Fan Studies Network Symposium 2013
Draft Programme
Friday 29th November 2013
19:30
Social get-together
The Appleyard & Co, 36 Exchange St, Norwich NR2 1AX
http://appleyardandco.tumblr.com/
Saturday 30th November 2013
09:00 – 09:30: REGISTRATION
09:30 – 10:20: KEYNOTE
Professor Matt Hills (Aberystwyth University)
10:20 – 10:30: BREAK
10:30 – 12:00: PARALLEL PANELS
Panel A: Spaces and Performance
Panel B: Transculture
12:00 – 13:00: LUNCH
13:00 – 14:30: PARALLEL PANELS
Panel C: Gender
Panel D: Classic Fandoms, New Narratives
14:30 – 14:45: BREAK
Refreshments provided
14:45 – 16:00: SPEED GEEKING
16:00 – 16:15: BREAK
Refreshments provided
16:15 – 17:45: PARALLEL PANELS
Panel E: Celebrity
Panel F: Textualities
17:45 – 18:00: CLOSE
18:00 – 19:00: WINE RECEPTION
Panels
A: Spaces and Performance
Emily Garside (Cardiff Metropolitan) ‘A Study in ‘Setlock’: Fans, filming and Sherlock.’
Lincoln Geraghty (Portsmouth) ‘Marketing Mainstream Cult: Forbidden Planet and
the Spaces of Comic Book Fandom’
Nicolle Lamerichs (Maastricht) ‘Cosplay: Material and transmedial culture in play’
Rosana Vivar Navas (Granada) ‘Genre Film Fandom and Festivity in Spain: Notes on
San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, 2012-2013’
B: Transculture
Bertha Chin (Independent) ‘A glimpse into the transcultural fandom of (Green)
Arrow in China’
Ekky Imanjaya (UEA) ‘Rediscovering “Crazy Indonesia”: Classic Indonesian
Exploitation Cinema according to 2000s Western Cult Fans’
John McManus (Oxford) ‘Fandom in the diaspora: the case of Turkish football fans in
Europe’
Anne Peirson-Smith (City University of Hong Kong) ‘Living Dolls: an examination of
the affective motivations and creative agency of ball-jointed doll fans’
C: Gender
Carrie Dunn & Deirdre Hynes (Manchester Metropolitan University) ‘Community,
authenticity and sexism: the online and offline experience of female football fans’
Bethan Jones (Aberystwyth) ‘Fifty Shades of Patriarchy: Antifandom, lived
experience and the role of the subcultural gatekeeper’
Bridget Kies (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) ‘Homo-genizing Producer-Fan
Relations in Popular Television’
Heike Missler (Saarland) ‘Chick-lit Fandom - Postfeminist Activism or Affective
Economics?’
D Classic Fandoms, New Narratives
Amber Hutchins (Kennesaw State University) ‘Frenemies and Fanagement in the
Magic Kingdom: Disney Fan Culture and Brand-Fan Relationships’
Lies Lanckman (Kent) ‘“Fawning Over Dead Celebrities”: Classic Hollywood Fandom
and the Twenty-First Century’
Richard McCulloch (Regent’s University, UK) ‘A Game of Moans: Negotiating
Negativity in Football Fandom’
Natasha Whiteman (University of Leicester) ‘Fans, Obsolescence and InSecurity: “The
Return” of the Commodore Amiga’
E: Celebrity
Helena Dare-Edwards (UEA) ‘Boy Band with a Secret?: The Larry Stylinson Fandom
and Real Person Slash in the Age of Social Media’
Mark Duffett (University of Chester) ‘“When the Hero is Hurt, He is at His Most
Vulnerable”: Rethinking Hurt / Comfort’
Rebecca Williams (University of South Wales) ‘“I can’t believe he has died”: Fandom,
ontological security, and actor/character deaths’
Markus Wohlfeil (UEA) Catching Fire? New Insights into the Nature of Fans’
Parasocial ‘Romantic’ Relationships with a Celebrity
F: Textualities
Hannah Ellison (UEA) ‘AfterEllen’s #Gaydybunch and #BooRadleyVanCullen: Twitter
second screeners and third party curated viewing’
Anne Kustritz (University of Amsterdam) ‘Fan Ontologies and the Pleasure Principle:
Aesthetic, Analytic, and Narrative Persuasion in Transformative Works’
Andrea Nevitt (Keele) ‘The Expectations and Evaluations of Game of Thrones Fans
before and after the televised “Red Wedding”’
Billy Proctor (Sunderland) ‘Time’s Arrow: Continuity, Canon and Fanon’
Contact:
[email protected]
http://www.uea.ac.uk/politics-international-media/events/fan-studies-networksymposium
Abstracts
Keynote
Matt Hills (Aberystwyth University)
Location, location, location: Info-war and citizen-fan “set reporting” within
public spheres of the imagination
Perhaps one key shift affecting recent popular culture has been a move from the
‘reactive audience’ – responding to, reading, and reworking media texts – to
anticipatory fandoms seeking information about media texts far in advance of
their official release and industry PR. The development of “pre-reading” (Gray
2010) means that within convergence culture, media-savvy fan audiences can be
thought of not so much as textual poachers, but rather as pre-textual poachers.
Fans challenge the brand control of media producers by circulating unofficial
news, rumours, and photos of filming (Hills 2010, 2012 and forthcoming). The
phenomenon of fan “set reporting”, where audiences tweet, blog and upload
photos and videos of location filming, means that story/casting spoilers are
increasingly difficult for producers to shut down. Franchises such as Twilight,
Doctor Who and Sherlock have all had to contend with this new digital mode of
fan productivity facilitated by “miniaturized mobilities” (Elliott and Urry 2010).
Far from dematerializing the importance of location, this fan practice combines
immediacy with hypermediation (Booth 2010), granting authenticity to ‘being
there’ and to documenting activities of media production. Socially-networked
fandom (Booth 2012) thus both reinforces the symbolic centrality of filming sites
(e.g. Cardiff for Doctor Who), and brings fans into conflict with producers in
novel ways. Far from being a mysterious process, location filming has become an
increasingly transparent, fan-mediated event, with “citizen-fans” debating
activities of media production within “public spheres of the imagination” (Saler
2012), akin to activities of citizen journalism and citizen witnessing (Gillmor
2006; Allan 2013).
About the presenter:
Matt Hills is Professor of Film and TV Studies at Aberystwyth University. He is
the author of five books including Fan Cultures (2002) and Triumph of a Time
Lord: Regenerating Doctor Who in the Twenty-first Century (2010), as well as
the editor of New Dimensions of Doctor Who (2013). Matt has published widely
on cult media and fandom. He is an Associate Editor on Cinema Journal and a
regular reviewer for doctorwhonews.net.
