Red went on to tell me that all of the fans described in this piece did something “higher” with it. Gesticulating, she painted the picture of an ordinary American girl liking the TV-show Angel, and watching it every time it is on TV. This girl could be called a “fan.” But the fans, I was working with and writing about, including myself, had “made it part of identity” to such a degree that we thought about it outside of the times shown on TV, to the extent that “being a fan” pervaded other aspects of our lives.
....This text is, essentially, an ethnography of what it means to be an online fan. In order to underline what I wanted to translate, I would have had to offer a moment of ethnography alien enough, yet understandable enough, to introduce an unfamiliar audience to the topic. Yet, such a single ethnographic moment does not exist. All of the scenes depicted above are, after all, not simply moments of ritual or hobby, but moreover are infused with a certain mode of identity. Beyond serving an introductory function, they urge you to immerse yourself into a world that will seem alien at best.
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