Ava Bucy

@fangirlresearch.bsky.social

1520 Followers 1025 Following

Media Studies Lecturer and PhD Student studying fangirls @ Uni of Huddersfield, girlhoods, popular music, fan politics, celebrity etc Uni of Leeds and Emerson College alum, from LA now cozying up in the Yorkshire countryside. queer audhd disabled

An obviously tiny black kitten with wide bugged blue eyes and scruffy fur
A screenshot of the journal article cover page: The Swift Shift - promotional marketing (Taylor's version): How social media and fan engagement shape album release strategies
A mockup image of packing tape with black and red text that says “if the poster is ai, I am not coming”
A photo of Ava’s things sitting on some turf in the sun with her shadow cast over them: a green cardigan, a nearly empty iced coffee, the book Staging Femininities (with a black cover, pink text, and a woman in an elegant dress on stage pictured), and a tote bag with a black and pink alien laying on the floor amongst a pile of books labelled “smut” and the text “Silver Sprocket Rules Ok?” And the comic stores address under it (1018 Valencia at San Francisco, CA)
An instagram post by Harry Lambert, which shows a black picture frame on a brown table, framing the following text: Lambert’s work is not 100% loved. ‘He’s good at what he does,’ one stylist told me. ‘I just hate it’
The books Controversies in Digital Ethics and Poaching Politics sitting on some fake grass with a Portico Library tote bag and a red leather backpack
Justin Bieber performing Baby at Coachella weekend 2 with the Baby music video behind him
A photo of a word document titled FrankenLit-Methods on a computer screen. The visible paragraph is a summary of the literature review’s aims with the following in red text: (Though I might argue that I could, with all the time in the world and through my autistic love of lining things up neatly, reasonably sort the entirety of fan studies scholarship into these four categories).
A rough illustration of a crab by Viola H. Ruzzier with a speech bubble that says “have you ever considered becoming a crab?” But with pink text I’ve added over crab that says “fan studies scholar”
Laptop open on a picnic table with a lush green and flowery area behind it, with blue sky still shining through the trees.
An email requesting my contribution to a journal: Dear Dr.Bucy, Ava, Greetings from Martina! Knowing that you are an expert in the field of Al research,l am delighted to invite you to submit your valuable research to Journal of Al in Media and Communication. Al in Media and Communication is an international, peer-reviewed open-access journal dedicated to exploring the transformative role of artificial intelligence in media, communication, and digital culture. The journal welcomes original research articles, theoretical studies, reviews, and case analyses that investigate the convergence of Al with journalism, public relations, digital marketing, entertainment media, and communication studies. Look forward to receiving your reply and the article.If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below. Thank you and best regards. Yours Sincerely,
A StoryGraph log with Only Entertainment by Richard Dyer (nonfiction sociology, with a yellowish cover with black script), Warriors: Midnights by Erin Hunter (fiction fantasy middle grade, with an illustrated cat on the cover), and Consumer Sexualities: Women and Sex Shopping by Rachel Wood (nonfiction sociology, with pink sex toys on the cover)
A screenshot from a Buzzfeed video with the Heated Rivalry stars looking confused, with a text bubble from the producer captioning “So this thing called the Omegaverse…”
Stills from The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and Stand By Me, all in autumnal colours
My dog Arrietty, a black medium sized dog with white markings on her chest and toes, laying on her back curled up slightly weirdly
A compilation of cameos by Matthew Morrison posted to TikTok, in the videos he’s sitting in front of a Christmas tree, rapping and talking to the recipients, singing parts of the thong song and other glee songs, and doing the MM/wicked witch meme
A bookshelf in Ava’s university office with items arranged carefully on it, including: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel dvd box set, a fake plant, three magazines from Ava’s undergrad university, two hung up “Read” with americas libraries posters with Steven hawking and weird al yanchovick on them, some fantasy and horror fiction books, some non fiction books about work and academia, course booklets from programmes Ava taught with The Brilliant club, a zine Ava made that says I <3 fangirls, and a bookmark
A gray tortie cat sitting next to and sniffing a stack of multicoloured fiction and nonfiction books, with a bookshelf in the background. The books are: “Everything I Need I Get From You” by Kaitlyn Tiffany, “Idol Burning” by Rin Usami, “Solidarity With Children” by Madeline Lane-McKinley, “I’m a Fan” by Sheena Patel, “Fangirls” by Hannah Ewens, “Childhood and Tween Girl Culture” by Fiona MacDonald, “I’ll Love You Forever” by Giaae Kwon, “girls like this, boys like that” by Victoria Cann, “Before Fanfiction” by Alexandra Edwards, “Feminist Fandom” by Briony Hannell, “Fake Geek Girls” by Suzanne Scott, “Fangasm” by Katherine Larsen and Lynn S Zubernis, “Wannabe” by Aisha Harris, “Swoon” by Bea Martinez-Gatell, “Girl on Girl” by Sophie Gilbert
A screenshot of a TikTok video, on screen captions say “saying she instead of you” and the caption says “can’t stop noticing this now like why am I third wheeling my own video??”. The video has 28.5k likes, 862 comments, 949 saves, 408 shares. The creator is a young woman with light/white skin and brown hair, motioning to the camera.
