丁香园AV

By Connor Buzza 

With my creative project, I wanted to center the interpretive and creative practices of 鈥渟tans鈥�: the intensely supportive fans of celebrities that often congregate in online communities like Twitter and engage in discussion with other 鈥渟tandoms鈥� (Bermudez et al., 2020, 1-2; Malik & Haider, 2021). Like other fan communities, stans are also active producers of fan content, such as fan art or compilation videos. Yet, one of the most distinct forms of fan content within standom is the practice of 鈥渕eme-ing鈥�, or the creation and sharing of visual content that is 鈥渁ctively circulated and adapted by users鈥� (Palmer & Warren, 129). As I will demonstrate through my creative project, the meme-ing practices of stans is emblematic of 鈥渘omadic poaching鈥�, in that stans appropriate celebrity texts and make intertextual connections to create their own new meanings.

In positing that stans are nomadic poachers, I am extending Jenkins鈥� (1992) argument that fans engage in both 鈥渢extual poaching鈥� and 鈥渘omadic reading鈥� practices. To begin with the former, 鈥渢extual poaching鈥� refers to how readers may appropriate a text to make their own interpretations and fan creations. Rather than reading to understand the authorial meaning, textual poachers read and rework texts 鈥渁ccording to their own blueprints鈥� (26). Through their appropriation of a text, fans can fulfill their own interpretations and create new meanings according to their fannish desires. Furthermore, Jenkins also describes fans as 鈥渘omadic readers鈥� to demonstrate how their fan interpretations and creations can wander across multiple texts. Fans are not bound to one text or fandom but are rather 鈥渃onstantly advancing upon another text, appropriating new materials, [and] making new meanings鈥� (36). In fact, nomadic reading provides another avenue for fans to create new meanings via the juxtapositions and connections they make between and across texts: 鈥淚t is the relationship between these two [or more] deliberately selected texts鈥� that creates meaning鈥� (Freund, 2018, 209). Thus, 鈥渘omadic poaching鈥� refers to the ways that fans might engage in both 鈥渢extual poaching鈥� and 鈥渘omadic reading鈥�. Fans appropriate multiple texts and make intertextual connections in their fan creations to produce new meanings.

Through my creative project, I attempt to capture and emphasize the nomadic poaching that is performed by stan meme-ing culture. My project in particular uses a popular stan meme-ing format that compiles stan Twitter memes and sets them to an artist鈥檚 music鈥攎y video specifically uses Beyonc茅鈥檚 song 鈥淗eated鈥�. While stan meme-ing may seem frivolous or nonsensical, I argue that it is indicative of their complex nomadic poaching practices.

Most evidently, this video shows how stan communities are highly nomadic, intertextual readers by drawing on a vast array of stan memes. Stan meme-ing is not bound to one standom or celebrity, but instead, relies on a vast array of stan references to make memes. This is most evident with the use of reaction memes and GIFs within standom spaces, such as in the comment section of a popular tweet about Beyonc茅 (PopCrave, 2023). Here, an array of memes from multiple standoms might be employed by a single standom to interpret and rework celebrity texts. Similarly, my project looks at 鈥淗eated鈥� through intertextual references that span multiple standoms鈥攊ncluding Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, and Rihanna鈥攁s opposed to only referring to Beyonc茅-centered texts. For each line of the song, I selected different stan memes that would compliment the lyric or support my stannish interpretation. In this way, my video 鈥渒nits together鈥� (Jenkins, 40) an intertextual network of stan memes to make interpretations about 鈥淗eated鈥�. This illustrates how stan users frequently engage in nomadic poaching, as they rely on a rich, intertextual network of memes to make interpretations about celebrity texts.

Additionally, stans employ textual poaching techniques by appropriating celebrity texts and connecting them with stan memes to create new meanings. An example of this in standom would be the viral performance where Beyonc茅 supposedly points to a fan and sings 鈥淪he ain鈥檛 no diva鈥�; Beyonc茅 stans then used this meme to claim other celebrities are 鈥渘o diva鈥� (ShowTimeJoker1, 2023; WildxGlow, 2023). Here, Beyonc茅 stans appropriate this celebrity moment and use meme-ing to make their own interpretations and meanings about standom.

Likewise, my creative project uses stan memes to interpret the lyrics of 鈥淗eated鈥�, consequently creating new meanings for the song. For instance, the specific memes I used create an interpretation of 鈥淗eated鈥� as a fun dance song, but also one that does not need to be taken too seriously. An example of this would during the lyric 鈥淕ive me face, face, face, face, yah鈥�, where I used the popular stan meme of actress Emma Roberts鈥攖his stan meme, among several others in the video, supports my interpretation of the song as unserious and campy. While Beyonc茅鈥檚 intent for 鈥淗eated鈥� might have been to create a 鈥渇ierce鈥� anthem or message of self-love, my video appropriates this text and interprets it via stan memes to fulfill my own stannish desires. In this way, my project shows how stans might 鈥減oach鈥� celebrity texts and give it new meanings through its connection to stan memes. This is also evident during the repeated lyric, 鈥淭hat cheap spandex she looks a mess鈥�, which plays during the memes of Sam Smith and Taylor Swift. The use of these memes here interprets the lyric as a reference to these celebrities鈥攖hey 鈥渓ook a mess鈥濃�攅ven though the lyric is not explicitly directed towards anyone. The juxtapositions between the lyrics and memes reworks both to serve my stannish interpretations. Thereby, the connections that stans make between celebrity texts and memes creates new meanings through their intertextual interactions.

Conclusion

Bearing all of this in mind, I suggest that stan meme-ing is characteristic of Jenkins鈥� nomadic poaching argument. Stan meme-ing practices appropriate celebrity texts and make intertextual connections to create new meaning. My video in particular transforms Beyonc茅鈥檚 song 鈥淗eated鈥� by making connections to and interactions with a range of stan memes. In doing so, I illustrate how stans rely on similar methods of interpretation and creation as other fan communities, even if their meme-ing practices may seem insignificant in comparison.