Fansplaining

In Episode 87, Elizabeth and Flourish offer up an extra (and possibly unwanted) fourth installment of THE DISCOURSE TRILOGY, entitled, "What We Discourse About When We Discourse About the Discourse." Brace yourselves. They read and play responses from five listeners, on topics including the connections between broader cultural conversations and fandom's purity debates, the Feminist Porn Wars of the 1980s, the ways that fandom fosters cross-generation connections as well as divisions, and Flourish's deep and abiding love for Twilight.

In Episode 86, "The Money Question," Flourish and Elizabeth complete their inadvertent DISCOURSE TRILOGY with a conversation about the monetization of fanfiction. The first half focuses on the Archive of our Own, a nonprofit fanfic archive that strongly discourages authors from monetizing their work. The second half focuses on Wattcon, a recent conference run by Wattpad, a reading-and-writing app that welcomes fanfic—and, as a for-profit company, both makes money from fanfic and encourages fic writers to think of themselves as entrepreneurs.

In Episode 85, Flourish and Elizabeth talk about the ever-contentious topic of age in fandom. They start with childhood—are there aspects of childhood that are naturally fannish?—and continue on through later stages of life, including the way mainstream society pits fannishness against maturity (unless you're a sports fan!). Topics covered include ageism, the empathy gap online, Ann M. Martin, and the glory that was the mall in the 1990s.

In Episode 84, "Purity Culture," Elizabeth and Flourish brace themselves and dive into a topic they've been asked about many times before. They define and deconstruct the term, along with the related "antis" and "stans"—who they are, how they behave, and what impact they have on fandom as a whole. They also address listener letters about the monetization of fanfic, new EU copyright law, and their interview with Javier Grillo-Marxuach.

In Episode 83, "Ask Fansplaining Anything: Part 2," Flourish and Elizabeth answer a pile of listener letters from the past few months. Topics covered include responses to the recent episode on real person fiction, whether crossovers are underappreciated, why there is a culture of paying for fanart but not fanfic, what "fuck canon" really means, queer representation in fan-favorite shows, and whether fandom is rife with internalized misogyny.

In Episode 82, Elizabeth and Flourish interview writer, producer, and former TV executive Javier Grillo-Marxuach about his long career both as a fan and as a member of the "powers that be." Topics covered include some of the earliest fan/creator clashes on the web, Latinx representation in Hollywood, the legacy of Lost and the idea of "solving" a show, when it's time to give up on a fandom, and the decision to kill Lexa on The 100—and the fallout from it.

As they do every August, Flourish and Elizabeth welcome the past year's guests to talk about what's changed in fandom, on a global level, a personal level, or both. Topics include the increase in fandom's visibility, fans attacking creators, purity culture, and the dangers of treating politics like a television show. Flourish and Elizabeth then share their own perspectives on the past year, exploring how corporate structures underpin our fannishness, and developing new perspectives on what fanfiction is and what it can do.

In Episode 80, "Real Person Fiction," Elizabeth and Flourish are joined by Aja Romano, internet culture writer at Vox, to discuss RPF: writing fiction about celebrities and other real, living people. Topics covered include stigma towards RPF within fandom and in the broader culture; the many ways real people turn up in all sorts of art; and what happens when a celebrity encounters online discourse about themselves. They also discuss a listener message about one of Fansplaining's favorite topics: fandom, capitalism, and the monetization of fanworks.

In Episode 79, Elizabeth and Flourish try to answer the question "Who Is Comic-Con For?" They talk about their experience at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, the third time they've attended the event together after meeting on a panel there in 2015, and consider the con from different angles. How has the arrival of film and TV franchise attention changed SDCC? And from consumer behavior to celebrity-watching culture, how does SDCC construct an idea of "fandom" for entertainment industry execs?

In Episode 78, "The Fan Studies Network," Elizabeth attends the Fan Studies Network's annual academic conference in Cardiff, Wales, and interviews the founders of the FSN, Lucy Bennett and Tom Phillips. Back in the U.S., she and Flourish discuss some of the most exciting things she heard at the conference, the intersections and tensions between academics and non-academic fans, and the ways in which diversity is still a challenge for fan studies.