Anti-fandom

Synonyms:	hatedom, anti-fan
See also:	sporking, lolfan, heifan, Akgae
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Media with large anti-fandoms; 2 Further Reading/Meta 2.1 Academic Publications; 2.2 Meta; ;

Anti-fandom is a term used by fans and especially academics studying fandom. It has been used to describe people who focus on a source text for the entertainment value of mocking it, but also might be used to characterize fans whose genuine hatred for the fandom or its canon involves no mockery or ironic distance. Sometimes anti-fans were never actually fans of the original source text to begin with, but sometimes they were fans who became increasingly disenchanted and finally angered or repelled by canon or fanon developments.

Source texts with anti-fandoms include Twilight, The Inheritance Cycle, the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, and some K-pop fandoms. Cassandra Clare is a focus of anti-fans and anti-fandom.

Traditionally academics who researched "anti-fandom" characterized it as a mirror image of fandom that mocked or criticized rather than adored the fan-object. Discussion among academics and especially fans has since shifted to "anti-fans" who exhibit anti-social behavior. Some behaviors of extreme antifans include doxing, spreading rumors, abusing or physical harassment of other fans. Note that an antifan is not the same as an anti-shipper.

Media with large anti-fandoms

The most well-known and culturally significant hatedom is the children's TV show Barney & Friends. A simplistic show aimed at very young children consisting of nursery rhymes performed by cute dinosaur characters, the show lacked any of the depth that would allow for genuine investment, but had a huge and loyal hatedom of older children, teenagers and young adults that generated masses of fanwork throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, some of which used early web interactivity mediums such as Adobe Flash. The vast majority of this work was based around themes of the characters being twisted into evil versions or cathartically murdered, or the violent destruction of effigies such as Barney & Friends merchandise. The internet meme of "The Jihad to Destroy Barney" emerged on Usenet in 1993 and went on to spawn its own mythology, including a tabletop roleplaying game. A documentary about Barney & Friends's hatedom, I Love You, You Hate Me, was released by Peacock in 2022.^[1] Later, more measured criticisms of the show would be less violent and point out more how the show's constant cheerfulness didn't teach its audience how to deal with more complex emotions the way other PBS children's shows did.
Pokémon had a big one when it first came out in the United States, with people dismissing it as just a fad and bashing it as a cutesy animal series with annoying characters (especially the anime, which coexisted on The WB's Saturday morning lineup with other beloved cartoons). This eventually died down and is pretty much unheard of today, as the franchise is one of the most beloved and iconic.
The webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Delete was popular in the early 2000s, but gained a hatedom based on its unoriginal premise, wordy writing, repetitive, low-effort art, use of shock violence as a punchline, and faux-feminist sexism^[2], which led to a fad for making edits of the comic on 4chan (often with the intent of improving it). The creator of the comic, Tim Buckley, responded to these criticisms constructively and worked on his art and writing, but continued to garner hatred from people who believed these changes were not significant enough to increase the comic's quality. A 2008 miscarriage storyline, "Loss", resulted in a backlash so severe that images hiding the comic's composition became a popular internet injoke, and the comic's most well known legacy.^[3]
Steven Universe Critical can slide into this, going from criticizing aspects of the series to outright accusing its creators of supporting harmful messages and rhetoric simply because the fan didn't like a certain episode or character. Lily Orchard is infamous for this, and for a while her influence made fair and balanced criticisms of the series harder to find. Not helping matters was the dramatic tone shift of Steven Universe Future, which ramped up the hatred and even alienated longtime fans.
RWBY has a dedicated hatedom known as "RWDE", made up of people who either turned against the series and kept hate-watching it or never liked it and watch it solely to pick it apart and talk about how they could fix it. This hatedom has extended to the staff, especially after the death of creator Monty Oum.
The Hellaverse (Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss) has an anti-fandom of people who think both shows are just edgy for the sake of it or promote harmful ideas. A lot of it revolves around personal attacks on creator Vivziepop.
7th Heaven, a WB drama that aired in the late 90s and early 2000s. Viewers felt it was sappy, sanctimonious, poorly written, and dragged on even after the original five kids grew up and they kept adding new characters no one was interested in. Actual Christians who watched the show felt it paid lip service to its religious themes by only presenting the harmonious side of Christianity, never discussing the dark aspects or quoting more than a token Bible verse.

Synonyms:	hatedom, anti-fan
See also:	sporking, lolfan, heifan, Akgae
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Media with large anti-fandoms 2 Further Reading/Meta 2.1 Academic Publications 2.2 Meta

Anti-fandom

Media with large anti-fandoms

Further Reading/Meta

Academic Publications

Meta

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