During a Harry Potter-themed fundraiser for Amnesty International in October 2005, comedian Andrew Slack asked for help forming what he called “Dumbledore’s Army for the real world.” Although a throw away remark at the time, Slack’s idea evolved into the Harry Potter Alliance, a registered nonprofit that united fans of the Harry Potter series of books and films in support of various social justice causes and movements.
Harry Potter fans are not the only ones who have developed a social activist streak in recent years, as some form of activism – as well as charity work – has become part of such mainstays of geek culture as comic books, science fiction, and video games. In her 2019 book Politics for the Love of Fandom, communications professor Ashley Hinck argues that this new form of civic engagement is more than an anomaly but a genuine evolution in the ways that people interact with both political and social movements.
“Historically situated at a moment when networked and digital media have proliferated,” Hinck writes, “when fan affiliations and communities have grown in importance, and when citizenship practices seem to be in flux, the civic actions of the Harry Potter Alliance and the many similar groups have emerged as a powerful form of citizenship.”
Ashley Hinck refers to the current trend as “fan-based citizenship” in order to distinguish it from “fan activism,” which she categorizes as petitions, boycotts, and letter-writing campaigns related to the creative process of films and television shows. For Hinck, fan-based citizenship occurs when “fans take action on public issues that affect their experiences as citizens.”
The civic actions that fangroups now engage in were once the function of social institutions like political parties, unions, and churches. Such groups and organizations have declined since the 1970s as part of a general disenchantment that followed the Vietnam War and Watergate.
Globalization and advances in technology also had an effect on traditional institutions, whose strength derived from their “localized” nature and ease of access. Computers and cell phones, for instance, led to larger social circles and more abundant opportunities for interaction that were less rigid than those offered by neighborhood organizations.
Then there’s the World Wide Web. When science fiction fandom first grew out of the sci-fi pulps of the 1920s and 1930s, the only way for fans to communicate across great distances was through the U.S. mail. Fortunately the letter sections of these pulp magazines not only contained the names of the letter writers but included their addresses, thus enabling fans to connect.
While this communication method was effective – leading to the birth of science fiction conventions and the campaign to save Star Trek from cancellation in the 1960s – it was also limited in regards to building a genuine community.
That was not the case with the Internet, and fangroups were one of the first to recognize that fact. Public awareness of the World Wide Web coincided with the premier of television shows like The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, allowing for a shared experience amongst fans of those series and playing a significant role in their subsequent popularity.
The first generation of online fans also quickly realized that while a particular television show or film may have initially brought them together, it was the relationships and sense of community that sprang from those fandoms that mattered the most. As the civic and religious institutions of the past began to have less impact on the social activities of this new generation, fandoms inevitably became their default community and principal form of identification.
Ashley Hinck also points out that a person’s moral and political outlook was traditionally tied to the civic and religious organizations that once served as the focal point for their social activities. Since options for social interaction has increased in recent years, a person’s beliefs today are not always in line with whatever political party or religion they belong to but are more “fluid” and thus capable of arising from non-traditional sources.
As Hinck phrases it, “a fluid society enables noncivic groups and communities, like fan communities, to guide civic action.”
Although a form of “escapism,” science fiction narratives have always included metaphors related to the real world. Franchises like Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Supernatural therefore contain ethical queries and social relevance embedded within their plots, and while these narratives can be viewed strictly as entertainment, each can also be used as blueprints for building a better future.
“Scholars like Matt Yockey and Stephen Duncombe argue that fan-based citizenship emerges around fan-objects that offer depictions of social change through utopian explorations,” Ashley Hinck writes in Politics for the Love of Fandom. “In television shows like Star Trek and comics like Wonder Woman, fans are invited to imagine a better world. Fan-based citizenship performances become concrete actions fans can take to bring the status quo closer to ideal futures. While utopian fan-objects may at times seem abstract, television characters, actors, and creators (demonstrate) what social change may look like.”
Not every fan of Harry Potter identified with the efforts of the Harry Potter Alliance and instead saw the books and films as mere entertainment as opposed to vehicles for civic engagement. Furthermore, not every fandom generates civic action amongst its members. And, of course, there is nothing wrong with either of those two facts.
But many fandoms have indeed evolved in recent years into social institutions that can impact a person beyond mere escapism, and there is nothing wrong with that as well. In Politics for the Love of Fandom, Ashley Hinck shows how that evolution of fandom is a natural progression from the norms of the past to the world of the present, where social and civic interaction is more fluid, choices are more abundant, and the ability to interact is more immediate.
That is not to say that the fandoms of geek culture will someday replace Democrats and Republicans as political entities – just that they are capable of making a difference in their own unique and effective ways.
Anthony Letizia