The 25 best films about fandom
From wholesome joy to dangerous obsession, these movies question what it really means to be a fan
Film Lists Fandom
Fandom comes in many forms, whether you’re talking about the different franchises and subgenres of the pop-culture obsessed, or the types of fans themselves and how they choose to express that devotion as individuals. It’s no wonder that, after decades of pop culture obsession gradually morphing into a globally recognized phenomenon, we’ve taken to documenting fandom on film, through both fictional and nonfictional accounts of people willing to go very far, maybe even too far, for the things they love.
Of course, some movies have documented fandom better than others, whether we’re talking about fans who lean into the dark side or fans who keep their love pure and simple. From Star Wars to KISS, these are the 25 best films about fans and fandom, in chronological order.
53 Comments
how do you make a list about fan movies and not include The Fan? lmao.
That was the first thing I looked for too, pretty surprised it wasn’t there!
Because this is a list of the best movies and it’s not a good movie?
Not a great movie, but at least I’ve heard of it unlike a lot of the titles on this list.
or Der Fan (1982)
A pity the way German grammatical genders work. It would have been funnier if Fan was a feminine noun so the title was Die Fan.
Do you mean Tony Scott & DeNiro’s from 1996, or Lauren Bacall’s from 1981?And if you’re in the vein of the fandom and subject matter of either of those, you have to queue up “The Seduction” with Morgan Fairchild and “The Last Horror Film” with Joe Spinell, both from 1982.
had no idea about Bacall’s, I’llhave to check that out but yes I was refering to Mr. Snipes movie.
Or The King of Comedy.
I had to look to see if Mary Waronov is still alive. She is.
Fun list, but how are there not any Kevin Smith movies on there? Clerks and Mallrats were two of the first movies to really have protagonists obsessed with nerdy minutiae. We take pop culture savvy protagonists for granted now, but back in the 90s, it blew me away to see people on screen talking about Star Wars and Marvel comics.
I’d actually put Chasing Amy above either of those – look at how the fans of Bluntman and Chronic treat Affleck versus Jason Lee (fucking tracer!) at the convention. Of course this also gives me cover to post the scene that makes me laugh hard to this day:
Chasing Amy’s definitely my favourite of the three. I was thinking the other two probably had a larger impact, but really any of them deserve inclusion. And that scene’s great. I still have a Pavlovian response to shout “Fuck Lando Calrissian!” anytime his name’s mentioned.
To me it’s “Nubian,” which admittedly is encountered less frequently. “What’s a Nubian? Motherfucker, you almost made me laugh.” (which unfortunately gets cut off in the clip I posted)
“You didn’t tell me you were going to say “Black rage!” I almost pissed myself.”
‘The blackest brother of the galaxy’
I love that scene!
“What’s a nubian?” is one of the greatest lines of all time.
“But isn’t that true?” is a close second.
That whole exchange gets Smith a lot of leeway from me.
“What a nubian?” will always crack me up.
Wow a lot of these movies are really badFanboys and Dave? Really?!
Yup. Anyone else beside me find Detroit Rock City really obnoxious?And whereas Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim showed me how much an Edgar Wright film needs Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Paul showed me how much the actors needed Wright.
The People vs. George Lucas.
Fuck those people.
Honestly surprised there hasn’t been a film akin to Misery or Perfect Blue discussing how much easier (and more horrifying) stalking has gotten because of the modern internet— Perfect Blue was made in ‘97 & based on an older novel, so its depiction of the internet is archaic by comparison.
There’s been a couple of attempts at video games about this, but Gamer Girl never released, and Parasocial is a tad too rambling and jank to recommend.
With the connection that fans now feel to artists via social media, including the delusion that they would be fast friends if they met in person, the Misery scenario feels more real than ever. Annie coming across Paul’s car was complete chance. Meanwhile today people track artists’ every move. I expect Taylor Swift has too much security for someone to nab her at this point but there are plenty of smaller artists I could see targeted in some way.
“Annie coming across Paul’s car was complete chance.”Is it though? I thought it was at least implied that she may have caused the accident.
It’s been so long since I saw the beginning that I don’t remember and I can’t find a clip. But I doubt she would have been out stalking his car in the middle of a blizzard.
I found a clip on youtube, it’s pretty clear in the movie that no one caused the accident, but she was johnny on the spot to get him out, so I think she probably was stalking him, and it was just a happy accident for her. She knew his writing routine, she might have even lived in the area just to feel closer to him.
