The Brony Bunch: Fandom and Hegemonic Masculinity
“To speak of masculinities is to speak about gender relations. Masculinities are not equivalent to men; they concern the position of men in a gender order. They can be defined as the patterns of practice by which people (both men and women, though predominantly men) engage that position. There is abundant evidence that masculinities are multiple, with internal complexities and even contradictions; also that masculinities change in history, and that women have a considerable role in making them, in interaction with boys and men”.
- R.W. Conner 1995
For those participating in more marginalized fandoms—those celebrating content that is not accepted by mainstream society to be worthwhile or cool—shame plays a large role in their fandom participation (Bell, 2013). With the emergence of the Internet and Internet communities, fandom has become more accessible to the average fan. Interestingly, these fan-based communities are often highly segregated across gender.
Fandom can be creative in its appropriation and recreation of media and cultural texts, it is social in that in fosters a sense of community within the fans because of their shared object of fandom and the sense that one is not alone in their quirks. It can be actively formed against mass culture or perpetuate mass culture. Fandom can be resistant, offering alternative readings to what the producer may have intended, however this may not always be the case Poaching and ‘nomadic behaviour identified in fandom by Jenkins (1992) can be described as fans navigating their way through different textual landscapes and appropriating them how they deem fit. This navigation and movement through the textual landscape is an intertextual one, meaning that fans do not rely only on one text but have the luxury to choose from an array of texts, whether related or not. Self-identifying as fan, one could argue is an assertion and a claiming of one’s fandom, therefore by doing this one displaces the mainstream notion of what a fan or fanhood is, there is a taking back of power in how one chooses to enact their fandom.
Fandom threatens power by going against the ‘acceptable’ ways in which texts are supposed to be read, Jenkins (1992) reiterates this by stating that, “fan interpretive practice differs from that fostered by the educational system,” (Jenkins 1992:19). Therefore, fans have a complete disregard for these rules and move through texts as ‘nomads’ and ‘poaching’ what is beneficial to them. The cultural value that is bestowed upon certain texts is questioned and the ‘correct’ reading of texts that has been taught in institutions of higher learning, or passed on through cultural exchange is ignored. A fandom like the men that form part of what I will refer to as the ‘Brony Bunch’ popularly known as Bronies, are likely not be taken as seriously as their expression of fandom deviates from the everyday expressions of fandom by men- a toxic masculine fandom is predominantly characterized by aggressive behaviour as epitomized by the ultimate football fan.
Bronies (‘bro + pony) are young adult men who follow the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animated series. Not only have they been met with ridicule but they are controversially debated amongst those who cannot comprehend why a man would enjoy something meant for little girls. It goes against traditional notions of manhood and the potential construction of hegemonic masculinity.
There is a ‘boy code’ that cannot be transgressed, this code is a set of rules and expectations that are places on boys from a young age on the kind of masculine behavior that they are expected to enact (Hautakangas, 2015). However, Bronies to transgress this ‘boy code’, stipulating that it offers a joy that cannot be found among discourses that frame hegemonic masculinity. Bronies’s interest in the My Little Pony series has been met with suspicion, explained as a sexual fetish or as ‘gay behaviour’.
“the apparent out of placeness of bronies speaks volumes about naturalized gender norms, and how they are related to our everyday media cultures” -Mikko Hautakangas 2015
Bronies have to reconcile their fandoms with the masculine identities; Bronies recognize that their fandom as a violation of gender norms, and becoming a brony is described as a process of recreating one’s masculine identity. Brody culture embodies an identity that transgresses the stereotypical attitudes.
Even though Brony fandom can is deemed as going against the conventional performance of masculinity. Antihegemonic expressions of masculinity such as theirs still have access to hegemonic masculinity, and affirming heteronormativity and marginalising non-heterosexual, non-masculine identities, they exclude certain social classes and ethnicities/races as well.
Nonetheless this critique does not take away from the subversive potential of Brony culture, the series brings to its male audience a much-needed opportunity to lose themselves in a de-masculinised world.
References
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities. 1995. Cambridge: Polity.
Hautakangas, M. (2015). It’s ok to be joyful? My Little Pony and Brony masculinity. The Journal of Popular Television, 3(1), 111-118.
Jenkins, Henry (1992). ‘“Get a life!”: Fans, poachers, nomads’. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York & London: Routledge
Jones, B. (2015). My Little Pony, tolerance is magic: Gender policing and Brony anti-fandom. The
