Fandom (from the noun ''fan'' and the affix ''-dom'', as in ''kingdom'', ''freedom'', etc.) is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices (a fandom); this is what differentiates "fannish" (fandom-affiliated) fans from those with only a casual interest.

A fandom can grow up centered around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions. While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, the term has its roots in those with an enthusiastic appreciation for sports. Merriam-Webster's dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903.

Fandom as a term can also be used in a broad sense to refer to an interconnected social network of individual fandoms, many of which overlap.

Organized subculture

A wide variety of Western modern organized fannish subcultures originated with science fiction fandom, the community of fans of the science fiction and fantasy genres. Science fiction fandom dates back to the 1930s and maintains organized clubs and associations in many cities around the world. It has held the annual World Science Fiction Convention since 1939, along with many other events each year, and has created its own jargon, sometimes called "fanspeak".

Media fandom shot off from science fiction fandom in the early 1970s with a focus on relationships between characters within TV and movie media franchises. There is still much overlap in fannish culture and activities between media fandom and its science fiction fandom parent; media fandom derives some of its jargon, customs and practices from its science fandom roots. Vidding fandom, the fandom related to building and watching analytic music videos based on images, emerged from media fandom in the late 1970s.

Anime and manga fandom began in the 1970s in Japan. In America, the fandom also began as an offshoot of science fiction fandom, with fans bringing imported copies of Japanese manga to conventions. Before anime began to be licensed in the U.S., fans who wanted to get a hold of anime would leak copies of anime movies and subtitle them to exchange with friends in the community, thus marking the start of fansubs.

Related to similar media sources, the cosplay community forms a subculture centered around wearing costumes and reenacting scenes or inventing likely behavior inspired by their chosen sources, usually from Japan, South Korea, China, and Philippines media. Cosplay at fan events in Japan is thought to have originated in 1978.

Furry fandom refers to the fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. The concept of ''furry'' originated at a science fiction convention in 1980, when a drawing of a character from Steve Gallacci’s ''Albedo Anthropomorphics'' initiated a discussion of anthropomorphic characters in science fiction novels, which in turn initiated a discussion group that met at science fiction and comics conventions.

Additional significant types of fandoms include comics fandom, sports fandom, music fandom, literature fandom, soap opera fandom, celebrity fandom, and video game fandom.

Fan activities

Members of a fandom associate with one another, often attending fan conventions and publishing and exchanging fanzines and newsletters. Originally using print-based media, these sub-cultures have migrated much of their communications and interaction onto the internet, which they also use for the purpose of archiving detailed information pertinent to their given fanbase.

Some fans write fan fiction, stories based on the universe and characters of their chosen fandom. This fan fiction can take the form of video-making as well as writing. Some also dress in costumes ("cosplay") or recite lines of dialogue either out-of-context or as part of a group reenactment. Others create fan vids, or analytical music videos focusing on the source fandom, and yet others create fan art. Such activities are sometimes known as "fan labor" or "fanac", an abbreviated form of the phrase "fan activity." The advent of the internet has significantly facilitated fan association and activities. Activities that have been aided by the internet includes the creation of fan "shrines" dedicated to favourite characters, computer screen wallpapers, avatars. Furthermore, the advent of the internet has resulted in the creation of online fan networks who help facilitate the exchange of fanworks.

Fandom is sometimes caricatured as religious faith, as the interest of fans sometimes grows to dominate their lifestyle, and fans are often very obstinate in professing (and refusing to change) their beliefs about their fandom. However, society at large does not treat fandom with the same weight as organized religion.

In film

Feature-length documentaries about fandom (some more respectful of the subjects than others) include ''Trekkies'', ''Ringers: Lord of the Fans'', ''Finding the Future: A Science Fiction Conversation'', and ''Done the Impossible''. "Fandom" is also the name of a documentary / mockumentary about a fan obsessed with Natalie Portman.

Relationship with industry

The entertainment industry refers to the totality of fans devoted to a particular area of interest, whether organized or not, as the "fanbase".

Fans, have, on occasion, organized on behalf of canceled television series, with notable success in cases such as Xena: Warrior Princess, in 1995, ''Star Trek'' in 1968, ''Cagney & Lacey'' in 1983, ''Roswell'' in 2000 and 2001 (it was canceled with finality at the end of the 2002 season), Farscape in 2002, ''Firefly'' in 2002, and ''Jericho'' in 2007. (In the case of ''Firefly'' the result was the movie Serenity, not another season.) Such outcry, even when unsuccessful, suggest a growing self-consciousness on the part of entertainment consumers, who appear increasingly likely to attempt to assert their power as a bloc. Fan activism in support of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike through Fans4Writers appears to be an extension of this trend.

