The Case Study of Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Scholarly Commons ...

Conclusion
We take our communications media so for granted that we fail to see all the
tricks they‟re pulling on us. (Mulder, 2004, p. 11)
Earlier, I asked: Is fandom a trick? Now, at the end of this study, it saddens me to say
that in many ways it is. A consumer becomes a fan when they fall for that trick, and that
trick is the emotional enchantment by a product. Enchantment within this study is based
on Saler‟s (2003) theory of the “ironic imagination”, whereby “rational adults [can]
immerse themselves in imaginary worlds of mass culture without mistaking [those]
worlds for reality” (p. 606). The difference with an enchanted consumer, however, is
that while they are aware of a product‟s forces on the imagination, they respond with
very real emotions. Their investment in the product is no longer measured by time and
money, but by the emotions invested and the emotions inspired in them. Therefore, a
consumer becomes a fan when their consumption is motivated by emotional
enchantment. What happens next is the systematic cultivation of various fan states, this
process is motivated by a fan‟s constant consumption of enchantment, provided by the
products they encounter. In the literature review, I examined storytelling‟s three social
functions (Gerbner, 1999): illumination, information and instigation. Stories of
illumination inspire an audience‟s “creative imagination” and work to “illuminate the . .
. invisible relationships and hidden dynamics of life” (Gerbner, 1999, ix). In other
words, stories of illumination enchant us to teach us something. They target our
imagination first, before applying information and instigation, because without our
cultivated enchantment, we will not respond favourably, or according to the author‟s
designs. Hence, the commercialisation of storytelling. By cultivating our enchantment,
the media cultivates our response and our need to consume. The fan, however, takes this
one step further. As mentioned in my findings, the term “fan” is in itself an enchanted
term for the “consumer”; when one believes oneself beyond commercialisation and a
true “fan” of the media product in question, one has simply been tricked by the
commercialisation of enchantment. I too was tricked; I was cultivated to the degree of
an educated academic-fan. I found that my consistent consumption of a particular
product cultivated a strong sense of consumer loyalty. This pattern of behaviour,
instigated by the media and my willingness to be a consumer, became fandom once I
began to emotionally consume the enchantment of the product. Even as an educated
academic-fan I still harbour enamoured tendencies but these are directed towards
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