The most loyal and passionate people can be found engaging in fandoms of their favourite celebrities, television shows, films, and fictional characters. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a fandom refers to a group of fans of someone or something, particularly those who are very enthusiastic.
Originating from England in the seventeenth century, the word “fan” is believed to be a shortened word for “fanatic.” American journalists began using the term to describe baseball spectators, and subsequently applied it to followers of film and music stars.
Fan culture has evolved significantly over the decades. With easy access to technology and AI, this phenomenon has become more prevalent in the twenty-first century. Fans from diverse cultures and identities have formed deep connections with one another because of their shared interests. Bands, Hollywood actors, and even game streamers are well-loved by their communities. Fans demonstrate their adoration by writing novel-length fan fiction, creating fan art, and producing cross-ship (or ‘crossover’) video edits that pair characters from different franchises.
The Long Way of Creative Expression
Cross-shipping is where people create a new pairing from different media that have never interacted before. For the last few weeks, the crossover pairing of Regina George from Mean Girls and Rodrick Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid has flooded TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) with fan-generated content by fans. Artistic individuals drew the pair in fan art and even sewed together spliced clips from both films and made a new (fake) scene. The song Dirty Little Secret by The All-American Rejects or Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus played in the background.
On the same platform, some would comment on an AI-generated Polaroid picture of the pairing under the crossover ship edit. Many would groan the words “AI slop” under the replies and say how ironic the whole thing was. AI slop, as described by anti-AI individuals, refers to the mass-produced and low-quality AI-generated content.
Way back in 2013, editors were still learning video manipulation techniques in expensive computer programs to produce a crossover fan movie of Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians and Elsa from Frozen. People would use the old ways as an example of man-made mediocre styles and approaches, illustrating how video editors back then would put in a lot of effort without the advanced technology we have today. In the same way, it’s happening to the fandom of Regina George and Rodrick Heffley.
Aesthetic expressions, such as art, are not merely about the results. A frustrated artist may produce appalling artwork to the eyes of those who criticise it. However, the outcome reflects the essence of humanity, embodying the perseverance and resourcefulness that are unique traits and experiences. This is something a generative machine can’t feel. Accepting challenges, pushing limitations, and the grind to bring the blueprint in mind to life rewards the creative process with satisfaction rather than the empty, displeasing convenience.
Ownership, The Labour of Love, and Identity Connection
GenAI, short for Generative AI, is a form of artificial intelligence that can create new content, including text, graphics, audio, and video, by learning patterns from vast databases. The influx of generative AI content for the last few years has received mixed reactions, particularly in relation to machine learning models like ChatGPT.
These models reportedly utilise data from fan fiction sites such as Archive of Our Own to train their models. Following community backlash, many fan conventions have banned the sale of AI-generated works, such as art sold as stickers, cards, and other items. A post by the Organisation for Transformative Works revealed a spectrum of passionate views on AI-generated content, sparking a heated debate among people.
When the organisation stated that it intends to preserve as many fan works as possible, including those written with the help of AI, some writers and readers on the site expressed their disappointment at the organisation’s stance. Some argue that fan works are supposed to represent a labour of love. In contrast, others preached that fair use constitutes a legal doctrine rather than a moral principle. Which means Generative AI has no legal grounds for it.
The Copyright Alliance addressed the most asked questions regarding copyright ownership. The U.S. Copyright Office will have to refuse registration if an AI system entirely generates a work, and therefore no one can own it, as it is considered to be in the public domain. However, if a work includes both AI-generated and human-authored elements that are protectable under copyright law, the human author retains the copyright. In the UK, musicians, artists, and creatives are calling on the government to intervene as the AI developers are reportedly breaking the law.
The question of ownership in the context of generative AI is both complex and pressing. Debates about its ethical practices are also an ongoing conversation among lawmakers and creative industries. Others may be unbothered by its existence, while the artists and creators whose works form the foundation of this generative output discourage its usage. At its core, generative AI merely operates as an algorithm that allegedly recycles existing ideas and images from its database. Many have pointed out that generative AI not only harms the environment but also slowly defeats the purpose of producing art.
Art is an instrument to express our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. If we continue to let a soulless machine draw these for us, does it embody the same understanding and empathy a human heart does?
A study published in Taylor & Francis Online examined the relationship of fan fiction communities with GenAI integration. The study revealed that fan fiction writers expressed concerns about creativity and engagement, concluding that the rise of AI tools presents challenges for maintaining the participatory nature of fan fiction and emphasising the importance of preserving values such as originality and creativity.
Fans tirelessly create fan art, fan fiction and other art forms, often without compensation. I’ve been an active member in numerous fandoms for a long time. During those years, I have interacted with like-minded people within fandoms, and they have taken the time to connect with the material or their favourite celebrity despite their busy adult lives between their work breaks and late-night studying.
In most mainstream media, like television shows and films, a queer character or people of colour will be the butt of the joke in the narrative. A queer character is being reduced to a doll of their sexuality. At the same time, people from underrepresented races, like Asians, are portrayed and known only for their stereotypical Asian traits and fictional names that sound like a slur. That’s why people write fan fiction; it allows queer individuals to connect and feel safe with their identities. Like any other media, fan fiction has its categories to indicate the romantic and sexual relationships present in the story. Slash typically features the same sex, like male/male couples, while Femslash is used for female pairings.
Fan fiction writers would change, modify, and experiment with the existing universe. While it may sound ridiculous to people outside the cultural bubble, fan fiction writers and readers support its existence because they see themselves in the media presented while also expressing their creativity, style, and originality. The thought of reading amateur writing by a fifteen-year-old on online fiction writing communities like Wattpad about the blooming romance between Harry Styles and a character named Y/N might be perceived as comically ludicrous to some. In fandom language, Y/N stands for ‘your name’ to make self-inserting better. They do this so the reader can easily imagine themselves as the character in the story they are reading.
Author Jo Chiang told Slate that her motivation for writing Harry Potter fan fiction with her childhood best friend was a desire to see herself – a young Asian-American girl – in the stories she loved. “People write fan fiction partly out of love, but also partly out of a deep dissatisfaction with what is available. Fan fiction is an incredibly transformative approach to literature,” she says. “It is both appreciative and also irreverent. Fan writers, by taking an established canon and shaping it, twisting it, remoulding it, are challenging authorial intent and taking a swipe at the assumption of authority and dogma.”
The AI Paranoia Online
The phrase “Is this AI?” would be the top-liked comment under posts of videos and images. Distinguishing between real and fake content has become increasingly difficult in the age of modern technology. Counterfeit videos of natural disasters and celebrities have flooded the internet over a short course of time. While these videos may seem harmless, they put the subjects at risk of tarnishing their reputation and tricking vulnerable communities.
If Gen-Z is already having a hard time trying to figure out if it’s AI, how much more of our less tech-savvy parents?
There have been multiple incidents of artists being wrongly accused of using AI. When a piece looks “too perfect”, some assume it must be machine-made. This has bred distrust, pushing artists to share time-lapse process videos and work-in-progress files to defend themselves – with no guarantee their evidence will be accepted.
Interacting with your fandom is either a source of comfort or a headache for some fans. Disagreements and opposing ethics can happen anywhere, and fandoms are no exception. Aside from internal conflicts, such as fan wars that might disrupt one’s community experience, conversations about the ethical use of AI also pose a threat to maintaining a healthy fan community.
In the end, fan culture isn’t only about supporting a favourite artist or show; it’s about making meaningful connections – with others and with the art itself. Despite today’s AI anxieties, countless artists still create for joy, excitement and love, rather than becoming beholden to the supposed advantages of automation.
