The term “fan,” according to Sullivan (2019), came from the word “fanatic” and is often associated with religious memberships. At times, fans were given negative stereotypes and were often portrayed in media as “misguided at best and delusional at worst” groups of people (Sullivan, 2019, p.193; Baym, 2012, as cited by Galuszka, 2015). However, through scholarly studies put forward by fandom media research, they explained that fandoms, as a subcultural group, have become experts in their chosen media texts and had gained scholarly attention amongst media scholars (Galuszka, 2015). They were described as active participants of their common interest towards their favored icon either online or offline (Chung et al., 2018, as cited by Obiegbu, Larsen, Ellis & O’Reilly, 2019). Ratka (2018) mentioned in her literature that fans have their own language since they have their own ideologies. Fandom communities share their insights towards their icon base on how non-fans would always have a hard time understanding such dedication of reinterpreting the icon’s works. This idea of fandoms having their language and perspectives was aligned with Jenkins’ (2018) claim that fandom practices participatory media culture. Since fans themselves “poach” the media text and recreate the text based on how they see it fits – from remake video to fan arts and even to translated video clips– they express their appreciation towards their favorite icon in any way they can.
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