“Decreasing World Suck”
The HPA can be seen as a prime example of fan activism—harnessing fan enthusiasm toward real world change. Yet at the same time one may ask, to what extent is the example of the HPA a singular one? The Harry Potter phenomenon, after all, has been a remarkable success, with a generation of children “growing up with Harry”. This fan community was recognized as a particularly active and creative one -- among the first major fandoms to emerge alongside the internet and employed its increasing affordances. Moreover, many of the themes of the books seem particularly resonant with real-world issues, complemented by J.K. Rowling’s own history working for Amnesty International. Much like Invisible Children, the HPA uses media production and circulation to direct attention onto issues their members care about and in the process, to try to reshape the cultural and political agenda.
Yet this model is not the only possible approach to fan activism. Consider the example of the Nerdfighters. Nerdfighters are an informal online community that took shape around the YouTube channel of the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green. The two brothers upload two videos a week, about “nothing in particular”, though always with their unique look and feel, including a fast pace of speech, multiple jump cuts, and elaborate use of inside jokes and jargon. Nerdfighters are not connected around a fictional content world, but rather around their affiliation with the Vlogbrothers and a broader “nerd” identity, yet the group has developed a shared social agenda, broadly characterized as “decreasing world suck”. Beyond the Vlogbrothers’ own videos discussing current affairs (e.g. “Revolution in Egypt: a 4 minute introduction”), the young participants also are creating and posting their own videos in support of diverse charities and non-profits. The Nerdfighters have shown a capacity to mobilize rapidly around short-term, high impact civic goals: for example, the Foundation to Decrease World Suck raised $483, 296 in two days in 2012. According to John Green, the group’s civic goals are:
Very very much at the center of Nerdfighteria and I don’t think that there really is a community without that commitment to decreasing world suck or, as Hank likes to say, ‘increasing world awesome’.
Building on these three case studies (the HPA, Imagine Better and the Nerdfighters), this chapter explores the intersection of fan communities, content worlds, and participatory politics. The HPA demonstrates how a civic organization can translate fan enthusiasms into civic and political action. The Imagine Better Project raises questions about whether such a model can be “generalized” towards other fan communities. The Nerdfighters, finally, show that civic goals can be achieved by an interest community without one shared content world. Through these case studies, this chapter will explore two theoretical concepts: fan activism and content worlds.
