Dark Fandoms: An Introduction and Case Study

ABSTRACT

There is a deep and persistent cultural fascination with the macabre – public executions, true crime books, slasher films, and sites of violence attract large audiences. Although serial and mass murderers increasingly achieve fame, little attention has focused on their fans. Thus, this paper introduces the concept of dark fandoms, or communities of fans of those who have perpetrated heinous acts, and draws attention to Columbiners as one example of a dark fandom. An analysis of more than 700 threaded discussion posts from an online Reddit community reveals that the Columbiner dark fandom discussed their favorite characters from the shooting, proposed fan theories about the incident, and considered the Columbine shooting’s legacy. The implications of these findings for studies of other dark fandoms is discussed.

Notes

¹ The shooting at Columbine High School remained the deadliest mass shooting at an American high school for nearly 20 years until it was surpassed by the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (McCarthy, 2018).

² Among fans of school shootings, the term “Columbiners” is contested – some perceive it as a generic term to refer to fans of any school shooting, whereas others ascribe it negative connotations and associate it with a “superficial knowledge of school shootings and a fan-like attitude” (Raitanen and Oksanen 2018: 203). While I acknowledge this debate, for parsimony I use the term to refer broadly to fans of the shooting at Columbine High School.

³ There is increasing concern that the media’s reporting on serial killers – and their celebrification of murder – increase the likelihood of future attacks. As a result, experts have called upon the media to stop publicizing the names of mass killers while still reporting other details of the offense (Lankford and Madfis 2018).

⁴ To support his assertion that media accounts of mass murderers are selected with a profit motive in mind, Duwe (2000) points out that fewer than one-fourth of mass murderers receive national news coverage, and even fewer receive attention across a variety of media platforms. Only the most sensational offenders and events are emphasized.

⁵ In her study of female true crime readers, Browder (2006) found that most were also involved in several online fan groups.

⁶ Although most fans of non-fictional murderers express non-violent interests (Raitanen and Oksanen 2018), media reports suggest that some have violent tendencies. For example, three Columbiners were implicated in a failed plot to carry out a shooting at a Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada shopping mall in 2015 (The Canadian Press 2018), and the perpetrator of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was known to have participated in an online Columbiner community (Raitanen and Oksanen 2018).

⁷ “Researchers” of mass murderers have long been acknowledged. For example, writing about Jack the Ripper’s unknown identity, Caputi (1990: 3) reported that “this evocative anonymity has been a source for much of the Ripper lore as self-proclaimed ‘Ripperologists’ and ‘Ripperophiles’ continually sift over the known information, proposing improbable and often highly romanticized possible identities.”

⁸ Where necessary, community members’ posts are lightly edited to improve readability. To maintain their confidentiality, usernames and the exact date of posts are excluded.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ryan Broll

Ryan Broll, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. His research focuses on bullying and cyberbullying, victimization, and resilience, with an emphasis on the causes and consequences of youthful deviance.