SPECIAL | Can fandoms be as deep and meaningful as religion?

Most of us can say that we’re fans of something – music, sports, art, books. But what does it mean to be part of a fandom? You’ve probably seen devoted super fans participating in cos play at Comic-Con, painted in their team’s color at a football game or dressed up as their favorite characters at a midnight screening of a film series. But is there something deeper than just fun at play here? Something that aligns more with religion or even sacredness? That’s the argument of sociologist Michael Elliott, a professor at Towson University who has studied the culture of Comic-Con for 7 years. Elliott joins The Excerpt to share the results of his deep research into fandoms.

Episode Transcript available here

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