When Passion Takes the Lead: Brilliant Creative Works By Fans
Creators are fans first!
Fan art is everywhere: people love the stories, franchises, characters, and musicians that inspire them. You’d be hard-pressed to open a social media app or tumblr and not find tons of fan art in your feed if you’re following your favorite franchises and brands. Often, creative projects are borne from fandom itself; every person who has invented their own story, music, or piece of visual art is no doubt a fan of something that moved them to pursue creations of their own. The best fan projects are as new and fresh as they are an homage to the original content. We put together a few of our favorite creative projects that stemmed from fandom–and we’d love to hear yours in the comments!
Sarah Ramos, “Quarantscenes”
Actress Sarah Ramos might be part of the Hollywood scene having played Haddie Braverman on the incredibly popular show Parenthood, but she self-identifies as a fangirl, and she’s made it part of her personal brand. Since she was little, Ramos was obsessed with celebrities, never missed a photo op, and turned her nostalgic photos into a fan zine of her own, Autograph Hound. In 2020, Ramos turned her creative spirit to reenacting her favorite scenes from movies and TV shows, calling the project Quarantscenes. She almost always played all the parts herself, but sometimes had famous actor friends like Aubrey Plaza, Justin Long, Chloe Fineman, or Elle Fanning join her. Her hairdresser lent her an array of wigs, and her director husband lent his talents. The result is a collection of hilarious parodies of iconic scenes that fans already love from their favorite TV shows and movies like Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, The Social Network, The Hills, A Cinderella Story, Showgirls, and many more, including this Gilmore Girls gem:
Harnessing her celebrity obsession as a child–a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen cruise that inspired her to get into acting–Ramos just had to reenact the iconic scene from the twins’ classic movie, Holiday in the Sun, which kicked off the entire project. Her hilarious and skilled work is proof that our passions and fandoms often lead to creative pursuits.
Sarah Chappelle, Taylor Swift Style
There is no shortage of Taylor Swift-inspired fan creative projects, from visual art, DIY costuming, and crochet to digital projects like Swift Alert. One creator turned her fandom and knowledge of fashion into a blog cataloguing everything Swift wears in public, called Taylor Swift Style. In 2011,
started the blog while studying journalism as a university student. What began as a place to document what Taylor wore turned into a deeper storytelling project. Chappelle was able to bring something unique to the greater industry of charting celebrity fashion through red carpet news and publicity photos, which continues today through her block, her Substack and Instagram account, Taylor Swift Styled. Taylor is a skilled storyteller through her music, and knowing this, Chappelle uncovers the patterns and historical context around each outfit that Taylor wears. She writes in depth into the possible meanings behind each stitch of clothing, shoe, bag and piece of jewelry.The blog got the attention of Taylor herself in 2014 when Sarah was invited to one of her exclusive “secret sessions” for the 1989 album, a coveted experience that solidified her position as a top Taylor Swift creator. Chappelle is even credited with astutely predicting a title of a future Taylor Swift song through her detailed analysis. When she noticed that Taylor wore a YSL purse called the “Cassandra,” she opined that it was an interesting name for a bag and no doubt strategically chosen by the artist. Later, the song “Cassandra” would be a track on The Tortured Poets Department. Recently, Chappelle turned her blog and ongoing passion into a New York Times bestselling book, Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras.
Wizard Rock (Wrock)
The Harry Potter franchise has cultivated a huge, multigenerational fandom through reverence for the books, films, and stage play within it. But one creative take from the fandom seems a bit out of the box: the Wizard Rock, or, “Wrock” subgenre of music inspired by the series. Truthfully, the Harry Potter series celebrates music, with mentions of the Frog Choir and Celestina Warbeck, the “Singing Sorceress,” but Wrock in general is more traditional, musically speaking.
In a perfect blend of fandom enthusiasm and diverse musical styles, there’s something for everyone in the Wrock universe. Emerging in the early 2000s, it was popularized by bands like Harry and the Potters, who sang humorous, heartfelt, and story-driven songs from the perspective of characters in the Wizarding World. Other notable bands, such as Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, and The Moaning Myrtles, followed suit, adopting character-based personas and themes in their lyrics. Wrock concerts became a staple at fan conventions, providing a space for fans to connect over shared love for the series through music. With its DIY ethos and playful creativity, wizard rock celebrated community and storytelling, often addressing themes like friendship, bravery, and love while drawing directly from the books' narratives. Though its peak popularity has passed, Wrock remains a cherished aspect of Harry Potter fandom history.
Ratatouille the Musical
In 2020, Emily Jacobsen, a creator and fan on TikTok, created a playful short song dedicated to Remy, the main lovable character in 2007’s Pixar film, Ratatouille. The comedic song went viral, with other users using the sound in their own content. Another TikTok user, Daniel Mertzlufft, was inspired: he took Jacobsen’s song and arranged it into a Disney movie musical-sounding finale. And from there, more users added to the fun. Before long, creators across the platform had envisioned a full musical, from the key art and Playbill cover to scenic design, choreography, and more. The project attracted professional composers, actors, and even Broadway veterans who got in on the fun.
The movement culminated in a fully realized virtual production, produced by Seaview Productions and starring talents like Tituss Burgess as Remy and André De Shields as Anton Ego, and other big names like Adam Lambert and Ashley Park. Premiering as a one-night-only benefit concert on January 1, 2021, the musical raised over $2 million for The Actors Fund and had 350,000 viewers, demonstrating the power of online creativity and fandom collaboration. Ratatouille: The Musical stands as a landmark example of how social media can drive grassroots artistic innovation, uniting fans and industry professionals in an unprecedented digital theater experiment at a time when theaters, movie sets, and concert halls were closed due to the pandemic.
The movement culminated in a fully realized virtual production, produced by Seaview Productions and starring talents like Tituss Burgess as Remy and André De Shields as Anton Ego, and other big names like Adam Lambert and Ashley Park. Premiering as a one-night-only benefit concert on January 1, 2021, the musical raised over $2 million for The Actors Fund and had 350,000 viewers, demonstrating the power of online creativity and fandom collaboration. Ratatouille: The Musical stands as a landmark example of how social media can drive grassroots artistic innovation, uniting fans and industry professionals in an unprecedented digital theater experiment at a time when theaters, movie sets, and concert halls were closed due to the pandemic.
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