*Credit for the amazing background goes to Vashar23 on Deviantart -- a fellow Whovian and fan member
The Doctor Who Online Fandom
Whovian: n. someone who is a fan of the British television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a science-fiction series about a humanoid alien, the “Doctor,” who goes on adventures with certain “companions,” or humans he picks up along the way, travelling through time and space to save people from various catastrophes such as evil aliens or monsters. The Doctor also does not die but instead “regenerates” so he can live for hundreds of years and just change faces. Additionally, since the Doctor can travel through all of time and space, the show has an extensive universe for fans. This series began in 1963 but was cancelled in 1989. There was a Doctor Who movie in 1996 that was unsuccessful. Then, in 2005, the show was revived and has been going on ever since (Wikipedia).
Altogether, the show has been going on for 51 years and has a large fan following that remained strong even through the show's cancellation. Today, the fandom has become digital and acquired an impressive online fan base, dubbed, the Doctor Who fandom or Whovians.
Doctor Who is a science-fiction series about a humanoid alien, the “Doctor,” who goes on adventures with certain “companions,” or humans he picks up along the way, travelling through time and space to save people from various catastrophes such as evil aliens or monsters. The Doctor also does not die but instead “regenerates” so he can live for hundreds of years and just change faces. Additionally, since the Doctor can travel through all of time and space, the show has an extensive universe for fans. This series began in 1963 but was cancelled in 1989. There was a Doctor Who movie in 1996 that was unsuccessful. Then, in 2005, the show was revived and has been going on ever since (Wikipedia).
Altogether, the show has been going on for 51 years and has a large fan following that remained strong even through the show's cancellation. Today, the fandom has become digital and acquired an impressive online fan base, dubbed, the Doctor Who fandom or Whovians.
The Fan Practices
Because of the fandom's long existence, it is spread across various platforms including LiveJournal, Gallifrey Base, Tumblr, Pinterest, DeviantArt, and countless blogs, Buzzfeed, and Wikis (and these are just the ones that I have come across). Within these spaces, members participate in various practices such as:
- Fanfiction like A Teaspoon and An Open Mind
While there are many different forums for fanfiction, A Teaspoon and An Open Mind is specifically for Doctor Who fans. Through fanfiction, fans can write different stories or posts about characters within Doctor Who in other adventures and situations outside of the official text. For example, fans can write about the other Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler's life together in the parallel universe.
- Fan art
Which can be found on various sites such as Tumblr, Pinterest, and certain Buzzfeed articles, but if you are interested in fan art strictly, one of the best places to go is DeviantArt. This picture that I posted is one of the most well-known pieces of art that is shared quite a bit.
Posts in forums such as Tumblr:
Fan theories like in Pinterest
And what it means to be a fan in general
And these are just a few specific examples of some practices fans participate in.
Theories about the Fandom
Even scholars have tried to come up with theories to describe the practices of the Doctor Who fandom.
Henry Jenkins and John Tulloch provide the foundation for the fandom theories. Jenkins theorizes about collective intelligence and the demise of the expert paradigm. Basically, Jenkins believes fandoms will act as a collective, pooling knowledge and resources: “the ability to pool knowledge…to make connections across scattered pieces of information…and the ability to express interpretations and feelings” (185). In doing so, the fandom would subvert the expert paradigm:“The expert paradigm requires a bounded body of knowledge, which an individual can master. The types of questions that thrive in a collective intelligence, however, are open-ended and profoundly interdisciplinary” (Jenkins 52). According to Jenkins, in a collective intelligence, there would be so much knowledge that no one person could be an expert or master the information, and everyone in the discourse would have the same access to the same information. And, finally, as a collective, fans could influence the official text.
However, according to Tulloch, fans would not be able to influence the text. Instead, Tulloch saw fans as the powerless elite because they were “positioned in relations of expertise and intimacy with ‘their’ show. They are necessarily positioned…in an immediate context of industry (‘producers’) and audience (‘the floating voter’)” (169). Thus, the fandom was powerless because they were positioned between the official producers and the general audience without any power to maneuver between the two or change the official text. The fandom had extensive knowledge about the television series, held conventions, and wrote fanfiction and books on Doctor Who which made them elite compared to the general audience. However, despite their knowledge, the fans were ultimately powerless to influence or challenge the official television series.
