In class this week we studied uses and gratification theory and how that is shown in fandom. Uses and gratification theory focuses on how we take an active role in choosing and using the media we consume. We typically use it to satisfy a need of some sort, such as cognitive needs, affective needs, personal integrative needs, social integrative needs, and tension free needs. Cognitive needs focus on the want to acquire knowledge of some sort. Affective needs focus on satisfying our emotional needs, and do so through things like music, books, film, television, comic books and many more. Personal integrative needs focus on our self-esteem needs. This states that people will use media to measure their social status. Social integrative needs focus on our need to socialize with family and friends and develop or retain relationships in society. This leads to people forming clubs and groups online or in real life to share what they have in common. Tension free needs focus on people using media as a way to escape reality and ease the tensions of their lives. These all play a large role in people joining into some sort of fandom, because they are so strongly attached to a program that they want to enjoy it with others and try to impact the way that it goes in some way.

In class we watched the movie Galaxy Quest, which focuses on fandom and how uses and gratification theory can come into play. It shows how fans are really involved in what the television show is about and how it can be the center of their life. The aliens that come to Earth to are such big fans of the show, which they believe are real events, that they build their civilization on the events that happen in the show, down to having the ship built with the exact specifications as the one in the show.

At the end of the movie, the crew needs to find a way to stop the ship from exploding, so Nesmith enlists the help of the biggest fans that he can contact, who know everything about the ship and how to stop it from exploding. When he contacts the fan, Nesmith apologizes to him for being mean to him before, and tells him it is all real, and the fan excitedly says that he knew it was real. This may seem funny to some people, but there are people who things like this are real to, and it is what they enjoy the most in life. The fan actually ends up saving the lives of the crew because he knows so much about the show. This shows that sometimes knowing everything to know about a show can sometimes be a good thing. Although it is shown in a fictional movie, it can still show some importance of fandom.