The first is corrective sorts of fandom. There is a brief reference in it in "Why Heather Can Write," but it's more for what a particular writer does NOT do (190). This is of course not faulting the article for this, as Jenkins has written a number of other works that cover exactly that, but I just want to bring it up in the context of this class. Now, this article talks a lot about carving out a space for one's self within the context of a immersive world that is largely possible because of a "ticket to play." In many cases, however, people or entire groups feel like they lack this ticket, and so work through various channels to feel more involved. Some of the best examples of this are the Gaylaxians who sought to get a homosexual character onto Star Trek, arguing that it wasn't about addressing the issue of homosexuality since in the 24th century it wouldn't be an issue (didn't happen), and the campaign for a female Boba Fett. Currently, there is an entire campaign going on called Aang Ain't White, protesting the whitewashing (de-odorization) of the cast of The Last Airbender. This last one is particularly interesting since it is not ignoring a group's interests but rather taking away a "ticket to play" from a very, very large number of people who loved the franchise for its representation of other cultures.
The other type of fandom I think is really interesting is anti-fandom. In "Why Heather Can Write," Jenkins mentions a number of different responses to the books. I think one response that also comes up is using one fandom to criticize or belittle another's quality. And I think everyone knows what's coming now... a bunch of examples involving Twilight (but I think these are actually really interesting because it shows a level of evaluation of quality between fandoms by the fans and the mobilization of images from their series/film/world to attack another).
Less related
As a Comic 2 - note the text at the bottom of it.
Annnnd now for things I just like.
Trailer for the Hunt for Gollum - A fully done film, not just stopping at the trailer.
Star Wars Uncut is an amazing project to re-film all of Star Wars in various styles by fans, utilizing how iconic the images are to make it so they can be radically displaced and still coherent.
The first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, which not only mocks the show, but also the way it was imported to the US by 4Kids! Entertainment (which also dubbed Pokemon)
Machinima - Red vs Blue - I can't believe I forgot this. The use of footage captured from a game to create entire stories. It's pretty fascinating to me how fans of a particular game (though they don't have to be fans, I suppose) use games as a pre-built animation software to create stories - in this case, somewhat mocking the multiplayer battles in Halo (among other things).
House/Dead Poets Society - An amazing use of characters from across multiple films to create a single character arc.
Closer is a great fan video that not only brings out different meanings from a text, but is also interesting proof of the very different readings people may get from the same thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment