School Shooter Fandom

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As School Shooter fandom ( Engl. , German: school gunman fan base ) is a cosmopolitan Internet subculture called that with the advent of social media emerged in the 2000s and their followers by an exceptionally strong interest in school Characterizes rampage runners and their deeds. The fan base is assigned to the so-called dark fandoms ("gloomy fan communities") and is considered socially unacceptable.

Description of the phenomenon

The school shooter fandom was formed with the advent of social media in the 2000s and is particularly active on the blogging platforms Tumblr and Blogspot , the video portal YouTube , the online services DeviantArt and Reddit, and the social network Facebook . The fans of fandom stand out on these channels, among other things, because their profile names refer to various well-known school shooters and use photos of the perpetrators as profile or background images.

The number of followers is estimated at several thousand worldwide. Most of them remain anonymous online. According to the first survey studies on the phenomenon, the majority of these are young women in their teenage years or in their twenties, but overall researchers assume a heterogeneous group with a not insignificant proportion of men. In a 2018 survey of 22 followers with an age range of 15 to 32 years, 15 said they were female, four described themselves as male and three as transgender . Twelve people aged 18 to 32 took part in a survey carried out in 2015, ten of whom were women.

The killing spree at Columbine High School (1999) is the central common point of reference for almost all fans of the school shooter fandom, and it sparked interest in school shootings in many of them for the first time. Other school shootings that are considered to be particularly significant by supporters of fandom include the rampage at Thurston High School (1998), the Jokela school massacre (2008), and the rampage at Chardon High School in Ohio (2012 ), the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage (2012), and the Parkland School Massacre (2018).

Most of the people who are attributed to the fandom by outsiders do not refer to themselves as " fans ". Depending on which school rampage they favor, some call themselves, for example, "Columbiner" (after the rampage at Columbine High School), "Cruzers" (after Nikolas Cruz, the rampage from Parkland), "Holmies" (after James Holmes, the gunman from Aurora ) or "Laneatics" ( suitcase word from Lane , the last name of the gunman at Chardon High School, and lunatics , the English word for "crazy"). Others reject such terms because of their negative connotation. Many followers label their social media profiles with the disclaimer I do not condone (“ I don't approve of [that]”) to indicate that they do not approve of the actions of the School Shooter. However, some also use the opposite lettering I do condone (“I approve of [that]”).

While the interest in school shootings is purely forensic among many followers and they want to exchange ideas with like-minded people, the fascination with others extends to the personality cult , in which the school shooters are glorified and romanticized. School shooter fans are basically no different from other fan communities: They create fan art , write fan fiction , practice cosplay and share and comment on images, GIFs , memes as well as audio and video clips related to school rampages and their deeds . To do this, they often process the material left behind by the perpetrators, which they either posted on the Internet themselves before the rampage or which was later published by the authorities (for example, diary entries and videos they made themselves, surveillance camera recordings and class photos). They also use the perpetrators' favorite music and scenes from films about school rampages such as Bang, Bang, Du bist tot (2002) or Zero Hour (2004). They send fan mail to imprisoned school shooters or, if the perpetrators themselves died in their rampage, to their relatives. Like other subcultures, they use a common language, symbols and codes and thereby generate solidarity.

Jenni Raitanen and Atte Oksanen identified four subgroups of the School Shooter Fandom in 2018, whereby the individual follower can belong to more than one subgroup and the behavior of the subgroups can partially overlap:

  • Researcher: This group tries above all to fathom the causes and the true background of the rampages and to explain them in order to prevent future acts. To do this, they conduct their own investigations and collect and disseminate detailed information about the crimes and perpetrators. Some researchers have achieved “opinion leaders” status in the community, to which newcomers can turn with questions.
  • Fan Girls: The interest of this subgroup is romantic or sexual in nature. The focus of their interest is on the perpetrator as a person and less on the violence committed by him. This subgroup often expresses interest through fan art and other fan practices.
  • Columbiner: Members of this subgroup are characterized by a particular interest in the rampage at Columbine High School.
  • Copycat (copycats): This subgroup glorifies School Shooter and dreams or plans to commit even a rampage. Occasional acts of imitation were carried out by members of this subgroup. For example, after the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it turned out that the perpetrator Adam Lanza belonged to the school shooter fandom. The people who ran amok from Emsdetten (2006), Jokela (2007) and Kauhajoki (2008) were also members of the fan base. Because of this danger, Internet sites on which the school shooter fandom is active are partially monitored by the police, although most school shooter fans are classified as "harmless" by the authorities.

