Fangirls Run the Economy女性粉絲推動經濟

From the box office to book publishing， stans1 are making their influence felt.

從票房收入到作品出版，超級粉絲的影響力正在崛起。

In recent years， cultural critics have described the Internet as an “attention economy，” referring to the hot， volatile business of converting views and clicks into dollars. But in 2023， we watched fandom burst to the forefront， and the truth became undeniable： We’ve exited the attention economy and entered something less transient.

近年來，文化評論家把互聯網稱為“注意力經濟”，意即這是一種快速傳播又迅速變化的熱門商業模式，能將瀏覽量和點擊量變現。但在2023年，我們看到粉絲群體突然闖進大眾視野的中心，其背后的真相無可爭辯：注意力經濟已成過去，人們的關注變得持久。

“The attention economy is the brief focus on nearly any subject as algorithms focus on engagement，” says Jamie Cohen， Ph.D.， an assistant professor of media studies at City University of New York’s Queens College. “This， of course， results in the temporary uplift into mainstream media and a short marketable trend. On the other hand， the fangirl economy is far more powerful because a small group of passionate users is far more valuable than millions of flash-in-the-pan2 trend followers.”

“受算法注重參與度的影響，注意力經濟對幾乎所有話題的關注都很短暫。”紐約市立大學皇后學院主攻媒體研究的助理教授杰米·科恩博士說，“注意力經濟的確能暫時增加主流媒體的流量，短期拉動市場走勢。然而，女性粉絲群體的經濟力量要強大得多，因為她們人數雖少，但比起眾多來去匆匆的關注者，勝在熱情持久，商業價值大得多。”

On some level， fans’ economic impact isn’t new. In 2016， for instance， Red Lobster sales spiked after Beyoncé name-dropped3 the restaurant in the lyrics of “Formation.” But the double-header of Swift’s Eras tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour in 2023 marked a turning point. These weren’t just high-grossing tours; they were full-on stan tours， complete with unofficial dress codes and community-building activ-ities.

從某種程度來說，粉絲經濟的影響力早已有之。例如，早在2016年，碧昂絲在單曲《編隊》的歌詞中提到海鮮餐廳“紅龍蝦”，這使得餐廳營業額一度飆升。不過，粉絲經濟崛起的關鍵點是2023年兩位歌壇巨星的演唱會：泰勒·斯威夫特的“時代”巡回演唱會和碧昂絲的“文藝復興”巡回演唱會。她們的巡演不僅收入頗豐，而且完完全全是屬于超級粉絲的盛會——歌迷自發統一著裝，還組織豐富多彩的社群活動。

All that fan passion yielded more than just ticket sales： Swift’s three-night stretch in Houston resulted in the city’s highest hotel revenue week of 2023， Axios reported; a special report for the California Center for Jobs confirmed that her SoFi Stadium shows brought in an estimated $320 million in tourism revenues， taxes， and extra jobs for Los Angeles County alone. As for the Renaissance tour， visitors to Houston shows spent $18.2 million at area hotels alone， and Danske Bank economists believe the kickoff show in Stockholm contributed to higher inflation in Sweden.

歌迷的熱情不僅帶來了演出收入：據美國新聞網站“愛可信”報道，斯威夫特在休斯敦連續三晚的演唱會，讓該市酒店當周收入一舉創下2023年之最；加利福尼亞州就業中心的專題報告證實，斯威夫特在索菲體育場的演唱會僅為洛杉磯縣一地就預計帶來3.2億美元的旅游收入和稅收，還創造了大量臨時就業崗位。再以碧昂絲的“文藝復興”巡回演唱會為例，前往休斯敦的觀眾光是在當地酒店住宿就花了1820萬美元。丹斯克銀行的經濟學家認為，碧昂絲在斯德哥爾摩的巡演首秀甚至導致瑞典的通脹走高。

“A digital standom is charged with energy， so you only need a small amount of push into the marketplace to create a vast consumer response or even a civic mobilization，” says Cohen. “The tighter knit the passionate standom， the more they are ready to act either with their wallet or with their feet4.”

“數字時代的超級粉絲群體能量十足，只需輕輕刺激市場，就能激發消費者的強烈反應，甚至能動員全民。”科恩博士說，“超級粉絲越是緊密團結，他們對營銷做出的反應就越快，要么掏錢購買產品，要么用行動抗議。”

The trend extends beyond music-al superstars. Many authors are getting their first break into publishing by gaining steam on fandom sites like Archive of Our Own5， and fan fiction is now being developed into film—Anne Hathaway’s film， Amazon Prime’s The Idea of You， is based on a fic that may have been inspired by One Direction， and Netflix’s hit series Heartstopper is based on the webtoon6 of the same name.