A screenshot of a turning point USA post titled transgender professor fails student for quoting the bible in her essay, including a photo of a fake tanned white college student in a red Oklahoma university shirt
A screenshot of a Facebook post by a professor at Emerson college, marketing a new module on AI Filmmaking he’s teaching to the alumni page. The post has 22 reactions, mostly angry and crying ones, and 51 comments. The poster is ai generated, with a robot holding a poorly film generated camera standing amongst city buildings. The course description in the poster says “this production course explores the rapidly evolving role of generative artificial intelligence (ai) in the filmmaking process. Students will learn to use ai tools to transform pre production, production, and post production workflows, including scriptwriting, visual effects, animation, editing, and even distribution! Through a combination of lectures, hands on workshops, screenings, and collaborative projects, students will gain practical experience using AI-driven tools while critically examining their creative, ethical, and industry implications. Contact: prof pillis - Daniel.pillis@emerson.edu for more info. Fridays 10am-1:45pm, register for VM331-04 CRN 24205”
A collage of TikToks submitted by fangirl participants about Harry Styles, with Charlie from the red string meme from It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia edited into it. Several images have Harry shirtless and glistening on stage, a video in the center shows a girl talking about explicit wattpad fan fiction, one is at the eras tour, and one is a girl green screened in front of an @pop base tweet about Harry.
A screenshot of a TikTok showing a poorly done taxidermy fox puppet, wearing pearls and a scarf, against an illustrated background with script text that says “enable yourself”
The meme of the uncomfortable looking taxidermy fox sitting on a metal chair
Ava holding a small zine of the Fan Studies Network North America Conference programme, which is tan with black imagery and lettering that says Reputation: Influence, Power, and Capital October 23-26 2025. Ava has red nails and silver rings on, and in the background is her computer and desk
A tan corner desk set up. The wall has some posters and postcards hung up, there are trinkets, a calendar, a coffee cup, and keys on the desk, along with two off monitors, a laptop, a box tv and dvd player. On the ground is a red leather backpack and a red chair half off-screen
The heads of a black and a white wolf staring at each other in front of a moon. On one side is an inserted illustration of Icarus falling from the sun, on the other is a photo of the “I can’t help myself” robot
Two tan bookcases, half-filled with media studies books, cd cases, old print journals and student work, and Fan Studies Network swag
A computer with the book chapter “How do you respond when you feel under threat? A reflexive exploration into my experience with the far right online” by Alice Sibley open, with Twilight playing on a small TV in the background, showing Dr Cullen (Peter Facinelli) on screen smiling
A photo of my word document, with a screenshot of a TikTok video of Harry Styles inserted, where he’s wearing brown leather trousers and a blue beaded vest without a shirt under (and is slightly wet and glistening) and a video description provided: a video of Harry on stage at his Barcelona Love on Tour show in July 2023. He steps towards the crowd and motions for them to scream, nodding and smirking as he does. He then quickly drops his hands as the stage behind him goes dark, and the crowd likely stops screaming at his command. The on screen text of the TikTok says “oh he KNOWS he’s hot”
A screenshot of the Focus Friends app: a pinto bean is yawning in a mostly empty house, with one pink potted plant. The text at the top of the photo says Jeen needs help focusing
A TikTok edit of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting to The Subway by Chappell Roan
A green dinner place with a pulled pork sandwich, mashed potatoes with a butter well, corn bread, and a bowl of seasoned corn. Next to it is a jar of gin and tonic with a lime wedge and glass straw that has a glass dragon fly on it. The countertop is light wood, and there’s a yellow napkin holder at the edge of the frame.
