Dark Fandoms and the Celebrification of Murder

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, groups, and characterizations related to dark fandoms, dark tourism, and the Columbiner community from the lecture.

Murderabilia

Items connected to serial or mass murderers, such as locks of their hair, bricks from their homes, or trading cards.

Dark Fandoms

Online communities of fans who identify with or otherwise celebrate individuals who have committed heinous acts, such as mass or serial murderers.

Columbiners

A prominent dark fandom community devoted to the shooting at Columbine High School that discusses relevant characters, proposes fan theories, and debates the shooting's legacy.

Dark Tourists

Individuals who combine mediated experiences with in-person visits to sites of violence and suffering, such as decommissioned prisons or locales where serial killers operated.

True Crime Industry

A media sector that offers deep insights into the lives, motives, and actions of murderers, furthering the celebrification of those who commit heinous acts.

Researchers

An ideal type and fluid group within school shooting fandoms who search for and share information about shootings and shooters.

Fangirls

A group within school shooting fandoms, often consisting of teenage girls, who express a romantic or sexual interest in school shooters.

Copycats

A small proportion of dark fandom members who emulate or repeat the violent acts of mass shooters.

Dylan Klebold (Columbiner Characterization)

The Columbine shooter framed by Columbiners as a sympathetic, misguided antihero whose suicidal ideation was manipulated by his partner.

Eric Harris (Columbiner Characterization)

The Columbine shooter framed by Columbiners as the evil, psychopathic mastermind who orchestrated the shooting.

Playing God Theory

The most popular Columbiner fan theory regarding why Harris and Klebold did not kill more people despite having the opportunity.

I'm Not Ashamed (2016)

A film noted as an example of the Columbine shooting and its actors being immortalized in film.