Transformative Works and Cultures - TWC (Organization for Transformative Works)
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852 research outputs found
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The ex-fan's place in fan studies
No full textIn an examination of how fans end their relationships with the objects of their fandom and related fan communities, I use my own experiences with the television series Supernatural (WB/CW, 2005–) to demonstrate how breaking up with a fandom is emotionally and technologically complicated. Becoming an ex-fan is different from antifandom and is worthy of greater investigation in fan studies
Using rhetorical criticism to track Twitch Plays Pokémon fans' attachment to sacrifice
No full textThis expansion of the existing literature on fan discourse analyzes rhetorical form as a tool and constraint. By analyzing the rhetorical forms used to develop the cult neoreligious styles of Twitch Plays Pokémon fan art, I track the evolution of sacrifice as a guiding trope that allows the community to narrativize accidents, make sense of chaos, and respond to the game's overall lack of player agency. Rhetorical forms are reproduced in fan discourse alongside popular community art styles, genres, and rules for speaking. Rhetorical forms are thus both effects of fan discourse and factors in later evolutions for that discourse. Rhetorical criticism will become increasingly more important in the study of sense-making practices in collective participatory media such as Twitch Plays Pokémon
The JohnLock Conspiracy, fandom eschatology, and longing to belong
No full textUsing The JohnLock Conspiracy (TJLC), developed by the fandom of the BBC television series Sherlock (2010–17), as an exemplar, we analyze how the functionality of Tumblr supported the development of a fandom eschatology. In this instance, eschatology is not religious but secular: fans claimed to know what the final end of the Sherlock series was to be, and they interpreted various signs as indicating that this would happen. The infrastructure and interactive design of Tumblr as a platform creates a foundation permitting fan group radicalization. Because of Tumblr's infrastructure and gratification system, forming a tight-knit group is difficult. By developing and using eschatology as a belief system, fans create boundaries, decide membership and proper behavior, and enable the policing of other fans
Facebook, Twitter, and the pivot to original content: From social TV to TV on social
No full textThe next stage of social TV is here. Drawing on promotional discourses, I argue that Facebook and Twitter's shift from distributors of television network programming to their own original content is a natural extension of industry practice, but not a particularly meaningful development for fan participation and engagement
"The culture industry and participatory audiences," by Emma Keltie
No full textReview of Emma Keltie. The culture industry and participatory audiences. New York: Springer, 2017. Hardcover 79.99 (ISBN 9783319490281)
Social TV fandom and the media industries
No full textEditorial for special issue, "Social TV Fandom and the Media Industries," Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 26 (March 15, 2018)
Straight-washing "Undertale": Video games and the limits of LGBTQ representation
No full textA widely beloved video game, Undertale (Toby Fox, 2015) has proven popular with players, reviewers, and commentators from across sectors of games culture that often hold conflicting views. What makes Undertale's broad appeal particularly surprising is its queer content, which can be found in both the game's representational and interactive elements. As many have observed, homophobic attitudes have long characterized reactionary gamer subcultures, which are often explicitly hostile toward diversity. Yet these subcultures are also among those most vocal in their appreciation of Undertale. What explains this seeming contradiction? While it is tempting to interpret this phenomenon as a sign that gamer culture is becoming more inclusive, a critique of the discourse surrounding the game's reception reveals that Undertale has in fact been straight-washed by many writers and fans. This straightwashing entails both an erasure of the queerness found in Undertale and a recasting of the game as one that jibes with the interests of heterosexual male gamers, such as innovative design, player mastery, nostalgia, and humor. At a moment when diversity has become central to academic and popular discussions of video games, increased LGBTQ representation is often presented as the ready-made fix to antiqueer discrimination. Yet the straightwashing of Undertale serves as a cautionary tale. It suggests that the cultural impact of LGBTQ representation in video games has its own limitations, and that a game with queer characters may not only fail to change the mindsets of straight players; it may itself be stripped of its queer potential by its reception
"Old futures: Speculative fiction and queer possibility," by Alexis Lothian
No full textReview of Alexis Lothian, Old futures: Speculative fiction and queer possibility. New York: NYU Press, 2018. Paperback $30 (352p). ISBN 9781479825851
"The 100" and the social contract of social TV
No full textI explore how the controversy surrounding an LGBT story line on The 100 (2014–) points to the shifting social contracts of social media engagement between fans and the TV industry, as well as the challenges faced by fans and critics who attempted to solidify that contract in the wake of said controversy
Fan reactions to "The Leftovers" and "Twin Peaks: The Return"
No full textCertain TV series, such as The Leftovers (2014–17) and Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), encourage their fandoms to solve puzzles, search for clues, and comb the internet for answers to questions. As a result of this work, fans can consider their readings of the series legitimate, even canonical, regardless of the producers' intent. Just as queer readings can be as valid as mainstream interpretations, these fan viewers use the language and strategies of alternative viewers to legitimize their own readings