When real and reel collide

Note: I would like to apologize for missing last week’s newsletter. I did not realize how much preparation would go into going to a music festival (that’s what happens when you go to a big music festival for the first time in your 30s) and so I focused on that instead of finishing up last week’s drop.

The newsletters this May will still be out weekly (I’m going back to Saturdays because that gives me enough time to get them done) and then I’ll evaluate if it’s better to release newsletters weekly or every two weeks.

What happens when reel and real collide?

This is something I’ve had to try to figure out for myself over the past week or so, when the fandom for the 2024 movie Conclave exploded into relevance because of the Catholic Church holding a conclave to determine Pope Francis’ successor. I knew that Conclave had—against any expectations people may have had for this movie—somehow attracted a younger, diverse fandom (a lot of folks not even being Catholic), with fanart, edits, and fanfiction being published and shared even before Lent, a critical season for Catholics. 

(For anyone non-Catholic, Lent is a 40-day season that covers Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s a season for prayer and fasting, among others, and it is notably solemn. It starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.)

In my own walkabout around online spaces, I’d find out that not only is there a zine but there is also a game in the works. There are posters in different styles, with at least one depicting the cardinals as their chibi versions (a recurring theme in the fanart I’ve seen so far).

I remember being aware of Pope Crave when Pope Francis fell ill, having only seen the occasional Conclave fanart on Twitter (one of my favorites was a bird’s eye view of the cardinals walking into the conclave—if someone knows which one I’m talking about, please send me the link). 

I was surprised that the fandom had grown to the point that there was an account that seemed to be a key base for it.  

But Pope Crave went from a niche account for a relatively niche fandom to a fan account receiving coverage on Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Vulture. Not only that, during the actual conclave, they had correspondents in Rome to give updates.

And unlike the previous conclave that elected Pope Francis, I would actually find out that we had a new pope, yes, through Pope Crave. 

When the actual conclave was announced, it felt like the meeting of real and reel exploded. On my Facebook feed, I saw a former colleague post an F1-style opening with generative AI versions of the preferiti/papabile (the favorites). I found out people were making NFL/NBA-style drafts. There were threads introducing cardinals seen as ‘contenders’, in the style of someone introducing members of an idol group.

People apparently fell in love with Filipino cardinals Luis Tagle and Ambo David, particularly because of their affable nature and stances on issues like divorce and extrajudicial killings. They had not only made fancams of them (there’s one of the Filipino cardinals on the way to Pope Francis’ Requiem Mass set to Gangsta’s Paradise) but also given them nicknames, with Cardinal Tagle being referred to as the ‘maknae’ (youngest/baby of the group, borrowing an often used term from KPop) of The College of Cardinals. (The man is in his late 60s.)  

I think this is one of the few times where I’ve seen fandom and real life clash in such a mainstream way that I had to just observe, having a bit of a chuckle at how surreal this all is, while also fascinated by the fact that people truly find their community in fandom.

As someone born and raised Catholic who is getting into the movie and learning more about the fandom, I understand why people are drawn to it. The Catholic Church can be a mysterious institution even to those of us who have had it in our lives.

In Conclave, we get to look at a still mysterious process unfolding through the eyes of multiple characters, giving us a peek not only into what might go into the conclave, but the emotional weight and states behind it. It explores the tensions between people who devote their life to religion—taught not to see wealth, fame, or power—having to choose of their own to be elevated into a status that does involve all three of those things, even if the wealth, fame, and power in question is the Church’s.

When I first found out it had attracted a fandom, I thought, of course. People in fandom cannot resist a character-driven story, especially one where people examine their faith and doubts, and one where people have complex relationships.

Vatican City is the headquarters of the Church and it is also a city-state with its own government. That the conclave can be and is seen as a political process also adds to the mystique of it.

The movie feels like catnip to people who love layered narratives, nuanced characterizations, and even flawed characters—just some of the key ingredients that inspire people to have discussions, create things, and build community.

Because of the nature of the story, the movie was also heavy on getting the details right, and if there’s one thing we fans do love and appreciate, it’s craft. I know the Pope Crave account follows and posts content from folks who worked behind the scenes in areas like costuming and this continues to foster appreciation for the movie (I still maintain it should have won for cinematography at the most recent Oscars). 

They have multiple posts juxtaposing scenes from the movie with what has unfolded in real life, highlighting the care that the movie has taken to get many of the details right. 

I’m also fascinated by how folks online have been relatively chill about the Conclave fandom, supportive even in some ways. Maybe it’s because most people understand film fandoms or just fandoms in general and a lot of folks are online enough that Conclave having an active fandom isn’t that surprising, but in my country, this mix of love for the movie and appreciation for Catholicism and its rituals and people while also being lighthearted about it can be seen differently. I’m pretty sure I’d have at least one older relative have a cow at the idea that the fandom exists.

To me, it feels borderline transgressive, but isn’t that part of what makes fandom what it is, anyway? The idea of doubting, challenging the canon and exploring the many things it could be? 

It makes me wonder if we could all use a little bit more lightheartedness, even for places and people we see as institutions. 

This love for the craft and the more lighthearted love for the movie and even for the real people in the Church has certainly gotten me curious enough to learn more about the fandom. 

I don’t know yet where this curiosity will take me, because there is a part of me that still doesn’t believe that this all exists at all (I’ll always have a good chuckle at the thought that I found out about Pope Leo XIV being elected through Pope Crave), but I do know that curiosity and passion—like faith and hope—work in mysterious ways. 

In an age where algorithms and generative AI try to impose answers and rabbit holes on us, maybe, just maybe we could let curiosity and passion move us more, instead of searching for certainty in mirages.