Transformative Works and Cultures - TWC (Organization for Transformative Works)
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"Manga in America: Transnational book publishing and the domestication of Japanese comics," by Casey Brienza
No full textReview of Casey Brienza, Manga in America: Transnational book publishing and the domestication of Japanese comics. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Hardback £70 (232p) (ISBN 978-1472595867); paperback £21.99 (232p) (ISBN 978-1472595874); e-book £23.74 (ISBN 978-1472595881)
Framing alterity: Reclaiming fandom’s marginality
No full textAt a moment when fandom is becoming more visible to mainstream audiences and fan studies interrogates the media industry's appropriation of fannish behavior, it is important not to neglect the local and independent aspects of fan activity. In a rhetorical reading of two independent geek-themed stores, the Who Shop and Alien Entertainment, I analyze the way they appear to harness, market, and generate feelings of fan alterity, a deliberate self-othering of the fan. Fan studies has discussed the mainstreaming of fandom through the lens of major media corporations and marketing campaigns. However, fan studies has rarely addressed the impact of independent, local geek stories on fan experiences. The experience of visiting the stores reinforces a discourse of fan marginality, (re)establishing a uniqueness to the fan identity that the discourse of mainstreaming elides and enlivening the fan experience through historicity and face-to-face activity
Fan film on the final frontier: Axanar Productions and the limits of fair use in the digital age
No full textIn an analysis of the copyright case Paramount/CBS v. Axanar Productions Inc. and Alec Peters (2016), which centers on a high-budget Star Trek fan film, I consider how the case frames digital-age media fandom's challenges to the law, and concomitantly, how the case frames the law's challenges to media fandom. Even while legal action of this kind does not dampen participatory culture on the whole, it raises questions about the legal definition of a fan and the limits of fair use doctrine, and it delineates the changing relationships between media industries and fans. Paramount/CBS v. Axanar Productions reveals the tension between the gift-giving ethos of fandom and online crowdfunding as a type of gift; it also reveals the negative industrial and legal reactions to fan filmmaking and crowdfunding as threats to the way film has traditionally been constituted. I analyze Axanar's use of Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns, the introduction of Paramount/CBS's restrictive fan film guidelines, and finally, the rejected fair use argument proposed by the defense. I take up the rejected fair use argument by situating it alongside the case history of appropriation art in order to consider another way to argue for fan films as transformative works
Johnlock meta and authorial intent in Sherlock fandom: Affirmational or transformational?
No full textI explore the educational and legitimizing functions of Johnlock meta—the interpretation of a romantic relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson—in the BBC Sherlock (2010–) fandom. As a disputed queer reading of an open text, Johnlock meta has provided new, enriched, and repeated textual evidence for Sherlock and John's relationship, reinforcing it in the face of doubt caused by others' denials of Sherlock's queerness. Meta has thus served as a form of social activism by both attempting to establish the queer reading as the preferred (but secret) reading intended by the showrunners and by resisting the showrunners' extratextual heteronormative platonic stance on Sherlock and John's relationship. This contradiction of authorial intent/nonintent highlights the tension in the Johnlock (and academic) interpretative communities of where meaning lies between the author, the text, and the reader. Johnlock meta also challenges the binaries of the affirmational/transformational fan—those who are bounded by the text versus those who transform it. Queer interpretations of Sherlock have become particularly important in the wake of Sherlock series 4 (January 2017), as such interpretations have been used as evidence both for and against accusations that the show has queerbaited its audience
TWC, past and future
No full textEditorial for TWC No. 28, The Future of Fandom, 10th anniversary issue
Interactions, emotions, and Earpers: "Wynonna Earp," the best fandom ever
No full textIn many regards, the arrival of social media has significantly changed interactions between fans and television show creators. The degree to which such changes have been positively welcomed has varied across television shows and networks. Nevertheless, such shifting relationships show no signs of dissipating in the near future. This article analyzes how Syfy's Wynonna Earp (2016–) has thus far successfully cultivated a positive connection with its fandom, built largely on concerted effort and emotional awareness
Must tweet TV: ABC's #TGIT and the cultural work of programming social television
No full textUS television network ABC developed their "Thank God It's Thursday" (TGIT) programming block in 2014 as a prime-time schedule composed of three back-to-back dramas produced by well-known TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes. From its initial development, ABC intended TGIT to be a three-hour live viewing event, encouraged by a multipronged #TGIT Twitter campaign. I consider the industrial and cultural significance of marketing the TGIT block of programming together as a cohesive block of social TV in order to encourage and structure audience participation in live television viewing. #TGIT's form of social television developed as a result of the rise of multicultural market research. The reemergence of serialized melodrama on network television functions culturally to commodify Black femininity in order to appeal to a transracial upscale female audience
"Rogue archives: Digital cultural memory and media fandom," by Abigail De Kosnik
No full textReview of Abigail De Kosnik. Rogue archives: Digital cultural memory and media fandom. New York: MIT Press, 2016. Hardcover 26.49 (7092 KB) (ASIN B01M1HQ1MK)
Live streaming as participation: A case study of conflict in the digital and physical spaces of "Supernatural" conventions
No full textMobile digital technologies allow copresence in digital and physical spaces, including those surrounding fan conventions. Fans attending these events may wish to share real-time experiences with a wider online community who are keen to participate. However, this can create conflict with other stakeholders. This case study of activities that took place in 2016 and 2017 during Supernatural (2005–) conventions run by Creation Entertainment uses ethnographic and survey methods to examine the effect of technology platforms used for online participation during these events, including live streaming apps such as Periscope. Results show that live streaming provides positive benefit both for fans and the event organizers, and that the liveness of streams can be critical to community building and can encourage ticket purchase. However, lessons can be learned regarding transitions and boundaries between grassroots fan activity and commercial service
