Recent decades have seen fan and “geek” culture become widely popular as the science fiction, fantasy, and superhero stories that used to be the preserve of a smaller subculture of die-hard fans conquered the box office, our televisions, and the best-seller lists. In that same time period, the Internet has...
This project was originally motivated by a lifelong love of the Harry Potter series and a teenage love for fan fiction and other fancreated works. I was motivated to do research when I stumbled upon the lack of inclusivity in many fan communities, which I found to be shocking. In...
This dissertation analyzes the transformation of fantasy sports from a deviant, outside-the-mainstream fan culture to a billion-dollar industry that comprises almost 20 million North American participants. Fantasy sports are games in which participants adopt the simultaneous roles of owner, general manager, and coach of their own teams of real athletes...