MEL
STANFILL
Professor
Texts & Technology Program
and Department of English
University of Central Florida
Meet Mel Stanfill
Media studies scholar Mel Stanfill is Professor in the Texts and Technology program and Department of English at the University of Central Florida, where they also serve as Program Coordinator of the Texts and Technology PhD. Their research examines how people interact with media, from television to social platforms, and how technology, identity, law, and economics shape cultural access and interpretation. Stanfill’s newest book, Professor Superstar: Fandom and Antifandom of Academia (University of Michigan Press, 2026), turns fan studies methods on the academy itself. Their previous book, Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture (New York University Press, 2024), won the 2025 National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award. With Bridget Kies, they recently published Teaching AI in Film and Media Studies (Routledge, 2025). Stanfill co-edits Transformative Works and Cultures and is co-principal investigator, with Anastasia Salter, on a National Endowment for the Humanities grant supporting a digital humanities generative AI learning community. They have provided expert commentary to outlets including Wired UK, Teen Vogue, and the Daily Dot.
Leadership ROLES
Program Coordinator
UCF Texts & Technology Ph.D. Program (2019-Present).
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
PROFESSOR SUPERSTAR PROFESSOR SUPERSTAR
PROFESSOR SUPERSTAR
Examining how academia shares traits with fandom—collective emotional investment, shared interpretation, and identity formation—Professor Superstar argues that universities function as cultural texts shaped by competing narratives, exploring how some academics become microcelebrities while public perception is driven by broader social and political debates.
“Professor Superstar takes a unique approach, weaving the interconnectedness between academia and fandom and tracing how we can use one to better understand the other.” —Shira Chess, University of Georgia
Also by Stanfill: Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture (NYU Press, 2024), winner of the 2025 National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award.
FANDOM IS UGLY
Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture (NYU Press, 2024) examines how targeted harassment functions as a tool of social control within fan communities and beyond.
Winner of the 2025 National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award, recognizing the best book in Communication published in the last decade.
Published books
Teaching AI in Film and Media Studies (2025)
Rock This Way (2023)
A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy (2020)
Exploiting Fandom (2019)
MEDIA &
PRESS
As a researcher of fandom and social media, Mel regularly assists journalists and the press with coverage of issues in digital culture. Below are some recent articles featuring Mel as a subject-matter expert.
Mel chats with NPR about how modern fandom dynamics—highlighted through Chappell Roan’s experience—are frequently misinterpreted, underscoring fan culture’s complex and sometimes problematic nature.
Mel talks with David Levine of Hearsay Culture Network Radio about the darker side of fan culture in the digital age.
Mel covers Fandom is Ugly and its bigger implications with Rebekah Buchanan on the New Books Network Podcast.
RESEARCH & TeACHING AREAS
Media Studies
Queer Theory
Fan Studies
Critical Race Studies
Digital Humanities
Working with
#socialmedia
Tools and Data
Mel regularly teaches and facilitates workshops on using digital humanist tools for collecting and analyzing social media data, including data visualization tools, text mining tools, concordances, and more.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Kretzschmar, Mark, and Mel Stanfill. 2024. “The Politics of Credit in Remix of Japanese Popular Culture: Between ‘an 80’s Japanese Disco Floor’ and ‘This Remix Is Worthy of the Actual Game.'” International Journal of Cultural Studies 27 (5): 639-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779231220399.
Marks, Rachel, and Mel Stanfill. 2026. “Don’t Catch the Woke Mind Virus: Social Justice Terminology as Meme in the Right-Wing Twitter Ecosystem.” Convergence 32 (4): 1175-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251344391.
Rouse, Lauren, and Mel Stanfill. 2025. “Quantifying Fandom: Identity, Romance, and Platform Preferences on Archive of Our Own.” New Media & Society, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251367033.
Giolo, Guilherme, Simone Driessen, and Mel Stanfill. 2026. “Waving the Cancelling Wand: Harry Potter Fans and the Cancellation of J.K. Rowling.” Social Semiotics 36 (2): 199-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2026.2615634.
Stolee, Mirek, and Mel Stanfill. 2026. “From Governance Grievance to White Nationalism: A Study of Anti-Moderation Subreddits.” Television & New Media, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764261445361.