and illegisation of various drugs.

Heres a diagram i came across..

UpStart

My submission for Upstart..

"We hope to highlight the importance of creativity and ingenuity when society is in need of direction and solutions" UpStart

Rockers

The rockers originated in the UK in the 50’s coinciding with the mods. They came about due to the same factors of the mods, their rivals, rise in youth’s disposable income in working class areas, and youth rebelliousness. They have very similar traits to teddy boys in terms of their attitude, garish and rebellious.  And were a predominantly masculine subculture, the only females involved were the girlfriends

They were totally absorbed by their music and motorcycles. Listening to rock n roll, artists such as Elvis Presley Eddie Cochran and Chuck Barry

They wore their hair greased in place with Brylcream and dressed in leather jackets, leather trousers or jeans, metal studs, t-shirts, leather caps and leather boots.  Their style clearly came form a practical sense.

They created moral panic with their rivalry with the mods. This was due to the media exposure it got when they had gang fights at places such as the seaside in Brighton. All this media coverage which is believed to have been exaggerated, encouraged the youths even more to act unruly and also encouraged more to join these subcultures and these gang fueds. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn5vYOwCTak

Mods

They took some influence from the teddy boys but were a lot more subtle and not as aggressive, more aspiration than perspiration. There was no exaggerated masculinity and there were as much females as males. And were also influenced by French cinematic and American jazz.

They had a very polished look, styled their hair in quiffs, wore Italian suits, thin ties, pointed toe leather boots shined to the max. They drove scooters, Vespas or Lambrettas cutomising them with two tone paint, extra mirrors and chrome bumpers  

The girls were very boyish looking with short haircuts, men’s trousers and shirts, and little make up. As their fashion leaked into mainstream, the likes of twiggy exhibited their mod look and with that came the introduction of the mini skirt in the mid 60’s.

As this subculture progressed into the 60’s it became about the music and drugs and not just the fashion. They danced in clubs to jazz, rhythm and blues sca and the likes of The Who, The Kinks and Small Faces and are thought to have been associated with amphetamines available at the time.

They had rivalry with the rockers with was which got a lot of media coverage.

Subcultures

Heres an interesting chart I found showing when the subcultures came about and how they are inter related..

Bell Pottinger

The chart is interesting but im not sure how accuate it is.  Subcultures only really came about in the 50’s with the teddy boys so the ones before that im not sure whether they were as significant, there’s no dominance to it at all. Theres no mention of the spivs and it doesn’t relate the mods to teddy boys. I think a lot  of  them are pretty accurate tho all them same.