RT Article
T1 Developing religious literacy through popular culture fandom: engaging religious issues in Fleabag fan fiction
JF Journal of contemporary religion
VO 38
IS 3
SP 449
OP 467
A1 Crome, Andrew
LA English
PB Carfax Publ.
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1870839560
AB This article analyses 120 fan-authored stories focusing on the character of the ‘Hot Priest’ in the television comedy Fleabag (BBC/Amazon 2016–2019), examining how fans use their fandom to explore religious issues and develop religious and theological literacy. This challenges the ‘banality’ of media representations of religion suggested by Stig Hjarvard’s mediatisation thesis through exploring fan responses to a ‘secular’ television show. As they engage through fandom, fan authors participate in reflection on contemporary Catholic issues and discuss God’s character and interpretations of Scripture. This is a form of ‘serious play’ that allows for detailed meditation on these subjects. Although fans’ engagement with religious issues is not a reversal of the decline of religious affiliation in the West, it is a sign of the ‘new visibility of religion’ in which examples of both ‘traditional’ and new religion emerge in novel, and often unexpected, contexts.
K1 Media
K1 Fleabag
K1 Fan fiction
K1 Fandom
K1 Religious Literacy
K1 Religion
K1 Popular Culture
DO 10.1080/13537903.2023.2247699