“Toxic Fan Over Here!” Navigating Humorous Resistance in Youth Critical Media Analysis

• In Event: The Transgressive Potential of Humor Across Learning Spaces: Laughter, Critique, and Moments of Rupture

Abstract

Objectives: Critical analyses in classroom spaces are not often encouraged to be humorous, despite traditions of effective humorous critical commentary from many popular commentators (Session Author, in press). However, new genres of textual analysis stemming from fandom spaces, like memes and video essays, combine critical commentary with humor in expansive ways (Bright, 2015). This paper examines how a Black young woman integrates fannish humor with critical literary analysis in a spontaneous video essay reviewing the 2018 TV show Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (RoTTMNT).

Theoretical framework: This project takes up a framework of speculative civic literacies (Mirra & Garcia, 2022) to show youth learning to navigate and resist toxic practices in participatory fandom discourses. Connecting ideas of critical disciplinary practices with participatory cultures (Jenkins, 2009), this paper considers fan-to-fan issues of boundary policing (Busse, 2017).

Methods and data sources: This study involved a group of BIPOC 9-11th grade youth learners who participated in a series of seminars on critical media literacy culminating in a field trip to New York City Comic Con (NYCC). Data sources include student-collected videos from NYCC as well as responses to reflection questions about students’ experiences posed during and after the trip. We used critical microgenetic analysis (Philip & Gupta, 2020) to answer our research question, which was: In what ways do BIPOC youth engage with methods of critically and speculatively reimagining public fandom life?

Results: In addition to collecting video commentary on her experiences of NYCC (such as reflections on events or interactions with fellow cosplayers), Lori was interested in recording what she called a “rant” about the 2018 reboot of TMNT in the down-time between walking from one location to another. This spontaneous analysis hybridized both disciplinary and fandom interpretive practices (Authors, 2022), including personal affective evaluations of the show; form-function analyses around rebooted character designs; and critical commentary around fandom practices such as shipping (imagining characters in romantic relationships). She often used humor to disagree with or critique TMNT fans’ preferences or interpretations (see Table 1).

Lori’s running monologue is often interrupted by fellow cosplayers asking what she is recording, and Lori responds to group interest with humorously exaggerated frustration. Specifically, Lori and her friend Iesha play with critical terms from previous Meaningful Media seminars like “toxic fan” and “gatekeeper.” For instance, in response to Iesha’s objection that Lori has not yet watched Season 2 or the movie, Lori leverages humor to maintain expert status despite interruptions and corrections.

Scholarly significance: Not only can humor clearly be used productively in youth critical literary analyses, we also see that youth can wield humor in critical ways to maintain expert status. Educators should consider the importance of welcoming and honing these types of humorous “punching up” practices in critiques as youth navigate sociopolitically-charged textual landscapes, learning to leverage their power to speak back to peers, interpretive communities, and media production companies.

Author

• Karis Michelle Jones, Baylor University