Panels
Bertha Chin (Independent Scholar)
A glimpse into the transcultural fandom of (Green) Arrow in China
In June 2013, Stephen Amell, star of the American TV series, Arrow, arrived at
Beijing Capital International Airport to be greeted by about 40 fans bearing gifts
who have gone specifically to welcome him to China. The next day, Amell
attended a Q&A event attended by 100 fans that was organised by a local TV
station. These types of smaller meet-and-greet fan events are common in East
Asian countries, where local celebrities often meet and interact with their fan
club members. While the fan event was not considered large by Western
standards, the turnout and subsequent sharing of photos and videos of Amell’s
trip on Tumblr by fans gives us an interesting insight into the transcultural
fandom of Arrow and Amell in an East Asian country.
Amell’s trip is no longer a rare event for Chinese fans of popular American TV
shows. Perhaps more importantly, it also shows the importance Hollywood
studios and networks place in courting the Chinese market. Asides from these
promotional tours, Hollywood celebrities’ social media networks are translated
into Chinese by a digital media platform called FansTang and transmitted
through China’s popular social media channels like Sina Weibo, the Chinese
version of Twitter.
Fan studies has offered us glimpses into the rich and complex interactions in
fandom, but these are often rooted in the practices of North American and
European fandoms. FansTang’s success and in particular, Amell’s reception in
China suggest that fandom transcends national boundaries, into territories
where Western pop culture may not necessarily be the norm. However, these
popular texts may become increasingly accessible as the Chinese market grows
more important, and this is further facilitated by the Internet and social media
networks. Using Amell’s trip to China as an example, I will look at the fan
reception of Amell (and Arrow), focusing on how it might provide an extra
dimension towards a more effective transcultural fan theory.
Helena Dare-Edwards (University of East Anglia)
Boy Band with a Secret?: The Larry Stylinson Fandom and Real Person
Slash in the Age of Social Media
Since the boy band One Direction was formed on The X Factor in 2010 a
controversial subsection of fans, primarily comprised of teenage girls, have
devoted themselves to the real person slash (RPS) pairing of Harry Styles and
Louis Tomlinson, otherwise known as ‘Larry Stylinson’. While RPS fandoms have
long relied on the disclaimer that their creations are not real (Busse, 2006) Larry
shippers insist that the two band members are involved in a secret-not-so-secret
romantic relationship that is being forced to remain ‘in the closet’ according to
the demands of One Direction’s management. Blurring the lines between
shipping and tinhatting , and favouring ‘evidence’ construction over fictional
narratives, I argue that the Larry fandom represents a generational shift in the
form and practice of RPS which has been further complicated by the dominance
of social media.
This paper will explore the polarization of fans across two different social media
platforms, Tumblr and Twitter, and the internal politics that govern their use in
this RPS fandom. Although blogs are publicly accessible, Tumblr is perceived as a
safe and protected fan space in which to interact without the popstars’
knowledge or the prying eyes of the media. Fiercely protective over their
fandom, Larry shippers condemn the use of Twitter for its role in exposing their
fannish behaviour to the boys, while simultaneously utilising it to express their
distress at their unveiling. Taking this into account, I will then consider the way
tweets function as a form of narrative discourse that the Tumblr community
draw upon in their compilation of Larry ‘evidence’.
Although Hellekson and Busse (2006) state that the Internet age has re-written
traditional fandom rules; namely, to never write slash based on real people, I
wish to re-open this debate by questioning how RPS is once-more potentially
‘risky’ in the age of social networking.
Mark Duffett (University of Chester)
“When the Hero is Hurt, He is at His Most Vulnerable”: Rethinking Hurt /
Comfort
“Although hurt / comfort has only been labled as an explicit genre within fannish
literatures, it is yet another structure that connects amateur and professional
texts.” – Elizabeth Woledge (in Hellekson and Busse 2006, 110)
In the Fiskean tradition particular ‘prosumption’ practices, such as fanfic writing,
have been highlighted as indications of a creative and potentially resistant
audience. I wish to argue, however, that their implied counterpart - passive
consumption - has always been a myth, particularly in relation to affectively
invested audiences. More specifically, in this paper I depart from the usual
assignation of hurt/comfort as a misunderstood subgenre of fan fiction to
explore the idea that a common form of audience identification has prompted a
long-running sadomasochistic impulse in popular culture. Beyond television
fanfic, my illustrations will come from the cultural fields of three popular
musicians: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber. Beginning with the
assumption that all cultural practices are active allows us to question an implied
theoretical distinction between “active” fiction writers and “passive” viewers. It
allows us to see fiction writing as part of a wider process of collusion in which
both media professionals and paying audience members investigate affectively
rewarding cultural forms.
Carrie Dunn and Deirdre Hynes (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Community, authenticity and sexism: the online and offline experience of
female football fans
This paper examines the negative experiences of sexism reported by female
football fans in two strands of football fan activism – the online forum and the
cooperative supporters' trust movement. It draws on two studies, one looking at
the broad experience of female fans in men's football in England, which used
data from 100 questionnaires and 27 responsive interviews; and one drawing on
the online and offline experiences of 16 female football fans through online
interviews and participant observations of online forums.
It begins by looking at definitions of and the concept of community, and
examines why community is such a significant part of the football fan experience.
It then moves on to more closely interrogate the operation of the digital
community and democratic/cooperative supporters' trust community, and
explores why respondents choose these particular communities as opposed to
any others, such as traditional supporters' clubs.
It goes on to address questions of performativity of identity, showing that female
fans feel the need to hide their femaleness when discussing football online.
Similarly, when they take a public role in a supporters' trust they work to
present their femaleness in an 'acceptable' way, behaving as much like their male
counterparts as possible and not wishing to be identified as 'female fans', but
simply as fans.
Both sets of respondents reported a fear that being too overtly traditionally
'feminine' would detract from the authenticity of their fandom. 'Femaleness' is
not a quality linked with authentic fandom in men's football, and thus they
sought to minimise it wherever possible in order to prove their fandom to those
outside their real-world close fan network.
Hannah Ellison (University of East Anglia)
AfterEllen’s #Gaydybunch and #BooRadleyVanCullen: Twitter second
screeners and third party curated viewing
‘second screening’ is becoming increasingly prevalent, last year Nielsen research
discovered that 70% of tablet owners and 68% of smartphone owners used
them while watching television. This paper looks at a specific group of twitter
second screeners, asking what this means for the consumed television text.
Over the past three years the TV recap writers of lesbian entertainment website
AfterEllen have been live-tweeting television shows they recap. Creating their
own hashtags for each show they cover (ones that sometimes trend worldwide)
and asking fans to contribute, the writers create ad hoc viewing communities,
curated backchannels that police negotiated readings. AfterEllen’s hastags work
to create an unofficial official conversation about lesbian relationships on these
shows, whether perceived or actual; some of the shows do not feature lesbian
characters.
While shows like The Fosters (ABCF, 2013) broadcast their own hashtags to use,
AfterEllen forms a sub viewing group, one that highlights certain aspects and
ignores others. It facilitates a curated viewing experience in which people are
brought together to watch a show in a particular way. To have their participation
validated in this “social tv”, viewers must comment on the right things, and in the
right way; the ‘best’ tweets are then published in the recaps of episodes,
suggesting a proper way to take part in the conversation.
