Tutorial #4

A long overdue tutorial with the teacher saw me panic and cry on the inside.

I was initially excited to present all the primary research I've done. My focus group, the questionnaire and the convention. I was pretty progressive.

And then I realised I didn't have a proper question. I thought I did. But I don't. So pretty much I am screwed. I have 7 weeks to research, analyse and write up a 7000 report.

The good news is I found what I need to do within the next week and a half. Bad news is I have to do it within a week and a half. So I will definitely be just focussing on this for a while.

I was explaining to teacher everything I could about fandom and in the end I just wanted to show how crazy it can make people and what extents it makes people go to. This is all mumbo jumbo right now. A constant stream of consciousness. It was quite hard explaining fandom to a person who claims to have no obsessions in life.

So main focus from now on = HYPER REALITY. A theory/term developed by Jean Baudrillard in 1980s. Going beyond popular culture, the new level in which we reach that not only blurs the line between fantasy and reality but where fantasy nearly overtakes the aspects of real life.

Makings of a question:

To Infinity and Beyond!

Fandemonium and Hyperreality

The evolution of popular culture into the realms of fandom and the influence of cyber-community life on fans 

To what extent does "hardcore" fandom inflence the lives and identities of fans?

Hypothesis: That "hardcore" fandom significantly blurs the distinction between hyperreality and "real" reality

Chapter 1: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" (Star Wars)

The definition of fandom, the fans and the history of fandom studies. The move to cyber-fandom. Pop Culture evolution, birth of fandom. 

Chapter 2:

Living a life through fiction. Fandom Addiction. Beyond escapism. 

Chapter 3: 

Worlds within worlds: Baudrillard meets Joss Whedon. The theory of hyperreality and it's application to fandom today. 

Google: Fandom Addiction

People to e-mail and interview: http://fanstudies.wordpress.com/about/ and Adam Possamai

Tutorial #3

We have discussed and established:

• Focusing on the fandoms of the audio-visual (television and film)
• Cross-cultural study: Generational (teenagers - adults)
• Change from popular culture into fandom and how the internet influenced this. 
• Continuity of a fan community but it has evolved and grown from small fan clubs and conventions into worldwide community
• There are levels of fandom. To reach "true fandom", it has to become a life long love and obsession. Not just a phase. 
• Hyper real - Baudrillard
• Possible chapters: 1) Fandemonium: Beyond Popular Culture. Defining economic, cultural, social, political aspects of fandom.   2) Fans and Industry: The reciprocating relationship and dependence between fans and professionals.       3) Produced&Directed by Fans: Fan Activity

• Questionnaire:

1. What TV series/ Films are you a fan of?
2. How do you engage as an individual with the thing you're a fan of?
3. How time per day do you do this?
4. Respond to this statement: I feel dissatisfied or anxious when a favourite episode/series/film finishes
5. What fan activities do you participate in?
6. How much time do you devote to this?
7. Do you see yourself as a "true" fan?
8. Do you share your fandoms with your friends?
9. Do you share your fandoms mostly online?
10. Do your fan activities interfere with other aspects of your life?

So...Tutorial #2

Well technically happened yesterday. It was the last Friday of the holidays and Miss set up two days to helps us out with our writing and see how our PIPs wer getting along. Of course I did some semblance of research and work these holidays but nothing that set me off or got me into it. So after my first one on one with the teacher, I was left with a drab thesis and procrastinating time to mull over what I was really doing.

Later on I got fed up and just thought to myself, 'You know what? Screw it" and asked to have a chat with teacher.

I had this thing in my head for a while. On Thursday I watched Battleship with a couple of friends (mixed feelings about that film...) and afterwards we killed time by looking around JB HI FI.

We got to the TV section.

Now, this section is pretty broad. It's categorised by the television network and/or by genre. I noticed that for every single section we got to, we all had something to say for about at least 3 different shows. I mentioned the show Merlin and was surprised that at least one other friend followed that series and was obsessed with the same aspects as I did. We got into Doctor Who, Mad Men, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Game of Thrones, Sherlock and that wa just he tip of the iceberg. We watched A LOT of tv. Out of all this, I noticed how much passion we had for certain franchises as well, not just tv shows but films and literature as well.