Sometimes the school shooter fandom itself is viewed as a subgroup of the true crime community , which is also an online subculture whose followers have a general interest in real crimes, especially serial and mass murders .

Many fandom followers are aware that there are potential copycats among them. While some may express concern, others ignore this possibility or accept it as inevitable. There is disagreement among fandom followers about what level of devotion is acceptable. While obsessive interest in the subject is usually tolerated, comments that glorify the perpetrators are also denounced within the community.

Explanatory approaches

According to Nils Böckler and Thorsten Seeger , school shooters would act as “spokespeople” and “pioneers of a revolution of the dispossessed” for some of the supporters of fandom. In a study they analyzed, some of the 31 participating school shooter fans stated that they felt represented by the worldview of the gunmen. School rampages were morally justified by them as "acts against injustice in schools and society as a whole". The narrative spread in early media coverage after the Columbine High School rampage that the perpetrators were bullied by other students and committed out of revenge and on behalf of the collective of all the oppressed is widespread among supporters of the fandom. According to Natalie Paton , school rampages become a message for people who, because of their differences, are on the fringes of society or who cannot keep up with social competition. Belonging to this subculture is a possibility to oppose the categorization as socially outcast and to rebel against the social construction of normality.

Many of the followers see parallels between themselves and the perpetrators and can identify with them. For example, some of the participants in the survey carried out by Raitanen and Oksanen in 2018 reported that, like the Columbine perpetrators, they had experienced bullying and felt lonely, depressed or suicidal . According to Andrew Rico , supporters of fandom - in contrast to the general public - have empathy and understanding for school gunmen. It is possible that gunmen would serve a cathartic function for their followers . He also hypothesized that the “ allure of the forbidden ” could play a role, and suspects that gunmen have an attraction for admirers because of their fame, which they achieve especially in the USA through intensive media coverage. Some people who seem to belong to the fandom are said to be internet trolls who are only concerned with provoking through their behavior.

Alexandra Artamonova sees the School Shooter Fandom as a counterculture that enables her mostly youthful followers who are still in the socialization process to distance themselves from the majority culture and to question its values. Since the supporters of fandom in " real life " could not talk to their relatives or friends about their unusual interest or would encounter little or no understanding, they also sought confirmation through social interaction within the online community that they were with are not alone in their interests and feelings. The sexual interest in school shooters is explained by some authors with the possible existence of a hybristophilia .

reception

The school shooter fandom became known to a wider public through several media reports. One of the first articles about the phenomenon appeared in October 2012 under the title The Killer Crush: The Horror of Teen Girls, From Columbiners to Popularity (German: "Crush in Murderers: The Horror of Female Teenagers, from Columbiners to Popular") in The Awl and dealt among other things with the "Holmies" and the "Columbiners". Another article appeared in The Atlantic in September 2014 , examining the fandom's response to the school shooter T. J. Lane's prison break. The fan base also hit the headlines in 2015 when a rampage planned by two fandom supporters was thwarted in time in Halifax, Canada . The magazine Vice grabbed the incident in an article called The gunman Columbine, her female fan base and I on. Shortly before the 20th anniversary of the rampage at Columbine High School in April 2019, the manhunt for an 18-year-old supporter of the Columbine perpetrators, who had been classified by the authorities as a potential copycat perpetrator, caused a media stir. Several schools in the greater Denver area had to be temporarily closed for the safety of students and school staff until the wanted one was found dead - she had taken her own life.

