Politics Is Fandom; Fascism Is Fanfic

Zohran Mamdani never auditioned for Survivorbut one of his campaign’s final TV ads placed him in the middle of the show’s infamous tribal council. For about 30 seconds, a handful of elders Survivor The candidates spoke to the camera while explaining their decision to vote for Mamdani’s primary opponent, Andrew Cuomo, off the “island” of Manhattan.

“Didn’t we already vote against you?” » asks an elder Survivor competitor.

THE Survivor spot is just one of a handful of fan-influenced ads Mamdani’s campaign has aired in the final weeks of the New York City mayoral race. They were designed not only to reach voters, but also to meet fan communities in their own world. The Mamdani campaign is one of the first to not only cultivate its own fandom, but also tap into the power of pre-existing ones. Contemporary politics has recently become a multiverse of competing and intersecting fandoms, with the most successful politicians, like Mamdani, taking the political issues of their campaigns and translating them into the emotional language these communities understand.

“We believed, because of the social nature of this show [Survivor]“It could spark a conversation, and it could bring a group of people who would otherwise stay home or vote for someone else to become part of the movement.”

Fandom isn’t just about liking a TV show or having a parasocial relationship with a celebrity. It’s about belonging to a community of people with common interests who share stories and jokes, but also tales of heroes and villains that color their worldviews. Political movements operate in a similar vein, but until recently, the digital behaviors that come with arresting someone like Taylor Swift or creating fancams were reserved for pop culture figures.

President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement proved how powerfully contemporary politics can intertwine with fandom. Over the past decade, Trump’s MAGA supporters have done more than just vote for him. They created merch and went to campaign rallies like Deadheads. Online, they told an elaborate story about a deep state cabal that only Trump would be able to dismantle. Not only has the Trump campaign created its own fan communities, it has absorbed surrounding ones — whether it’s professional wrestling or video game aesthetics — to create access points for new supporters to flow into the movement.

The most recent example of cross-contamination of MAGA fandom involves console gamers in the early 2000s. In October, GameStop issued a policy resolution, jokingly formally declaring that the Console Wars, a remembered competition between video game console makers, was over after announcing a new addition to Microsoft’s portfolio. Halo franchise, Halo: Campaign Evolvedwould be compatible with the Sony PlayStation. Shortly after the announcement, an official White House account