Fansplaining

Episode 67, "Stephanie Burt: Part 1," is the first half of a conversation with Stephanie Burt, a Harvard poetry professor and comics fangirl. In this segment, they discuss poetry criticism, the similarities between fanfic and hardcore punk, taste and quality, situating your critical perspective, and the way various academic fields—from fan studies to the English department—treat feeeeeeeeeelings.

In Episode 66, "The Humanizing Turn," Elizabeth and Flourish use a Star Wars meta that Flourish recently published as a jumping-off point to discuss tropes, characterization, and what we want from stories, in both canon and fanfiction. When do we grant stories complexity—and when do we simplify them, slotting characters into archetypes? They round out the discussion by responding to a listener question about "anti culture" and how both the methods and the content of anti-shipping have changed in recent years.

In Episode 65, "Fandom and Capitalism," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss exactly what it says on the tin: fandom and capitalism, from a variety of different angles. First they read a thought-provoking listener letter about how market pressures spur more diversity on our screens—and whether fans' own "corrective" ecosystems might be doing harm by cutting off that feedback loop. Then they consider the case of Marvel's recently-announced "Create Your Own," a comics creator platform with an equal-parts hilarious and worrying terms of service.

In Episode 64, "The Year In Fandom 2017," Elizabeth and Flourish talk about...the year in fandom! Sticking to tradition, they start by recapping their 2016 list and seeing how those trends have evolved over the past year; then they dive into a new list of trends and themes from 2017. Topics covered include the limits of fandom mainstreaming, shipping and social justice activism, and fandom and the #MeToo movement. And they wrap up with a discussion of their personal years in fandom, which means, unsurprisingly, sad pirates and Flourish's perpetual mission to connect all things to Star Trek.

In Episode 63, "Fanworks and Counterfeits," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss a recent brouhaha in the Outlander fandom involving fan group closures, counterfeit merchandise, what counts as acceptable fanart to The Powers That Be, and more. Topics covered include historical knitting drama, the bounds of fair use, Scottish tourism woes, and the centralization of Facebook as a corporate power. They also read and discuss a listener letter about the appeal of YA fiction and talk frankly about the recent fee structure changes at Patreon.

In Episode 62, Elizabeth and Flourish talk with Adrian Hon, co-founder and CEO of the independent game developer Six to Start and one of the creators of their most popular game, "Zombies, Run!" Topics covered include ARGs, moderating forums, POV in games, fan/creator interaction, accessibility in gaming, and more. Plus Flourish pitches him what will surely be the next big hit in fitness games, "Zombies, Lift!"

In Episode 61, "Episodic," Elizabeth and Flourish read a wide range of recent listener responses: on the purpose of fandom history, why adults read YA fiction, the difference between privacy and secrecy, and how happy endings and reader expectations vary across time and place. Then they discuss Elizabeth's recent presentation at "Episodic," a conference that brought episodic storytellers from different media together. Topics covered include why fandom is drawn to episodic content, different modes of episodic storytelling, and the one comedy Flourish has ever watched, M*A*S*H.

In Episode 59, "Fandom Histories," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss common narratives of fandom history and lay out their approaches to thinking about the antecedents of modern fan culture. Topics discussed include 19th century amateur press associations, early science fiction fandom, gatekeeping, the concept of "feral fandoms," and myths about people in the past. They also respond to a listener question about romantic relationships in fanfiction, and discuss where fic and romance overlap—and where they don't.

Episode 58, "Flourish Attends A Concert, Or, Elizabeth Agrees To Talk About Harry Styles For Half An Hour," does exactly what it says on the tin. The morning after Flourish attends a Harry Styles concert in Boston, they discuss the concert itself, differences and similarities between music, sports, and media fandoms, how the fans you interact with affect your behavior in fandom, and the experience of being in a crowd totally focused on one thing. They also discuss a listener voicemail about, amongst other things, clashes around age in fandom.