A photo of Ava’s desk, with her keys and small purse, with AirPods and a heart shaped mirror compact with Dean Winchester on it, spilling out by her computer and books. The keys have many fannish keychains, including a flame with the words “Hot to Go”, a pink heart with “We’ll be Alright” in Harry Styles’ handwriting, a Supernatural pentagram, and a rainbow wristlet.
A photo of a medium size black dog sniffing flowers in a sloping field, with tall purple flowers and lush green trees in the background. It’s sunny and the sky is bright blue with white clouds.
Screenshot of part of an email: Attached new part 2 draft! It’s a bit of a mess still but it’s much less of a mess than it was on Monday, and it’s not 40,000 words like it was on Sunday!
Ben Affleck standing outside with his eyes closed smoking a cigarette and looking miserable. He wears a blue sweater with the sleeves pushed up and dark jeans.
A mirror selfie of Ava, she’s a mid 20s white woman with shoulder length brown and blonde hair, wearing a white T-shirt that says *screams* in blue lettering, and distressed low rise blue jeans. Her yellow iphone covers her face, its case covered in stickers of Chappell roan and Harry Styles, with a pink and orange phone charm. Her other hand shows a peace sign, with tattoos visible on her arms.
A photo of Jean, a young non binary person wearing corduroys and a green jacket, holding their orange tabby cat Juno, who looks awkward and very cute
A photo of Ava’s open notebook with very messy handwriting. The writing at the top is in pencil, in the middle is in a pink pen that is running out of ink, and the bottom is in a new pink pen, with scribbles and things crossed out and multiple arrows or bullet points. The two pink pens from the quoted photo (one empty one new) hold open the notebook, a mechanical pencil is above the notebook with an AirPods case, and there’s also a Santa Monica beach parking pass which is used as a bookmark.
Two pink Muji ballpoint pens on a wood table, one is almost empty and has a yellowed finger grip and entirely faded sticker, one is brand new
A photo of multiple books on Ava’s desk. Feminist Fandom by Briony Hannell is in the center, with some pink pens below it. To the right is a small notebook with classic literature book spines as its cover design, and above it is a stack of three books: Fandom is Ugly by Mel Stanfill; Gender, Metal and the Media by Rosemary Lucy Hill; Participatory Culture Wars, edited by Simone Driessen, Bethan Jones, and Ben Litherland.
A screenshot of a tumblr post that says “people b saying things so definitively. Like man I think it depends” by user gerardwaist on December 30 2023, with 16394 notes
A photo of The Borrowers by Mary Morton, a hardback copy illustrated by Michael Hague, open to an illustration of Arrietty and the boy laying in a garden (eBay listing, not my copy)
An illustration of Beatrix Potter’s Jemima Puddle Duck, wearing a red and blue shawl dragging on the floor and a blue bonnet
A photo of Ava’s arm showing a new tattoo of her black dog in a little star print shawl and bonnet, over another tattoo that says “Do not ask me who I am”. Ava is wearing a dark blue tank top, and her phone is yellow with pink and orange stickers of harry styles and Chappell roan in the clear case, she has a pink and orange phone charm and pink and orange nails also.
A screenshot of four slides from the careers talk titled From Celebrity Stylist and Magazine Journalist to Fanfiction PhD? Doing media research on celebrity culture. The text is small and largely unreadable, but the overall visual shows my career progression through different media industries. The top left slide is titled Post-School, Styling and has images from photoshoots of young women models I styled in Los Angeles. The top right slide is titled Writing (+etc) and has clips from articles I wrote, influencers and PR companies I worked with, and a ghostwriting job I had, from my time at Emerson College. The bottom left slide is titled Into Academia: Masters, with screenshots from my University of Leeds masters thesis on Constructions of Authenticity in Celebrity Magazine Profiles. The bottom right slide is titled PhD Research and has screenshots from my two published articles, my poster presentation, and a Guardian article on the Liverpool Swiftie conference I was photographed in.