Henry Jenkins and John Tulloch provide the foundation for the fandom theories. Jenkins theorizes about collective intelligence and the demise of the expert paradigm. Basically, Jenkins believes fandoms will act as a collective, pooling knowledge and resources: “the ability to pool knowledge…to make connections across scattered pieces of information…and the ability to express interpretations and feelings” (185). In doing so, the fandom would subvert the expert paradigm:“The expert paradigm requires a bounded body of knowledge, which an individual can master. The types of questions that thrive in a collective intelligence, however, are open-ended and profoundly interdisciplinary” (Jenkins 52). According to Jenkins, in a collective intelligence, there would be so much knowledge that no one person could be an expert or master the information, and everyone in the discourse would have the same access to the same information. And, finally, as a collective, fans could influence the official text.
However, according to Tulloch, fans would not be able to influence the text. Instead, Tulloch saw fans as the powerless elite because they were “positioned in relations of expertise and intimacy with ‘their’ show. They are necessarily positioned…in an immediate context of industry (‘producers’) and audience (‘the floating voter’)” (169). Thus, the fandom was powerless because they were positioned between the official producers and the general audience without any power to maneuver between the two or change the official text. The fandom had extensive knowledge about the television series, held conventions, and wrote fanfiction and books on Doctor Who which made them elite compared to the general audience. However, despite their knowledge, the fans were ultimately powerless to influence or challenge the official television series.
Since Tulloch's theory, the fandom has changed and acquired a shady past that some fans refuse to admit, and others have fought to prevent recurring with the revived series: According to Hadas and Shifman, the fandom, particularly the "classic fans," believe that fans caused the demise of the classic Doctor Who series (281). Many claim that the classic series went down because producers tried to please the fans instead of the general audience and in doing so, lost the general audience's attention and caused its subsequent cancellation (281). According to Hadas and Shifman, there were "possible dangers of fans influencing the production" (276). Thus, in their study of the fandoms, fans wanted to stay separated from the producers so that the show could prosper. They saw themselves as "gatekeepers" of the true Doctor Who, preserving the show for the general audience. According to Hadas and Shifman, the fans now choose to remain the powerless elite.
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However, the fandom is too complicated for a clean line between fans and producers, even official producers, because the two producer of the revived series, Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, are self-proclaimed fans. Through the fan producers alone, the fandom has influenced the official text of Doctor Who. For example, Hadas and Shifman point out that some fans see the explicit romantic situations in the "new" Who as elements that were really only for fanfiction. Hadas and Shifman also state that fans are "wary of the dangers of a creator who is also a fan" and "that Davies is not supposed to write as a fan" (287). Even though in Hadas and Shifman's theory, Davies and Moffat are seen as separate, they are also still defined as fans and as fans are influencing the official text. Hills states, "The entry of self-declared fans into powerful official roles in Who's production could be taken as straightforward validation of fan expertise" (367). And, other individual fans are also influencing the text.
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As a collective, the fandom also has some power. For a long time, the fandom as a whole has been complaining about the fact that the Doctor is always an old white man, and some members began to lobby for a female Doctor. In fact some fans even began cosplays (costumes) about it. However, while Moffat did not cast a female 12th Doctor, the Time Lord Master, now Missy (right) was cast as a female. Master, now Missy, is the Doctor's arch-nemesis who is a Time Lord like the Doctor. In doing so, Moffat opened up the possibility for Time Lords to switch genders in different re-generations, which means that a female Doctor is possible.While Moffat did not exactly give into some members' demands, he nearly did which illustrates the fans' influence on the official text. Plus, Moffat has leaked that the Doctor could be female in the future.
In this instance, the fandom acted as a collective to influence the official text like Jenkins theorized. And, like Jenkins theorizes, the Doctor Who fandom does pool their knowledge in the form of Doctor Who Wikis, Pinterest and Tumblr posts. Additionally, because many fans post under usernames, the posts are shared so many times, and many fans collaborate in some posts like Tumblr, there is not always a clear author and the producer could technically be credited to the fandom as a whole.
However, accessing this information still takes time and demands a certain level of investment as Hills points out, this “still depends on major fan investment in time and effort” (362). According to Hills, there are “Big Name Fans” such as Philip Sandifer who has published his blog posts as books, which makes him and others like him experts
(364).
