May the 4th

May the 4th to all Star Wars fans is Star Wars Day, an unofficial holiday created by fans to show their love for the franchise. The date is a pun on the well known phrase "May the force be with you" and was originally used when Margret Thatcher took to office. Star Wars Day was first celebrated at the Toronto Underground Cinema in Canada where it put on a costume contest and film festival. Since then, thanks to the internet, it has gained widespread appeal which sees hundreds of fans from across the globe come together and celebrate everything Star Wars related.



Here are a couple of videos to show you some of the celebrations for May the 4th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GkH_7p6hQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spMYHuyL3_E

Fan Art

Here's a few pieces of fan art that crosses over into different genres or influenced by other popular cultures:

Jediism

Probably the strongest argument to show just how big a phenomenon Star Wars is and how big a fan base it has is by the fact it has it's very own religion. Jediism is currently the 7th biggest religion in the UK. In the book Whose Film Is It, Anyway? Canonicity and Authority in Star Wars Fandom by John C. Lyden he talks about how strong a fandom Star Wars has and goes on to talk about the creation of a religion:

"If there is any popular culture phenomenon that can be referred to as "religion," it would be the fandom associated with the Star Wars films. In the 2001 census in many English-speaking countries a number of people identified their religion as "Jediism" including 70,000 in Australia, 21,000 in Canada, 53,000 in New Zealand and 390,127 in England and Wales ("Jedi Census" 2012). This may well have been a joke (Emery 2001), but it is also clear that at least some of those who support this movement take it seriously, such as the online Jedi Church ("Jedi Church" 2012). More significant, perhaps, is the number of fan activities related to Star Wars which might express some of the "markers" of a religion, such as communal identity, a system of beliefs and values, myths and ritual practices."

Lyden, John C. Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Sep2012, Vol. 80 Issue 3, p775-786

 Here is some further reading on Jediism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jediism

Star Wars Fandom

I found this article about Star Wars fandom where it gives an interesting point about what a Star Wars fan actually is and it turns out that we hate Star Wars. This seems a bit odd since the whole point of being a fan in the first place is to say "I love this and I'm proud of it". Not to say Sat Wars fans aren't "proper" fans, quite the opposite, but more that they are so passionate about something they love that when something happens that doesn't sit well with them there's going to be uproar about it. For example, the "Han Shot First" fiasco, Mitichlorians, or even the whole of the prequels. The article ends with a very fitting conclusion:

"Maybe I'll put it like this. To be a Star Wars fan, one must possess the ability to see a million different failures and downfalls, and then somehow assemble them into a greater picture of perfection. Every true Star Wars fan is a Luke Skywalker, looking at his twisted, evil father, and somehow seeing good."

http://mentalfloss.com/article/16899/secret-star-wars-fandom

Also found this fun piece of info-graphics about fandoms in numbers:

After Subculture: The Basics

Subcultures: The Basics by Ross Haenfler

Ross Haenfler (2013). Subcultures: The Basics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture by Andy Bennett and Keith Kahn-Harris

Andy Bennett and Keith Kahn-Harris (2004). After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Subcultures: The Basics by Ross Haenfler was interesting read that gave a great understanding for what a subculture is, listing key aspects you that define a subculture such as:

• Specialized vocabulary: many subcultures have a distinctive shared vernacular of idioms and symbols that demonstrate belonging and insider knowledge, marking those "in the know" outsiders. For example, graffiti writers commonly talk about crews, bombing, tags, throw-ups, to get up, burn and wildstyle.
• Style and music: many, but not all, subcultures feature connections to particular music styles and fashions. Both serve as vehicles of self-expression and collective opposition.
• Subcultural history or lore: most subcultures have a sense of their history (in fact, knowing about a subculture's "roots" can be a way of performing and judging authenticity). Certain events become legendary - the bank holiday riots in the UK, the Woodstock and Altamont rock concerts in the US, the first Waken Open Air metal festival in Germany. Subcultural history, like history in general, is often written around people of significance - heroes, innovators, and pioneers. The body modification and "modern primitive" scenes honor Fakir Musafar as an early inspiration, while "Sailor Jerry" Collins, a prominent tattoo artist in Hawaii until his death in 1973, remains a legend in the tattoo world.
• Social support system: due to their deviant identities and practices, many subcultures serve as social support systems, refuges or "homes" where like minded people feel accepted. Subculturists may even become chosen families, forming significant, long-term bonds.

'Brony Census'

http://herdcensus.com/2014%20STATE%20OF%20THE%20HERD%20REPORT.pdf

The above link contains a pdf of a in depth report on the statistics of the Brony community, collected via a survey likened to the national census.

Aswell as being a useful source of statistics I think this serves as an example as the commitment individuals are prepared to put into a Fandom. Investing large amounts of time into things that may seem trivial to others, in this case a subculture derived from a children's cartoon.

fans shocked

JK Rowling, the author of the super-successful "Harry Potter" books, has caused outrage amongst fans with her latest statement that Hermione Granger's ideal partner was Harry, not Ronald Weasley. Rowling, in an interview to Wonderland Magazine, has herself questioned the credibility of the Hermoine-Ron pairing. She said the move was done merely as a "wish fulfillment". She claimed that Hermione should have married the boy wizard, instead of Ron. "I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That's how it was conceived, really," Rowling said, according to excerpts of the interview published by The Sunday Times. "For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron." "I know, I'm sorry. I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not," she added. The interview was taken by Emma Watson, who played the character of Hermione in the "Harry Potter" films. The 23-year-old actress also shared Rowling's views. "I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy," Watson stressed. Meanwhile, Rowling went on to add that she felt that Hermione and Ron's relationship would require 'marriage counseling', thus disheartening several fans of the pair in the fiction series. Muggle Net, the "Harry Potter" series' topmost fan site appeared shocked with the comment. Harry/Hermione WHAT? http://t.co/dhkuSnQrT9 — MuggleNet.com (@MuggleNet) February 2, 2014 Most fans opposed Rowling's statements, opining that Ron and Hermione are the perfect couple, as the characters completed each other. However, a section of the fans agreed with Rowling's view that considering Harry's par excellence attributes, Hermione would be have been the apt choice as his partner, not Ginny Weasely. In the epilogue of the seventh book of the series "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows", Harry is seen settled down with Ron's younger sister Ginny, with the couple having three children. Whereas, Ron and Hermione are shown as a couple. (The quotes of the stories have been taken from the Twitter preview of The Sunday Times article)