Jenkins- fandom and participatory culture

Henry Jenkins is an expert in fandom and participatory culture. Key to this idea is the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – audiences that create as well as consume media. This culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. It also links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’.

Participatory culture has been an encompassing concern of much of Jenkins' scholarly work which has focussed on developing media theory and practice principles by which media users are primarily understood as active and creative participants rather than merely as passive consumers and simplistically receptive audiences

Fandom is now big business – with Comic-Con events making millions. More importantly, the internet has demonstrated the size of fan communities so it is no longer a minority of ‘geek’ stereotypes but mainstream popular culture (such as Marvel, Harry Potter or Doctor Who).

https://youtu.be/ZCKoLB1kUsY

Jenkins defends fan cultures and argues that fans are often stereotyped negatively in the media because they value popular culture (e.g. films or games) over traditional cultural capital (high brow culture or knowledge). The irony is fan culture is often dominated by middle class, educated audiences.

Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support.


EU copyright law: a threat to participatory culture?

A new copyright law currently moving through the European Parliament has been described as a potential 'meme-ban'. It would place the responsibility for the distribution of copyrighted material with the platform rather than the user or copyright holder - and therefore could lead to huge amounts of content being removed. If implemented in full, it could end textual poaching, fan-made texts and re-edits and many more examples of fandom and participatory culture. You can read more on the potential implications in this Wired feature.

Henry Jenkins - fandom 

1) What is the definition of a fan?
A fan, or fanatic, sometimes also termed aficionado or supporter, is a person who is enthusiastically devoted to something or somebody, such as a singer or band, a sport or a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie or an entertainer.

2) What are the different types of fan 
book fan 
movie fan
sport fan
entertainer fan 

3) What makes a ‘fandom’?
A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. ... The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions.

4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
fandom is mainly the middle class who can afford all its merchandise and attend conventions. they are devoted to buying and supporting fans. 

5) What are examples of fandom broadening audience?
introduction of merchandise? 

6.) CAN YOU FIND SOME FANDOM OR EXAMPLES OF PROSUMERS FOR EACH OF THE CSP’s?

First list ALL your CSP’s. Then find an example!

https://lbbonline.com/news/sarah-lund-stars-in-save-the-children-xmas-viral/

Or literal music videos?

score ad-  http://komalsmedia.blogspot.com/search?q=score+
Billie jean- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqm0nOUi3Qg&safe=true
letter to the free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZhnubYeswo&safe=true
Boss life- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzV_lMQaBic&safe=true
No offence- 

Fanatic: a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal - shortened to fan.

·         Hard core fan: identify themselves as the ‘insiders’ within any given fandom and consider themselves to be aficionados of their chosen media text. They spend a lot of time and often money in becoming hard core fans. They take pride in how long they have been a fan and also the quantity and quality of the knowledge they have amassed whilst being a fan.

·         Newbies: new fans of any given text and do not have the longevity of devotion or depth of knowledge that hard core fans have and are initially viewed as the ‘outgroup’ within fandoms.

·         Anti-fans: those which identify themselves with media texts but negatively so; they loathe or hate the text but unlike ‘true’ fans they do not form their relationship with a text through close readings, they develop their emotional attachment ‘at a distance’ (Gray) through marketing publicity such as trailers. Hills argues that the ‘anti-fan’ seems to be a negative stereotype of a text or genre such as ‘all people who watch chick flicks are dim’ or ‘people who watch horror must be sick in the head’.

Fandoms exhibit a ‘passion that binds enthusiasts in the manner of people who share a secret — this secret just happens to be shared with millions of others.’ 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. Fandoms can be narrowly defined and can focus on something like an individual celebrity, or be more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions.

Bordieu argues a kind of ‘cultural capital’ which confers a symbolic power and status for the fan, especially within the realm of their 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, walkthroughs and FAQs, fan fiction and forms of fan art, fan vids’ all of which have been aided by digital technology. Digital fandoms use technology in multiple ways and Fiske sees this as the ‘cultural economy’ of fandoms, one that is focused not on making money but on expressing the complex ideas and value systems behind fandoms.