I could definitely buy that she knew the location of the cabin where he wrote his books and was tailing him with the hope of a “chance” meeting. It really would be a severe coincidence otherwise.
Assuming most of her security is actually interested in providing security rather than becoming a viral Internet star.
that donald glover-produced show ‘swarm’ was apparently about that. i never watched it.
You’ve more or less just described a central aspect of You.It’s a series, obviously. But it’s pretty much a modern Taxi Driver about a violent, broken man who obsessively romanticizes and stalks women, typically using social media. The primary themes are masculine entitlement, abuse, and a kind of deconstruction of romance story tropes. But technology is a very significant part of the setting.
I can maybe check it out if I have the time, I genuinely was not familiar. Thank you.
Swarm was a little bit about that (though ultimately not as much as the marketing would have you believe)
We watched Monster Squad with the kid during the pandemic and oh boy that movie does not hold up. Wasn’t funny, really gross humor, lots of the f-word that isn’t fuck.
The 1999 movie “Free Enterprise” would fit nicely in this list. It’s a story of 2 guys whose lives have been shaped by fandom trying to make the transition into being adults, and even features William Shatner playing himself. Unfortunately, it seems to be pretty hard to find these days if you want to watch it.
The Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie went on to have a life of its own as a Broadway musical, huh? AI write this?
Misery plays just as well now as it did four decades ago1990 was 33 years ago. That’s not four decades.
Does ‘Pleasantville’ count? It’s been a while since I saw it, but I think it was pretty good.
Son of Rambow is a film that has really been forgotten despite being an almost perfect little gem.
Good to see Big Fan on the list. It’s a lot of fun, made more fun by the fact that Patton Oswalt knew next to nothing about football. He tried a little improv on some of his character’s phone calls but the he and the director quickly found out that he couldn’t manage that. You do have to know your subject to fake enthusiam.I also liked that, for all its similarity to Taxi Driver, it’s not as grim and has a happy-ish ending.
I do improv, and I love throwing out the suggestion “sports team” when asked for a non-familial relationship, because all the improvisors are nerds who know nothing about sport (myself included) and it’s fun watching them try to bluff their way through it.
That sounds hilarious, no lie. I can’t remember Oswalt’s exact example, but in an interview he said it was sort of like “wow, yeah, that team was… really good! And they had so many scores!” They wisely decided to stick to the script, at least for the sports lines.
I’m pretty sure that’s Orson Wells narrating the trailer for Play Misty for Me… far out!
The 25 Worst Types of Stories Seen Daily on AV Club
1. Anything with a slideshow
2. Anything with a slideshow
3. Anything with a slideshow
4. Anything with a slideshow
5. Anything with a slideshow
6. Anything with a slideshow
7. Anything with a slideshow
8. Anything with a slideshow
9. Anything with a slideshow
10. Anything with a slideshow
11. Anything with a slideshow
12. Anything with a slideshow
13. Anything with a slideshow
14. Anything with a slideshow
15. Anything with a slideshow
16. Anything with a slideshow
17. Anything with a slideshow
18. Anything with a slideshow
19. Anything with a slideshow
20. Anything with a slideshow
21. Anything with a slideshow
22. Anything with a slideshow
23. Anything with a slideshow
24. Anything with a slideshow
25. Anything with a slideshow
Would like to put in a plug (no pun intended) for “Cecil B. Demented” by John Waters as a film that is better than many on this list and involves obsessed fans. Wanna-be renegade film directors who worship other indie renegade directors kidnap a movie star to force her to be in their movie.
gotta queue up Patch Adams; the Director’s Cut
John Landis will not be happy.
So you recommend a movie (Almost Famous) where sexual intercourse by adult women with a minor is celebrated?
I’m guessing everyone has a movie they really love that even they acknowledge isn’t a masterpiece, and mine is Paul. I’ve seen it… 5 times, maybe 6? Might be more. I just really enjoy spending time with the characters. Of course there are jokes about anal probes; it’s a movie about an alien, they’re gunsta talk about anal probes. Comedy snobs aka the unfunniest people in the world are the only people who bitch about jokes like that.
I’ve always wondered how Bye Bye Birdie would have played if they had gotten Elvis to play Birdie.
I’d include Fever Pitch (both of them for that matter).