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Fansplaining

Fansplaining

Elizabeth Minkel & Flourish Klink

Fansplaining is a podcast about by, for, and about fandom. It’s hosted by Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel. New episodes come out every two weeks. If you want to call us and leave a message for us to read on air, our number is 1-401-526-FANS!
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Top 10 Fansplaining Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Fansplaining episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Fansplaining for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Fansplaining episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Fansplaining - Episode 222: Ask Fansplaining Anything: Part 19
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05/08/24 • 76 min

Flourish’s final “Ask Fansplaining Anything” episode follows the format of the previous 18 (!!), with a new batch of (thoughtful as ever!) listener letters and voicemails. Topics discussed include people bringing a prior adaptation’s fandom baggage to a new version, writing RPF about people who aren’t actually famous at all, the tropification of fanfiction, and whether multiple versions of a character can feel true simultaneously.

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Around this time in December, we usually wrap up Fansplaining with “The Year in Fandom”: a look back at five trends from the prior year followed by five trends from the year coming to a close. With Flourish’s departure this summer, the podcast is now on hiatus—but I had a lot of thoughts about 2024, particularly when it came to fanfiction. Many thanks to Flourish for looking this over; in a way, it’s a “Year in Fandom” segment in spirit.

In 2024, everyone wanted a piece of fic, from AI grifters to traditional publishers to ravenous audiences. Where did that leave the people who write it? Read the full article as you listen along: https://www.fansplaining.com/articles/endless-appetite-fanfiction

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Fansplaining - The Yellow Balloon Movement by Maria Temming
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06/12/24 • 23 min

Our first piece in this new era of Fansplaining is "The Yellow Balloon Movement" by Maria Temming: Within jam band fandoms often dominated by substance use, clean and sober fans are building their own communities. You can read the full article here: https://www.fansplaining.com/articles/the-yellow-balloon-movement

Hi, Fansplaning listeners, Elizabeth here. So everyone probably knows by now that the podcast is on hiatus. And you may be wondering why is this still showing up in my feed?Thanks for not unsubscribing, because I would say with 95% certainty, the podcast will be back in some form before too long. But this is showing up in your feed because, as you may recall, in the hiatus portion of the podcast itself, I'm going to be ramping up our publication arm, which we've, you know, kind of periodically added to over the years. Now, there's going to be at least one new piece per month, and we had a listener when I announced this suggest that we also do audio versions. And so everyone who's writing one of these stories also knows they have to record themselves, reading it and then we'll put it up alongside the text. And so I thought, well, you know, for folks who do like listening, why not use this feed to share the audio with them? You can also find it with the article itself on fansplaining.com, and if you listen to this and enjoy it I would really appreciate if you go back there and maybe share it with folks, whether they like listening or reading. So that's all to say,I thought I would just, for this one, explain what I was doing, but rather than just dropping the audio into your feet with no, with no warning. So I won't have a big introduction for, for all of them, but for this one, because it was showing up again after a few weeks, I wanted to explain why something new was showing up in your feet. So without further ado, the first article in this new era of Fanplaining that I am thrilled to publish is actually a repeat contributor. It's by Maria Temming who was the author of "The Pain Fandom," the article we published on whump. She also came on the podcast to talk about that article. And importantly, she has been one of our two transcriptionists for the past few years. Extraordinary transcriptionist, incredibly meticulous, and she brings that meticulousness to her journalism. The whump story was extremely deeply and thoughtfully reported, and this story is no different. It's about yellow balloon groups. They are clean and sober fans who basically have meetings, like AA-style meetings, right within the concerts they're attending. So it's like creating fandoms within fandoms, and huge, you know, diversity range of ages and experiences of the folks that she talked to for this. And so it was a real pleasure to edit and to learn about this, like this corner of fandom. And so I really hope you enjoy it. So without further ado, here's Maria Temming.
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Fansplaining - Episode 213: The Year in Fandom 2023
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12/27/23 • 77 min

As they do every December, Elizabeth and Flourish revisit the previous year’s fandom retrospective, and then turn to the biggest fan culture stories and trends in 2023. Topics discussed include the mainstreaming of purity culture, the fracturing of social media platforms, the shortening of fandom life cycles, and, of course, the big two: the Hollywood strikes and the rise of AI.