粉絲的影響力也擴散到了音樂巨星以外的群體。在以“我們自己的檔案”為代表的粉絲平臺上，許多作者收獲熱度，從而首次涉足實體出版業。如今，粉絲小說甚至能搬上大銀幕——由亞馬遜流媒體平臺出品、安妮·海瑟薇主演的電影《對你的想象》就翻拍自粉絲小說，而這部小說的靈感可能來自單向樂隊；奈飛熱門劇《心跳漏一拍》則改編自同名網絡漫畫。

More than just supporting their faves economically， fangirls have the power to shift marketing strategies， product creation， and narratives in their favor. Take the way that the Brit Awards changed its rules after initially denying Rina Sawayama entry to the competition because she was not a U.K. citizen， though she has lived there for 26 years. Fans got #SawayamaIsBritish trending on Twitter in 2021， ultimately convincing the organization to change its criteria to include long-term residents.

女性粉絲不僅花錢支持自己最喜歡的偶像，她們還能夠扭轉營銷策略、產品開發和敘事方向，使之對自己的偶像有利。例如，歌手澤山璃奈在英國生活了26年，卻因非英國公民的身份而無緣入圍全英音樂獎。2021年，她的粉絲把話題“澤山是英國人”刷上推特趨勢，最終成功說服主辦組織改寫評獎規則，將久居英國的歌手納入參評范圍。

On BookTok and BookTwt， a single video or tweet within the community can spark mass interest for a new piece of literature or an upcoming artist. “Fan fiction on a wider basis is having more commercial success， with stories adapted for publication or even giving those writers a platform and the confidence in their storytelling skills to pursue a career as an author，” says Beth Reekles， author of the Kissing Booth book series， which was adapted as a Jacob Elordi-starring Netflix franchise. “Fandom-driven literature on platforms like Wattpad often becomes major hit film adaptations.”

在TikTok和推特的薦書社區里，一個視頻或一條推文就可能激起大眾對某部文學新作或某位新晉藝術家的興趣。“親吻亭”系列小說的作者貝絲·里克爾斯指出：“粉絲小說在更廣泛的領域里正在取得更多商業上的成功——許多網絡故事經改編后出版發行；粉絲小說甚至為寫手提供了寫作平臺，提升了他們對自己敘事技巧的信心，進而鼓勵他們踏上職業作家之路。”里克爾斯的“親吻亭”系列小說已改編為奈飛系列電影，由雅各布·埃洛迪主演。里克爾斯還說：“在以 ‘沃帕德’為代表的電子書平臺上，粉絲創作的文學作品往往會改編為大熱電影。”

“Standom， to me， is about loving and supporting a star wholeheartedly and believing the best in them， sometimes even despite lower moments or them not deserving it，” says video producer and creator Joelle Park， whose “eating like K-pop stars” series has amassed more than 20 million views on YouTube. “Standom gives the sense of community and inner circle between members， [even though] it’s sometimes competitive between stans to prove greater devotion to the celebrity.”

“我對超級粉絲的定義就是全心熱愛、全力支持某個明星的群體。即便在偶像處于低谷，甚至不配獲得信任的時候，他們仍然能看到偶像最好的一面。”視頻制作者兼創作人若埃勒·帕克說。她的系列節目《像韓流明星一樣吃飯》在優兔上的觀看次數已超過兩千萬。“超級粉絲群體給人認同和歸屬感，打造出小圈子文化，（雖然）有時粉絲也會互相較勁，爭著表明自己對偶像更忠心。”

This isn’t entirely good. The publishing industry in particular has come under fire for practices reminiscent of “fast fashion，” turning out books that appeal to social media trends.

粉絲經濟也不全是好處，對出版業來說尤為如此。為迎合社交媒體熱點而出書的做法不免讓人聯想到“快時尚”，出版業已然因此遭到抨擊。

Fandoms can also turn on you. “I’ve also seen the potential of people’s novels diminish or lose popularity because of nuanced situations or negative actions of the author， especially in an online space，” says Nicole Nwosu， whose Wattpad novel The Bad Boy and the Tomboy has amassed more than 100 million reads on the platform.

粉絲群體也會拆臺。“我也見過小說熱度下滑、人氣不再，可能是因為作者微妙的立場或不當的言行，特別是作者在網絡空間里的所作所為。”妮科爾·恩沃蘇說，她的小說《壞男孩與假小子》在“沃帕德”平臺上的閱讀次數超過一億。

As Cohen says， “You can make mistakes in the attention economy when it comes to criticism or marketing. In the fangirl economy， brands， marketers， and even journalists have to be aware of the collective power of fangirl and standom economies because they can exert power in strange ways.”

