Til death do us part? Fandom and the US death system

Abstract

This study extends scholarship on age, ageing and fandom to the end-of-life context, exploring the question of whether fan identities and practices are salient at life’s end. A focus on mortality is not new to fan studies, as research on post-object fandom, transitions and endings in fandom, and zombie fandom have opened rich new research trajectories in fan studies. In this article I focus on potentials associated with the mortality of fans themselves, framed by prior work on the social practices of personal identities in the realm of death and dying. Situated in media studies, gerontology and thanatology, I draw on interviews with members of the US death system to explore fannish possibilities in the context of human transience.