17 minute read
Fueling a fandom
Taking a look at students at MVHS who create content for fandoms BY SONIA VERMA
Exploring culture through writing fanfiction Sophomore Pratha Joshi’s first fanfiction was one she wrote in middle school: a series of one-shots featuring Minecraft roleplay YouTuber Aphmau.
Advertisement
Some of her earlier works featured characters from DC, Marvel and the “Percy Jackson” book series. Joshi initially wrote more short and linear stories but gradually evolved her writing into more nuanced plotlines and character analysis.
Joshi hadn’t realized writing fanfiction was a joy of hers until she started writing two to three thousand word chapters, adding to her fanfiction in daily increments.
Currently, her longest and most popular fanfiction has 291,211 words with 171,883 views on the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) and over 310,000 views on self-publishing forum Wattpad. Not only do fans read her work, but her immediate and extended family also read her fanfiction.
“[My parents are] proud of this,” Joshi said. “They’ll brag to people. They’ll [say], ‘Pratha’s writing a book.’ And then I’ll come in and [say] ‘It’s a fanfic,’ and then they’ll [say] ‘Whatever! It has [a hundred thousand] views!’”
Joshi’s favorite part about writing fanfiction is the comments she gets from her readers. Although she
updates her fanfictions regularly, she doesn’t interact often with other members of the fandom through fandom social media pages. However, she does find people within the fandom community interesting for their diverse takes on characters and plot points within a piece of media. Joshi also says that she gets 47% of MVHS students valuable feedback consider themselves to be part from fellow of a fandom *According to a survey of 140 people fans in the comment section of her fanfictions. Writing fanfiction, according to Joshi, has also been valuable for growing her knowledge about cultural practices around the world. She is currently writing fanfiction for “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation,” a Chinese web novel. As someone who was not initially 45% familiar with Chinese culture or mythology, she had to do research to make specific scenes within of MVHS students her fanfiction accurate to who are part of a fandom create fan content the culture of the novel they’re based *According to a survey of 140 people on. Overall, the cultural exposure Joshi has gained is her most valuable takeaway from writing fanfiction. “I don’t like writing half-assed stuff — I always do research for any of my [fanfics] because it’s important to me for it to be as accurate as
STEPH WU | USED WITH PERMISSION
Senior Max Hu poses in his recent Vampire Miku cosplay, which he wore on Halloween 2022.
possible,” Joshi said. “I’ve had people tell me [where] in my [fanfiction] the research is kind of obvious to see that I’ve done it. I’ll have people praising me for [the] efforts that I put into my [fanfiction], so I think the response I get is my favorite part.”
Buildling confidence with cosplay Senior Max Hu cosplayed for the first time during finals week of his freshman year, to the surprise of his peers. He recalls that while he wasn’t very vocal about it, the positive reaction from his classmates made it one of his most memorable moments at school.
The character Hu was cosplaying as Cloud Strife, a character from the video game “Final Fantasy VII.” Although Hu believes the cosplay to be “mediocre,” he enjoyed the experience and decided to continue cosplaying throughout high school at certain times.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Hu’s plans were set back during his sophomore and junior years. Now as a senior, Hu is ready to pick up where he left off. He plans for his next cosplay to be a character from the video game “Arknights,”, although he isn’t quite sure which character.
“The best part is actually putting on the costume and going out there [and] cosplaying,” Hu said. “It’s really nerve-racking, [but] the payoff is all worth it because of all the months of preparation.”
Hu likes to cosplay characters that have clothing based on everyday fashion and finds himself gravitating towards characters with cute aesthetics or qualities he admires, such as strength. He has noticed that cosplayers he sees on social media don’t stick to a singular piece of media for too long, preferring to jump around various fandoms. Hu himself has cosplayed characters from unrelated pieces of media, including Vampire Miku, a virtual Japanese pop star, and a character from the manga series “Dumbell.”
Although Hu doesn’t make his own cosplays from scratch, he does mention that cosplays require budgeting skills as the different components of putting together a cosplay can be expensive. Finding the middle ground between his expectations for his cosplay and the limit of his budget has been a balancing act for Hu.