See also

Fan convention

Fan fiction

Fan Film

Fan labor

Fan (person)

Otaku

Fandoms by medium

Anime and manga fandom

Furry fandom

Media fandom

Science fiction fandom

Vidding fandom

Notable fandoms

Browncoats (''Firefly'' fandom)

Doctor Who fandom

Furry fandom

Janeite

MSTie (fans of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'')

Tolkien fandom

Trekkie (''Star Trek'' fandom)

Trilby (Early example)

References

External links

"Who owns fandom?" - Salon.com December 13, 2000

"Rank and Phile" - Arts Hub feature, August 12, 2005

"Gaming's Fringe Cults" at The Escapist

MIT.edu - "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture" by Henry Jenkins

ca:Fandom cs:Fandom de:Fandom es:Fandom fr:Fandom ko:팬ë?¤ it:Fandom he:פנדו×? ms:Fandom ja:ファンダム pl:Fandom pt:Fandom ru:ФÑ?ндом simple:Fandom sk:Fandom sv:Fandom zh:迷文化

Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
name	Hank Green
birth name	William Henry Green II
birth date	May 05, 1980
birth place	Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.
nationality	American
other names	"Vlogbrothers"
spouse	Katherine Green
relations	John Green (brother)
notable works	Brotherhood 2.0, EcoGeek
known for	blogging, vlogging, Green Technology, Singing
website	www.HankGreen.com
occupation	http://youtube.com/vlogbrothers http://www.ecogeek.org }}

William Henry "Hank" Green II (born May 5, 1980, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a professional vlogger and entrepreneur. He is the founder of VidCon and EcoGeek.org and the co-founder of DFTBA Records. He is also a singer/songwriter and has released three studio albums. Hank Green achieved Internet fame through his YouTube-based video blogs (or vlogs), known as Brotherhood 2.0, along with his brother, author John Green. Their channel, Vlogbrothers, has more than 860 videos which, together, have been watched more than 159 million times.

Personal life

Soon after his birth, Hank Green and his family moved to Orlando, Florida. There he attended Winter Park High School; he graduated in 1998. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in biochemistry from Eckerd College and a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. He currently resides in Missoula, Montana, with his wife Katherine Green (whom he refers to as "The Katherine"), his greyhound Lemon and his cat Cameo.

Career

In high school, Green was fascinated by Mars and the prospect of human colonization. This led to his first publication, a piece for the Marswest Project, titled "Let's go to Mars" which was re-published as lead editorial in Space Times Magazine. According to his vlog on April 2, he was also one of the "founding members" of the Mars Society. This fascination also led him onto the internet, where he created a top-ranked website on Mars Exploration.

The success of this site led Hank to create more websites. After high school, Hank created ihatei4.com, a community for people in the Orlando area who were tired of their commutes. The site was featured on radio, television and in the Orlando Sentinel.

Hank continued as a web developer after moving to Montana for graduate school, focusing on developing websites for educational institutions (including the University of Montana) and environmental non-profit organizations.

In graduate school, he created EcoGeek, the Web's first environmental technology website. Starting out as a class project, EcoGeek evolved into a major environmental blog, the largest blog on environmental technology.

EcoGeek is well respected among environmentalists and even caught the attention of ''Time'', where it was described as "porn for hardcore science, tech and enviro freaks". Writing about environmental issues, Green has been published on numerous environmental blogs, including Treehugger.com, Yahoo! Green, ''The National Geographic Green Guide'', and ''Scientific American''.

His expertise is often requested across the media, ranging from appearing on The Weather Channel and Planet Green to occasional work for the ''New York Times'' to providing news commentary for NPR. His blog posts are often quoted in various publications. Green has written several articles for ''Mental Floss'', and was one of three authors of the book ''Mental Floss: Scatterbrained''.

During Hank Green's original year-long run in the Brotherhood 2.0 project, he accepted the challenge to perform an original song biweekly (known as "Song Wednesdays") and he continued, though less frequently, to write songs during 2008. By the spring of 2009, he was once again writing and performing songs on a biweekly basis. The songs he writes, sings, and records are often humorous ditties, such as "I'm Gonna Kill You," "Baby, I Sold Your Dog on eBay," and "People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes". Hank's most successful song during Brotherhood 2.0 was "Accio Deathly Hallows," which was featured on YouTube preceding the release of the final ''Harry Potter'' book., and has been viewed over one million times. The front-page feature gave the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel a boost in their viewers and subscribers, leading to the beginning of the fanbase that they have now: Nerdfighteria.

The vast popularity of Green's songs prompted the introduction of his first album, ''So Jokes'', which was released whilst Green was on tour with his brother, promoting the book ''Paper Towns''. The album reached number 22 on the Billboard top 25 revenue generating albums online.