A conference poster titled “Adapting Methods for Participant Pleasure: focus groups, tiktok data, and researcher positionality” shared at Methods@Manc 2024. It discusses how centering pleasure can help solve a number of methodological challenges, including participant engagement and researcher or algorithmic bias, as well as aiding in foregrounding ethics, researcher positionality, insider research, and feminist epistemologies. The poster has a light pink background with black text and highlighted blurbs in darker pink. There is a photo of a Harry Styles concert and drawings of fish, two ghosts, and a heart balloon, which are references to songs of Harry’s and exemplify the discussion surrounding participant pleasures and using “fandom coded” imagery in recruitment materials and insider knowledge in designing studies.
Finding the fangirlscape: understanding ‘fangirl’ as a gendered transfandom category. Abstract: Despite the field’s growth, a limited portion of audience studies work considers the way ‘fangirl’ categories create their own milieu distinct from ‘fandom’ or ‘girlhood’ individually. This entails the way particular media sites are designed for fangirls, an assumption of who these fans are and their beliefs, and a consideration for how we might best research these communities. This article theorises the ‘fangirl’, drawing on focus groups with pop music fans and TikTok videos sourced from participants to define and complicate the term. Beyond the popular stereotype, ‘fangirl’ functions as a complicated, intense, and expansive identity. I argue that exploring the fangirl as a distinct category allows us to better tackle topics in ‘transfandom’ dynamics, gendered fandom, discourses of age within fandom, and nuances to the negotiation of fan stereotypes. Keywords: Fangirl, Popular music, TikTok, Focus groups, Girlhood studies Participations, journal of audience and reception studies. Volume 21 issue 1 may 2025
A photo of Ava’s workspace, her computer is open with a word document and multiple other tabs, there are several open books around her computer, charging cords sticking up in various places, two cartons of coffee are in the background, and a desktop behind her computer says 3:59am
A photo of Ava’s computer screen, open to a “chapter 1 draft” document. Paragraphs of full sentences and structured analysis are broken up with lines of all-caps yellow highlighted text that say things like “FEEL BAD FOR THEM” “so too do WHOEVER AND WHOEVER, at OLDER AGE”
A photo of Ava’s desk including her computer with a word document and a pink browser window with dozens of vertical tabs visible, a stack of books (Susan Sontag “Notes on Camp”, Judith Butler “Gender Trouble”, Surya Monro “Gender Politics”, John Storey “Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture”, and Paul Booth “Digital Fandom 2.0”), a small notebook that has the spines of classic literature as the design on the front, keys with a bunch of key chains (visible are an ikea heart plush, a plastic fire that says Hot to Go in white lettering, and a rainbow wrist strap), brown wallet, and large glass water bottle. Below the desk part of Ava’s leg in white denim shorts is visible, and the large window behind the desk shows an outdoor area.
A session run by my university called Managing your digital academic profile: This session aims to familiarise participants with the importance of having a consistent, professional digital profile as a researcher. Includes an optional opportunity for hand-on practice to sign up for key services. This session links to skills such as: communicating effectively to diverse audiences, managing your own professional development, and developing contacts or professional networks.
A screenshot of the replied post after I liked it with the timestamp saying it was posted 56s ago
A black T-shirt with the Kerrang! logo stacked three times in shades of orange-ish yellow on the front breast pocket spot
A photo of Ava’s computer screen with an analysis chapter draft open, she’s discussing an SNL skit where Taylor Lautner portrays a “team Edward” twilight fangirl and Jenny Slate portrays a “team Jacob” girl, with an image of the pair inserted. But instead of “team Jacob”, Ava wrote “team Jabob”. There’s a comment from Matt Hills that just says “Jacob?”
A screen recording from 1:59pm of Ava on TikTok watching an edit of dean winchester from supernatural, then changing to the back camera to show her computer screen with documents pulled up and a teams meeting notification, and then the front camera with Ava laughing and showing a peace sign on
The conspiracy meme of Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia looking crazy standing in front of a wall covered in papers and red string making connections
A sunny cafe tablescape including the book Fake Geek Girls opened to a page of the introduction with a few lines highlighted in pink, another pink pen and highlighter, two small yellow plates with finger pastries and a square of lemon cake, and a small white plate with an iced latte and biscoff cookie
A screenshot of the comment section on a video of ed Sheeran. A commenter says “damn, I guess I gotta admit ed Sheeran is kinda cool now”. Ed Sheeran responds to the comment “a recession indicator”