So this is something that's been a trend for the last four years or so. We all know those fans who are die-hard believers who are always taking up for their faves. But then there are those fans that take their dedication too far and become hostile and even violent in some cases. They have gotten doved the name "stans" and it's become a whole culture in this new age of media. So you're probably asking this question.

What is "stan culture"?

Eminem - Stan (Long Version) ft. Dido  www.youtube.com 

If you've been around for a minute, our remember Eminem's song "Stan" about a fan who was obsessed with him to the point where he kidnaps his pregnant girlfriend and drives the car off a bridge. Now stans haven't gone to that level of danger but they have posed that kind of behavior when going to bat for their favorite people.

We see stan culture whenever there's a story about a popular celebrity in the news. It's either them attacking people who don't support them, them being in an uproar when they aren't nominated for an award, or most likely when they are in a feud with another artist. Stans are looked at as the "insert artist name" hate police most of the time but at times they are policing themselves for their own behavior. They are the ones the opponents of "stan wars" we often hear about. We had beefs started by stans with the Swifties, The Beyhive, The Rihanna Navy, The Barbs, Harmonizers, Bardi Gang. I could name more but that's a whole other article to write that.

Now not all people who are part of stans are all messy. Stans will go out and support their faves on their projects, whether it be in music, movies, clothing lines, perfumes, or whatever they decide to put out. But at the same time, they enable this kind of behavior by their fans. We've seen this happening this year especially and can write a whole thesis on this matter. We've seen the Barbs attack people who critic Nicki Minaj's music. The Swifties have spewed hate comments to any artist who competes against Taylor Swift when they aren't in the same genre. The Ariantors (Ariana Grande Stans) send death threats to her ex-boyfriends after their breakups. The BeyHive is guilty of attacking, verbal and physical, people who aren't for Beyonce. Now I've been part of the Hive for two years but I am a general member that only goes to the meetings.

Star Wars Fandom Is So Toxic  www.youtube.com 

And that's just in music. The TV and movie stans are just as bad and sometimes even more volatile. One example I can name off the top of my head is Star Wars. A lot of the toxic fandoms come back whenever an old series gets rebooted or comes back for a sequel. The Stars Wars fandom has escalated to new levels as they are repeatedly attacking the new cast of the Star Wars trilogy. Kelly Marie Tran was a victim of this as she had to delete all her social media platforms this summer after months of constant harassment and racist comments from Star Wars fans because they hated her character in the Last Jedi. If you don't like a character in a movie, that's your personal opinion. But that does not give you the right to being vile towards someone and attack with racist and sexist rhetoric.

TV stans are guilty of going unrealistically hard for their favorite ships (Relationships in the show) because they in their minds believe they are endgame. So when the characters break up and they have a scene with another character where they are "just friends", they go off on the writers, the cast, and the actors who play them when it's just part of a storyline. It's a fictional TV, not real life. I understand why actors are becoming annoyed at stans harassing them over something that's part of the show's story.

Stan Culture was a joke made by people who saw die-hard fans as a little crazy but it's gotten to the point where it's become toxic and is putting real people in serious danger. It was first a term used to describe stans but now it's become a term for the over obsessed and die-hard fans whose sole purpose in life is to be their favorite's person's personal bodyguard with the hope for a mention on Twitter or Instagram. At this point, we need to retire the term and people know as "stans" in 2019 because they made 2018 the worst for all of us.