I brought this up with teacher and got into this idea that had been nagging me for a little while. Fandoms. Now, I know when it come to TV shows, I tend to get geeky and obsessive. What I love is that not only can I share this with my friends who are also avid viewers, but I could also share this with the global community. I check certain tumblrs hourly, when I can, to see the latest gif photoset based on Sherlock or Hunger Games or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They seem to know exactly how I feel about certain aspects of the franchise.

One of my guilty pleasures since Year 7 or 8 is fanfiction. I read fanfiction almost daily. Mainly Sailor Moon, Buffy and yes, even Twilight fanfiction. I realized that through my obsessons with these films, tv shows and books, that I go to great and almost ridiculous lengths to keep this obsession alive and healthy and that I'm certainly not alone.

This quickly became a topic of interest once I tried to explain this to teacher. I began my research and found a couple of really good thesis' already. I'm not going to get into that on this post though.

I bottom line is, I've changed topic. As much as I love the dark, tall, handsome and brutally gorgeous brooding men, I want to go in this direction (early rough question):

How does fandom move individuals beyond the realm of popular culture and what influences do fandom communities have on the personal identity of fans?

Taking a franchise out of the realm of fantasy and fiction and manifesting it into reality through active participation in fandoms (cyber and physical communities) and how it effects the personal identity.

Tutorial #1 (Wednesday 21/03/2012)

Technically this is my 3rd meeting with my teacher, but for organisations sake, lets just start new.

Usually people leave these sessions with a sense of pride, accomplishment, anticipation and/or shit-scared. Today I was mix of all four. So far in my "journey" (I really hate calling it that, it seems so english advanced....but I can't think of anything else right now so I'll stick with it for now.), I have gone through craploads of ideas, flowcharts, Google searches (my God, the Google searches), concepts and even performed two methodologies for an idea I probably won't go through with. So far my "genius" ideas include:

• Violent women in film (this obviously branched off with more specific concepts but cbf. This will probably happen with the next few ideas too)
• Teen literature and the influence on teens 
• Creativity and it's place in the world
• Jane Austen, her message and place in the world both in past and present. 
• Feminism, feminism, feminism, post-feminism, post-feminism, second wave feminism, third wave feminism, neo-feminism annnddddddddd feminism. 

Now the Jane Austen one led me to the question: What makes a man, a man? What are the qualities that make you a man? Do you have to pass a test? Go through a specific rite of passage? What in a guys life could influence the man they become? What do girls think the ideal man is? Why do they think that?

And so on and so forth. So here is what I pretty much did today:

Hopefully my subconscious isn't too hard to read (or my writing). So basically near the end of my session (which went for about 2 hours), me and teacher evaluated my poor representation of my brain. We cut down. A lot. So I was left to two ideas:

1. The ideal man - The female ideals: The Tall, Dark, Handsome and BROODING. The rising popularity of the tortured soul and it's appeal to women. Some kind of study on the angsty fictional men that females seem to love these days. E.g. Edward Cullen (Twilight) , Angel (from Buffy), Mr Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) etc.
2. The socialisation of boys: The virtual social life of young adult males. Looking into socialisation on virtual online role-playing gaming. Social gatherings in places that specialise in providing rows of computers for gaming. The ability to play with someone in India. The homogenisation of socialisation. 

But now I'm left with the dilemma of: 

WHICH FREAKING ONE?!?!?

I love the idea and concept behind both and would thoroughly enjoy the primary research for each. Content analysis (watching movies and noting stuff), observation (Just watching [inter]actions of people in their natural environment to find any particulars or patterns) and MORE!

I need to submit my question by the end of the school day tomorrow and email my teacher. 

An Introduction:

Welcome to PIProject.

I am a society and culture student in Year 12 and have to do a Personal Interest Project which requires me to do extensive research and produce a 4000-7000 word report about the subject of my choice. I am already 2 Terms in and I still haven't come up with a subject or question. So basically I'm a little freaked out.

In order to record my process in a way that I can easily keep track of things, I have created this blog. I will post ideas, secondary research findings, plans to help develop this PIP, content from my tutorials with my society and culture teacher, results from methodologies, and of course: my stress rants about this.

Hopefully I stick to this and it helps me out.