Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following:

Factsheet #107 - Fandom

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of a fan?
--> They have a devotion hat goes beyond simply consuming media texts, but it's part of a persons identity in much the same way as gender, class and age define who we are.

2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
-->Hardcore/True Fan: identify themselves as the 'insiders' within any given fandom. They spend a lot of time and money to become one and take pride on the quality and quantity of the knowledge that they have.

Newbie: New fans that don't have the longevity of devotion of depth of knowledge hard core fans have. Known as the 'outsiders' of the fandom.

Anti-fan: Develop an emotional attachment instead of using close reading like 'true fans' to distance themselves and form a negative stereotype of a text or a genre of those who watch them

3) What makes a ‘fandom’?
-->Fandoms are subcultures within which fans experience and share a sense of camaraderie with each other and engage in particular practices of their given fandom. They elicit powerful emotions within their followers.

4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
-->It gives them symbolic power in culture to have a status as a fan within their realm of the text or genre.

5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?
-->Football teams - Liverpool fan.

Sherlock Holmes books.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show(1975).

The Lord of the Rings - Peter Jackson movies.

6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?
-->It creates a cultural economy, not only with monetary value but complex ideas and value systems behind fandoms. It allows fans to engage in diverse activities such as "the production of websites, mods and hacks private servers, game guides, walkthroughs ans FAQs, fan fiction and forms of fan art, fan vids" all of which have been aided by digital technology.

Tomb Raider and Metroid fandom research

Look at this Tomb Raider fansite and answer the following questions: 

1) What types of content are on offer in this fansite?

-->It compares blogs, games and other websites on the content that they offer on the Tom Raider games. It also gives a directory on the games, news, walkthroughs and other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook groups.

2) What does the number of links and content suggest about the size of the online fan community for Tomb Raider and Lara Croft? Pick out some examples from this page.

-->It tells us that there is a big market and the amount of monetary value the games bring to the industry is so great that these fan cultures and sites are needed for the games to continue to bring revenue. By comparing the different websites of the type of content they have on the website shows that these different niche websites create a global mass culture when put together. Its in many different languages, so it shows how big the fan culture is.

3) Scroll to the bottom of the page and look at the short ‘About me’ bio and social media updates. Is this a typical example of ‘fandom’ in the digital age? Why?

-->I think it is because it allows fans to discuss the text or genre on different platforms, which shows how big fan cultures are. One person or a group of people organise the fanbase and moderate them so they continue to have some structure and organisation. So this is the typical example of fandom - each website or group of people or person helping those supporting the text.

Now look at this Metroid fansite and answer the following: 

1) What does the site offer?

-->It gives updates on the games (potential remakes) and the community who have done notable things such as cosplay, talking about stories in magazines.

2) Look at the Community Spotlight page. What does this suggest about the types of people who enjoy and participate in fan culture?

-->They are actively engaged in the community to gain recognition for their knowledge or to discuss and debate about the text to engage new ideas.

3) There is a specific feature on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. What do the questions from fans tell you about the level of engagement and interest in the game and franchise from the fan community?

-->They are actively engages and are willing to know things about the franchise that aren't common knowledge or can't be known from just passively playing the game - there has to be an active thought of what different parts in the game interpret.

Henry Jenkins: degree-level reading

Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins. This will give you an excellent introduction to the level of reading required for seminars and essays at university as well as degree-level insight into our current work on fandom and participatory culture. Answer the following questions:

1) There is an important quote on the first page: “It’s not an audience, it’s a community”. What does this mean?

--> The relationship between the producers and the consumers transform - they play a more active role in shaping the flow of the media and therefore culture through shared passions and investments.

2) Jenkins quotes Clay Shirky in the second page of the chapter. Pick out a single sentence of the extended quote that you think is particularly relevant to our work on participatory culture and the ‘end of audience’ (clue – look towards the end!)

-->"In the age of the internet, no one is a passive consuer anymore because everyone is a media outlet".

3) What are the different names Jenkins discusses for these active consumers that are replacing the traditional audience?

-->"loyals", "media-actives", "prosumers", "inspirational consumers", "connectors", "influencers

4) On the third page of the chapter, what does Wired editor Chris Anderson suggest regarding the economic argument in favour of fan communities?

-->It is creating value, it may make economic sense to invest in niche properties with small but committed consumer bases if costs of production are lowered and marketing costs are lowered by building a stronger network with desired consumers.

5) What examples does Jenkins provide to argue that fan culture has gone mainstream?

-->They are ruling at the box office such as superhero films and fantasy blockbusters. Teens use iPods as a distribution channel for media content

6) Look at the quote from Andrew Blau in which he discusses the importance of grassroots creativity. Pick out a sentence from the longer quote and decide whether you agree that audiences will ‘reshape the media landscape from the bottom up’.

-->'This bottom up energy will generate enormous creativity'. I agree with the statement, fans for the first time have a mainstream platform to communicate on and can comment directly to producers of the text - this is changing the media landscape.

7) What does Jenkins suggest the new ideal consumer is?

-->Traditional: watched TV, bought products and didn't talk back.

New: Talks up the program, spreads word about the brand.

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?

-->The individual fan is not focused just on consumption.

9) What does it mean when Jenkins says we shouldn’t celebrate ‘a process that commodifies fan cultural production’?

-->It is sold back with a big markup price.

10) Read through to the end of the chapter. What do you think the future of fandom is? Are we all fans now? Is fandom mainstream or are real fan communities still an example of a niche media audience?

--> We can all talk about texts and discuss them - this has been the case before the internet as people used to talk about film and TV shows before. Niche fan communities have more of an impact as do modern consumers because of the internet. There is now a direct link to producers of the text in terms of communication. Fandom will still be the future because we are able to voice our opinions directly to the consumer.