Henry Jenkins - fandom

 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

Read Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or log into your Greenford Google account to access the link. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of a fan?
A person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal.
2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
There are hardcore/true fan, newbie and anti-fan.
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.
4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
Clearly this level of display is not simply about preferring one team over another.
5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?
Vampire Diaries, Vampire Diaries, The Lord of the Rings, The Walking Dead, Harry Potter.
6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?

Fans use the original media texts and get creative and innovative with the material. Crawford suggests that it is this which distinguishes fans from ordinary consumers. They engage in diverse activities such as ‘the production of websites, mods and hacks, private servers, game guides

Henry Jenkins - degree-level reading

Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins (note: link may be blocked in school - try this Google Drive link if you need it.) 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?

Such services transform the relationship between media producers and consumers. As they explain, “MySpace, Flickr, and all the other newcomers aren’t places to go, but things to do, ways to express yourself, means to connect with others and extend your own horizons”

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!)

Branded entertainment are playing a more active role in shaping the flow of media throughout our culture, are drawn together by shared passions and investment in specific media properties or platforms.

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

 “loyals,” stressing the value of consumer commitment in an era of channel zapping; some are calling them “media-actives,” suggesting that they are much more likely to demand the right to participate within the media franchise than previous generations; some are calling them “prosumers,” suggesting that as consumers produce and circulate media, they are blurring the line between amateur and professional.

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

Anderson argues that investing in niche properties with small but committed consumer bases may make economic sense if you can lower costs of production and replace marketing costs by building a much stronger network with your desired consumers.

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

None of these commentators on the new economy are using the terms “fan,” “fandom,” or “fan culture,” yet their models rest on the same social behaviors and emotional commitments that fan scholars have been researching over the past several decades

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’.

A new generation of media makers and viewers are [sic] emerging which could lead to a sea change in how media is made and consumed

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

the ideal consumer watched television, bought products, and didn’t talk back. Today, the ideal consumer talks up the program and spreads word about the brand. The old ideal might have been the couch potato; the new ideal is almost certainly a fan.

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?

The word “fandom” and not “fans” here for good reason. To me, it seems a little paradoxical that the rest of the people involved in this conversation are more and more focused on consumption as a social, networked, collaborative process (“harnessing collective intelligence,” “the wisdom of crowds,” and all of that), whereas so much of the recent work in fan studies has returned to a focus on the individual fan.

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

These groups can be used for viral marketing or to rally support behind an endangered series, but they can also turn against brands or production companies that act in ways that damage the fans’ shared investment in the property (Kozinets 1999).

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?

I think that it will consently change which means many people will be future of the fandom.