正如科恩博士所言，“注意力經濟是容許在評論和營銷方面犯錯的。在女性粉絲經濟中，品牌方、營銷方甚至記者都必須意識到女性粉絲經濟和超級粉絲經濟的凝聚力，因為這兩個群體可能會以不尋常的方式施展力量。”

In December 2023， for example， fantasy author Cait Corrain lost her book deal after it was revealed that she was creating fake accounts on Goodreads to boost her own reviews and lower those of her peers—an example of people review-bombing books for any number of vendettas， sometimes even before it has been released. Meanwhile， the fans of the Harry Styles fanfic series After sent hate comments en masse to the film adaptation producers after trailers for the final installment， After Everything， were released; growing frustration over the creative direction of the movie boiled over when the trailers included what appeared to be recycled shots of the lead， Josephine Langford. The movie became the lowest-grossing of the series—grossing $10.6 million compared with the first installment， which earned $69.5 million.

舉例來說，2023年12月奇幻作家凱特·科拉因被曝出在書評網站“好讀網”上建立數個假賬戶為自己刷好評，給同行打低分，她的出版合約因此落空。這一事例表明，人們因為心懷仇怨會對書籍進行差評轟炸，有時甚至連未出版的也不放過。同年，根據粉絲小說“之后”系列改編的系列電影發布了最終篇《一切之后》的預告片。這一系列粉絲小說以哈里·斯泰爾斯為原型，小說粉絲本來就對電影的創意改編大失所望，預告片中又似乎使用了主演約瑟芬·朗福德以前的鏡頭，更是讓小說粉絲的怨氣沸騰，于是他們聯合起來對制片方發表惡評。結果，《一切之后》的票房僅1060萬美元，在“之后”系列中表現最差，而該系列首部電影的票房高達6950萬美元。

But it also means that more people garnering attention for their craft understand the importance of fandom. Increasingly， more young public figures are bringing their own experiences with digital fandom to the table7. Nwosu， for example， was a part of various fandoms growing up， namely the 5 Seconds of Summer， Halsey， and Zayn Malik online fan contingents. Reekles was a part of the SuperWhoLock Tumblr fandom， a fictional alternate universe in which the characters and plots of the television shows Supernatural， Doctor Who， and Sherlock inhabit the same universe.

不過，越來越多因才華走紅的創作者也因此認識到了粉絲群體的重要性。越來越多的年輕公眾人物也開始公開講述自己與線上粉絲群之間的往來。比如，恩沃蘇從小就是五秒盛夏樂隊、歌手哈爾西和歌手扎因·馬利克的忠實歌迷，也是他們線上粉絲團的一員。里克爾斯是“湯博樂”上“邪惡神秘洛克”粉絲群的成員，他們這群粉絲構建了一個虛擬的平行宇宙，讓電視劇《邪惡力量》《神秘博士》與《神探夏洛克》的人物和情節共存其中。

Since she doesn’t have access to her sales numbers， Reekles instead measures her success by her ability to build a community of people who bond over her work. “Those kinds of people are still massively underestimating the power of fandom and the community it gives—the sense of belonging， friendship， and self-assurance that keeps us all coming back for more，” she says.

里克爾斯無法掌握自己作品的確切銷量，于是她為自己的忠實讀者建立了粉絲群，以此衡量自己的成功。她說：“很多人還是嚴重低估了粉絲群體的力量以及由此產生的團體精神——我們能在社群里找到歸屬、結識朋友、收獲自信，這一切都讓我們不斷回到群里尋求更多。”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者；單位：上海工程技術大學）

1源自美國說唱歌手埃米納姆（Eminem）2000年推出的歌曲Stan，歌詞講述了狂熱粉絲斯坦的追星故事。后來，stan一詞的意思逐漸引申為高度狂熱、極度執著的超級粉絲。

2 flash-in-the-pan曇花一現的。" 3 name-drop說出名人名字來抬高自己。

4 act with one’s feet指用行動表態，多用于抗議，與vote with one’s feet意思相近。" 5非營利性粉絲作品托管網站，旨在保存和展示各種形式的粉絲作品，其核心特點是創作自由和內容豐富。" 6 webtoon網絡漫畫，由web（網絡）與cartoon（漫畫）縮合而來。

7 bring sth to the table推上臺面；提供有益的建議，帶來價值或做出貢獻。