Beneath the Mask Fan Survey (1996)
| Fan Survey | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Beneath the Mask Fan Survey |
| Surveyor: | Carrie Hernandez |
| Date(s): | March 1996 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom(s): | Phantom of the Opera |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Beneath the Mask Fan Survey was a 1996 Phantom of the Opera survey conducted by Carrie Hernandez.
It was distributed to fans in the club zine, Beneath the Mask #10, and the results were printed in #11 of that zine.
The goal of the survey was to gauge fan interest and desire in the contents and scope of the club zine as well as in the fandom and franchise in general.
126 fans returned surveys which was about half the membership of the club, Phantom Appreciation Society. 68 surveys were from the UK, and 58 from mostly the US.
Some Questions
About Fans in General
- age
- number of times fans have seen the show on the stage
- how many Phantom cast audio recordings did fans own
- favorite Phantom performers
- other favorite musicals
- favorite Phantom books
About "Beneath the Mask" Features
- character analyses were very popular
- fan fiction and poetry were very unpopular
- fans enjoyed the covers and the fan letters
- fans discussed the pros and cons of American and British spellings in submitted content
The Results
Commentary Regarding the Results
It is difficult to draw conclusions from this, as even-one has such strong and diverse preferences. Many people commented that the letters section was their very favourite part of the magazine; a few said they would rather we concentrated on the facts, cast news etc. and cut the letters. At the moment the letters section got the highest score and I get enough letters to fill it almost twice over if I didn't edit them down, so I think the best answer is to leave it as it is.
To address a few suggestions and questions raised: two people asked for a longer "gossip" section with more on ensemble cast members, and two asked us to list the whole cast in the cast news section. As far as the gossip section goes. I welcome news on what any cast member is doing. However, we have limited space and the ensemble members are probably of the least interest to the majority of members; but the real reason we don't have a longer and more detailed section is that no one sends anything for it! We have absolutely no way of knowing what most cast members in other countries are doing unless you tell us.
If you read about an ex-cast member of Phantom doing something, please, please don't assume that we know about it or that we even know they've been in the show somewhere in the world. Tell us! There is a similar problem with long cast lists - firstly there are space constraints, but also it can be hard to find out the leads of other productions from over here, let alone the whole cast. Some members suggested only listing casts for the "major" productions, but it's debatable which ones they are. If you're in the middle of America, the US touring casts are of more interest that the Edinburgh cast here, for instance. We have members all over the world, so it would be hard to know which to cut.
A couple of people asked us to bring back membership cards or to introduce a membership badge. I have thought about these, but on the whole it adds too much cost and administrative work to be worth it. Another problem with a badge would be making something nice which doesn't employ the copvrighted logos.
[...]
The Internet section was obviously of interest mostly to people with an Internet connection or who are thinking of getting one. It stays because a) it's only small, and b) it's nearly the 21st century, so there's no excuse... I will only list new things and keep it short; for up-to-date information and more places of interest to Phantom fans, you can go to the PAS Web page and follow its links. The messages section has had so few contributions it's really a bit of a waste of space and so it's being scrapped - sorry to the few who liked it! It you really want to send a message, there is still the free ads on the back page.
To sum up: no fan magazine can keep even-one fully happy all of the time, but we seem to be giving the most room to the most popular areas. Sorry to those in favour of poetry, messages and all-British spelling - you were out-voted! If you would like to see more pieces on minor cast members, please, please send them in and they’ll be printed. If you think your favourite actors didn't get as many votes as they should, remember to send in your survey next time.