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Fansplaining - Episode 157: Nichole Perkins
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09/08/21 • 62 min

In Episode 157, Flourish and Elizabeth interview Nichole Perkins, host of the podcasts This Is Good For You and Thirst Aid Kit and author of her recently released memoir, Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be. Topics discussed include her history with romance novels, the importance of pleasure in her work and life, the philosophy behind Thirst Aid Kit, and Elizabeth and Nichole’s shared fandom, Frasier.

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Fansplaining - Episode 155: Happy Anniversary #6
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08/11/21 • 74 min

Flourish and Elizabeth celebrate their sixth anniversary in the traditional fashion: inviting back guests from the past year to talk about changes they’ve observed in fandom, from the global to the personal. Topics covered include the uncertain future of some fanfiction platforms, growing more protective of your fannish spaces, the ever-growing influence of purity culture, and the year’s racial reckonings (and whether anything has really changed).

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Fansplaining - Episode 150: Post-Pandemic Fandom
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05/26/21 • 64 min

In Episode 150, “Post-Pandemic Fandom,” Flourish and Elizabeth reflect on the way the pandemic has changed fandom in the past 18 months—and speculate about what that might mean for fans in the coming months and years. Topics discussed include delayed film and television production and release dates, potentially returning to tours and cons, changes in fandom participation and fanfic habits, and the way the global nature of both the pandemic and of fandom means fans will continue to have very different experiences depending on their life circumstances.

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Fansplaining - Episode 139: The "Q" is for "Queerbaiting"
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12/02/20 • 73 min

In Episode 139, “The ‘Q’ is for ‘Queerbaiting,’” Elizabeth and Flourish dig into the thorny concept of “queerbaiting”—when creators tease at queer relationships in their shows and films but fail to follow through. Topics covered include disconnects between creator and audience expectations, fans’ conflation of shipping and representation, and shifting attitudes and norms in television writing and marketing. Plus: they read several listener responses to the previous episode, giving context to Destination Toast’s stats on AO3 fanfic production in 2020.

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Fansplaining - Episode 138: 2020 By the Numbers
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11/18/20 • 83 min

Nearing the end of a very strange year, Flourish and Elizabeth sit down with fandom stats whiz Destination Toast to dig into recent fanfiction trends on the Archive of Our Own. Topics covered include the massive uptick in fic production (that predated the pandemic!), the impact of China’s AO3 ban and the rise of Chinese media in English-language fandom, which fandoms and tags are growing in popularity, and—inescapably—what’s happened with Supernatural fandom since the events of November 5th.

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Fansplaining - Episode 216: Allegra Rosenberg
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02/14/24 • 71 min

On Episode 216, “Allegra Rosenberg,” Elizabeth and Flourish talk to the fandom journalist and Terror Camp organizer about her journey from tween fan reporter to writing a book about the pre-digital history of fan culture. Topics discussed include coming of age on Tumblr, learning to put on IRL events while deep in music fandom, getting that fannish feeling from immersive theater, and, of course, Terror Camp, a fandom-academia hybrid event that celebrates fans’ investment in historical research.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Fansplaining have?

Fansplaining currently has 234 episodes available.

What topics does Fansplaining cover?

The podcast is about Leisure, Hobbies, Podcasts and Tv & Film.

What is the most popular episode on Fansplaining?

The episode title 'Episode 156: The Exit Interview' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Fansplaining?

The average episode length on Fansplaining is 68 minutes.

How often are episodes of Fansplaining released?

Episodes of Fansplaining are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of Fansplaining?

The first episode of Fansplaining was released on Jul 20, 2015.

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