As this special issue shows, fans are often at the heart of protests – and they have plenty to say about the issues they care about. They take their cause seriously – and often make use of the media to do so. This is especially true when their favorite shows, characters, or sports teams get involved.
For example, in 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his beloved Sherlock Holmes and fans went on a protest march. They convinced Doyle to bring him back, and the rest is history. TV shows often inspire similar outrage when they get canceled, and many fans organize to keep their show going. This is why it was so significant when the original Star Trek series got cancelled in 1969. Fan outcry helped keep the series on the air for another 50 years.
Protests have also been sparked by attempts to regulate the Internet, restrict the deployment of intellectual property, or censor their content. This issue’s stories look at several examples of these.
While some news stories about protests may stigmatize those who participate in them, others provide a more positive depiction. For instance, this issue looks at how different framing of a story about a teen’s death at a football game impacts people’s attitudes toward the person who died and the protesters who organized the demonstration.
Moreover, we explore how the personalities of celebrities, as well as the themes of popular fiction, may shape which issues fan activists choose to support. For example, Tom Phillips examines the failed attempt by filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) to motivate fans to write letters to Southwest Airlines when the airline removed him from a flight because he was deemed “too fat” to fly.