An anti-fan, hater, or anti is someone who enjoys writing, discussing or in some cases making derivative works about a piece of media, but solely for the purpose of railing against or

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

ing it. Someone who opposes a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

(a romantic pairing between two characters) is called an anti-shipper. It can also be a person with hatred towards a

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

or icon.

Behaviours

Anti-fandoms appear in many forms from hate-watching to snark. It is common for large anti-

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

s to gather in groups, usually on forums and sites, to share their mutual aversion. These are coined ''anti-fan clubs'' and some are substantial enough to become anti-fan sites. Behaviours of some anti-fans include

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

, stalking, spreading rumours, stealing their personal belongings or information, abuse or physical harassment.

Examples

In 2006, an anti-fan of the K-pop duo

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!), an initialism for Tong Vfang Xien Qi (), is a South Korean male pop duo consisting of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. They are known as in Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as DBSK, an abbreviation of ...

poisoned member

Yunho Jung Yun-ho (; born February 6, 1986), also known by his stage name U-Know Yunho () or simply U-Know, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Gwangju, South Korea, Yunho started his music ...

with a

super glue Cyanoacrylates are a family of strong fast-acting adhesives with industrial, medical, and household uses. They are derived from ethyl cyanoacrylate and related esters. The cyanoacrylate group in the monomer rapidly polymerizes in the presence ...

-laced drink. Instead of pressing charges against the anti-fan, he chose to forgive her, since the girl was the same age as his younger sister. Such occurrences have resulted in an increase of security for celebrities in South Korea. In 2017, ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' published an editorial describing the 1997–2010 preschool animated series ''

Caillou ''Caillou'' () is a Canadian educational children's television series which aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions), with its first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997; it later moved to Treehouse TV, with i ...

'' as "quite possibly the world's most universally reviled children's program," noting "a stunning level of animosity for a series about the relatively uncontroversial daily life of a four-year-old boy." Among the criticisms were the complete lack of educational content in the series, the title character's emotional immaturity, the unfavorable similarities to a younger

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip '' Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American a ...

, and concerns that the show was portraying Canadians in a poor light and thus "raising a generation of psychopaths." Examples include several "I hate Caillou" pages made on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

, numerous parenting blogs criticizing the series, and petitions on

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

for the show to stop airing. A common criticism towards the series is the "petulant, manipulative and spoiled" behaviour of the titular character, the lack of consequences Caillou is given, and the "poor parenting" presented in the parent characters. As Hopper explained, "This has understandably led to theories that this is an accurate portrayal of Canadian parenting and that Canada is raising a generation of psychopaths. Or that Caillou's parents are so blasted on Canadian weed that they are unable to summon the presence of mind necessary to properly discipline their child." He called the series "a toddler version of ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'' or ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

''," criticizing its lack of educational value: "Unlike most children's programming, ''Caillou'' makes almost no attempt to educate its young audience. There are no veiled math problems, spelling lessons or morality tales; it's just calm, non-threatening, bright-coloured people navigating everyday tasks." These criticisms of the show's titular character have been echoed on online platforms, with the formation of anti-Caillou groups online such as "I Hate Caillou" on Facebook and "r/FuckCaillou" on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

. On a segment of the late-night talk show '' Last Week Tonight'', host

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

hyperbolically exclaimed "Fuck you, Caillou!!! Grow some hair and leave the house!" in a comedic comparison. The long-running show ''

Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series targeted at young children aged 2–7, created by Sheryl Leach. The series premiered on PBS on April 6, 1992. The series features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomo ...

'' (featuring an anthropomorphic purple dinosaur as the title character) was criticized for its incessant cheerfulness and the lack of serious topics in the series. It had also triggered a strong revulsion among people older than its target preschool demographic. The show has been the target of a barrage of often-vicious and

dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

anti-Barney humor Anti-Barney humor is a form of humor that targets the main character Barney the Dinosaur from the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' and singles out the show for criticism. In University of Chicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell's ...

since its debut. W. J. T. Mitchell, a

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

professor who devoted a chapter of his book ''The Dinosaur Book'' to the anti-Barney phenomenon, noted: "Barney is on the receiving end of more hostility than just about any other popular cultural icon I can think of. Parents admit to a cordial dislike of the saccharine saurian, and no self-respecting second-grader will admit to liking Barney."

In popular culture

Both the film and TV versions of ''I Married an Anti-fan'' were based on the novel of the same name.

Studies

Anti-fan studies include a focus on specific communities of practice and their relationship to the media texts and fans actively marginalizing or discrediting other fans solely on basis of identity (sex, race, etc.).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anti-Fan Fandom Film and video fandom Hatred Internet trolling Music fandom Media studies Anti-social behaviour

Behaviours

Examples

In popular culture

Studies

See also

References