Green's latest business move has been the creation and marketing of "2-D" glasses, glasses allowing one to watch 3-D movies in 2-D, originally created for those who experience discomfort watching 3-D, such as Green's wife, and consisting of either two right or two left lenses from a pair of regular 3-D glasses.

Brotherhood 2.0

Hank and his brother John ran a popular video blog project called Brotherhood 2.0. The original project ran from January 1 to December 31, 2007, with the premise that the brothers would cease all text-based ("textual") communication for the year and instead converse by video blogs, made available to the public via their YouTube channel ''Vlogbrothers'' and on their website. The initial idea for the project was created by John, because, during an instant messaging conversation between the two, he pointed out they had not gone past the realms of communication via phone conversations, e-mails, and instant messaging for nearly a year.

Recurring themes included "Nerdfighters", adding the phrase "in your pants" to book titles, "Song Wednesdays", "Question Tuesdays" (This normally did not take place on a Tuesday, which lead to video titles such as "Question Tuesday on Friday"), punishments for breaking the rules, clips of Hank humping various items, and featuring giraffe sex as the thumbnail for videos. First intended as a joke, it soon became apparent that said thumbnail substantially increased the number of views. With over 24 million combined views, equalling about 20% of their total video views, three of their top four most viewed videos use the giraffe sex thumbnail.

In their December 31, 2007 video, it was revealed that the brothers had decided not to stop vlogging even though the project had ended.

In 2008, John and Hank met up with their fans, known as "Nerdfighters". The first gathering was a last minute decision, but despite the short three day notice, nearly a hundred people attended. In August, John and Hank were invited to the Google office in Chicago to talk about the project. That same day, they filled the Harold Washington Library with some four hundred enthusiastic young adults. Following John's tour, promoting his third novel, ''Paper Towns'', the brothers went on a national tour in November. With events in 17 different cities, they met thousands of Nerdfighters at local libraries and community centers. During this tour, Hank released his first album of Nerdfighter-themed songs, entitled ''So Jokes''.

The Green brothers have been interviewed on PotterCast and were keynote speakers at the ''Harry Potter'' fan convention LeakyCon 2009.

In addition to spawning a large online fan community and creating a large amount of YouTube popularity, the Brotherhood 2.0 project has also succeeded in its original mission. The two brothers have come to communicate more thoroughly with each other, and have a larger influence in each others' lives than before the project was initiated. The brothers talked on the phone once or twice a year before Brotherhood 2.0, but, according to Hank Green's wife Katherine, they now "talk almost every day."

John and Hank continue to post vlogs several times a week on their YouTube account, ''Vlogbrothers''. With over 500,000 subscribers, they are the 31st most subscribed directors of all time on the website. Their videos have been watched over 130 million times. Hank Green is amazing and one of the the two leaders of Nerdfighterea.

DFTBA Records

DFTBA Records (an initialism for "Don't Forget to Be Awesome") is a record label co-founded by Green and Alan Lastufka in 2008. Its main focus is music generated by prominent YouTube stars, such as Green himself, Charlie McDonnell, Chameleon Circuit, Molly Lewis, Rhett and Link, VenetianPrincess, Julia Nunes and several others. Distribution of records by DFTBA Records is largely independent; Lastufka himself generally oversees most of the distribution.

The goal of the record label, as Lastufka stated in a video on the subject, is to provide a distribution network for talented artists of YouTube and to make sure their music reaches out to the "largest audience possible." The record label claims to aid a bigger audience in connecting with the artists, and make the "YouTube experience" more lucrative, more exciting, and more fun. The offices of DFTBA Records are in Manhattan, Illinois.

VidCon

In December 2009, Green and his brother John launched VidCon, a YouTube conference which was held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles in July 2010. The event sold out, as did the second year of the conference. The event has already been scheduled for 2012.

Discography

''So Jokes'' (2008)

''I'm So Bad at This: Live!'' (2009)

''This Machine Pwns n00bs'' (2009)

''Ellen Hardcastle '' (2011)

Also appears on:

''Wrock for Darfur'' (2008)

''DFTBA Records, Volume One'' (2009)

''C4N'7 R3M1X35'' (2010)

''DFTBA Records, Volume Two'' (2010)

See also

John Green (brother)

Environmentalism

VidCon

List of YouTube celebrities

Video blogging

References

External links

Hank Green's web site

EcoGeek

Brotherhood 2.0 Project

Youtube - Vlogbrothers' channel.

The Nerdfighters home page.

The Nerdfighters forum.

DFTBA Records

Hank Green on VYou!

Category:Living people Category:1980 births Category:People from Birmingham, Alabama Category:People from Missoula, Montana Category:Eckerd College alumni Category:University of Montana alumni Category:DFTBA Records artists Category:Video bloggers

no:Hank Green