His own high standards for the quality and appearance of his cosplay have also been a challenge for him as he doesn’t want to disappoint people. However, over time he has realized that the joy he finds in cosplay trumps his fear of judgment.
“It’s helped me be more confident as I’m able to display myself as the characters I’m cosplaying as and do these very ‘out there’ things,” Hu said. “Building up that confidence to actually cosplay has helped me be more confident in my identity and what I do in general outside of cosplaying.”
Finding a family through fanart Senior Sylvia Li started her journey as a fan artist by participating in a “Pokemon” themed Uniqlo T-shirt design contest in middle school. Initially starting off by watching TV shows and reading books and graphic novels she enjoyed, her interest bloomed into something more as she started participating in art prompts and contests within fan communities.
“I would draw something and post it online,” Li said. “Even if nobody saw it, I thought it’d be cool to contribute to the fanart community.”
Li finds that drawing fanart has been an enjoyable way to improve herself as well as get involved in her fandom. She values the sense of community fandoms have given her through their interaction with her fanart, by liking or commenting on social media posts. Alongside improving her art skills, Li has also noticed that being a content creator within a fandom has given her an understanding of how much work goes into fanart.
“I think something that I’ve heard [in] online discourse is that people take fanart for granted sometimes, or [always] expect it to exist,” Li said. “But then when you’re also doing it from [the artist’s] perspective, you can appreciate everybody’s work that much more.”
Li isn’t as active on her Instagram art account as she used to be at the beginning of high school, but she still draws fanart for her personal enjoyment. Currently, Li draws fanart from the video game “Genshin Impact.” Even though she doesn’t play the game anymore, she still feels that she’s an active member of the community through her art.
Just as her fanart keeps her engaged with the Genshin Impact fandom, Li believes that fan artists are integral to fan engagement within a fandom.
“There [are] fandoms that are still alive because their fan artists are still creating content for them, which I think is important because some of these communities are really important to people,” Li said. “[By] keeping them alive, people have a place [where] they can feel at home.”
WHEN YOU’RE ALSO DOING IT FROM [THE ARTIST’S] PERSPECTIVE, YOU CAN APPRECIATE EVERYBODY’S WORK THAT MUCH SENIOR SYLVIA LI ILLUSTRATION BY SYLVIA LI | USED W I T H P E R M I SSION
UNLIKELY FANS
How MVHS students deal with being minorities in fanbases of popular media BY ADITYA SHUKLA
Junior Kailey Daugherty’s first experience gaming with voice chat was when she was 12. Playing the popular multiplayer video game “Overwatch,” Daugherty was often the only girl on her team. Experiencing sexist comments on her voice and gender, she was asked out on a date and was warned of getting sexually assaulted if she didn’t date one of the voice chatters. While initially a shock to Daugherty, this event was one of many various sexist experiences that she would encounter when playing video games.
“It’s gotten to a point where I just acknowledge that [sexism is] going to happen,” Daugherty said. “It’s just a normal thing in society even though it shouldn’t be. There’s also this push that I have of me trying to fit into that type of demographic. Even with my friends, I feel like I have to be more like them and do less ‘girly’ things so I don’t get any hate or judgment from that.”
The world of online gaming has been historically composed of male audiences, with over 60% of all gamers being men. This disparity becomes especially apparent in online shooter games like “Overwatch” and “Valorant,” where 74% of gamers identify themselves as male. This disparity is something Daugherty cites as being a factor in her experiences feeling like an outsider, noting that this lack of female representation affects the way men talk to women.
“[A female gamer tag] or a more feminine voice [are] typically looked down upon,” Daugherty said. “I just think like-minded people just like to look at that and [harass people].”
This discrimination is based on cultural norms in other entertainment communities, especially showcased in music genres like rap. According to a study by the University of Berkeley, a majority of rap’s mainstream base is composed of men and the lyrics are often considered to be geared towards
PHOTO | ADITYA SHUKLA
male perspectives and values, but for senior Malavika Vutukuru, it’s just another part of her casual listening experience.
Citing her music taste as diverse, Vutukuru expands on rap’s appeal. According to an article by the Radio and Television business report, rap music, initially maledominated, has begun to increase in popularity with women.
