TY - JOUR
T1 - Popular Theatre and its ›Invisible‹ Fans
T2 - Fandom as External/Internal to the Theatrical Field
AU - Hills, Matt
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - This article argues that fan studies has typically neglected theatre as an object of fandom, whilst theatre studies has, in turn, marginalised audience and fan studies. Challenging these structuring invisibilities, I will consider how fandom has been discursively constructed in the theatre »field« (Bourdieu 1993). Media fandom has often been positioned as external to the world of theatre, or discursively limited to commercial productions such as West End/Broadway shows, especially musicals. Contra such assumptions, I will analyze discourses of fandom within the theatrical field, considering how generational and media-technological developments have supported a fan-like »participatory culture« with regard to both highly commercial and ›legitimate‹ forms of popular theatre.
AB - This article argues that fan studies has typically neglected theatre as an object of fandom, whilst theatre studies has, in turn, marginalised audience and fan studies. Challenging these structuring invisibilities, I will consider how fandom has been discursively constructed in the theatre »field« (Bourdieu 1993). Media fandom has often been positioned as external to the world of theatre, or discursively limited to commercial productions such as West End/Broadway shows, especially musicals. Contra such assumptions, I will analyze discourses of fandom within the theatrical field, considering how generational and media-technological developments have supported a fan-like »participatory culture« with regard to both highly commercial and ›legitimate‹ forms of popular theatre.
KW - Theatre
KW - Celebrity
KW - Fandom
KW - Participatory Culture
KW - Bourdieu
KW - Field Theory
KW - Immersive
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032579636&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s41244-017-0074-2
DO - 10.1007/s41244-017-0074-2
M3 - Article
VL - 47
SP - 487
EP - 503
JO - Zeitschrift fur Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik
JF - Zeitschrift fur Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik
SN - 0049-8653
IS - 4
ER -
