Fandemonium. A title and question in the works.

The society, culture and universe of fandoms and what it does to their inhabitants/civilians/followers/fans/people

The investigation on the world/society/culture/community of television fandom, fan activities and it's impact/influence/implications on a fan's personal identity. 

Say hello to my opening quote for my introduction:

The first 14 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nr3qwB7ORL8

For those of you too lazy to actually watch that, this is the gist of what I'm putting in:

Leonard:

"Hey Sheldon, clear your weekend. Starting Saturday morning, Star Wars marathon."

Sheldon:

"Movies or video games? No, board games, or trading card games or legos or dress up or comic books or dramatic readings of novelisations? YES TO ALL."

All content and material from Big Bang Theory belong to CBS and Warner Bros.

List of Fandoms

I initially wanted to focus on two specific fandoms, one television series and one film series. I talked to teacher about it and we've decided to just go with television fandom in general so now I have a lot to work with. Here is a list that shall accumulate as days past. I'll find a list widget somewhere for this blog. I'll stick to science fiction and fantasy genres.

• Joss Whedon-verse:
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  Angel
  Firefly
  Dollhouse
  Dr Horrible
• True Blood
• Vampire Diaries
• Doctor Who
• Star Trek
• Game of Thrones
• Supernatural
• Sherlock

What I got from that

So previous post was just notes. What I got from that was the historical to the present studies on fandoms and how it has evolved. Pretty much, fandom power and authority has dramatically increased along with the technology as it connects people all over the world who share the same love for the same series. It also allows the fans to contact the actual production, actors and all others affiliated with the fandom. It opened the doors to an infinite amount of possibilities to different ways for fan activites. You can now share your fanfiction, fan art, fan videos, conspiracies, thoughts and desires with the rest of the world.

Fandom itself is the result of popular culture which can range from music to literary works. I want to focus on televsion and film franchises. It has evolved into a prominent subculture and even a whole different society that gains more and more followers everyday. They have their own language (fanspeak e.g. shipping is supporting two fictional characters romantic relationship), their own subtle and (un)spoken/written rules of fandom society (dress codes for conventions, heirarchy), places of gathering (both physical and virtual. Online forums, fansites, real life conventions etc.) and their own forms of literature and art (fanfics, fanart, fanvids, fanmusic/filk)

Basically "fandomism" is people developing a strong bond or connection to original popular culture material and wanting to take that franchise out of the realm of fantasy and fiction and manifesting it in reality through their active participation in fandoms. Through connecting with others who share this love and need, they begin to gather and mass and create a whole community. This is made easy especially through the internet.

Here's a little thing I came up with:

1. Obsession with a fandom ->
2. Obsession with a fictional character ->
3. To obsession with the actor who plays or embodies that character ->
4. To obsession with trying to find what other works they have done ->
5. Obsession with another film/ televsion show that actor has worked in ->
6. Obsession with new character(s) in that show ->
7. Obsession with the actor who plays that character ->
8. and so on and so forth.

e.g.

1. Obsessed with the novel and film Hunger Games ->
2. Obsession with the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen ->
3. Obsession with Jennifer Lawrence who played that character in the film ->
4. Look into what other films or shows she has done; the most popular one being X-Men:First Class ->
5. Become obsessed with the character Erik/Magneto ->
6. Obsession with Michael Fassbender who plays that character ->
7. His other prominent films include Jane Eyre, Inglorious Basterds and Prometheus >
8. Become obsessed with one of those and the process begins again.

It's a vicious cycle of fandom.

Now what I have to do is figure out how all of this influences and impacts on a personal identity(micro level) and/or the media culture (network production, actors etc. This is macro level)

The Communication of Fan Culture: The Impact of New Media on Science Fiction and Fantasy Fandom

By Betsy Gooch of the Georgia Institute of Technology

THE FIRST TWELVE PAGES

Probably the best site to help me start. I've gotten through 10 pages or more and have already WRITTEN, in my dusty logbook, 7 pages worth of notes about this. 4 of those pages are my own thoughts and gatherings about fandom and rough drafts of possible questions and ventures I should persue. 3 of those pages are completely filled with notes from this thesis.

Basically what I've gotten from the first 12 pages is what fandom is, what it involves and how it has evolved. There have been three generations of study: 1950s-1980s: the beginning of scholary investigation on fandoms, 1990-1999: media fans, 2000 to present: cyberfandom. However even the concept of fandom predates all of this. Nevertheless, the thesis gives me great information about what each generation entails and includes great examples of fandoms and prominent scholars for each era.

1950s-1980s:
Literary works, fanzines (unofficial fan magazines)

• Harry Warner Jr.
  Fandom historian and a fan himself. Noted the increasing of the blurred lines and crossover between science fiction and fantasy genres

1990-1999
More visual texts: film, television, comics/graphic novels. Media fans/mediafen who are starting to "shape the face of science fiction and fantasy on television through their dedication and inspiring love for the show and genre." Crossing over from just a personal hobby and obsession into the realm of reality and production (large scale fan campaigns and support)

• Forest Ackerman
  Coined term: sci-fi. Devoted fan turned professional writer and editor, investigated the progression of sci-fi as a genre in literature, film and TV
• John Tulloch
  Explains the relationship between producers and the audience. Investigates growing influence, power and authority of fans on the production of siginifcant shows (Doctor Who, Star Trek). This has grown more evident with the developement of techonology and communication
• Camille Bacon-Smith
  Talks about the fan community and the growing amount and influence of female fans (fanfiction helping them play out their fantasies and desires)

2000-Present
Cyberfandom, emphasis on the role of the internet for both the fans and how fandom operates.

• Henry Jenkins
  Explains relationship between fans with the television and film productions with the media culture (Production compant/actors etc.).
  "Textual Poachers": the emergence of ratists and authors who taker original material and create their own texts. This is said with affection though - in a positive light.
  "Fandom: a community of hardworking authors and artists trying to become closer to their favourite stories, films, television via reproduction."
  Significant emphasis on the growth in participatory nature of fandom.

Fan culture studies can further be divided into 3 areas of research:

• The historical documentation of individual fandoms
• Exploration of the cultural reasoning for and issues that occur due to fan activites
• The analysis of fan productions as cultural artifacts.

• (historical aspect of fandom -> consumer analysis of fan culture -> culture research on reasons behind fan productions)

Most of the notes I've just typed up are direct quotes from the thesis. I just summarised so that it can be understood more easily in layman terms. For more in depth information and a general great, geeky read, click this link or just the title for the full thesis. I don't claim to own any of this material or ideas.

Driven by desperation and improvisation

So since I got a new topic last Friday, I've now got to write 1000 words for my first chapter by this Friday. Since my mac is having technical difficulties, I have resorted to my 8 year old PC in order to document my research and findings on blog and also to use my 2007 Microsoft word and Internet Explorer. Only a true young Gen Y and geek would find this stuff ancient.

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.