The school shooter fandom is considered a so-called dark fandom and the behavior of its followers is viewed as deviant by the mainstream of society . They are often criticized and stigmatized by other social media users . School shooter fans are stereotyped as unpopular, bullied, ostracized, disturbed, lost and as "as homicidal as their idols" . The terms used to describe fandom and its followers also include "disgusting," "weird," "weird", "outsider," "disturbing cult," and "potentially harmful." Fandom followers are aware of this perception by others, which is why they mostly remain anonymous or deny that they are "fans".

The phenomenon has become the subject of sociological research trying to fathom the real characteristics and motivations of its followers. After conducting multiple interviews with Columbines in 2015, Chelsea Daggett concluded that this community was studying the Columbine rampage with more intellectual self-reflection than previously thought. Through factual as well as sensitive discussion, Columbiner would offer an alternative understanding of the case, which is characterized by empathy, media skepticism and a holistic approach and actually casts doubt on the narrative spread by the media. This community of intelligent individuals could have a positive influence on the social perception of school rampages if their behavior were viewed as productive instead of deviant. Artamonova also believes that fandom should not be blindly criticized or ignored by science, as dialogue with its members can help understand the social and cultural role of dark fan communities.

The artist Bunny Rogers explored the fandom in some of her works of art.

literature

  • Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. Essay, Freie Universität Berlin, 2017 ( online ; accessed March 21, 2020) - with examples of fan art.
  • Nils Böckler, Thorsten Seeger: Revolution of the dispossessed: School shooters and their devotees on the web. In: Nils Böckler, Peter Sitzer, Thorsten Seeger, Wilhelm Heitmeyer (Eds.): School shootings: International research, case studies, and concepts for prevention. Springer, New York, NY 2013, ISBN 978-1-4614-5525-7 , pp. 309-342.
  • Nils Böckler, Thorsten Seeger: Schulamokläufer: An analysis of media portrayals of perpetrators and their appropriation by young recipients. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-7799-1499-0 .
  • Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. In: Participations - Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. Volume 12, No. 2, November 2015, pp. 45-77 ( online ; accessed on March 22, 2020).
  • Atte Oksanen et al .: Glamorizing rampage online: School shootings fan communities on YouTube. In: Technology in Society. 2014, Vol. 39, pp. 55-67.
  • Natalie Paton: Media Participation of School Shooters and their Fans: Navigating between Self-Distinction and Imitation to Achieve Individuation. In: Glenn W. Muschert, Johanna Sumiala (Ed.): School Shootings: Mediatized Violence in a Global Age: Volume 7. Bingley (Emerald Group Publishing Limited), 2012, ISBN 978-1-78052-918-9 , pp. 203-234 ( online ; accessed April 5, 2020).
  • Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. In: American Behavioral Scientist. Volume 62, No. 2. SAGE, New York, NY 2018, pp. 195-209 ( online ; PDF, accessed March 21, 2020).
  • Andrew Ryan Rico: Fans of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. In: Transformative Works and Cultures. Volume 20, 2015 ( online ; accessed March 21, 2020) - with examples of fan art.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Natalie Paton, Media Participation of School Shooters and their Fans: Navigating between Self-Distinction and Imitation to Achieve Individuation. 2012, p. 223.
  2. ↑ a b Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, p. 198.
  3. ↑ Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, p. 47.
  4. ↑ Atte Oksanen et al .: Hate Groups. In: James Hawdon et al. (Ed.): The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7391-8896-5 , pp. 21-48, here: p. 33.
  5. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 4.
  6. ↑ Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, p. 49.
  7. ↑ a b c Dina Temple-Raston: 'Cruzers' and the Dark World of School-Shooter Culture Online. In: New York Magazine . April 6, 2018, accessed March 21, 2020.
  8. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, p. 196, 199.
    Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 12.
  9. ↑ a b Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 6.
  10. ↑ a b Rachel Monroe: The Killer Crush: The Horror of Teen Girls, From Columbiners to Popular. In: The Awl. October 5, 2012, accessed on March 21, 2020.