And some fans are more important than others in the fandom, or rather, I should say, their opinions hold more weight than others, like Davies and Moffat. While many fans do not agree with Davies and Moffat, in the fandom, what these fans say goes: "fans trust and expect the writers to tell their own stories and are content with being along for the ride" (Hadas and Shifman 278). And, there are other examples of important fans too such as David Tennant, the current Doctor, celebrities, and other official writers, like Neil Gaiman.
(364).
And some fans are more important than others in the fandom, or rather, I should say, their opinions hold more weight than others, like Davies and Moffat. While many fans do not agree with Davies and Moffat, in the fandom, what these fans say goes: "fans trust and expect the writers to tell their own stories and are content with being along for the ride" (Hadas and Shifman 278). And, there are other examples of important fans too such as David Tennant, the current Doctor, celebrities, and other official writers, like Neil Gaiman.
But, really the fandom itself excludes nonmembers who are unfamiliar with the show content or fan discourse. To fans, being part of the fandom means being intimately familiar with the show, the language, and inside jokes. For example, fans have certain knowledge from the show such as what a sonic screwdriver is or the names of the actors who played the Doctor (Whyte). The language fans use demonstrates their knowledge and sets apart fans who sort of know about Doctor Who and the hard core fans, who are practically experts.
There is also a hierarchy of fans within the fandom itself. Members post about the different kinds of fans in the fandom based on varying criteria (Lepetit). Some fans are categorized by the activities they participate in such as fanfiction writers or theorists. Others are classified by which Doctors they love, or whether or not they like the head writer, Steven Moffat. And, still other fans are classified as “Classic Who fans,” or fans who know the older Doctor Who episodes versus fans who only know the newer revived series from 2005 (Lepetit). In these ways, the fandom still perpetuates the expert paradigm.
So where does this leave the fandom?
Ultimately, Jenkins and Tulloch and even Hadas and Shifman and Hills' theories about the fandom are no longer satisfactory when considering the complexity of the fandom. The fandom is no longer truly the powerless elite because fans, whether as official producers, unofficial producers, or as a collective, influence the official text. And, Hadas and Shifman do not consider Davies and Moffat as part of the fandom as they are official producers and not part of the collective. However, this exclusion denies the complexity of the fandom as a group of fans, and the fact that the line between fans and producers has already been blurred: "blending fan knowledge and professional television production expertise" (Hills 367). While fans adhere to Jenkins' theory of collective intelligence in so far as they are a large group and pool resources, this theory is also not satisfactory because there are still experts and develop a hierarchy.
In Tulloch, Hadas and Shifman, and even Hills' theories, the scholars talk about how fans defend the views of non-fans or the general audience. However, today, the "classic" Doctor Who fans do not have to protect the general audience because more and more people today become part of fandoms. Plus, the fact that the fandom is so large, so old, on some many different platforms and mediums that it is difficult to say exactly what the fandom thinks or even agrees on as a whole because the discourse is so divided.
Unfortunately, I do not have all the answers and in order to propose a new theory to understand this fandom would take much more research and time. However, a new theory about the Doctor Who online fandom will have to take into consideration all, or at least most, of the platforms and practices that fans participate in, how the fans are still somehow united under a loyalty to Doctor Who, and the complexity of the discourse. Hadas and Shifman point out: "to Doctor Who members, fandom is much more than a mode of engagement; it is a framework of taste, and subsequently, an identity. Their identity as fans is thus part of a culture they wish to maintain through various levels of participation" (288).
In Tulloch, Hadas and Shifman, and even Hills' theories, the scholars talk about how fans defend the views of non-fans or the general audience. However, today, the "classic" Doctor Who fans do not have to protect the general audience because more and more people today become part of fandoms. Plus, the fact that the fandom is so large, so old, on some many different platforms and mediums that it is difficult to say exactly what the fandom thinks or even agrees on as a whole because the discourse is so divided.
Unfortunately, I do not have all the answers and in order to propose a new theory to understand this fandom would take much more research and time. However, a new theory about the Doctor Who online fandom will have to take into consideration all, or at least most, of the platforms and practices that fans participate in, how the fans are still somehow united under a loyalty to Doctor Who, and the complexity of the discourse. Hadas and Shifman point out: "to Doctor Who members, fandom is much more than a mode of engagement; it is a framework of taste, and subsequently, an identity. Their identity as fans is thus part of a culture they wish to maintain through various levels of participation" (288).
As Peter Capaldi, the current Doctor states, Doctor Who belongs to all of the fans. And, one thing is certain about the online fandom, once you step in you realize, it's bigger on the inside.
