Bridging Fandom Across Generations: From Your Fandom to Theirs
Remember the golden age of painstakingly arranging your DVD tower by genre, quoting Clueless like it was a second language, and spending way too much time on message boards debating if Mulder and Scully would ever get together? Today’s DeBlogs post is for the parents of future Blue Demons, who grew up familiar with what Y2K means. Your fandom wasn’t just a hobby—it was a full-time emotional investment.
Now, fast-forward a couple of decades, and you might wonder: How did my kid get so obsessed with their thing? Whether it’s Marvel deep dives, anime conventions, or fan theories around Stranger Things (starring a DePaul alum!), the passion remains the same—it’s just evolved. And at DePaul, students don’t just embrace fandom; they can study it, analyze it, and even build a career around it.
DePaul offers students the chance to explore the intersection of arts, media, and society in ways that feel both innovative and deeply personal. Whether through programs in film and television, game design, animation, media and cinema studies, journalism, or creative producing, students can explore how fandoms shape culture, technology, and storytelling across generations.
Look, we all spent way too much time arguing whether Lost actually had a master plan or if the writers were just making it up as they went along. But imagine if you could have turned all that passion into an actual career. That’s exactly what DePaul students get to do. They’re not just writing fan theories—they’re writing the stories, directing the films, designing the games, and breaking the news on the next big pop culture moment. So, yes, your student may still spend hours debating whether Firefly deserved more seasons, but at least now they can put it on their resume.
-Jason H.