Anti-Fans

Antifans are people who are passionate about a media text, but negatively so; they loathe or detest what they take it to represent. Anti-fandom therefore appears to revolve around a negative stereotype of the particular text or genre and its assumed audience.

This has been supported by the rise of the internet anti-fan in the digital age. Anti-fans are everywhere and can therefore ruin the success of a film by promoting negative reviews, for example, via the internet. The studios insisted that the publication of several negative reviews on the internet was largely responsible for the disappointing cinematic release of 1997's Batman and Robin, which can thus suggest that anti-fans have more influence over the perceived fans than in previous decades.

Anti-fans hate the person they're reading or listening to, but can't seem to stop. They obsessively hang around on the YouTube channels or blogs of their anti-idol, waiting for a hate-fix to fulfill their lust for anger, constantly seeking opportunities in which to explain their contempt for the work and its author.

Something particularly important to note about anti-fans is that they can gather together in order to share their hate for a particular celebrity or icon. Groupings of anti-fans can be termed as 'anti-fanclubs', also known as virtual communities of disregard, hate listings and diss-share sites.

One specific example would be 'Daniel Craig Is Not Bond', which brought together both traditional Bond fans and anti-Craig fans. The latter people can delight in pointing out the shortcomings of Daniel Craig as Bond, whereas there are other anti-fans who simply 100% 'hate a character', and do not find delight in doing so.

Like traditional fans, anti-fans can go to extreme lengths to prove their hatred, which therefore emphasises how passionately opposed they might be to a certain franchise, celebrity etc. For example, in America a woman brought about the first known anti-fan hunger strike, in an attempt to 'get Sanjaya Malakar kicked off American Idol'.

Anti-fans might also perceive a media text in its different levels: a rational-realistic level (do I believe this? does it make sense?), a moral level (do I approve of its morals?), a political level (how do I react to its politics?), and an aesthetic level (is it artful or beautiful?), to name some key ones.

However, just as with traditional fans, anti-fans might not have a particular reason for their dislike or contempt for a media text. For instance, in regards to David Cronenberg's Crash, Martin Barker, Jane Arthurs and Ramaswami Harindranath noted how most of the people behind the push to have the film removed from English cinemas had not actually watched the film. Therefore, this meant that the fans who often devote their time to consuming huge portions of the text and its accompanying paratexts tended to be anti-fans, who may only have read negative reviews or taken what certain people, particularly those they trust, have said at face value.

Furthermore, this meant that it would be difficult for people to watch the film without taking the public outrage into account. For instance, if you read a negative review about a film, then it might be difficult to not take the review into consideration while watching the film.

Anti-fandom is significant as people can define themselves just as much by what they like as what they dislike. Hence anti-fandom can allow one to understand the impact and meaning of media texts on the lives of their fans.

Therefore, anti-fandom plays a large role in influencing fans as they might offer alternate readings of media texts that can allow people to decide whether they're a fan or an anti-fan. This also suggests that anti-fandom lends a voice to those who are otherwise unable to speak out against a particular media text, for fear of ridicule or angering people. Since fans are vocal in their support and devotion to particular media texts, then anti-fans should be given the chance to have their views and opinions taken into consideration, as well as be allowed to explain why they might be against certain media texts.

What is a cult film? And what is fandom?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a cult film should have "enduring appeal to a relatively small audience", and be "non-mainstream".

A common trope of cult films is that their theatrical releases are disappointing. For instance, The Big Lebowski (the film that I will be analysing) flopped at the box-office: it amassed a devoted following only when it was rereleased on VHS and DVD, cable and satellite TV, and at midnight venues.

Cult followings are often associated with niche markets or subcultures. As such, cult films tend to be associated with underground culture, and are considered too eccenctric, bizarre, controversial or anti-establishment to achieve mainstream appeal.

Fandom, on the other hand, has typically been depicted as a scandalous, emotionally charged form of attachment to media culture. It can be defined or explained as the state of being a fan or all that encompasses fan culture and fan behaviour in general, or the study of fans and fan behaviour.

In this case, it is about how people become fans how they devote themselves to the media products they seem to adore. It encompasses consumption and production, resistance (i.e. they are staunchly devoted to a beloved show, for instance) and collusion. It is about shared participation and experiences, about sharing thoughts and ideas.

Fan Guide

 

 

I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski is essentially a go-to guide for fans of The Big Lebowski. The fact that it features photographs, real locations and interviews with the stars of the film, including John Turturro, John Goodman and Julianne Moore - and a foreword by the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges - emphasises the painstaking lengths the writers went to in order to make something that their fan community would be proud of. The book also contains a glossary, trivia questions and the ultimate soundtrack listing, which suggests that fans would expect nothing less of the writers, as they created the Lebowski Fest and therefore it follows that they have greater access to behind-the-scenes information, given that they were able to get most of the original cast on-board.

 

Furthermore, there is also the implication that the content is factual and that the facts seem to be in order, which emphasises how a key role played by these high-status 'superfans' involves ensuring that the fans feel secure, as they can take everything in this book at face value and therefore it helps them to confirm or otherwise strengthen their devotion to the phenomenon that is The Big Lebowski.

 

It also helps them to attract new fans to The Big Lebowski, as they already have all that they need to do regarding the phenomenon.

