Big name fandom and the (inevitable) failure of Disflix

Abstract

Big name fans are those who have attained a level of recognition within a fan community without necessarily knowing each participant in the subculture and who have the power to influence how other fans in their community engage with the object of their shared fandom. Their niche celebrity status can be achieved through the range of knowledge, access, and official or exclusive information available to them, as well as the degree to which they produce their own media content. In the Disney fan community, big name fans are also sometimes known as lifestylers (lifestyle influencers), and their status is derived primarily from their social media celebrity. These fans document their frequent visits to the Disney parks and official Disney media events on social media, and they use their online platform to interact with their followers and share how they incorporate Disney into all aspects of their lives. Their microcelebrity status gives them power to shape and commodify what it means to be a Disney fan in the new media age through an emphasis on producing and sharing marketable personal brand content. This article seeks to understand the ways the influencer phenomenon has affected the Disney fan community and how this group of fans has shifted the practices, interactions, and habits associated with Disney fandom; it also addresses the limits of their impact among their peers.