FANDOM AS SIMULACRUM: DIGITAL MYTHMAKING AND THE POLITICS OF CANON

This thesis investigates the cultural, emotional, and symbolic dynamics of fan fiction writing from a sociological perspective, focusing in particular on how fan communities collectively construct, circulate, and stabilize character interpretations. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten fan fiction writers affiliated with the Marvel Trumps Hate (MTH) community and several other fandoms, this study investigates how fanon not only deviates from canon but also becomes a shared emotional and narrative reality. The thesis's main argument is developed through the conceptual framework of hyperreality theorised by Jean Baudrillard. Rather than viewing fanfiction as derivative or subcultural, this study frames it as a site where simulated realities, produced through repetition, community consensus, and affective coherence, displace the authority of the original text. Writers repeatedly emphasize that even in alternate universe fanfics (AUs), emotional consistency must be preserved, and character motivations must be narratively justified. In mega-fandoms such as Marvel and Harry Potter, these fanon constructs time to time become more real than canon—referenced, debated, and emotionally lived by certain communities. The research also examines how cultural capital operates within fan communities through productivity, trope selection, timing, and community participation. Furthermore, the thesis positions fan fiction as an emotional and political form of resistance: a space where alternative relationships, queer identities, and emotional truths are foregrounded through collective storytelling practices. Ultimately, this study presents fan fiction as a discursive and emotional space where readers and writers collaborate to create a hyperreal symbolic order, where narrative legitimacy no longer rests on authorship but on emotional resonance and collective simulation.