  11. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 12.
  12. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 12 f.
  13. ^ Jaclyn Schildkraut, Glenn W. Muschert: Columbine, 20 Years Later and Beyond: Lessons from Tragedy. Praeger, Santa Barbara, CA 2019, ISBN 978-1-4408-6252-6 , pp. 148 ff.
    Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, pp. 45–77.
    Natalie Paton: Media Participation of School Shooters and their Fans: Navigating between Self-Distinction and Imitation to Achieve Individuation. 2012, p. 224.
  14. ↑ Rosa Flores, Hollie Silverman: The amount of fan mail the Parkland shooter is receiving is unreal. CNN. March 30, 2018, Retrieved March 22, 2020.
    Andrew Solomon: Far from the Tree. Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. Scribner, New York, NY 2012, ISBN 978-0-7432-3671-3 , p. 592.
  15. ↑ Atte Oksanen et al .: Hate Groups. In: James Hawdon et al. (Ed.): The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7391-8896-5 , pp. 21–48, here: p. 43.
    Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, p. 196.
  16. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, pp. 200–203.
  17. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 8.
  18. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, p. 203.
  19. ↑ Frank J. Robertz, Robert Kahr: Fantasies of absolute violence - A criminological look at reporting as a stimulus for imitation. In: Frank J. Robertz, Robert Kahr (ed.): The media staging of amok and terrorism. Springer, Wiesbaden 2016, ISBN 978-3-658-12135-8 , pp. 29–57, here: p. 41.
  20. ↑ Jessica Contrera: The man keeping Columbine safe. In: The Washington Post. April 5, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020.
  21. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 4.
  22. ↑ Naomie Barnes: Killer Fandoms Crime-Tripping & Identity in the True Crime Community. In: All Graduate Plan B and other Reports. 726. Utah State University, 2015, pp. 27 ff. ( Online [accessed April 2, 2020]).
  23. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, p. 203.
    Natalie Paton: Media Participation of School Shooters and their Fans: Navigating between Self-Distinction and Imitation to Achieve Individuation. 2012, p. 230.
  24. ↑ a b Nils Böckler, Thorsten Seeger: Revolution of the dispossessed: School shooters and their devotees on the web. In: Nils Böckler, Peter Sitzer, Thorsten Seeger, Wilhelm Heitmeyer (Eds.): School shootings: International research, case studies, and concepts for prevention. Springer, New York, NY 2013, ISBN 978-1-4614-5525-7 , pp. 309–342, here: p. 334.
  25. ↑ a b c Andrew Ryan Rico: Fans of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. 2015.
  26. ^ Natalie Paton, Media Participation of School Shooters and their Fans: Navigating between Self-Distinction and Imitation to Achieve Individuation. 2012, p. 228.
  27. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, pp. 199 f., 202.
  28. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, pp. 9–11, 23.
  29. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 21.
  30. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 20.
    Selina Kerr, Mary Ann O'Grady: A Threat Assessment Model for Posts in The Online Sphere. In: Gordon A. Andrews (Ed.): Handbook of Research on School Violence in American K-12 Education. IGI Global, Hershey, PA, 2019, pp. 318–333, here: p. 325.
  31. ^ Arit John, How Tumblr's True Crime Fandom Reacted to the Escape of a School Shooter. In: The Atlantic. September 12, 2014, accessed March 21, 2020.
  32. ↑ Rachel Monroe: The cult of Columbine: how an obsession with school shooters led to a murder plot. In: The Guardian. August 20, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020.
  33. ↑ Sascha Cohen: The gunmen of Columbine, their female fan base and me. In: Vice. April 25, 2016, accessed March 21, 2020.
  34. ↑ Joanna Walters: Woman accused of making threats against Columbine high school found dead. In: The Guardian , April 17, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020.
  35. ↑ Jenni Raitanen, Atte Oksanen: Global Online Subculture surrounding School Shootings. 2018, pp. 196, 198.
  36. ↑ Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, pp. 45 f., 52.
  37. ↑ Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, pp. 45 f., 52.
    Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 6 f.
  38. ↑ Chelsea Daggett: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Antiheroes for outcasts. 2015, pp. 46, 50 f., 73.
  39. ↑ Alexandra Artamonova: Rebels with a Cause: School Shooters Fandom as a Form of Counterculture. 2017, p. 23.
  40. ^ Elisabeth Sherman, Margaret Kross: Remnants and Remembrance. Whitney.org, accessed March 21, 2020.