Fandoms can be silly but they can also be powerful tools for helping us understand and act on important ideas – the most important, in some cases. Just look at the number of signs at the Women’s March using lyrics from Hamilton (including my own which said “Tell Your Sister That She’s Got to Rise Up.” It’s art at its most purposeful: helping us to visualize key truths with the shorthand of the lessons our fandoms taught us. Here are just a few ways that fandoms have prepared us for the real life fight for what’s right:

The gorgeous mash up of Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen for the March for Our Lives in 2018:

My own video of author Tui Sutherland describing how to write about empathy in the current political climate in the context of dragons (for her book “Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent”)

Mandy Patinkin: The Real Politics in The Princess Bride