Examining the twitter and blog output across multiple shows over a four week
period, this paper looks at how these niche social viewing practices are policed
and the kinds of tweets deemed appropriate. It asks how centralised negotiated
readings of subtexts in real-time could affect the notion of the TV narrative and
what it means to have a third party producer re-enforcing top-down shaping of
the conversation.
Emily Garside (Cardiff Metropolitan University)
A Study in ‘Setlock’: Fans, filming and Sherlock.
Television and literary tourism is a growing and thriving industry. For fans,
interaction with location, visiting and photographing themselves at sites, is an
important element of fan interaction. In addition, observing filming has also been
a long favoured element of fan culture.
In the case of BBC’s Sherlock attendance at filming the third series this has
created a fan subculture known as ‘Setlock’. The term ‘Setlock’ refers both to the
act of watching filming, alerted and organised via social media, and the act of
sharing pictures and information from filming online. ‘Setlock’ therefore
combines fan interaction and fan use of social media that is both local and global
at once.
This paper seeks to examine the impact of ‘Setlock’ on fan interaction with the
series, location and each other both in person and online. The key questions to
be addressed in this analysis are; how does ‘Setlock’ affect fan interaction with
the series and each other? From a small group of, usually local, fans watching
filming of previous series to hundreds at key locations for series three indicate
both the growth in popularity of Sherlock and a particularly unique facet of fan
interaction fuelled by an online community. Using a combination of interviews
and auto ethnographic analysis the importance and influence of ‘Setlock’ to fan
interaction with Sherlock will be considered.
Fan interaction with Sherlock locations is already made complex by the duality
of locations with both the modernisation and the use of Cardiff as a stand-in
location. The duality of location identity alongside the merging and diversion of
literary and television tourism created by Sherlock will then be considered and
the impact of ‘Setlock’ on this already complex fan interaction with location.
Lincoln Geraghty (University of Portsmouth)
Marketing Mainstream Cult: Forbidden Planet and the Spaces of Comic
Book Fandom
Previous studies of why comics attract devoted fan followings have focussed on
the texts themselves, specifically their narratives, characters and the ever
expanding fictional worlds in which they are set. But what about the spaces of
comic book fandom? Where are comics collected and by whom? If these fantastic
stories of superheroes and villains offer multiple universes that express
concerns within contemporary culture how is this reflected in the rituals of fan
consumption? In exploring these questions this paper examines cultures of
consumption and the adult fans who collect comic books. Focussing on the chain
store Forbidden Planet I argue that there has been a change in shared comic
book fan spaces, whereby they have become less text centred (comics) and more
commodity centred (merchandise and other non comic book ephemera).
Following in the history of the rise of the independent comic book and record
stores, Forbidden Planet has grown to become one of the most recognisable
brands for selling comics, graphic novels, books film and television collectibles,
and other cult merchandise. Building on the style and characteristics of the local
retail shop, Forbidden Planet caters for both mainstream and niche tastes. It
promotes both an image of the alterative and cult as well as keeping up with the
latest toy and merchandise brands. My following analysis of the London
Megastore posits that while cult fandom has entered the mainstream (as argued
in Hills, 2010), Forbidden Planet treads a thin line between both camps: as a
physical location it remains a safe destination for fans to enter and connect with
their favourite media texts but also it performs a role akin to the department
store in that it sells something for every type of fan, whether you are a novice or
die-hard collector. In this way, its locality as safe haven and connective space
(including its online shop) serves to underline the potentially liberating and
fulfilling aspects of fandom and cult collecting.
Amber Hutchins (Kennesaw State University)
Frenemies and Fanagement in the Magic Kingdom: Disney Fan Culture and
Brand-Fan Relationships.
Given the global pervasiveness of The Walt Disney Company, Disney fandom is
sometimes considered a rite of passage for almost children. But Disney fan
culture extends beyond consumption of animated films and merchandise, and
offers insight into the tensions between brands and fans (“frenemies”) and the
various subcultures and rituals that emerge among fan communities.
Disney has recently embraced new ways to facilitate fan engagement beyond
“fanagement,” especially among adult Disney fans, who are usually excluded in
studies of Disney audiences. Disney fans have spent the last decade building
their own thriving community, with diverse populations, who believe that Disney
films and theme parks are symbolic representations of their values and beliefs.
Online, fans create and negotiate identities, define the Disney lifestyle, and
validate their loyalty to Disney.
However, fan activity sometimes represents the strained relationship between
fans and the brand. For example, one fan who trespassed into “backstage” areas
of Disney parks and posted videos of his adventures was banned for life from
Walt Disney World, a consequence he found surprising because his videos were
intended to celebrate his dedication to Disney. Bat Days, an annual meeting of
“Goth” Disney fans at Disneyland, is tolerated but not supported by the parks. A
recent horror film shot at Disneyland without permission has just secured
theatrical release.
The existing research in this area usually focuses on film audiences, especially
children, rather than fans of the Disney universe. This study will examine the fan
culture, community and media created by high-engagement Disney fans, as well
as outreach efforts on behalf of the brand. Through thematic analysis, this study
will identify ways in which fans engage in participatory culture to expand their
relationship with the brand and each other.
Ekky Imanjaya (University of East Anglia)
Rediscovering “Crazy Indonesia”: Classic Indonesian Exploitation Cinema
according to 2000s Western Cult Fans
Most of Indonesian films recirculated in 2000s international DVD circuits are
those 1970s-1990s exploitation Movies. Indonesia’s underrated Filmmakers
such as Arizal and Tjut Tjalil as well as actors such as Barry Prima and Eva Arnaz
are among those who are celebrated by global cult fans. Films like Lady
Terminator (Pembalasan Ratu Laut Selatan), or The Warrior (Jaka Sembung)
series are discussed among cult film fans forums and blogs, but are neglected,
abandoned, and underrated in Indonesia. All the films were originally produced,
distributed, and exhibited in Indonesia during the last 20 years of New Order era
by dictatorship of Suharto. A Greek fan calls it s “Crazy Indonesia”. Some DVD
distributors--MondomacabroDVD, Troma Team, and VideoAsia—label the
movies as cult films.
The paper will analyse online fan cultures of Western audiences towards the
movies. I want to elaborate their ideology of subculture: on why and how they
celebrate the films. I argue that there are 2 types of films, that feed Western
fans’ tastes: first, “Indigenous” genre (in Karl Heider’s term) such Legenda
(legend, myth, supernatural), Kumpeni (local <super> heroes in Dutch colonial
era), and Silat (martial art) (Heider 1991) which are considered as exotic,
marginalized, peculiar and unknown to Western cult community; second,
Americanized Exploitation (sub)genres (cannibalism, women in prison,
mockbuster, etc.) which perfectly fit their expectations.
Applying Kozinets’ Netnography, I will examine some fans’ blogs, reviews,
discussions at online forums, and transactions as well as offline events
(screenings, meetings). I will have discourse analysis on the computer mediated
communication produced by the fans, particularly activities at AV Maniac,
Backyard-Asia,enlejemordersertilbage.blogspot.com,
damnthatojeda.wordpress.com,
Die
Danger
Die
Die
Kill,
and
THE_CINEHOUND_FORUM.
