Fansplaining (podcast)
| Podcast | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Fansplaining |
| Created by: | Elizabeth Minkel and Flourish Klink |
| Date(s): | July 2015-present |
| Focus: | Meta, discussion, interviews, Q&A. |
| Fandom: | Multifandom |
| External Links: | Fansplaining website, Fansplaining — About, Archived version |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fansplaining is a podcast series by Elizabeth Minkel and Flourish Klink.
The first podcast was released in July 2015.
Each episode includes fannish commentary by Minkel and Klink, an interview with one or more fans, and occasional responses to questions fans have asked. Each episode is accompanied by a written transcript and show notes.
In February 2019, Fansplaining debuted a new website for the podcast.[1] The website includes materials related to each episode of the podcast - including the show notes and transcript - as well as articles originally published on the Fansplaining Medium account, and information on various projects undertaken by Minkel and Klink.
In March 2024, during Episode 219, Elizabeth and Flourish announced that Flourish would be leaving the podcast as a co-host. The short-term plan for Fansplaining after Flourish's departure was to pause the podcast for an undetermined amount of time and temporarily shift to written fandom journalism publications.
About
Fansplaining is a podcast about fandom: not a fandom, but fandom and fan culture in general. How are fans making an impact on pop culture? On industry? How has fandom changed over the years? And what truly is the best fanvid ever? Fansplaining features fan, academic, and entertainment industry guests, and it’s hosted by Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel. New episodes come out every two weeks.[2]– "About," Fansplaining Tumblr
Fans have never been more visible in mainstream culture—but what does it really mean to be a fan, or to be part of a fandom? We dig into the conversations currently shaping fan culture, from intersections with the entertainment industry to depictions in the media to conflict within fandom itself. Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel talk to writers, academics, fan creators, people from the entertainment industry, and more, and new episodes come out every two weeks.[3]– "About," Fansplaining website
Its Inception
The podcast grew out of a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2015. Flourish and I had never met but we wound up on the same (too-large) panel of people who straddled the intersection between creators and fans. Our go-to line is that everyone on the panel was having a different conversation—but Flourish and I were having the same one. Afterwards she approached me about starting a podcast; I laughed and said sure, why not, assuming this was the sort of throwaway suggestion you make at a party. But Flourish was not kidding: a few days after we flew back from San Diego, we were having a long and very business-like call where we were setting up the whole thing.
– Elizabeth Minkel, from The Multiplicity and Diversity of Fandom: An Interview with Fansplaining's Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel (2017)
Podcasts Episodes
Episode Subpages
Episodes 1-10 · Episodes 11-20 · Episodes 21-30 · Episodes 31-40 · Episodes 41-50 · Episodes 51-60 · Episodes 61-70 · Episodes 71-80 · Episodes 81-100 · Episodes 91-100 · Episodes 101-110 · Episodes 111-120 · Episodes 121-130 · Episodes 131-140 · Episodes 141-150 · Episodes 151-160 · Episodes 161-170 · Episodes 171-180 · Episodes 181-190 · Episodes 191-200 · Episodes 201-210 · Episodes 211-220
Current Episodes:
Special Episodes
Periodic special episodes are made available for Patreon subscribers only.
