Disappointment is coming: rules of engagement in Bill Drummond’s rock memoirs and HBO’s <i>Game of Thrones</i>

Abstract In this study, we analyze two instances of highly mediatized relations between producers of popular culture and their fans. We argue that in such relations, there is a narrative push and pull between creator and audience around rules of engagement: explicitly or implicitly stated agreements about what audiences may expect and creators are expected to deliver. Breaking these rules can be experienced as deeply shocking. Our first case is Bill Drummond, one half of the KLF, a British rave duo from the early 1990s infamous for exiting the music industry in 1992 by shooting blanks at the audience of the BRIT Awards and burning £1 million. Since then, Drummond has written two memoirs in which he describes, often with relish, how he is a disappointment to his fans. Our second case is HBO’s Game of Thrones , which – like many big-budget television series – developed and capitalized on a massive fanbase, resulting in a strong aesthetic and value-driven investment among fans. These fans emphatically turned on the showrunners during the series’ final season, furiously disappointed by what they saw as the show’s failed storytelling, especially its finale. In the first case, fans are intentionally scandalized; in the second, certainly not.