An investigation into pop culture fandom and the sub-cultures of fans that dedicate their lives to the celebration of their favourite hero.

2016 marked the golden anniversary celebrations of a lot of classic era pop culture TV shows that many of us have grown up watching as adolescents or have discovered via re-runs or on DVD. Like the countless thousands of fans worldwide, we have continued to follow the adventures of our heroes and villains, their evolution through comic book serials, books, gaming, and for a chosen few, up on the big screen in the form of motion pictures.

The 1960s spawned what we refer to now as the classic era for popular culture; it was the?era of social and cultural change that was developing at a pace even itself could not keep up with. Cultural revolutions, political change, and war were forming new opinions and dividing society worldwide, and television was the teacher for a new generation. Teenagers were now taking advice from?Patty Duke?and?That Girl,?Archie?and?Betty and Veronica?and following their lead on handling peer group pressure, love, and breakups, albeit in a thirty-minute time slot!

Television had taken over from the radio as the meeting point in the homes of families in the Western world. Families were sitting down every night at 6 pm and enjoying the antics of?Leave it to Beaver,?Mister Ed,?My Three Sons,?The Adventures of Superman,?Batman,?Gilligan’s Island,?I Dream of Jeanie?and?The Munsters,?to name but a few. All of Hollywood’s greatest performers of the era were lining up to take on roles or at least make a cameo, and fans of?Batman,?Gilligan’s Island,?I Dream of Jeannie?and?Lost in Space, in particular, would marvel at just who would appear as a special guest each week.

Sammy Davis Junior, Jerry Lewis, Lucile Ball (who was already starring in her TV show,?I Love Lucy, and host to many of the classic TV shows as she was the ‘Lu’ in Desilu Productions) was known for popping up in other classic shows from time to time. This era would set the bar for all television shows and films to follow, and the height of this bar remains a difficult obstacle for many of the current programs to topple or even equal.

One of the most influential television shows, voted the number one cult TV show of our time by?TV Guide Magazine?(2007),?Star Trek, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.

The creator, Gene Roddenberry, had submitted drafts of his idea for?Star Trek?to the networks with little success before being given the chance to present a pilot at Desilu Productions. With the original pilot being rejected, a second pilot successfully convinced the network chiefs to produce the first series.??

Star Trek?commenced on television in 1966, and despite its poor ratings, it was gathering a loyal fan base. After the second season, a third was not planned because the show was deemed ‘too intellectual’ for the current viewer demographic, who had been used to many classic Western television shows like?Gunsmoke,?Wagon Train,?High Chaparral?and?Zorro. All were great television shows with fine actors and marvellous adventures of the Wild West but worlds away from science fiction.

Star Trek?was set for decommissioning at the end of the second season, but word soon spread among the fan base, and a letter campaign spawned at the hands of Bjo Trimble (a fan in the US)?gained momentum at an explosive pace. The campaign eventually reached the network executives, and a third season was granted.

One of the earliest recordings of an interracial kiss on television was seen on?Star Trek, between Captain Kirk; (played by William Shatner) and Lt Uhura (played by Nichelle Nichols); and set in a scenario where there was an extra-terrestrial being forcing them to kiss. Nothing out of the ordinary by today’s standards, but in the 1960s, a black woman on a TV show played the role of a maid more often than one of the main cast members in a position of authority.

This was Gene Roddenberry at his best in taking on the standards and pushing the point of equality.

‘Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination’ is what?Star Trek?professes to its viewer, and has done so for the past fifty years in producing six television shows and ten motion pictures with a new series of “reboots” - three thus far, following the continuing adventures of an original series crew. Exciting times indeed for the?Star Trek?enthusiast with a seventh and eighth television series,?Star Trek Discovery?and Star Trek Picard, continuing 'to boldly go' for the sixth generation of fans!

Each year in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States, thousands of?Star Trek?fans worldwide assemble as a community and participate in the largest single-genre convention. The 50th anniversary of?Star Trek?convention was a special occasion and one to be a part of, and I was!

My thesis investigation and book project research involve pop culture fandom and the sub-cultures of fans that dedicate their lives to the celebration of their favourite hero. This dedication and often swathing devotion can be displayed via one’s wearing of costumes adorned by their character, the changing of their given name to that of their heroes name or keepsake tattoo on one’s body, and for a select sub-culture, conversing in their chosen constructed language that their hero speaks.

I travelled to Las Vegas with a VIP ticket package and a selection of?Star Trek?t-shirts in my travelling ensemble to meet and gain further insight from fans from other countries, as I had visited many pop culture conventions around Australia since the late 1980s.

