Patterns of Surprise: The "Aleatory Object" in Psychoanalytic Ethnography and Cyclical Fandom

This article studies one media fan’s consumption patterns, arguing that media fandom has been restrictively defined in cultural studies to date as a matter of faithfulness to singular fan objects. Contra such definitions, the article addresses cyclical fandom, wherein the fan-consumer constantly moves from one fan object to another, experiencing intense affective relationships to a variety of texts. This case study employs psychoanalytic ethnography to analyze such a consumption pattern, where the “surprise” of new fandoms is repeatedly sought. Christopher Bollas’s psychoanalytic concept of the “aleatory object” is used to interpret self-narratives of cyclical fandom.