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The Walrus

fandom

A teen stares at a computer screen in the dark
Arts & Culture

When Online Fandom Goes Too Far

January 9, 2023January 11, 2023 - by Zarmminaa Rehman

K-pop got me through my teen years, but celebrity obsessions have a dark side

Read More
A hand with its fingers crossed accompanied by text that reads, "Please make the playoffs or I snip a toe a fan."
Sports

The Team, the Fan, and the Severed Toes

June 23, 2021February 16, 2023 - by David Swick

What’s a person to do when their team loses year after year? For one diehard fan, it meant chopping digits

Read More
Above: Hands holding up a soccer ball. Below: Hands holding up phones
Sports

When Sports Fans Change the Game

June 16, 2021January 20, 2023 - by Shireen Ahmed

Equal pay across genders, renaming racist teams—owners are finally listening and boardrooms will never be the same

Read More
Portrait of George Armstrong in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey against a blue background.
July/August 2021

The Paradox of Being a Leafs Fan

June 9, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Waubgeshig Rice

Generations of Indigenous fans have followed the Toronto Maple Leafs through close calls and decades of despair. Ultimately, it’s the hope that connects us

Read More
Screenshot of the actress who plays Anne Shirley on the TV show Anne with an E. She has red hair and freckles and is looking towards the top of the frame while wrapped in a grey blanket.
Arts & Culture

When Anne with an E Fans Waged War against Netflix

August 5, 2020October 13, 2020 - by John Semley

In their campaign to save the show, fans stopped behaving like an audience and started acting like owners

Read More
A wax figure replica of Céline Dion at Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas
Arts & Culture / September 2019

Céline Dion Is Everywhere

August 28, 2019January 13, 2023 - by Suzannah Showler

At fifty-one, Dion is wrapping up her Vegas residency with a world tour, an album, and two movies in the works. Why has it taken forty years for the world’s most talented singer to finally become cool?

Read More
Wikimedia Commons/Yevhenii Dubinko/iStock/The Walrus
Uncategorized

When Comic Fans Become Villains

March 15, 2019July 12, 2019 - by Anna Peppard

The Captain Marvel backlash shows that fandom can be cruel. And Stan Lee is partly to blame

Read More
Screenshot from The Third Man
Technology

How the Internet Ruined Fandom

May 26, 2016November 18, 2019 - by Jason Guriel

Being a cult follower once tested your mettle. Now it’s all too easy

Read More
Photograph by Jonathan Kay
Arts & Culture

Ron Weasley Made Me Sad

September 9, 2015February 13, 2021 - by Jonathan Kay

Fan conventions are supposed to empower subcultures. But paying $260 for a photo deadened my nerd soul

Read More
September 2009 / Sports

The Boys of Autumn

September 12, 2009April 15, 2020 - by David Macfarlane

A Tiger-Cat childhood

Read More

Our Latest Issue

The Walrus' March/April 2023 cover featuring artwork of the megachurch March/April 2023
It was massively popular. It billed itself as a new kind of church. Then sexual abuse and misconduct allegations surfaced against its leaders

Part of The Trust Project

Read more about The Trust Project and how this article fits in it

Part of The Trust Project

The Trust Project is a collaboration among news organizations around the world. Its goal is to create strategies that fulfill journalism’s basic pledge: to serve society with a truthful, intelligent and comprehensive account of ideas and events.

Learn more.
Behind The Story



Walrus logo with tusks and Canada's Conversation

​​The Walrus sparks conversations about Canada and its place in the world through our award-winning independent journalism, fact checking, events, podcasts, and content solutions. The Walrus is a registered charity with an educational mandate.
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​​The Walrus is located within the bounds of Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is also the traditional territory of the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

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As we look at Who We Are Now in 2023, help us power the next 20 years of inspiring conversations and fact-checked journalism. Donate to The Walrus today.

With thanks,
Jennifer Hollett
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