The Rio All-Suites Hotel in Las Vegas is the venue every August for the?Star Trek?convention, conducted by Creation Entertainment and helmed by joint CEOs Adam Malin and Gary Berman - themselves long-term?Star Trek?fans since the 1970s and major players in the pop culture convention circuit in the United States.???

The main auditorium at the Rio All-Suites Hotel houses close to 9,000 fans, with a secondary auditorium with 2,000 (approx) Star Trek fans during the five-day convention.

Las Vegas is a convention city, with most hotels hosting an event or multiple events. Upon walking the Las Vegas Strip, I could purchase a ticket to see Jennifer Lopez in Planet Hollywood (which I did, no brainer there), Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, and even Mr Las Vegas (Wayne Newton) is pulling in sell-out audiences after fifty-plus years in the city!

The city never sleeps and invites you to join in on the fun 24 hours per day! If there is a distraction for the?Star Trek?fan, it is the heat. The average temperature whilst I was there for the week-long event was 45 degrees, which is a challenge for the Cos-Player (costume-wearing fan).

The convention schedule is action-packed from 9 am to 1 am the following morning, with constant appearances and guest panels from over 100 actors from Star Trek?films and television shows. This year some of the headliners were Whoopi Goldberg, who played Guinan from?Star Trek:?The Next Generation?and Kirstie Alley, who made her acting debut in?Star Trek?2:?The Wrath of Khan. Of course, the fan favourite, William Shatner, lead the way, for most of the actors from all TV series in attendance for photo opportunities and autographs with fans.

Social activities play a large part in the convention, with many romances spawning into a marriage between fans and long-term friendships forming between fans from many world regions. When I asked fans during the convention why they were attending, many replied that they were here ‘to be able to talk with a common frame of reference’. Many fans I have spoken with have said they can talk freely without inhibition and feel safe when attending a?Star Trek?convention. They can talk about their level of fandom as a norm, as their peers share the same level of devotion.

The Tintin Journal has a slogan;?'For the children aged 7 to 77 years,'?and upon observation of fans in Australia, The United Kingdom, Europe, and The United States, age is not a barrier when displaying one's devotion to one's idols. Families attending events in the theme of the event and commenting on how much enjoyment they receive during their annual vacation to the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, or a visit to the Harry Potter Studios in London, or the Hergé Museum in Belgium, providing them with a common frame of reference whilst spending quality time with their spouse and children.

After five days of little sleep and much enjoyment, I departed Las Vegas with many fond memories, some great images and a plethora of research material that I am currently adding to my presentations being used during the following stages of my National Speaking Tour, taking in the cities of Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

My next port of call during my research tour took me to the city of London in the United Kingdom, where I visited and conversed with officials and fans at the Harry Potter Studio Museum to discuss the franchise's immense success and the dynamics of the parochial fanbase and their devotion to their favourite character.

A common denominator was ever-present when asking why a fan dons a costume and attends pop culture conventions;?one feels safe expressing oneself and communicating with a common frame of reference with one’s peers at a pop culture event.??The pop culture convention is seen as an environment where the sub-culture of fans that dress up as their favourite character can feel accepted without ridicule.

Stuart attended the London theatre production Harry Potter and The Cursed Child premiere.

The final stop on my research tour was in the?home of comics;?Belgium, specifically, the Musée Hergé (Tintin museum) and Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée (International Comics Art Museum in Brussels), where I further investigated Tintin’s creator; Hergé and the controversies surrounding his employment as an illustrator during the Second World War.

Stuart is seen here at the International Comics Art Museum in Brussels, Belgium.

The next portion of my research tour will be in France in 2021 to attend the second-largest comic convention in the world in the city of Angoulême, which attracts over 200,000 fans to their event.?

Will I make a return journey to the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention?

?In the immortal words of Mr Spock…?It's only logical!

During a fan photo opportunity at the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, Stuart is pictured here with the actress, Kirstie Alley.

Stuart A Blair BLang, Hons BA (Lang & Ling), MLangSt?Flin

Stuart A Blair is a Language Specialist - Pop Culture Historian - Keynote Speaker in the field of classic European comic book literature, sequential art, 1950s and 60s pulp fiction, and languages created for the entertainment industry. He is currently researching his PhD in linguistics in Adelaide - South Australia.

Stuart can be booked as a keynote speaker or exhibition curator at your event via?StuartABlair.com

Copyright StuartABlair 2024?

Stuart A Blair wrote this article for?Empire Times Magazine?Issue 43.10.??

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