Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

1) What is the definition of a fan?
Fanatic: a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal - shortened to fan.

2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
Hardcore/True Fan - Hard core fans 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.

Newbie - Newbies, as the name suggests, are 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-fan -‘Anti-fans’ are 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’.

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

1. Rituals and Participation
2. Ironic Readings
3. Defy Critics and Institutions
4. Imaginative Extension and Text Creation

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

Imaginative extension and text creation is extremely important as it is what distinguishes fans from ordinary consumers. 

With this fans are able to express their views on different aspects of said media text. Without it, fans wouldn't be able to connect with other people as easily which would then decrease/limit the success of the media text as it wouldn't be getting enough exposure. 

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?

• Message boards and chat rooms
• Tomb Raider fan art and fiction
• Lara Croft game and movie image galleries
• Tomb Raider level editor help and downloads
• Lara Croft models and costumes/cosplay
• Wallpapers
• Comics
• Collectables

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.

There is a vast amount of contents and links which suggests the fan community is most definitely worldwide, becoming a place where a huge amount of people can come to express their love for the Tomb Raider series. At the bottom there are links to the social media pages showing there are even more ways for fans to interact with each other.

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 believe that this is a typical example of fandom in the digital age because of how the creator of the blog creating a strong bond/link between her and the other fans/people infatuated with the Tomb Raider franchise.

Now look at this Metroid fansite and answer the following: 

1) What does the site offer?

Shinesparkers is a Metroid fan community dedicated to bringing its fans up-to-date Metroid news and exclusive content, such as Harmony of a Hunter. It highlights the creativity of Metroid fans from across the world by showcasing their work to our audience. We often collaborate with the wider Metroid community and support their endeavours to ensure the Metroid fan community is the very best it can be. Shinesparkers aims to be the first multilingual Metroid fan website, with content translated into multiple languages in an effort to reach out to an expanded audience.

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

The Community Spotlight features people who indulge in cosplaying, creating art and music lovers (presumably from the Metroid soundtrack). This suggests the people who are involved within the fan culture enjoy indulging in the creative aspect and appreciate what the game has to offer so much hat they devote their personal time into promoting it through their artistic ways. 

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?

The wide range of questions from the fans suggests that they are extremely committed to these franchises and games and hope that they will continue on forever because of how invested they are.

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?

This quote suggests that calling these fans an audience is an understatement as that would mean all they do is consume when in reality a lot of them also produce their own types of media, which refers to Clay Shirky's 'End of Audience'. In addition it could mean that these fandoms are a way for people to connect with each other and share their love for these franchises, etc.

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!)

"some are calling them “prosumers,” suggesting that as consumers produce and circulate media, they are blurring the line between amateur and professional; some are calling them “inspirational consumers” or “connectors” or “influencers,”

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

• 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?

Anderson suggests the economic benefit would stem from being able to lower all production costs and making up for this by building up a strong network with their targeted customers/audience.

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

The main example Jenkins provides is the fact that fan culture is no longer associated with the stereotypically 'geeky' fan, they are now fans that don't fit the stereotype. He also states how fan culture now dominates most types of media as they 'rule the the box office...where fan tastes are dominating television'. 

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, but it will also tear apart some of the categories that organise the lives and work of media makers". I agree with this audiences are more encouraged to create and develop their own content into being something much bigger, and playing a larger role in the media landscape

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

Jenkins suggests the new consumer is somebody who "talks up the program and spreads word about the brand"

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?

Fandom is the future as fans are essentially the people who are now spreading word and creating the hype behind media texts, helping the development process and pushing it to a wider audience. I believe that without these fans many media texts wouldn't be as successful. Fandom is also the future because of the impact participatory culture has had on the media.

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

This means that we shouldn't be promoting this process as larger media companies are exploiting products being produced by fans which means the fans aren't getting the recognition or being rewarded for their efforts. 

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 as time goes on fandom will continue to evolve and become much bigger than it already is, however this will probably result it in becoming fully mainstream.