Swarm, a new show from Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, exposes the very real dangers of obsessive fandoms. Each episode begins with a series of title cards that let the audience know that “this is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is intentional.”
A horror-comedy, the show depicts a young Black woman, Andrea “Dre” Greene (Dominique Fishback), as a superfan of fictional pop star Ni’Jah (blatantly based on Beyonce) and obsessive member of her online fandom, the Swarm (Beyoncé’s is called the BeyHive). Dre falls deeper into her obsession after the death of her foster sister and roommate, Marissa (Chloe Bailey), which sends Dre on a two-year murderous rampage to “defend” Ni’Jah.
Shows about obsessive fans aren’t new, but Swarm is the first to take this concept and centre Black womanhood and contemporary Black popular fan culture.