Bethan Jones (Aberystwyth University)
Fifty Shades of Patriarchy: Antifandom, lived experience and the role of the
subcultural gatekeeper
In 2012 E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy took the publishing world by storm, and
since its publication, the series has had a near-constant presence across a range
of media platforms. Both the popular press and elements of fandom have derided
the novels as ‘ridiculous’, ‘badly written’ and ‘potentially dangerous’, but the
trilogy has also drawn criticism from other quarters. Many BDSM bloggers have
commented on the inaccurate depiction of BDSM in the series and responded
angrily to the framing of the lifestyle as ‘plain old hetero-patriarchal power
relationships’ (Barker, forthcoming).
Early work in fan studies examined fan activities as forms of resistance, enabling
fans to reclaim ownership of popular culture (Jenkins, 1992; Bacon-Smith, 1992).
Jonathan Gray (2003) and Cornel Sandvoss (2005), however, argue that to fully
understand what it means to interact with texts we must also examine anti-fans.
This article builds on Gray and Sandvoss’ work by examining anti-fandom of the
Fifty Shades series in relation to anti-fans’ lived experiences. I undertake an
analysis of anti-fans with experience in the BDSM community, assessing how
their experiences have affected their readings of and responses to the text. In a
similar way to which Anne Marie Todd (2011) argues that fans accumulate
cultural capital in ways that affect the physicality of their lived experience, I
suggest that anti-fans’ lived experiences allow them to accrue subcultural capital
which affects their anti-fandom (Thornton, 1995). I further argue that the
subcultural capital these anti-fans have accrued as a result of their experience of
BDSM positions them as ‘subcultural gatekeepers’. More than simply ‘snarking’
about the texts (Haig, 2011; Harman and Jones, forthcoming) they demonstrate
an awareness of the paratextual role they play in affecting readings of the novels
(Gray, 2007).
Bridget Kies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Homo-genizing Producer-Fan Relations in Popular Television
Historically, fan studies has concerned itself with examining the often
contentious relationship between producers and fans. Fan practices that
attempted to wrangle control and interpretation of certain television characters
were seen as resistant to producer or authorial intent. The practice receiving the
most attention has been the rendering of male characters who were
heterosexual in the source text as homosexual or bisexual through the creation
of slash fan fiction.
Today, however, more and more television programs feature LGBT characters.
In fact, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation noted that the 20122013 American primetime line-up featured the most LGBT characters ever. This
trend coincides with increasing legislation for particular LGBT issues across the
Western world – most notably, same-sex marriage – as well as an abundance of
celebrity coming-out stories in the media.
As LGBT presence increases on screen and in mediated stories of celebrities, the
kind of narrative surrounding these characters has changed. Most often, these
characters are depicted as homonormative: they have monogamous same-sex
partnerships and children, and thus emulate hegemonic heterosexuality. Fan
practices, in turn, are no longer resisting narratives about these characters but
doing the same work as other media sources. In this way, fan practice has been
“unqueered” from operating outside authority to colluding with producers.
In this presentation, I will examine homonormative narratives on television and
in related celebrity gossip. I will then demonstrate how fan practices
surrounding these narratives work in conjunction with producer and authorial
intent to create a transmedial circuit: producers create narratives, upon which
fans draw for the creation of fan works and hype, and producers respond by
integrating fan works and hype into future narratives. Through this transmedial
circuit, the relationship between producers and fans has become homogenized.
Anne Kustritz (University of Amsterdam)
Fan Ontologies and the Pleasure Principle: Aesthetic, Analytic, and
Narrative Persuasion in Transformative Works
Although from the perspective of the media industry fan creative works seem to
flow parallel to or outside of the official storyworld, from the perspective of
many readers, fan works fundamentally transform narratives, characters,
settings, and genres, providing a method to not only interact with the existing
text, but to powerfully critique and overwrite the stories produced by the
industry. At least three factors influence the extent to which fan works remain
separable, merge with, or supersede the published narrative: authority, medium,
and resonance/pleasure. In the first instance, the ontological status of fan works
is determined by whether or not individual readers and fan communities invest
in the industry or author’s ultimate right to determine “what really happened.”
Investing instead in any fan author or artist’s vision of the story is a populist
freedom that many fans grant themselves, and which many fan communities
support and normalize. In the second instance, fan works often involve
transmediation that can offer information completely unavailable in the original
medium, or compete with meanings created in the original precisely because
they occur in a similar medium and thus construct critiques and alternate
interpretations in a “genre commensurate form.” Finally, pleasure plays the
most important role in fan works. Although many overtly political, serious fan
projects exist, even these often pivot upon the politics of pleasure – that is, which
pleasures and whose pleasures become amplified by the mass media and which
other pleasures become seemingly unimaginable. At their core, fan works
provide authority to whichever version of characters, settings, events, and genre
forms are most pleasurable to imagine. Fan communities amplify types of
pleasures often silenced and sidelined in the mainstream industry, while fan
infrastructure reserves open, uncontrolled space to circulate and share those
pleasures still yet to be imagined.
Nicolle Lamerichs (Maastricht)
Cosplay: Material and transmedial culture in play
Through “cosplay” (costume play) fans perform existing fictional characters in
self-created costumes and give new meaning to existing stories. Cosplay is a
scarcely studied form of appropriation that transforms and actualizes an existing
story or game in close connection to the fan community and the fan’s own
identity (Lamerichs, 2011; Newman, 2008; Okabe, 2012; Winge, 2006). The
activity can be read as a form of dress up. In the field of game studies, dress up is
an often overlooked but significant category of play with its own affordances
(Fron, Fullerton, Morie, & Pearce, 2007).
I explore the possibilities of reading the costume itself as an object that facilitates
performance and play. I emphasize the visual culture of the costume and its
mediation at different online and offline sites through small-scaled ethnography
and close-reading. The transmediality of cosplay is foregrounded in the
methodology that, rather than adopting a player-centered approach, construes a
cultural reading that involves both participants and spectators (e.g.,
photographers, fans, media professionals or outsiders such as parents). Through
two case-studies, I focus on the costume’s materiality and transmediality.
First, I discuss the materiality of cosplay through its consumption culture.
Increasingly, costumes and accessories are sold over platforms as eBay and Etsy
which will illustrate this dynamics. I question the liminal status of the costume as
it lingers between the creative domain of fandom and lucrative domains of media
and creative labor. Second, I investigate the remediation of the cosplay
performance. I exemplify this transmediality through cosplayer music videos
(CMV) that are commonly produced at convention sites. I rely on a selected
corpus of videos that are deeply connected to their source texts but also provide
insights in fandom itself.
Thus, I analyze the dynamics of costume culture as it transcends the convention
grounds.
Bibliography
Fron, J., Fullerton, T., Morie, J., & Pearce, C. (2007). Playing Dress-up: Costumes,
Roleplay and Imagination. Paper presented at the Philosophy of Computer
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Lamerichs, N. (2011). Stranger than Fiction: Fan Identity in Cosplaying.
Transformative Works and Cultures, 7.
