Fandom’s fourth wall is a term that has been thrown around a lot
lately, and everyone seems confused about what is it and how and why it gets
broken. In theatre the fourth
wall is the imaginary wall at the front of the stage. It is the window
through which the audience is allowed to glimpse the character’s lives. The
fandom fourth wall is a little bit different but follows the same principles.
It is the imaginary barrier that divides (and protects) fandom from everyone
else. The key word in both these
concepts is imaginary, because boys and girls and everything in between, the fourth wall does not exist.
This is not a confusing philosophical debate, I am no way trying to
make you question existence but the fact is that the fourth wall is an
illusion. It’s a comforting illusion that is quite often useful in helping
people understand appropriate behavior but it’s still an illusion.
In fandom the fourth wall is our protector, it creates the illusion
of a safe space. It’s sometimes referred to as “fandom is fight club” theory –
in that the first rule of fandom is that you don’t talk about fandom. We hide
behind the idea that as long as we don’t tell anyone about it, fandom will
remain hidden and as such free from judgment and RL consequences. As Aja Romano from The
Daily Dot put it: “if they don’t see us, they can’t hurt us.”
Considering the fact that nowadays most fandom practices –fan
fiction, fan art and meta discussion – happen in public spaces – namely social
networking sites like Twitter and Tumblr – the idea that fandom is hidden or
invisible is kind of absurd. It’s similar to when a young child covers their
eyes and says: “if I can’t see you, you can’t see me.”
Even before social networking fandom was hardly invisible. Aja
lists a number of examples of TPTB (the powers that be) interacting with –
and insulting – fandom long before the Internet was a thing. Proving that while
it was harder to stumble upon fandom accidentally, it was still possible to do
so. Since the migration online fandom has become easily accessible and a hell
of a lot more visible. As a result the already flimsy foundations of the
imaginary fourth wall are quickly crumbling.
The increasing visibility of fandom coupled with the direct
connection to creators and performers that Twitter (and other social networking
sites) provides has made maintaining the illusion of the fourth wall incredibly
difficult. But that hasn’t stopped fandom from trying.
Despite utopian ideals fandom is essentially a community of
exclusion. Membership requires understanding of an invisible set of rules that
vary depending on who you are talking to but generally begin with the “fandom
is fight club” idea. These unnamed rules are strictly self-policed (there is no
impartial entity willing to step in and enforce the rules, in fact there are no
rules we just think there are). Fandom is ready to vilify and ostracize anyone
that deigns to share our secrets with the enemy, and the enemy is anyone that
isn’t us.
This fear of the other, and wariness of outsiders is somewhat
understandable considering the stigma surrounding the community. Even though
fandom has become mainstream, there are still certain negative stereotypes that
are hard to shake. Being ‘outed’ as a member of fandom – especially those who
create fan works – can and does have serious real world consequences (I am not
exaggerating, I have experienced and witnessed some horrific responses to being
‘outed’ as a fangirl). Secrecy is often necessary, so it makes a certain amount
of sense that fans insist on maintaining the fourth wall.
Here’s the thing though, the illusion of the fourth wall and
fandom’s enforcement of it actually does more harm than good. The cone of
secrecy within fandom doesn’t stop people from talking about fandom, it just
stops fans from talking about fandom.
It’s true, outsiders, media, TPTB often rely on and perpetuate
negative stereotypes of fandom but if you think about it this is the only
depiction of fandom they are aware of. Fandom won’t let them inside, they won’t
talk to them, so they are left to make their own conclusions based on the
people that are willing to break the first rule of fandom.
The problem is that the people who are willing to break rules (even
though the rules don’t really exist) and risk exclusion from the community tend
that fandom doesn’t really want to be associated with. They don’t really care
about their fellow fans so why would they care about the comfort of writers and
performers. If those on the outside looking in only see the creepy assholes
then it’s no wonder they continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes.
As I said above, the fandom fourth wall creates the illusion of a
safe space, where we are free from judgment. But it’s a lie, because people are
still judging us but because of our self-enforced silence they are not getting
the whole picture. It’s a catch 22 of course because in order to defeat the
negative stereotype we need to be more open with fan practices, which puts us
at risk of being associated with those negative stereotypes and judged
accordingly.
Sometimes secrecy is not only necessary but also nice. It’s nice to
have something just for yourself and it’s nice not to have to explain the hows
and whys to people that are probably never going to get it (trust me this is an
excruciating experience). But we do need to get rid of the idea that fandom is
invisible. There is no barrier protecting us from the outside world. We cannot
hide behind the fourth wall because it does not exist.
When you chose to engage with fandom you put yourself at risk of
being judged because of it. Anything that is online on a public forum – like
Tumblr – can be accessed by anyone not just fellow fans. Fandom is nothing to
be ashamed of – it’s awesome – but it’s still important to recognize that just
because you don’t want someone to see something doesn’t mean that they can’t
see it.
When I began research for my thesis the few people I talked to were
shocked by how little ethical consideration was necessary in order to use
Tumblr blogs. Because of my own involvement and understanding of fandom I
decided to maintain a certain level of anonymity but there was nothing stopping
me from using any Tumblr blog, because it was published online and it was open
access. Contrary to popular belief Tumblr is not a secret society, and it’s
kind of scary that it’s treated that way.
The stigma surrounding fandom is not fun, but enforcing a code of
silence in order to maintain the illusion of the fourth wall doesn’t help
anyone. In theatre the fourth wall allows the audience a glimpse into a
fictional world but it doesn’t allow them to be part of it. The same goes for
the fandom fourth wall, it doesn’t deny outsiders access to our community it
just prevents them from fully understanding it.
Basically the fourth wall does not exist and it is an illusion that
prevents us from having our own voice. The fourth wall is not going to break just because someone says shipping at a convention or tweets a piece of fan art to a celebrity because there is no fourth wall.
Fandom is mainstream and more and more people are taking notice.
People are looking at us and no matter how tightly we close our eyes it doesn’t
stop them from seeing.
Other Resources:
- “The crumbling of the fourth wall: Why fandom shouldn’t hide anymore”
- Fanlore – Fourth Wall
- Fandomspotting – Ep 1: Fandom and the Fourth Wall
- “When Becky met Chuck: Who the breakdown of the fourth wall is affecting online fandom”
