On September 28, Bowen Yang carried out one in all 2024’s most resonant items of political theater whereas dressed as a pygmy hippo.
Yang was behind the desk on Saturday Evening Dwell’s “Weekend Replace” phase, dressed like Moo Deng, who on the time the present aired was the web’s present fave. What he was saying, although, sounded extra like feedback by pop star Chappell Roan, who’d just lately taken to social media to ask followers to be extra respectful about approaching her in public or saying inappropriate issues to her on-line. “Don’t yell my identify, or anticipate a photograph, simply because I’m your parasocial bestie, or since you recognize my expertise,” Yang mentioned, encased in a rubbery Moo Deng costume.
The bit was performed for laughs, however in 2024, the actions of followers—to one another, to the individuals they’re followers of, to the world at giant—entered a complete new section. Greater than half a century after John Lennon noticed that the Beatles had been extra fashionable than Jesus, fandom, fueled by ever-churning social media platforms, has taken on a form past non secular furor.
Throughout the US election, it was evident in the manosphere and MAGA hats. Additionally, in Vice President Kamala Harris’ embrace of the “brat” ethos. In popular culture, it was Taylor Swift stan accounts leaving X for Bluesky over frustrations with Elon Musk’s involvement in president-elect Donald Trump’s marketing campaign. It was additionally the return of Gamergate, manifesting in a complete new harassment marketing campaign in opposition to variety and inclusion efforts in online game improvement. It was Kendrick Lamar turning his beef with Drake right into a neighborhood occasion in Los Angeles.
Throughout mediums and pursuits, being a fan of somebody or one thing didn’t simply imply shopping for a T-shirt or a film ticket, it meant selecting a aspect.
Superfans, Supersized
In response to Simone Driessen, an assistant professor of media and fashionable tradition at Erasmus College Rotterdam, 2024, greater than something, marks one other yr by which individuals acknowledge, and even reconcile with, the truth that followers have actual energy.
“The MAGA second, for me, has its roots in the January 6 moment. It was virtually as in the event that they had been cosplaying a coup—but it surely was very actual and with very actual penalties,” she says. “Brat summer season, Swifties for Harris—they’re attests, to me, of how these fannish abilities one builds by means of being a fan (from searching Easter eggs to making a neighborhood) may also be politically precious.”
Proof of that is in all places. As my colleague Makena Kelly wrote this yr, 2024’s marketing campaign cycle was the influencer election. Folks with cameras, microphones, and huge followings grew to become, she wrote, “tastemakers, meme sharers, video creators, and organizers; in addition they wield important energy in terms of encouraging their followers to vote.” Folks like Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and conservative YouTuber Ben Shapiro had the ability to have an effect on what occurred on the polls. Whether or not or not a candidate did Joe Rogan’s podcast grew to become headline-making information. (Trump did; Harris didn’t.)
