Arts and Creativity Editor Laura Molloy discusses how fan edits have transformed over the years and the different forms they have taken.
Fandoms have become a place for young people to develop their creativity through outlets such as fanzines, fanfiction, and fan edits. Through online communities such as social media fan accounts, and websites including Archive of our Own and Wattpad, young people have been able to bond over their favourite sources of entertainment, while also forming lasting friendships.
Fandom culture is deeply rooted in creativity. Whether someone illustrates fanzines, writes pieces of fanfiction, or learns complex video editing to create digital fan edits, it is a great opportunity for young people to express themselves and to develop in-demand skills. From illustrating, to writing, to photoshop, to graphic design; fandom culture comes with an abundance of artistic opportunities.
So where did it all begin?
The original form of fandom art was fanzines. They took off around the 1960s and were strongly connected to the Science Fiction fandom. Without an alternative medium to work with, they became a popular choice for fans to understand trends in their preferred fandom. Fanzines are still an art form within fandoms but their popularity has decreased with the continuous integration of technology into society.
Fanzines consisted of a variety of media such as poetry, artwork, and reflections upon the fandom that the edition was based on. They also provided one of the earliest platforms for fanfiction. Many included pieces of fiction and scripts that featured favourite characters, but also original ones too. If you thought After and Fifty Shades of Grey were the first fanfictions to be published, think again. Several fanzines were published by professionals and included the musings of future professional writers.
With the ubiquity of the internet, the artform has gradually faded out. However, the creativity within fandoms has certainly remained. The platform Tumblr was launched in 2007, and became a social hub for all things fandom related. To this day, the platform remains popular for fandoms, but had a particular peak between 2011 and 2014. Fans share short fanfictions, their own illustrations, digital edits, and most importantly, disgruntled rambles over recent aired episodes.
Between 2014 and 2016, Tumblr began to wane in popularity and Vine became the place to be for those in the fan edit industry. Those dedicated to the craft of writing ventured off towards other websites such as Fanfic.net, Archive of our Own, and Wattpad. Yet if making video edits was your passion, Vine quickly became your home. The edits consisted of short montages of fictional characters accompanied by background music.
In 2016, Twitter, the parent company of Vine began to run into financial difficulties, which led to the subsequent removal of some features. In 2017, the app was completely disabled. Editors were left looking for a new place to share their work, and many of them moved over to Instagram. To this day, Instagram remains one of the most popular platforms for fan edits. For nearly ten years, editors have shared their work on Instagram, leading to the platform seeing a variety of trends and “eras” of different editing styles.
Since 2019, TikTok has become one of the largest social media apps, leading many editors to move their art to this newer platform. Due to the app’s popularity, fan edits have lost their secrecy. What was once a hobby that was perceived as odd or different has now become an internet sensation. Although the viewing of edits may be more accepted, the creation is undoubtedly a passion that perhaps many students might not be ready to admit to.
As fandoms continue to extend their reach across the internet, we could begin to see fan edits become a more accepted form of contemporary art. Whenever you're next scrolling through TikTok, you might now have a further appreciation for the creativity of fan edits.