Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Voices - Impact of the Films

The release of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films were the single most influential impactful event in the history of Tolkien fandom. They brought thousands of new fans to the fandom, grew communities literally overnight, and shaped fandom culture for the decades that followed. We continue to explore the impact of the films as part of our fandom history column Cultus Dispatches, and this month's column focuses on what you, the fans who lived this history, remember about how the two Jackson trilogies changed (or didn't?) your fandom communities and experiences. The first in the Fandom Voices series, a Cultus subproject that collects memories from fans about their fandom cultures and histories, this month's column presents the responses from about thirty respondents who were part of the fandom before one or both trilogies.

Fandom Voices columns present both a curated collection of responses with minimal commentary, designed to highlight trends that we noticed among the responses. However, we also include the full collection of responses, lightly edited, so that you can also draw your own conclusions about the impact of the two trilogies.

You can read the article "Fandom Voices: Impact of the Films" here.

Fandom Voices surveys never close. We will continue to collect responses and periodically update the response collections. If you were a fan before the either film trilogies (or both) and would like to contribute to this project, you can add your memories of pre-film fandom here.

If you were a fan brought to the Tolkien fandom by the films, our second Fandom Voices survey is also active and collecting responses to be included in an article later this year. You can share your memories of joining fandom as a film fan here.

Posted on 14 May 2022 (updated 18 June 2022) by Dawn Felagund