JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository

Abstract

The internet has given many individuals the chance to connect with each other in a virtual manner and engage in discussions concerning topics they are interested in a new and modern fashion. Fandoms can be described as a designated culture of emotion, aiming to encourage individuals to experience culture with a heightened sense of enthusiasm, emotional involvement, and strong attachments. This thesis seeks to investigate the different impacts that fandoms can have on the internet, via an analysis of the subreddit r/DC_Cinematic, which is one of the various communities on the internet where fans demanded for director’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League film to be released, after allegations of his vision being replaced by the theatrical release directed by Joss Whedon.

In this subreddit, different posts were examined, along with its comments. The dataset was retrieved using RStudio, with the data extraction toolkit known as RedditExtractoR. The dataset was organized to allow for analysis, and the results were summarized for the thesis. The results were discussed based on previous literature, and implications for research and practice are identified.

It was found that individuals became motivated to join the Snyder Cut movement because they wanted to share their emotions, expectations, shared experiences, and increase their sense of belonging surrounding the movement.

Moreover, individuals were twice as likely to encounter positive than negative engagement, with the most frequent signs of positivity being support, guidance, encouragement, respect and expressing or developing a sense of community. On the other hand, the most frequent signs of negativity involved facing or expressing negative and extremist thoughts and behaviours, as well as facing or finding toxic behaviours from those that support or not the Snyder Cut.

The factors that were believed to have contributed to the success and release of the Snyder Cut were the support for the cut, the desire to see Snyder’s vision, and the theory of Warner Brothers using the Snyder Cut to market their then yet-to-be-released new streaming platform HBO Max.