‘Swarm’ Nails the Obsessive Fandom Conversation

Fandom comes at a high price in this ghoulishly watchable TV creation by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers.

Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Swarm.

Swarm has enthralled and engrossed viewers since it was released on Prime Video on March 17, with its startling depiction of fandom and its unflinching, often darkly funny look at what can happen when a fan's dedication goes too far. Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, and starring Dominique Fishback as the protagonist Dre, the series looks at the darkest possibilities of fandom, which is currently a hot topic of conversation.

Fandoms have risen in recent years in number and intensity. Although on the surface it might initially seem positive or even healthy for an individual to celebrate a particular artist, sports team, or celebrity, the obsessive nature of fandoms can often take a dark turn. Fans' propensity to stalking and partaking in dangerous antics to get closer to their idol has been increasingly reported on in recent years, particularly in relation to the explosion in popularity of pop stars and bands in the 1990s onwards. Famous women are particularly at risk, and it is the depiction of Dre's fascination with pop star Ni'jah (Nirine S. Brown), said to be largely modeled on superstar Beyoncé, that the series focuses on.

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The combination of Dominique Fishback's powerful acting, the dark and grungy aesthetic, the focus on fans' relationships with media, and numerous grisly events perfectly underscore how unhealthy fandom can become. Whilst the outcomes of fandom are particularly extreme in Swarm, it presents a scarily imaginable prediction of how much could go wrong. Audiences can take away a stern warning: when love and connection only go in one direction, it cannot be real, or safe.

We meet Dre, who is presented as a lonely, emotionally stunted individual, whose emotional well-being seems dependent on her former foster sister Marissa (Chloe Bailey), and their joint love for Ni'jah. Marissa's waning love for the pop star, coupled with her tragic death by suicide later that episode, combine to make Dre even more isolated and disconnected from society. Probably as a result of this trauma, her emotional one-way connection to Ni'jah becomes intensified. Various forms of media enable her to immerse herself in everything Ni'jah-related, from her "Swarm" fan Twitter account to intently listening to her music and watching her music videos. Dre has effectively placed herself in a bubble, whereby she can focus on her favorite artist and nothing else, and within this unnatural situation, she even begins to believe that she knows the artist. The show explores how substituting real connection for fandom can become intensely dangerous, demonstrated by Dre resorting to increasingly bizarre acts of violence in her quest to rid the world of anyone who isn't a super-fan of Ni'jah.

A hugely talented actor, Dominique Fishback's gives a powerful and haunting performance as Dre. She eerily portrays a fan consumed by obsession, through her lack of emotional reaction to other characters (except for contempt), and her dogged determination to always bring any topic of conversation back to Ni'jah (at which point she is her most expressive and happy). So often in media the critical lens is focused on the celebrity, with paparazzi and social media threatening celebrities' privacy, and biopics being produced on a yearly basis. Although it is true that with great influence comes great responsibility, which may be why we love to analyze the rich and famous, it is refreshing to see the lens flipped, as everything is seen from the perspective of one intense fan. Swarm depicts obsessive fandom from an enlightening angle, barely giving us any detail about the real Ni'jah, and solely following Dre, which serves to further heighten her alienation.

Furthermore, we do not fully understand Dre's motivations. Yes, the series is clearly an illustration of barely restrained, unrequited love. However, whilst her violent acts are usually preceded by the need to defend her idol, there are occasions on which her reasons for killing are unrelated to Ni'jah, and seem completely ungrounded. In these instances her actions are even more unfathomable and unsettling, as if all the unhealthy emotions from her intense obsession have bled into other areas of her life, shooting out at random. Subverting the anti-hero archetype, which is often used to justify immoral characters, we cannot fully understand her actions, and this leaves audiences with nothing to root for, or the very least, pity. Glover and Nabers are thus unflinching in Swarm's deep-dive into fandom, and how far the damage can be spread by a fan with nothing to lose - and nothing concrete in her life left to gain.

Often opting for murky green and blue tones, moody lighting, and dismal locations, coupled with a realistic filming style, the setting feels like a window into the chaos of a fan's deteriorating mind. Dre often seems unbothered by these unpleasant environments in her single-minded pursuit, which leaves the audience grappling with the starkness alone. There are moments of respite, including the time she spends at the nature-infused commune with Eva (Billie Eilish's acting debut), however, it always descends into madness, reflecting how the obsession has her in its grips.

Dre is consumed by her fandom. In one scene she states: "It's Ni'jah, we have to make sacrifices." Her whole life's purpose has been swallowed by this one fruitless aim. Essentially losing her identity in pursuit of her idol, and remaining relentlessly loyal regardless of the cost, the close-up shots reflect this claustrophobia, and the repeated use of glum blue-greens emphasize that she is trapped in a stifling loop. Indulging her own lies about meeting Ni'jah, she perpetuates this state of mind, depicted in close-up shots in an episode co-written by Malia Obama. The sad reality is that obsession, like addiction, is incredibly difficult to escape, and feeding it will only worsen the situation.

Inevitably, at the expense of close relationships, flourishing friendships, and healthy self-esteem, Dre's hellbent fixation reigns supreme. In Swarm's final scene, we see Dre cozying up to Ni'jah on the way back from the concert, just as she had dreamed. Of course, we are right to question whether this is actually happening — but the main point is, after the loss of her sister, the person who genuinely enriched her life the most, Dre has concentrated the entirety of her self-actualization into this one moment. A moment which amounts to an artificial connection, ultimately painting fandom as an unhealthy aspiration.