Increasingly over the past decade, fan credentials on the part of writers, directors, and producers have come to be seen as a guarantee of quality media making--the "fanboy auteur." Figures like Joss Whedon are both one of "us" and one of "them." This is a strategy of marketing and branding--it is a claim from the auteur himself or industry PR machines that the presence of an auteur who is also a fan means the product is worth consuming. Such claims...