Newman, J. A. (2008). Playing With Videogames. New York; London: Routledge.
Okabe, D. (2012). Cosplay, Learning, and Cultural Practice. In M. Ito, D. Okabe & I.
Tsuji (Eds.), Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World (pp. 225249). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Winge, T. (2006). Costuming the Imagination: Origins of Anime and Manga
Cosplay. Mechademia, 1, 65-76.
Lies Lanckman (Kent University)
“Fawning Over Dead Celebrities”: Classic Hollywood Fandom and the
Twenty-First Century
The Facebook page Decaying Hollywood Mansions, dedicated to 1910s-1960s
Hollywood imagery, describes itself as “at its best a multi-media spookhouse of
cinema's past, at its worst just me fawning over dead celebrities.” It is but one of
many online resources which have emerged over the course of the past decade
focusing not on contemporary popular culture, but on an earlier time in cinema
history. Whereas classic Hollywood’s original fans have received increasing
scholarly attention throughout the past decade, however, this very recent but
widespread online emergence of a “new-old” fan culture has not thus far been
addressed.
As such, this paper aims to be an initial exploration of this phenomenon,
beginning with a categorisation of the different types of online content available,
ranging from top-down informative resources such as IMDB, over fan-made
websites or forums often focusing on one particular star, to various communities
within social networks such as Facebook or Tumblr. I will then compare the
functions of these modern resources with those fulfilled by the key fan
community-building resources available in the classic era: fan magazines.
Looking both at prestigious publications such as Photoplay and at popular fanproduced magazines such as the Joan Crawford Club News (described by one
reader as the first time she “felt she was among those who spoke her own
language” ), I discuss the ways both modern online resources and these older
magazines deal with issues of star image creation and truth, fan input and
participation, and fan identification with one or more particular stars.
Additionally, I will reflect on the difference between fandom and historical
interest in terms of these modern fans and examine how their adoration of
“their” stars is impacted by the chronological gap between star and fan.
Richard McCulloch (Regent's University, London)
A Game of Moans: Negotiating Negativity in Football Fandom
Recent scholarly work on anti-fandom has been productive in reminding us that
media texts are not consumed solely for ‘positive’ reasons (Gray, 2002;
Pinkowitz, 2011). Nevertheless, the label itself implies an inherent separation
between those who ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ a particular fan object. In this paper, I
argue that dislike and hate are in fact integral components of fandom, especially
in relation to sports, where criticising one’s own team is not only acceptable, but
often encouraged. At what point, then, does criticism become anti-fandom?
Through the analysis of matchday threads on the popular Liverpool Football
Club fan forum Red and White Kop, this paper argues that the line between
fandom and anti-fandom might actually have more to do with shifting
insider/outsider discourses than positive versus negative affect. While this might
seem obvious when talking about rival clubs (Theodoropoulou, 2007), I
demonstrate that Liverpool fans themselves are among the biggest instigators of
negative opinions about their team, its performances, or particular players. Antifandom, in other words, is not necessarily indicative of disagreements within or
between fan communities (Sheffield and Merlo, 2010), but can also function as
an everyday, unproblematic expression of (positive) fandom.
I focus on the balance that fan discourse strikes between praise/optimism and
criticism/pessimism, and the ways in which these extremes are negotiated in
response to victory and defeat. I argue that certain expressions of negativity are
more welcome than others, but that the boundaries and definitions of
acceptability are constantly re-articulated in relation to broader narratives
regarding the fortunes and prospects of the club.
John McManus (Oxford)
Fandom in the diaspora: the case of Turkish football fans in Europe
Can you be a football fan for a team in another city? Manchester United fans from
the south of England have had to put up with jibes questioning their loyalty for
some time now. What about fans in another country? The growth over the last
decade of cheap international transport and internet-mediated communication
has turned the whole question of 'space' 'place' and 'fandom’ on its head (Moores
2012).
This paper proposes a sideways glimpse into some of the processes of
constructing fan communities in the twenty-first century by looking at
international fans for the Turkish football team Beşiktaş. Beşiktaş are one of the
most widely followed teams in Turkey but also have significant numbers of fans
across diaspora Turkish communities in Europe. Based on ethnographic
fieldwork – both with social media online and offline at European Cup matches –
the paper teases out the issues present in the formation of the Beşiktaş fan
community. International Beşiktaş fan practices form an interesting juncture,
where ideas of representation online and the use of technologies (Winner 1999;
Latour 2007; Miller and Slater 2000) mingle with consumption of traditional
media (Scannell 2007), diaspora identity (Karim 2003) and the practices of
transnational travel, tourism and mobility (Clifford 1997; Urry 2007).
The paper explores the conflicts and contestations that emerge when ‘Turks’
from a diverse array of nations, classes and diaspora communities come together
in person to support a Turkish football club. It analyses how new technologies
(broadly defined) are being used to shape individual identity, the spectacle of
mass sporting events and the articulation of political messages. The conclusions
it reaches have implications beyond the realm of fan cultures: namely, how
individuals are grappling with the increasing diversity of possibilities and
practices (both online and off) available to them in processes of dwelling and
community creation (Ingold 2011).
Heike Mißler, (Saarland University, Germany)
Chick-lit Fandom - Postfeminist Activism or Affective Economics?
Chick lit is a marketing label for popular fiction written largely by, for and about
women, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) and Candace Bushnell's
Sex and the City (1997) being the most highly mediatised examples. Although the
genre was pronounced dead when three publishing houses closed down their
chick-lit imprints in 2008 due to decreasing sales numbers, chick-lit books have
continued to be written, published, and reviewed (cf. Coburn). There has,
however, been an important shift in the production, circulation and reception of
the texts: Chick lit has brought about a prolific online culture, which allows fans
not just to network and connect with other fans, but also with authors and
publishers. By doing so, the the boundaries between authors and readers are
blurrying steadily and new opportunities for female entrepreneurship have been
created.
I have analysed a number of chick-lit blogs and conducted email interviews with
their contributors in order to find out how their participation in chick-lit fandom
has had an impact on the representation and evolution of the genre, and also on
the bloggers' lives. My paper presents the results of this survey and uses them as
a base for discussing how chick-lit fandom oscillates between affective
economics and postfeminist activism. I am using Henry Jenkins' term to describe
how the publishing industries are interpellating chick-lit readers to become fans,
and how they try to bind them emotionally to the novels and authors. By
postfeminist activism, I mean a kind of activism which does not take feminism as
its driving force but still achieves 'classic' feminist aims, such as the
empowerment and promotion of women in fields where they have been underor misrepresented, and the documentation of a herstory which has been ignored
by the mainstream media.
Works cited:
Coburn, Jennifer. "The Decline of Chick Lit." Utsandiego.com. San Diego UnionTribune, 11 Feb. 2012. Web. 08 August 2013.
Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New
York University Press, 2006. Print.
Andrea Nevitt (Keele University)
Hope blew out like a candle in a storm”: The Expectations and Evaluations
of Game of Thrones Fans before and after the televised ‘Red Wedding’
One of Game of Thrones’ most-anticipated scenes aired in June 2013. That scene
was the ‘Red Wedding’, in which three major characters died.
