IT CAME FROM THE ACADEMY: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF HORROR FANDOM

[froodle]

This lifelong dedication to the genre was the norm for participants as reflected in various responses. Arnold B. wrote, “I suppose my entire life as a pop culture consumer I’ve been a fan of horror. As a little kid, it was Universal monsters; as a teenager, Hammer and Halloween and much more; and then as an adult, zombies took over…and I’ve grown to appreciate just about all of it.” Matthew M. explained, “I have been a fan of the horror genre for as long as I can remember, thirty-four years, and probably before that.” Carissa B. was fascinated by the horror genre “beforeI was old enough to even realize it was a genre. I found fascination in villains and creepy or spooky feeling things as a small child. five or six years old, maybe?”

For some respondents, their enchantment with the horror genre was the result of a particular media property. Wren M. wrote that she became a fan when she watched “Elvira’s Movie Macabre at the impressionable age of seven, twenty-five years ago.” For Nancy E., it was her exposure to the children’s book Bunnicula. Rachel B., who has been a fan of the horror genre for thirty years, wrote, “Some of my fondest memories of being a kid were watching Are You Afraid of the Dark, Eerie, Indiana, and The Twilight Zone.” Aldyn G. explained that she has been involved with horror fandom since she was ten, “and I watched the original Halloween from behind the couch while my sisters watched it. I’m twenty-two, now, so I have been a fan for twelve years, and plan to continue to be for the rest of my life.” And Rocco T. discovered his love of horror “since I got up the courage to watch Gore Verbinski’s The Ring in 2002. So, that would be sixteen years!”