Soap Opera & Creative Fandom

When I first started watching the soaps in the late 1980s, there was no such thing as online fandom. The only sense of a community I had came via glossy soap magazines and the kevetching of storylines by my grandmother’s book group. I can only imagine if I’d had things like fan fiction, RPGs and fan vids at my disposal.

As a graduate student looking at fandom and participatory culture, I’ve had additional incentive to take a look around the interwebz at what some fans are doing to celebrate the soaps. Some of my favorites include a yearly fan vid contest celebrating GH’s Robin Scorpio, a GL role playing game and Twitter account written in character as Mindy Lewis. And while all of these efforts are fantastic, the award for most creative definitely goes to the podcast fanfiction being done by Robansuefarm. It’s such a great fusion of technology with traditional fandom and even though I’m unknowledgeable about the couple for which she writes, I still feel myself getting sucked in. Definitely check it out!

As for me, I took my first steps toward soap fan vidding with a video to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of my most favorite actress of all time, Beverlee McKinsey. It’s a first effort but everyone has to start someplace. What I’ve discovered is that this type of fandom is addictive and ridiculously fun. I’m definitely hooked.