It is no surprise that the prevalent topics of conversation among those who were
fans of the novels before the adaptation are comparisons between the wedding
of the novels and the wedding of the show, and the evaluation of the quality of
the latter in light of the differences between the two. This sits uncomfortably
alongside a shift in adaptation theory away from linear, comparative textual
analyses of monolithic texts, and evaluations based on fidelity, towards poststructural theories of transmedial texts and intertextual reading practices. It is
necessary to question what is at stake in the analysis of adapted texts if academic
approaches overlook insights that can be gained via research into the reading
practices of fans of those texts
In this paper I will begin by demonstrating that the discourse of fans prior to the
screening of the Red Wedding was in line with adaptation theory’s shift in focus;
fans drew interpretations of the chapter, and expectations of the episode, from
several sources. Then will follow analysis of fans’ descriptions of the imagery of
the written and on-screen weddings, using Lacan’s orders of the real, the
imaginary and the symbolic as a starting point. I will argue that, through
comparative analysis, fans evaluate the quality of the televised scene in terms of
its ability to replicate emotions inspired by the book. This return to judgements
of fidelity is suggestive of at least two interconnected situational interpretive
practices; one for expectation, and one for evaluation.
The paper will highlight that a shift in the focus of adaptation theory must not
overlook insights that can be gained through the application of fan studies
approaches.
Anne Peirson-Smith (City University of Hong Kong)
Living Dolls: an examination of the affective motivations and creative
agency of ball-jointed doll fans
This paper will examine the motivations underlying the adoption and use of balljointed dolls (BJD) such as Volks Super Dollfies by fans as a new type of collective
intelligence, a form of creative play and as evidence of a participatory fan culture.
Fans of animation, manga and cosplay pursue a DIY culture of self-display within
the boundaries of commodity culture. These fans as textual performers identify
with the commodification of Japanese culture and modern cosmopolitan
branding as an escape from the boundaries of their own culture, also revealing a
deep transcultural longing to inhabit the characters and costumes of this
commodity culture. The ”other” here provides a safe and viable refuge and a way
of defining an affinity with a like-minded community in the process of reaffirmation. However, tensions remain between doll fandom in terms of
commodification versus commercialization and the agency status of both doll
fans and doll producers.
The paper will present findings from ethnographic interviews, focus groups and
observational analysis conducted with a selection of BJ doll fans and producers
in Hong Kong, Japan and China in both private spaces and public or commercial
places or at organized themed events. Findings will suggest that this tendency to
articulate identity, belonging, difference, gender and sexuality through the
purchase of specific brands can be found in the material possession and
customization of ball-jointed dolls Doll fans, including cosplayers, avidly collect,
modify and dress up ball-jointed dolls as mini-versions of themselves in the form
of a creative performance. Their acquisition and public display amongst affinity
groups appears to fill an affective void and operates as a panacea to the
pressures of urban life, albeit with localised cultural nuances. These dolls seem
to become best friends, sisters, brothers, children, confidantes and counselors for
collectors who appear to seek gratification and unconditional love in a mute
humanoid form. Doll fans also seem to acquire agency through their active
consumption, performative participation and creative modification of their dolls.
William Proctor (Sunderland University)
Time’s Arrow: Continuity, Canon and Fanon
For fans of vast story-systems such as DC Comics or its bête noire, Marvel,
continuity is one of the principle pleasures of engagement. Indeed, many fans
patrol the narrative continuum as ‘continuity cops’ who hunt for cracks and
fissures in the ontological realm of chronology and causality. In the 1960s,
Marvel Comics famously offered a ‘No-Prize’ to readers who detected continuity
violations and concocted inventive ways to correct the error and ‘make the
pieces fit’ and repair the paradox. As Dittmer argues, ‘much as nature abhors a
vacuum, comic book fans abhor holes in continuity.’
Continuity is also a concern for many readers of serial story-systems outside of
the comic book medium including Sherlock Holmes novels, the Star Wars
hyperdiegesis, the Oz franchise, Doctor Who, and soap operas such as Dallas and
Coronation Street. This paper explores the activities of fans that negotiate
inconsistency and contradiction in order to play with the text and mould the
spatiotemporal dynamics into a cohesive order – even when the pieces resist
chronological mapping.
The activities of so-called Sherlockians, for instance, play with the Arthur-Conan
novels and compose a logical system with which to reinterpret the narrative as
conducive with an Aristotelian system of causality. As Wolf (2012: 45) argues,
What is interesting is the degree to which fan communities want to see
inconsistencies resolved; although they would seem to threaten the believability
of a world more than the lack of completeness or invention, inconsistencies are
treated by those fans as though they are merely gaps in the data, unexplained
phenomena that further research and speculation will clear up. (Wolf, 2012: 45).
Thus, active readers play with the text as a ‘silly putty’ that bends and shapes
contradictory elements to suit their desire for a diegetic logic that adheres to a
serial system of cause-and-effect, thus, creating a personal canon, or fanon.
Despite the turn to poststructuralism which sweeps linearity from the temporal
table, this paper argues that fan activity often expresses a requirement for
linearity and structure even if they have to do the narrative mechanics
themselves.
Rosana Vivar (University of Granada)
Genre Film Fandom and Festivity in Spain: Notes on San Sebastian Horror
and Fantasy Film Festival, 2012-2013
Since its opening in 1989 the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival
(SSHFFF) has been a focal point for locals with a passion for cult movies, b
movies, horror, science fiction, and exploitation movies. While the SITGES
International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is a world reference for highly
specialised horror and sci-fi fans, SSHFFF has built its identity upon a more
modest principle, serving as an alternative to SITGES for fans seeking a more
intimate, laid-back event. Taking place in late October, the festival is well known
among regulars and locals for its impudent iconoclastic audience, whose
heckling of guests has become a highlight of the event. Organisers encourage
participation through fanzine meetings, concerts or on-line contests, while hardcore fans spontaneously convert the main festival venue into a bacchanal where
the shouting out of witticisms during the screenings is de rigueur. At the same
time, the theatre serves as a platform to communicate with and influence the
organisers. My intention is to analyse the implication of festivity in the shaping of
a genre film community that despite its uncouth members, its taste for marginal
film and its niche-like condition maintains a privileged position within San
Sebastian’s annual cultural programme. Drawing on the work of the historian
Johan Huizinga (1954) and sociologist Roger Caillois (1967), I will examine how
the presence of different forms of play in SSHFFF such as parody, ritual, fan
works, and their relationship with the place, have contributed to this subculture
growing stronger in Spain. Ultimately, I will consider whether this “playful
conduct” can be studied at the festival site within the framework of participatory
cultures (Jenkins, 1992, 2006). In doing this I will employ the concept of
Participatory Culture often discussed within digital fandom debates and expand
it to event-based fandom.
Natasha Whiteman (University of Leicester)
Fans, Obsolescence and In/Security: ‘The Return’ of the Commodore Amiga
In 2012, twenty years after the release of the Amiga 4000, a new ‘Amiga’
computer – the Amiga ‘Mini’ - was released to market. The launch was not
successful, and provoked heated online criticism from fans and enthusiasts,
many of whom denied the legitimacy of this product to bear the Amiga name.
