Students and staff at West Albany High School have different ways to show their interests in different fan bases. Whether that be with a T-shirt of a band that they really enjoy, or covering their classroom with merchandise and sponsored partnership items from their favorite movie saga. WAHS even has clubs such as ¨Magic: The Gathering¨ groups that allow students to participate with a group of people who enjoy similar interests.
“I think being a fan is generally liking something or having [an] interest in it,” junior Emmalynne Ness said. “I think being a fan means supporting them, and how you [do] that doesn’t always mean buying stuff.”
Ness represents herself as a fan of Lincoln Park, not just by buying T-shirts, tapestries, and vinyls, but also by going to concerts of artists she enjoys.
“This was my first Lincoln Park concert,” Ness said. “[It] was very well performed, and the technicalities and the visuals and the interactions with the crowd were really cool [and] interesting.”
Spanish teacher Ken Beiser is a big Star Wars fan. Not only loving the movies, but also the franchise and the universe collectively as a whole. One of the biggest things he is known for at WAHS is his classroom, decked out from baseboard to ceiling in Star Wars-based merchandise. From his bookshelf dedicated to Funko Pops to his Star Wars-themed cereal boxes.
“I think my Star Wars fandom started when I was a kid. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, probably six or seven,” Beiser said. “I love all things Star Wars. But the shows, some of the shows, are fantastic, must-watch, even if you don’t like Star Wars, just amazing TV.”
Even for a big-time Star Wars fan like Beiser, he doesn’t view the franchise as something that should be gatekept. As a big fan, he views the fanbase as an exciting thing to be part of.
“I don’t actually like the idea of gatekeeping fandoms. People will say things like, ‘Well, you’re not a fan unless you [blank],” Beiser said. “I think people can be fans of whatever they want, regardless of if they’ve been following it their whole life, like I have, or if they’re new to something, I get really excited.”
For junior Reese Letho, there doesn’t seem to be qualifications to exist in order to be a fan. Even with these different things to love and support, to these people, there doesn’t seem to be qualifications to be classified as a “true fan”, whether that be of a band, a franchise, or Pokémon.
“It varies on what it means to be a fan cause, to me, I enjoy [Pokémon] and it’s a way to relive my past. Being a fan is if you enjoy [something] and like it.” Reese said,
For Letho, he’s been enjoying Pokémon ever since 2014, when a student that he went to school with showed up to school with a Pokémon binder, and he thought to himself
“[I] saw a couple kids at school, [they] had a couple [cards] in their binder, I thought ‘That’s so cool, let me buy some!’ and I’ve been collecting them ever since.”
“This Zapdos card, I got like a month or two ago, and I sold it because I needed some money. Then last week I bought a booster bundle, which is a little box that comes with six packs and I got it! It’s like $90 right now. [I was sad] cause I really liked that card, now it’s back!”
With these big passions and great interests, these attendees of WAHS think being a fan of something means to just simply enjoy it.
“Being a fan just looks like, just enjoying something and being with other people who also enjoy it,” Beiser said.