“I guess the archetype is more people who are outgoing, more on the popular end,” Vutukuru said. “That’s usually the people that I would expect to listen to rap, but I feel like it’s also something that a lot of people listen to. You don’t expect it, but a lot of people really like rap, especially recently.”
On the other hand, the stereotypically female-dominated genre K-Pop has found appeal from junior Kyle Wong, who describes himself as a casual listener. Wong finds a unique aspect to K-Pop’s boy and girl bands.
“[Gender identity] might be just a
barrier to [listening] to a group,” Wong said. “If you listen to a girl group you might be seen as a [pervert]. I feel like it’s a cool thing for me to be a fan of — I might be a bit unique, I guess, for my gender stereotype in society. But at the end of the day, it’s something I like listening to so I’m gonna do what I JUST BE AS CAUTIOUS like to do.” AS YOU CAN AND UNDERSTAND THAT [SEXISM IS] GONNA Looking to the future, both Vukuturu and Wong find that the HAPPEN. growing popularity JUNIOR KAILEY DAUGHERTY of their favorite genres signals a breakdown of these gendered stereotypes, as this rise can reach more diverse audiences. But Daugherty cautions for new female gamers to be careful and safe when dealing with online voice chats. “It’s sad to say, but I would honestly tell someone like you should be careful because these things are so normalized,” Daugherty said. “They will happen to you. You have to take it [with] a grain of salt and just be as cautious as you can and understand that things are gonna happen, even though they shouldn’t.”
STAN CULTURE
Investigating student perspectives on the K-Pop fan community BY LANCE TONG AND LILLIAN WANG
In November of 2000, Eminem released a song about an unhinged fan who, after writing several letters to his favorite rapper and receiving no response, drives his car off a cliff. The title of the track, “Stan,” has evolved to become an official definition in the Oxford Dictionary, meaning “an overzealous or obsessive fan.”
Despite the origins of the term, many online communities of fans self-identifying as “stans” have formed around music, TV shows, books and video games. Since then, K-Pop has become one of the most prominent of these groups through the enthusiasm of the genre’s fans and the establishment of clubs like the Korean Club and its Dance Crew.
Sophomore Lemon Liu, who has been a K-Pop fan for three years, explains that many K-Pop stans are closely invested in their favorite artists’ lives, following them on different platforms or buying their merchandise and albums.
“Some of them use it as a coping mechanism or a way to fill some gaps in their lives, which are all fine,” Liu said. “But then if it gets to a point where you’re stalking them, that would be a problem.”
Stan culture has been accused of encouraging toxicity and harassment, including extreme hate and death threats towards others both within and outside the community. Junior Shirin Haldar, a fan who creates dancing and rapping content related to K-Pop, recounts being hesitant to post on platforms such as Instagram after seeing such drama.
Stan culture is often denounced as unhealthy for the fans as well, as most stan-celebrity relationships are heavily one-sided. Although some stans may develop a friendly attachment to their favorite artists, others’ obsessive behavior can reach levels of illegality like stalking and doxxing, the act of publishing personal information such as addresses or phone numbers.
Tsai affirms that unhealthy stan behavior causes problems within the industry, referencing a recent situation in which a K-Pop group was disbanded due to its contract running out, prompting fans to show up at the group’s office to protest.
“[Some stans] do crazy stuff, like it’s not healthy,” Tsai said. “[Casual fans] just follow the music and it makes them happy. That’s kind of enough. You don’t have to do everything in your power to get [an idol’s] attention.”
Haldar thinks that “stan” can be used in popular culture as a broader term for any person who is more than a casual fan and wants to express their genuine enjoyment. “I think just be careful when you are a fan,” Haldar said. “Try not to get into toxic environments and just try to make sure K-Pop doesn’t take over your life.”
Liu encourages stans to set healthy boundaries with online personas to prevent their interests from becoming draining. They stress the importance of having “another personality other than liking K-Pop” and respecting the privacy of K-Pop idols.
“I don’t want this to consume most of my life because I have other things to do,” Liu said. “But then it’s a great source of comfort and a coping mechanism as well. And I think that’s a healthy way to look at it.”
