Pic sets, fan cognition, and fannish networks of meaning

Abstract

Fans' creative works are not evidence of thinking but acts of thinking, forming part of the cognitive system of fandom. Work in cognitive science and philosophy can provide a useful theoretical framework for exploring the mental, embodied, cultural, and ecological networks through which fans read and create, as well as the cognitive operations by which understanding is generated. Pic sets from the Game of Thrones Jon Snow/Sansa Stark fandom serve as a case study to illustrate fans' creative, embodied, and distributed cognition and provide insights into how fans make meaning with and through images, texts, characters, narratives, and communities.