FP Staff List: Fandom and ENJOY ME AMONG MY RUINS
In Enjoy Me among My Ruins, author Juniper Fitzgerald writes about her childhood fascination with X-Files legend and queer icon, Gillian Anderson. Here are some other pop culture picks from the FP staff about fandom, celebrity, and self.
“Peppered throughout [Enjoy Me among My Ruins] are childhood journal entries—addressed to Gillian Anderson—as well as vignettes of the women who’ve shaped my adult life.
Language is limiting, however. I could never entirely write the queer love and tender spaces that I hold for other women, even as I paw at the revelations that such a love and space might render in the hearts of others. In these pages I am revealed to myself, too—my love of women started with Dr. Dana Scully from The X-Files; I now reproduce and cultivate that love in my material life.” —Juniper Fitzgerald
“The narrative of this perfect novel is framed by obsessive fan letters written by one woman to the lead singer of her favorite band, the Get Happies, a Beach Boys–esque rock group. A must-read about fandom, identity, and self!” —Lauren
“Author Kevin Allred’s love for Beyoncé led to him creating the university course ‘Politicizing Beyoncé’ to both wide acclaim and controversy. He outlines his pedagogical philosophy in Ain’t I a Diva?, exploring the process of teaching Queen Bey and what it means to use a superstar to blow up the canon. I love the idea of bringing pop culture into the classroom and would 100% go back to school to take this class.” —Jisu
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
“If I wanted to explain fandom to an alien, I’d show them HSMTMTS. Set in the high school where High School Musical was filmed, the show follows a production of a musical based on the movie. Not only is the show an homage to a film that had a huge cultural impact, it also helped in launching the career of a pop sensation whose songs are in large part inspired by the behind-the-scenes drama of the show. Incredible.” —Lucia
“Future Feeling begins when its protagonist tries to hex Aiden Chase, a fellow trans man and an influencer whose picture-perfect Instagram feed he’s equally obsessed with and resentful of—but accidentally curses a different, not-at-all famous trans man instead. It's a delightfully weird story about belonging, trans kinship, and the responsibilities we have to one another.” —Rachel
“‘When John Wayne rode through my childhood, and perhaps through yours, he determined forever the shape of certain of our dreams,’ Didion writes in this canonical 1965 essay about the real, flawed people who live beyond our Hollywood-constructed legends.” —Nick