Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

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?

Fans do more than just like or even love a particular media text, ‘true fans’ have a devotion that goes beyond simply consuming media texts, and is, as Matt Hills argues, part of a person’s 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 fan, anti-fan and newbie fans.

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. 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.

4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?

Level of display is not simply about preferring one team over another, it is, as Bordieu argues a kind of ‘cultural capital’ which confers a symbolic power and status for the fan, especially within the realm of their fandom.

5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?

They were talking about examples of fandoms of shows like Family Guy, Lord of the Rings as well as Vampire Diaries.

6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?

It is focused not on making money but on expressing the complex ideas and value systems behind fandoms, allowing them to communicate with each other and express their thoughts and feelings about certain topics concerning who they are fans of.

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?

It means that social media is not just a platform that allows audiences to find entertainment but it is an online space that has helped build the relationships between producers and consumers as well.

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!)

It says "prosumers" are "blurring the line between amateur and professional", which links to Shirky's end of an audience theory as he supports mass amateurisation, where amateur consumers are now capable of completing the tasks done by professionals due to the new digital media landscape.

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

He calls them 'multipliers' as we depend on them to make things work since they consume and produce.

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?

He talks about how fan culture has expanded into communities of people and it is becoming a global culture and they use viral marketing to globalise fan networks so it is become a lot more mainstream.

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’.

"it will also tear apart some of the categories that organise the lives and work of media makers" - I think that audiences do have the power to reshape the media landscape but as long as the big conglomerates have the finances to support themselves, they are still mostly in control.

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

Henry Jenkins suggests that the new ideal consumer is an active, socially connected participant rather than a passive spectator.

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?

Because consumers are becoming more and more active and are starting to access higher levels of control in the media industry through their opinions expressed and also through user generated content so they are the future as fandoms can make or break a media product or artist.

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

He means that corporations take the free, creative work made by fans and turn it into products to sell back to them for a profit.

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 fandom should stick to groups and communities but it is definitely becoming more mainstream and anyone can be a fan in general but real and true fans should stay niche.