Fandom and Hamilton
I just finished re-reading Next Big Thing and the tumblr parts of All the Other Ghosts, and I didn't realize why I had the urge to re-read them until I realized they were both ABOUT fandom in the way most fics aren't.
In the weekly Hamilton mefi post, someone linked to the Abigail Nussbaum's post about Hamilton, and re-reading that, I wonder if the urge to consume Hamilton comes partly from the fact that live theater really HAS no canon. The source is always being re-interpreted with every performance, always in flux and constructed in collaboration with the audience reaction that night - true fannish participation. Not only is Lin fannish and the content he created is fannish about a particular time of history, as Abigail points out, but the medium of live theater itself is fannish in that it is actively remixed by the audience and the performers every night.
In the weekly Hamilton mefi post, someone linked to the Abigail Nussbaum's post about Hamilton, and re-reading that, I wonder if the urge to consume Hamilton comes partly from the fact that live theater really HAS no canon. The source is always being re-interpreted with every performance, always in flux and constructed in collaboration with the audience reaction that night - true fannish participation. Not only is Lin fannish and the content he created is fannish about a particular time of history, as Abigail points out, but the medium of live theater itself is fannish in that it is actively remixed by the audience and the performers every night.