- Fansplaining Special Episode 1: "Harry Potter and the Curse of the Neverending Canon"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 2: "Primary Colors"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 3: "Fanfiction Book Club #1"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 4: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 5 "Brooklyn 99"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 6: "The Good Place"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 7: "The Serial Numbers"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 8: "The Lurker"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 9: "No Edith, No Peace"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 10: "The Favourite"
- Fansplaining Special Episode 11: The Marvel-Industrial Complex
- Fansplaining Special Episode 12: Black Sails
- Fansplaining Special Episode 13: Star Wars: The Lowering of Expectations
- Fansplaining Special Episode 14: Birds of Prey
- Fansplaining Special Episode 15: Tropefest: Trapped Together
- Fansplaining Special Episode 16: Tropefest: Canon-Divergent AU
- Fansplaining Special Episode 17: Tropefest: Enemies to Lovers
- Fansplaining Special Episode 20: Succession
- Fansplaining Special Episode 21: Watchmen
- Fansplaining Special Episode 22: Schitt's Creek
- Fansplaining Special Episode 23: Tropefest: Hurt/Comfort
- Fansplaining Special Episode 24: WandaVision
- Fansplaining Special Episode 25: Tropefest: Modern AU
- Fansplaining Special Episode 26: The Phantom of the Opera
- Fansplaining Special Episode 27: Interview with the Vampire
- Fansplaining Special Episode 28: Glass Onion
- Fansplaining Special Episode 29: Tropefest: Soulmate AU
- Fansplaining Special Episode 30: Tropefest: Fake Relationships
- Fansplaining Special Episode 31: Tropefest: Friends to ?
- Fansplaining Special Episode 32: Tropefest: Arranged Marriage
Reactions and Reviews
An Informative Delight: by Alcloxa -- Elizabeth and Flourish grapple with the nature of fandom culture. No easy task since it represents the passions of millions of people in arts, sports, and media. The approach it with humor, zest, and their own keep observations. The guests are engaging and insightful.[4]
Great Podcast Discussing Diverse Fandoms: by mlfh23 -- I found the Fansplaining podcast a few weeks ago through their joint show with SRSLY, and I’ve been listening to all the back episodes in my spare time. It’s definitely one of my new favorites. Flourish and Elizabeth are both smart and savvy podcasters who have consistently interesting things to say about fandom at large. I love the way they talk broadly about fan issues without making you feel left out if you aren’t a part of a particular fandom.[5]
Thoughtful and fun: by Tegansblueworld -- This is my favorite fan culture podcast. They dig into some interesting issues. [6]
Its hosts Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel get so much right with this podcast. It is, as they note in this interview, not the place you go to get fan theories about Game of Thrones, not that there's anything wrong with that. They are doing what fans call Meta, asking big questions about how fandom works, who gets included or excluded from fandom, how fans intersect with the industry or journalism, why fans do what they do -- in other words, it is about fandom culture and its practices, not about the shows fans love. They may have Orlando Jones as a guest one week and an academic studying race and fandom the next. They work hard to insure a diverse and inclusive representation of fandom, week by week, and in the process, they often help me to discover new and emerging perspectives in the field who had not crossed my radar in any other way. I do not know how they do it -- stay some far ahead on the trends and consistently call attention to new voices and new ideas. They often allow room for graduate students and junior scholars who are not yet being heard elsewhere, and in the process, they are helping to define the next generation of researchers in this space. [7]
- Fansplaining again on Fail_FandomAnon - discussion of the survey, May 2019
Other Projects
In addition to the biweekly podcast episodes, Fansplaining has also undertaken a number of projects related to fandom, including a survey of common tropes in fandom and a survey of fans' definitions of fanfiction.[8] The Fansplaining Medium collection publishes writing on fandom by Minkel and Klink, as well as other writers including Caroline Crampton, Allyson Gross, and Anne Jamison.[9]
Through their Twitter account, Fansplaining has also posed a number of smaller polls on topics such as prevalence of the term alpha reader and strategies for searching for new fanfic.[10]
References
- ^ <Tweet by Elizabeth Minkel. Posted on February 6, 2019. Accessed on February 9, 2019.
- ^ Fansplaining — About, Archived version
- ^ About. Fansplaining website. Accessed on February 9, 2019.
- ^ iTunes
- ^ iTunes
- ^ iTunes
- ^ comment by Henry Jenkins in his intro to The Multiplicity and Diversity of Fandom: An Interview with Fansplaining's Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel (2017)
- ^ Projects. Fansplaining. Accessed on February 9, 2019.
- ^ Fansplaining. Medium. Accessed on February 9, 2019.
- ^ Projects. Fansplaining. Accessed on February 9, 2019.