What is fan?

What Does fan Mean

A fan is an admirer or follower of something or someone . The term comes from the English fanatic , equivalent to the concept of fanatic in our language . The fan is a person who defends his preferences with passion and tenacity.

For example: "My daughter is a fan of Justin Bieber: she has all his records" , "I have been a fan of Deportivo Laurencio since I was born, inherited from my father and my grandfather" , "A fan of the local team entered the bar and hit to the attendees who celebrated the victory of the visiting team ” .
The admiration that a fan feels for their idols does not always arise spontaneously and as a result of a gradual approach to them; in many cases, especially in sports, it is inherited from parents and grandparents, often with no room to make a conscious choice. Inherited fanaticism is usually born from the need not to disappoint the elderly, which is why it is common that it is strongly linked to a resentment at the impossibility of choosing one's own path.

The fan feels an inordinate enthusiasm for what makes him fanatic. Unlike an amateur, the fan does not recognize limits to approach who he admires and is capable of performing actions that escape logic and reason (such as selling personal items to have money to buy tickets to a concert, walking many kilometers to attend a soccer game or wait all night at the door of a hotel to see a singer).
It is common for the fan to organize various activities around their idol. From the creation of a fanzine (a publication intended to spread information about the admired person) to the organization of a fan club , everything is valid to demonstrate fanaticism.
A fan enjoys the successes of his idol and suffers for his failures, as if they were his own, seeking to accompany him as closely as possible. Thanks to the tools provided by the Internet, nowadays it is not difficult to show all our admiration and our support for the people and companies that inspire us with their works and products. When a singer releases a new album or single, for example, his fans often send him messages of encouragement and share their opinions with him.
At present, it is not uncommon for the birthday of a famous person to be celebrated in various parts of the world by their fans, in meetings in which they take the opportunity to pay tribute to their idol through a review of his career and the making of posters, albums. of photos and videos that compile their best work, among many other possible works that show their admiration and respect.

The music stars , the football teams and Hollywood actors are some of the figures and institutions tend to reap fans. In many cases, it is common to generate a kind of rivalry between fans of different artists or clubs .
When a fan limits himself to respecting only the creations or works of his idols, denying any merit to the competition or to people or companies that carry out similar activities and criticizing them excessively and unfairly, it is called a fanboy or fangirl .
The video game industry is an area in which fanaticism is often taken to the extreme, and where fierce confrontations are commonplace. A fan of a developer company may accept and even admire the work of others; But a fanboy never finds inner peace, and gets irritated at the mere suggestion that another company might outperform his favorite in some way.