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VENI, VIDI, VIDS: TRANSFORMING CULTURAL NARRATIVES THROUGH THE ART OF AUDIOVISUAL STORYTELLING by Kristi Brownfield B.A., Eastern Illinois University, 2001 B.A., Eastern Illinois University, 2006 M.A., Southern Illinois University, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale August 2015 DISSERTATION APPROVAL VENI, VIDI, VIDS: TRANSFORMING CULTURAL NARRATIVES THROUGH THE ART OF AUDIOVISUAL STORYTELLING By Kristi Brownfield A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Sociology Approved by: Rachel Whaley, Chair Jyotsna Kapur J.P. Reed Aaron Veenstra Chris Wienke Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale 06/26/2015 AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF KRISTI BROWNFIELD, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in SOCIOLOGY, presented on JUNE 26th 2015, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: VENI, VIDI, VIDS: TRANSFORMING CULTURAL NARRATIVES THROUGH THE ART OF AUDIO VISUAL STORYTELLING MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Rachel Whaley The focus of this research is “fanvids” which are the creative work of fans that combine clips or images from a visual “canon” source (usually a television series or movie) to music to create an alternative narrative. By using qualitative content analysis methods, I sampled from the television show Supernatural and the 2009 film Star Trek to understand the ways diverse characters were presented and what types of cultural narratives existed. Then I sampled from seven different vidding communities, collecting a total of 105 vids and 6509 comments on those vids as the second part of my sample. Then drawing on the sociological subfields of social psychology, gender, cultural studies, as well as the broader literatures of media and film studies, I analyzed both the data from canons and fanvids. My analysis centered on the following research questions: a) What are the cultural narratives present in the canon sources and how are those narratives rejected, accepted, replaced, or otherwise transformed within fanvids? (b) How do the narratives present within the canon source and within the vids reflect the ideologies and spirit of the culture that produces those narratives? (c) Are these vids and discussions a sign of potential change in cultural ideologies and narratives and, if so, what change is taking place? My findings within the two canons include an emphasis on a masculinity that maintains control through violence and aggression; in contrast vids reject this type of masculinity and the larger cultural narratives that support it, except when that violent masculinity is sexualized in the context of homosexual relationships. Further, vids predominantly reject the heteronormativity i found in both Supernatural and Star Trek in favor of presenting queer relationships. Within this dissertation, I have used the transformation from canon to fandom as a narrative proxy for cultural change. The differences and similarities between canon and vid point to deficiencies both in narrative and in representation in the media we are producing in the U.S. as well as narratives that are stable and enduring, so much so that fans add them even when they are not present in canon. These are the stories our culture, right now, is built on; essentially, these are the narratives that are part of the cultural ideologies that reflect hopes, dreams, beliefs, and ideologies of the people within our society. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I need to thank Dr. Rachel Whaley for her phenomenal mentorship and willingness to pick up as my dissertation chair in the middle of this project. I am constantly amazed by how hard she works on behalf of the grad students within the Sociology department and this research never would have been completed without her support, guidance, and hard work. I also owe a debt to Dr. Jennifer Dunn, who guided me through my Master’s thesis, encouraged me to try this research project in the first place, and then was willing to hold me back when I was about to jump into the original over-ambitious version of this research. My dissertation committee, Dr. Jyostna Kapur, Dr. J.P. Reed, Dr. Aaron Veenstra, Dr. Chris Wienke, and their willingness to read such a lengthy dissertation in a time frame that works for me also deserve a hearty round of applause. I also thank the SIUC’s Sociology Department for their support and willingness to take a chance on me all those years ago. Several people were willing to listen to me outline, explain, edit, or even gripe about this research that deserve a thousand thanks including (in no particular order): Kate Niman, Cathy Gould, Justin Martin, Priya M., Andrea H., Amanda, Meagan, Renee, Aja, Tracy O., May, Steph, Sam, Otter, Felicity, Wolfbad, Karen, Keri, and Imakegoodlifechoices (who also gave me great insight to what working in the film and television industry is like for crew). Lastly, this dissertation (and graduate school more generally) would never have been something I would have conceived of doing without the examples and support of my amazing grandparents, Dr. Edith Terwilliger and Dr. John Terwilliger. I am who I am because of their influence, advice, and teaching. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................... ....iii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................v CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 – Introduction.................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2 – Fans, Fandoms, and Fanworks .................................................................11 CHAPTER 3 – Methods ....................................................................................................40 CHAPTER 4 – Supernatural Canon ..................................................................................52 CHAPTER 5 – Supernatural Vids .....................................................................................92 CHAPTER 6 – Star Trek Canon………………………………………………………..140 CHAPTER 7 – Star Trek Vids…………………………………………………………172 CHAPTER 8 – Conclusion…………………………………………………………….221 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................270 APPENDICES Appendix A – Supernatural Canon Summary .................................................................300 Appendix B – Star Trek Canon Summary .......................................................................308 VITA ..........................................................................................................................................314 iv LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE Table 5.1 ........................................................................................................................................94 Table 5.2……………………………………………………………………………………........94 Table 7.1 ......................................................................................................................................174 Table 7.2………………………………………………………………………………………..174 v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION I like to say “I’m all about the story.” I love seeing the way the scene is set, how the characters develops, and how the plot unfolds. This research, then, is also all about “the story” of fan videos (“fanvids” or “vids”). Fan videos are a well-established form of fan creation and have been since the 1970s when Kandy Fong created the first Star Trek video by putting a slide show to music (Jenkins 2006a). Thirty years later, the technology and techniques of fanvids have improved and evolved though the basic premise of what a fan video is has not changed: images from a medium such as a movie or television show (a “canon”) set to some sort of music. Fanvids are created for a variety of reasons, from celebrating a character or a relationship the creator enjoys to making a commentary on the issues within the canon. The presentations shown within the fanvids are always skewed toward the “reading” of a canon made by the video creator (“vidder”) and because of the skew many vidders reflect or intentionally reject cultural values and images of race, class and gender. All of these “fanworks” are examples of participatory culture and represent an important shift in the way consumers – and the “fanworkers” among them -- navigate cultural objects, and the ways in which a mediated existence online is changing the ways we come to understand and negotiate meanings. Within this research I explored meaning-making and story-telling within fanvids and in online fan communities. I want to explore narrative and representation, or the portrayal of someone or something in a way to suggest those persons or things are of a certain nature. Representation is what gives us as consumers the opportunity to see ourselves within the media we consume. I want to explore the ways in which both narrative and representation change through the process of creating a vid, first from the interaction between consumer (e.g., “fan”) 1 and cultural object (e.g., movie or television show), second through the interaction of consumer (e.g., vidder), cultural object, and consumer creation