REIMAGINING LIT
Examining the impact of teaching through more modern, accessible means BY DEVIN GUPTA AND SHIVANI VERMA
Junior AJ Jiang hates the World Literature text “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. According to them, the book has “no redeeming qualities,” and was instead “unrelatable” and “annoying.” The book, along with “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, led Jiang to realize that without relatable literature for students to analyze, the class became “useless.”
Building contemporary, more accessible media into literature classes is something that Fremont High School teacher Melisa Lu is quite familiar with. Because English was not her first language, she ended up picking up the language through anime. To Lu, anime is “where [her] heart is,” and as a literature teacher, she believed it only natural to include the media into her curriculum.
“I know that [students] grew up with a lot more technology than probably teachers did,” Lu said. “And so [they’re] very much attuned to the visual medium, whether that’s through social media looking at images or through animated shorts watching TikTok. The visual medium can teach a lot of the same skills you might use when analyzing written works.”
Literature teacher Randy Holaday believes that teaching through visual mediums is becoming increasingly common in more specialized English courses like Honors American Literature, AP Literature and British Literature — in British Literature, Holaday teaches his units on satire through TV shows such as “Black Mirror,” “Sherlock”and “Star Trek” to engage students critically in contemporary media, reiterated by Jiang.
“I think popular media is a really, really good way to explore common mistakes in thought that we have because this is the kind of stuff that influences our consciousness,” Jiang said. “And if you can see how the stuff that you consume is being problematic, and you start being aware of how they’re sending certain
messages, it makes it kind of more Similarly, Holaday finds that including interesting to see that media rather multimedia in the curriculum not only than [being] like, ‘Oh, it’s problematic. intrigues the students, but also makes I’m not gonna him more excited to teach it. SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE watch it.’” At FHS, Lu has taught Holaday’s “biggest dream” is being able to make video game accounts for his students and, instead of having them lessons on read pages from a book, have them anti-racism, play a game for 20 minutes. Jiang also social justice, cultural responsiveness has their own suggested addition to and critical race theory using clips of the general curriculum — the TV show anime and animated shorts from Pixar “Bojack Horseman,” which they believe and Disney. As a literature teacher, Lu is good to analyze due to its social believes it is important to use stories to commentary and complex characters. help students learn Overall, Jiang sees how to recognize clear benefits to oppression and integrating casual, resist it in their informal media such as everyday life. For TV shows, video games example, she’s and modern films into shown the 2003 literature classes. version of “Kino’s “We’re all Journey” in her surrounded by a bunch classes to teach of media just because about tribalism of the Internet that’s and illustrate constantly influencing concepts about our value systems,” war and othering. Jiang said. “It would In response to her unconventional be very useful for us to learn how to teaching method, Lu has seen students critically consume that instead of just show “delight, excitement, happiness letting [ourselves] get easily sucked into [and] pleasure.” these echo chambers.”
PHOTO | SHIVANI VERMA
THE VISUAL MEDIUM CAN TEACH A LOT OF THE SAME SKILLS YOU MIGHT USE WHEN ANALYZING WRITTEN WORKS. LITERATURE TEACHER MELISA LU
ATHLETE OF THE MONTH CARA CONSTANT
BY MICHELLE CHEN
Sophomore Cara Constant recalls picking up softball at age six, largely due to the influence of her sister, who had played softball before. After playing recreationally for two years and then transitioning to “semi” travel ball, Constant began playing for competitive travel teams at 11.
Constant plays outfield on her travel team, but plays as a shortstop and pitches for the MVHS softball team — something she hadn’t done since she was 10.
“I stopped pitching because it was really stressful when I was younger, but what helped me get through this year and last year was that I was doing it for my team,” Constant said. “They needed me more to pitch than play a different position, and I wanted us to be the most successful we could be.”
According to Constant, softball is a part of her identity, but it has been “more about who [she] plays with instead of the sport itself.” Although frequent practices and tournaments often take away time for her social life, Constant has met some of her best friends through softball. As a sophomore on her second year on the Varsity team, she looks forward to the upcoming seasons at MVHS.
“The high school season is more about fun and being part of a team,” Constant said. “Our team has bonded really well, and there’s no drama or anything. I hope that’ll keep happening, and I hope we can keep getting better and working and having fun.”
