Fansplaining

Flourish and Elizabeth celebrate their sixth anniversary in the traditional fashion: inviting back guests from the past year to talk about changes they've observed in fandom, from the global to the personal. Topics covered include the uncertain future of some fanfiction platforms, growing more protective of your fannish spaces, the ever-growing influence of purity culture, and the year's racial reckonings (and whether anything has really changed).

In Episode 154, "Fans are Discussing…" Elizabeth and Flourish...discuss (heh) the way Twitter's trending topics reflect—and fail to reflect—what fans are actually talking about. The conversation touches on the platform's editorial decisions, how Twitter trends are interpreted by both Hollywood and the press, and the way fan speculation fuels the geek media ecosystem. They also respond to a teen listener's letter on a recent discussion about age and fandom.

In Episode 153, "The Productive Fan," Elizabeth and Flourish respond to a listener letter about some fic authors' tendencies to see themselves as 'bad' if they aren't producing written work. Topics covered include the perils of prescriptive writing advice, the Protestant work ethic, Flourish and Elizabeth's personal writing habits, and the impact of professional authors' conversations on fanfic authors' discourse.

In Episode 152, "Ask Fansplaining Anything: Part 10," Flourish and Elizabeth tackle a new batch of listener questions that all center on the theme: "free your mind by cleansing your timeline." Topics discussed include mismatched expectations on Tumblr, monetizing Twitter stan accounts, ageism in fandom, and the growing trend of pro publishers using AO3-style tags in book marketing.

In Episode 151, "Teaching Fanfiction," Flourish and Elizabeth talk to Dr. Anne Jamison and PhD candidate Maria Alberto about teaching college courses on fanfiction. Topics discussed include how they approach fic in the classroom, the ethics of including fic in syllabi, and the difference between just enjoying fic and studying it from a critical perspective—and they also give advice for people who want to study fandom-related topics in academia.

In Episode 150, "Post-Pandemic Fandom," Flourish and Elizabeth reflect on the way the pandemic has changed fandom in the past 18 months—and speculate about what that might mean for fans in the coming months and years. Topics discussed include delayed film and television production and release dates, potentially returning to tours and cons, changes in fandom participation and fanfic habits, and the way the global nature of both the pandemic and of fandom means fans will continue to have very different experiences depending on their life circumstances.

In Episode 149, "The Real Character," Flourish and Elizabeth examine the rhetorical phenomenon of framing fictional characters as real, living people, independent of the texts in which they were created. Topics covered include Plato's allegory of the cave, "comfort characters," bad writing advice, and how people choose to externalize their emotions.

In Episode 148, Flourish and Elizabeth discuss "Do Not Interact" warnings, a kind of social signalling that's proliferated across social media sites recently—including in fandom spaces. Topics covered include the framing and efficacy of these warnings, and intergenerational fandom clashes around how much information about yourself you should put on the internet. They also read two listener letters in response to the "Writing Women" episode, about the writers' experiences in f/f spaces.

In Episode 147, Elizabeth and Flourish talk with Anisa Khalifa, cultural critic and co-host of the K-drama podcast "Dramas Over Flowers." Topics covered include K-dramas' structural and emotional characteristics, the way these shows' export and consumption has changed over the past decade, transnational fandom exchanges between Korean/Korean diaspora fans and international fans, and the enduring legacy of Orientalism when non-Asian fans get invested in Asian media.

In Episode 146, "If You Give a Fan a Cookie," Flourish and Elizabeth consider the Snyder Cut: What happens when fans demand something…and they get it? Topics discussed include the inherent conservatism of (some parts of) fandom, whether the Snyder Cut was worth the financial gamble, and how it might impact fans' expectations in the future. They also respond to a pair of listener letters about the "Fanfiction & Source Material Mini-Survey."