Like magazines – but different! Fanzines as bricolaged media

This article is an English translation of a chapter originally published in 2017 by zine scholar Christian Schmidt (†), written as part of an edited volume examining the outcomes of a research project on youth cultures and bricolage. In this contribution, Schmidt offers a critical introduction to the fanzine as a distinct medium. He challenges definitions that position fanzines primarily as oppositional and utopian, arguing instead that such characterizations fail to account for the historical and contemporary diversity of fanzines. Schmidt proposes that fanzines are instead best understood through their shared aesthetic of bricolage, in both content and form. Drawing on illustrative examples, he demonstrates how this aesthetic unites early science-fiction fanzines with contemporary perzines. The article concludes by asserting that zines are inherently hybrid and ambiguous media.