The launch of the Amiga Mini had the potential to pose a destabilising threat to
the fan communities that continue to surround this classic brand. As it was, the
product and its producers were quarantined and othered by fans, and a sense of
security was maintained. Through an analysis of online forum activity and blog
posts, this paper examines how fans evaluated the authenticity of the Amiga
Mini, articulated nostalgic affiliation to the original brand, and conceptualised
the ‘essence’ of the Commodore Amiga (recruiting values which justified the
persistence of their affiliation to the Amiga ‘experience’ and against which the
newly launched product was judged).
In exploring fan responses to the Amiga Mini, this paper also seeks to pose
broader questions about fan relationships to obsolescent technologies and texts,
the self-sufficiency of fan communities, and issues of in/security in the
maintenance of fan affiliation to objects that have apparently come to an ‘end.’
Theoretically, the paper will draw from studies of what Williams (2011) has
termed ‘post-object fandom,’ literature on the revival and “aura” of brands
(Brown, Kozinets and Sherry Jr, 2003), and studies of technological obsolescence
and the ways that “temperamental or naturally life-limited systems” (Newman,
2012, 14) are kept alive by computer and videogames communities.
Rebecca Williams (University of South Wales)
“I can’t believe he has died”: Fandom, ontological security, and
actor/character deaths
As part of wider research into fandom and endings, this paper explores fan
responses to departing characters, examining how they discuss their emotional
attachments and their sense of disruption when favourite figures leave their
favourite shows. This is especially pronounced with those characters are killed
off within the narrative as, for example, the fan campaigns and protests
regarding the narrative death of Ianto Jones in Torchwood (Cubbison 2012)
demonstrates. However, in extreme cases when necessitated by real-life deaths,
characters can also be killed within narratives. In these cases, fans are often left
to deal with grief for both the character and the actor who portrayed him/her,
adding another level of complexity to how audiences respond to departing
characters.
My intention here is to build on work on the impact of departing characters and
audience reactions to the deaths of the famous (Garner 2013; Turnock 2000;
Jones and Jensen 2005; Rodman 1996; Wang 2007) by examining this through
Giddens’ theories of ontological security and identity. This is undertaken firstly
through the case of actor John Spencer’s whose death in December 2005
necessitated the narrative demise of his character Leo McGarry in The West
Wing. I also consider the case of actor Cory Monteith who died on 13th July 2013
and whose Glee character Finn Hudson is rumoured to be subsequently dying in
the fictional narrative. We can thus consider how fans respond when both actor
and character die. How does the ability to mourn the character impact upon their
feelings about the death of the actor, if at all? This paper thus aims to contribute
to literature on fan reactions to both character departures and the deaths of
celebrities more broadly.
Markus Wohlfeil (University of East Anglia)
Catching Fire? New Insights into the Nature of Fans’ Parasocial ‘Romantic’
Relationships with a Celebrity
While consumers have always been fascinated by the works and private lives of
celebrities, some consumers experience a significantly more intensive level of
admiration for a particular celebrity and, subsequently, become what are
commonly known as fans (Leets et al. 1995). However, scant attention has been
paid to how the relationship between fans and celebrities expresses itself in
everyday consumer behavior. Moreover, while the vast majority of fan studies
have theorised fan culture from various critical perspectives (Fiske 1992; Hills
2002; Sandvoos 2005; Turner 2004) and/or investigated the social networks
and dynamics between fans through ethnographic field research (Jenkins 1992;
Kozinets 2001; O’Guinn 1991), even less is known about how and to what extent
the fan-celebrity relationship occupies both a physical and mental space in the
individual’s everyday life. This paper, therefore, explores celebrity fandom as a
holistic lived experience from a fan’s insider point of view (Smith et al. 2007). By
using an introspective research approach, I provide insights into my own
personal everyday lived fan relationship with the actress Jena Malone (Wohlfeil
and Whelan 2012). In drawing on narrative transportation theory, the study
offers a deeper understanding of how and why a fan’s continuous personal
engagement with both the celebrity’s creative work as a performer and the
‘actual’ private person behind the public image can take the form of a parasocial
fan-celebrity relationship. What the fan perceives to be the ‘actual’ private
person behind the celebrity’s public image is essentially his/her own intertextual
reading of what s/he believes to be relevant and “reliable” media texts, which are
subconsciously charged with one’s personal desires and projected back onto the
admired celebrity. Subsequently, the fan can actually experience the feeling of
“knowing” the celebrity like a close personal friend – or even develop romantic
feelings of “love” for a person that s/he has actually never met.
Speed Geeking Sessions
Nancy Bruseker (University of Liverpool)
One Direction and Teenage Fandom
I am very interested in exploring the many negative stories about the teenage
fandom around One Direction, particularly spurred on by the escalation to the
recent Channel 4 programme about their ‘extreme fandom.’ There is a lot of
noise around the concept of ‘entitlement’, and how many fan practices are
excessive and show too much of this. In fan literature there’s a lot of discussion
about economics, and the way fandom is both driven by the capitalist models of
consumption and also subverts/lives beyond it. (Fiske, Busse and Hellekson,
Jenkins, Sandvoss, etc) All of this is usefully applied to the current situation with
One Direction fans, and should be done. However, there’s something more to get
at in this discussion, around the way that teenagers are being taught how to
interact in the world by participating (with their parents’ money) in the economy
and society. The media’s production of the the hysterical female fan base is
fuelled by the immense spending power of these fans, while simultaneously
curtailing their activity by shaming them. How does this serve the economics of
pop music, and what is the cost to the individual members of the One Direction
audience? What lessons are teenaged girls learning about gender & the economic
value of women?
Alice Chauvel (Independent Researcher)
Fans of Fan Practice
For my Master’s dissertation, I interviewed a small sample of Twilight fans about
their involvement in fan charities. Two observations stood out, however I was
unable to explore them at the time. First, the fans spoke of the Twilight fandom
as ‘the’ fandom, unconsciously implying that there were no other fandoms. And
second, rather paradoxically, a number of my interviewees distinctly identified
themselves as part of the ‘Twific fandom’ (i.e. Twilight fanfiction fandom),
implicitly acknowledging the existence of various fan communities within the
wider Twilight fandom.
Based on this, I’d like to further explore the idea that fans can be fans of a
particular practice as well as of a particular fandom. For example, there is the
well-loved instance of the fanfiction writing, convention attending, cosplaying
Star Trek fan. However, there are also slash fans, who will read slash fanfiction
across fandoms - including fanfiction derived from a media object they are
wholly unfamiliar with simply because it is slash. I would like to compare these
two approaches to fandom with the aim of untangling the traditional concept of
the fan who is usually defined in terms of his/her affective relationship to a
media product or sport, rather than a practice.