 

 

 

The theory of 'textual poaching', first developed by French scholar Michel de Certeau and later developed by Henry Jenkins, asserts that fans are not obsessive nerds who are out-of-touch with reality, which was how they were perceived, but instead appropriate texts for themselves.

 

De Certeau argues that audiences are not passive consumers but instead active interpreters. In his book, The Practice of Everyday Life, De Certeau talked about how people individualise mass culture by interpreting texts beyond the dominant meaning which has been decided by the elite (academics, teachers, authors etc) who monopolise the readings. They take elements "poached" and reworked from popular media in order to construct their own alternative culture. For example, many 'fans' did not like the ending of The Sopranos and tried to explain how its protagonist, Tony Soprano, actually died, and so made videos on YouTube analysing the final scene of The Sopranos in some detail. This can also be applied to the aforementioned book,  I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski, as the way the fans of The Big Lebowski have interpreted the film would not have been how the film critics would have interpreted the film on its original cinema release.

This ‘poaching’ is a resistance strategy for the individual, however it is inherently weak compared to the dominant culture and will generally be an act which is pushed underground. Jenkins’ book then takes the active audience theory and applies it to fan cultures which ‘poach’ from their beloved text to create new texts such as fan fiction, filk (folk songs) and manuals/dictionaries to ‘fill-out’ further details not originally explained in the text. For instance, in  I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski, they made an English-Achiever translation guide. Jenkins' extension of the term “poaching” discusses how a fan can simultaneously interpret a text through both the dominant and oppositional reading, allowing readers to stick as closely to the ‘canon’ (official rules and principles put forward in the original text) as they wish. Poaching blurs the line between producer and consumer by giving the reader power to produce their own work based upon their own interpretation. It also offers a form of escapism from reality through the sub-cultures and fan communities created.

Dudeism

Dudeism is an online religion that was founded in 2005, and which is based on The Big Lebowski. Perhaps a key component of fandom is that you need highly dedicated fans who will lead the others, and therefore it follows that you need those high-status 'superfans' to give those fans a sense of belonging.

 

The fact that there is an online website for Dudeism and various rules and practices emphasises how focused these 'superfans' are on creating something for the other fans to rally around, and suggests that they are committed to meeting the needs of these fans.

 

 

As with Lebowski Fest, perhaps another key component of Dudeism is that fans are looking to form communities of like-minded fans who they can share their appreciation of The Big Lebowski with. The fact that it is greatly supported (supposedly, there are 200,000 ordained Dudeist priests) suggests that the fans have been looking for something like this for some time now. Furthermore, the fact that there are over 200,000 ordained Dudeist priests worldwide emphasises that they are bound to the online religion by a strong streak of competition and therefore want to give something back to their online fan community. 

 

 



 

 

 

This is an extract from an interview with Oliver Benjamin, the founder of Dudeism, in I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski. The fact that he created this online religion after getting hooked on The Big Lebowski suggests that such powerful expressions of devotion can, in turn, suggest that the fan in question was so transformed by the film that these expressions of devotion are warranted. The implication is that this person was very much unlike 'The Dude' suggests that people become fans for different reasons, and therefore the fact that he is giving this interview suggests that he wants to encourage fans to maintain their loyalty. 

 

Replay Culture

The idea of a 'replay culture' revolves around the ability to be able to watch a film after its initial release. A film that might have flopped at the box-office can be revived and garner a following through various forms of media including television, the internet and DVDs.

In the case of The Big Lebowski, it was a box-office failure, however soon gained a cult following when it went into circulation on the home video market. As this was a time when the home video market and video rentals were still important platforms for watching films, this suggests that The Big Lebowski.

Since The Big Lebowski was a financial and critical failure at the time of its initial release, the fact that it has a cult following can suggest that its fans seem 'genuine' as this was not a popular film and therefore it can be assumed that these fans didn't watch this film due to popular opinion.

 

 

The Big Lebowski had a studio re-release on Blu-Ray, which suggests that the studio had enough faith in the following to do so. Furthermore, since it was a limited edition release and therefore copies wouldn't be in great supply, this would have been a great way for fans to prove their loyalty as they would have to actively look for a copy.

 

Big Lebowski Documentary

 

The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Fans is a documentary looking at the cultural phenomenon of The Big Lebowski and how it has gained the following that it has. This is a great medium for fans of The Big Lebowski to express their devotion, as several fans were interviewed and therefore could have explained why they were fans. Furthermore, the people who made the documentary themselves could have been fans, and therefore this would have been a great way for them to share their love of the film with fellow fans.

 

 

The producers might have made this documentary because they understood that it would have already had an audience because of the cult following behind The Big Lebowski. Therefore, fans of the film might have watched the documentary as a means of acknowledging their attachment to The Big Lebowski.

The Big Lebowski Costumes

 

 

This is an eBay page for costumes worn by the main characters in The Big Lebowski. It is a key part of fandom, as the fans can be subjected to ridicule by others if they wear these costumes in public. Therefore, the fact that they wear these costumes out in the open emphasises how The Big Lebowski is a key component of their self-identity. Furthermore, the fact that fellow fans are willing to part with these costumes on sites such as eBay implies that they want others to feel the same way they do about The Big Lebowski.

 

 

 

 

 



Since fans at Lebowski Fest dress up as different characters, this harbours the implication that not everyone connects with the protagonist and therefore emphasises how fans can be drawn to different elements of the film.