Ruth Deller (Sheffield Hallam University)
Of Simblrs and Simstagram: Sim-ifying Social Media
Fans of the Sims games series are active across the internet, expressing their
fandom through a range of blogging platforms, forums and social networking
sites (Bury et al 2013). In this paper I look at how Sims fans - who are mostly
female (see Gee and Hayes 2010) - use Tumblr and Instagram (often via crossposting between these platforms) as expressions of their fandom. Many fans
identify their profiles or uploads as ‘Simblrs’ or ‘Simstagrams’ as a way of
creating a sense of clearly identified fan ‘space’ within these platforms (see Baym
2000, Bury 2005).
Through a combination of virtual ethnography, surveys and interviews, I explore
how these fans adopt both wider ‘trends’ popular on Instagram and Tumblr (e.g.
‘selfie Sunday’; reaction gifs (see Thomas 2013)) using Sims imagery; how they
integrate Sim fandom with other fandoms (e.g. ‘SuperWhoLock’; Glee; Harry
Potter) and how they use these platforms to recreate more traditional forms of
fan activity (e.g. fiction writing, content sharing, discussion) that were previously
the domain of forums, blogs or larger websites sites in a new, more visual form.
Simone Driessen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Aging Minds and popular music
This study aims to explore the relationship between aging minds and popular
music. Current studies - in cultural sociology and cultural studies - have focuses
on how music serves as a nostalgic element for baby-boomers (Bennett, 2006;
2013), or explored how ‘post-youth’ deal with ageing bodies, grown-up
responsibilities and tasks in relation to their involvement in a (subcultural)scene
(Hodkinson & Bennett, 2012).
Yet, these studies focus mainly on issues of ageing, instead of ageing minds
(Bielby & Harrington, 2010). To explore how people give meaning to music as
‘post-youth’, I wish to explore how Millenial-generation fans produce meanings
of the (current) revival (or survival in some cases) of music they grew up with
(e.g. re-uniting boy- and girl-bands from the late ‘90s). While Hills (2002; 2005)
acknowledges that various fandoms can become (ir)relevant to one’s cultural
identity at specific times; this leaves unaddressed the important question of how
fans currently give meaning to their fan-being. So I’m interested in discussing:
a) this revival/survival phenomenon
b) how it influences one’s ‘fan life course’
c) how fans legitimize their fan-being now
d) how this influences their fan practices
Emma England (University of Amsterdam)
The Separation of Fan Histories
This will look at specifically how fan-histories are built as separate constructs
with very little acknowledgement of other fan histories despite similar and
overlapping paths. By exploring shared fan histories we could go some way to
understanding fans and fan cultures differently as well as, perhaps, enable fans
to build closer bonds between seemingly disparate groups.
Claire Evans (Open University)
Fan practices and identity in motorsport
Following a discourse analytical project on the media representation of live
Formula One motor racing, I am currently thinking about how I could extend this
research and explore the relationship between fan practices and identity in
motorsport1. One of the key questions I hope to address is whether (fan)
practices in motorsport constitute consumption of a corporate brand or a
celebrity one. Due to a desire to increase my specialist knowledge with fan
studies research I would like to use the session as an opportunity to discuss: 1)
Prior literature/research in the broad sense of whether the idea falls under the
remit of fan studies (or celebrity studies). 2) Viable methods for the analysis
(and possible additional collection) of data. I am particularly interested in the
implications of research design on our understanding of the relationship
between fan practices and identity.
Craig Hamilton (Birmingham City University)
The Harkive Project
On 9th July 2013 The Harkive Project gathered stories from thousands of music
fans across the globe about how, why and where they listened to music. The aim
of the project was to capture for posterity a global snapshot of the ways in which
we interact with the sounds and technology of today. The project will return
again in 2014, and every year thereafter. Harkive project manager, Craig
Hamilton, an MA Music Industries student and visiting lecturer at Birmingham
City University, is holding a speed geeking session in order to discuss the project,
seek feedback on the manner in which the 2013 instance was designed and
executed, and to explore possible research applications for the data set he
collected.
Nele Noppe (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
How thinking of monetized fanworks as "open source cultural goods" can
help fans and rights holders
Fanworks have been exchanged largely in gift economies in most parts of the
world up to now. For various reasons, pressure is increasing to commodify
fanworks and let them play a role in the commercial economy as well. However,
various stakeholders are finding that it's very hard in practice to make fanworks
function as economic goods in this new "hybrid" economy.
In this presentation, I explore the possibilities inherent in treating fanworks as
“open source” cultural goods. The economy surrounding open source software
production is a very successful existing example of a hybrid economy in which
products created in a gift economy are also monetized in a more market-oriented
economy. Scholars from a remarkable variety of fields have already linked the
production systems of derivative cultural goods like fanworks to open sourcebased practices. Although the influence of open source “philosophy” has now
spread far beyond the area of software creation, cultural goods still remain a
conspicuous blank in the long list of various “open” movements, not in the least
because legal concerns make the creation of an “open source cultural good”
difficult.
I argue that fanwork may be an ideal candidate for the title of “open source
cultural good”. Open source and fannish production practices not identical,
regardless of their similarities. However, because of their shared origins and
characteristics, the vocabulary, problems, and solutions from one can help us
articulate similar problems and possible solutions in the area of the other. I will
examine how open source practices could be adapted to create legal, economic,
and social conditions in which fanworks can be integrated into the broader
cultural economy. I also argue that this way of monetizing fanworks would be
beneficial economically and socially, both for fanwork creators and for the
companies whose media products fanworks are based on.
Mafalda Stasi and Adrienne Evans (Coventry University)
Methods in their Madness: New Directions in Fan Studies Research
In the last 30 years, fan studies has produced groundbreaking and outstanding
research. However, methodological discussion has been mostly absent-which
might arguably limit the scope of future research. It is time now to raise
questions such as: what kinds of knowledge do we want to produce? What are
the objects being studied? Who is a fan studies researcher?
In a recent paper (now under review) we argued that the absence of
methodology in fan studies reflects some of the issues of defining methodology
in media and cultural studies. We propose that further groundbreaking work
could be produced by drawing on new interpretative methodologies, especially
when applied to the areas of the 'aca-fan' subject position, and on new modes of
online fan activism.
In this speedgeeking session, we want to further open up the discussion of
method/ology in fan studies. In doing so, we want to pose the following
questions: What is your object of fan studies (e.g. fan, fandom, fan text)? What
methods do you use to study this object? And how can these methods work
together to further advance the field?
Practical Information
Accommodation
Broadview Lodge – UEA campus accommodation
University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ
The option to stay on campus was available during registration. If you did not
book then, but would like to secure a room you can reach them here:
Telephone: +44(0)1603 591918 Times: 8.00am - 9.00pm (except Saturdays
during University semesters 8.00am - 6.00pm)
Fax: +44(0)1603 591930
Email: [email protected]
There is a choice of other hotels in the area, such as more centrally located
Travelodges and a Trip Advisor list here: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotelsg186342-Norwich_Norfolk_East_Anglia_England-Hotels.html
Location
The symposium will take place at the University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ.
Directions to the University and travel information is available here:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/about/visiting-staying/getting-here
If you have any further questions about accommodation or travel, please contact
us at [email protected]