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Fandom as a remixing

“, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn't fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with ; but if it didn't frustrate us on some level, there would be no drive to rewrite or it.” ― , Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

Kimberly Leerkes 10586954 2022 EA 380A Haarlem [email protected] 0610236496

Master Thesis New Media Studies 2015-2016 University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities

Thesis supervisor: Dr. N. A. J. M. (Niels) van Doorn Second reader: dr. J.A.A. (Jan) Simons

24 June 2016

1 Index

Fandom as a remixing culture 1 Index 2 Introduction 3 Methodology 7 Case study 8 Autoethnography 9 Interviews 10 Interviewees 12 Episode I – Defining fandom 15 Fans and fandom 15 Remixing the 18 Episode II – Start of an Empire 21 and APA’s 21 Organized fandom 24 The epic story of 25 Episode III – The Fans Awaken 29 Fans and the Web 1.0 29 Digital labor 32 A rebellion brew 37 Episode IV – 43 The emergence of platforms 44 The Disney reign 49 Conclusion 56 Further research 57 Bibliography 58 61 Appendix 63 Interview questions 63 Interview findings 65

2 Introduction

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Or maybe November 2014, the first sound after a silence of nine years is the voice of the legendary Luke Skywalker, actor Mark Hamill, saying the memorable words: “The force is strong in my family.” sounds of starships passing, lightsabers clashing and stormtroopers shooting are like to the ears. The of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens does not reveal the plot of the movie, but reassures fans that it is everything they have hoped for. The trailer was viewed over 112 million times in just 24 hours (Marshal 2016). Days after the release, The Force Awakens was still a social buzz with fans proudly tweeting and posting that they have seen the trailer more than 13 times. The satisfaction of the fans was proudly shared by posting , reaction , cover and already narratives on the Web. The fans were heating up ‘society’ for the upcoming movie and it proved to be the most successful Star Wars to date, it was even the highest grossed movie in North America (Hodak 2016). It is striking that Star Wars, with its most successful movies released in the 1970s/1980s and its disappointing trilogy in the late 1990s, was still this popular in 2014. I am convinced that this everlasting popularity is due to the rich fan community Star Wars has and the products they produce.

Fans have always had a close relation with new technology. Media professor Henry Jenkins even states: “Fans have always been early adaptors,” (Jenkins 2006b 140-141). I consider fan culture a ; new technologies have shaped fan culture to an extent that fan culture cannot be seen without media developments. Therefore, the development of fan culture is constantly connected to the progression of new technology. Fans on their part have influenced contemporary society, with their key characteristic of remixing source material, according to Professor a characteristic of the new generation (Lessig 2007). Nowadays we can see several versions of remixed content, ranging from videos on YouTube to culture1 imbedded in almost every . These activities are no longer attributed to only fans, but have a pre-digital origin that has encountered complex struggles regarding laws. This thesis will discuss the rise of contemporary fan culture that has not been without difficulties. The focus will be on fan-produced products, the items that fuel the fan community but also cause conflict with the media industry. Though official owners want a harmonious relation with their fans, they cannot suppress the need to content. This tension between owners and fans will guide the developments in fan and new media.

1 An meme is a concept or idea that spreads "virally" from one person to another via the Internet. An could be anything from an image to an or file; however, the most common meme is an image of a person or animal with a funny or witty caption.

3 Fan culture and media expert Henry Jenkins describes a culture that encourages the production of new material. It resembles the nature fan culture, where the community helps each other to produce more qualitative new content. The voice of the masses is stronger than those of the individual, even if that individual is the official maker of the content presented (Jenkins 2006b 135-137). The notion of ownership is put to question. Fans are extremely critical and many filmmakers, authors and game developers have tasted the fierce critique fired at them. The power relation between fans and the media industry is one of the major themes that guide this thesis. It shows the increasing power of fans and how the media industry tries to deal with it. The focus is on the Star Wars fandom, a fandom that from its beginning in 1977 has been in a constant struggle between fans and creative owner . In the beginning Lucas was appreciative of his fans, but soon he saw that fans crossed the boundaries of his approval. Like his fans, Lucas was an early adaptor of new technologies and therefore the Star Wars fandom was the first to encounter problematic situations. Lucas tried to collaborate with his fans, but his efforts backlashed when fans discovered they had creative differences with Lucas. The relation between companies and their fans is a delicate issue, because fans love to engage and create new content but to do this they use original source material that is the of someone else.

My research will contribute to new media studies and by directly connecting the fields of research with each other. Fans and media are inseparable and should be treated as such. This thesis will show how the production of fan products has changed over the years and what effects these changes have caused. The focus is on the fan-generated products. Products that are always connected with new media technologies. Fans use media to create, share and communicate with each other. New media has changed the way fan products are created and shared. New technology implies new ways use and will lead to new behavior. How much has fan culture changed with the emerging of digital technology? I will follow the history of fan cultures and show how closely connected fan cultures are with media and why this concerns the media industry. How has the media industry approached the changing behavior of fan cultures and how have fans reacted to this interference?

Research question How has digital technology shaped fan culture and what are the effects of fan generated products in relation to the media industries?

4 Thesis overview The chapters are portrayed as ‘episodes’, a referral to the way each Star Wars movie is titled. The headline of some episodes refer to a movie quote or title that corresponds with the content provided in the chapter. The structure of the thesis follows a chronological order, where I will start with the emergence of organized fan culture and will follow the development of new technologies. Star Wars is therefore very appropriate because the release of each trilogy takes place in the different time periods discussed: pre-digital, early Web (1.0) and the present Web (2.0). I will discuss how new technology has influenced fan cultures and how the relation between fans and the original creator changes over the years.

Methodology – The methodology is a theoretical analysis of the different methods and approaches used during this research. It will account for the decision to use certain methods and how these methods are executed and designed.

Episode I: Defining Fandom – This chapter aims to explain the essence of fan culture and the close relation fans have with media. Key terms and activities are introduced, such as the act of remixing original source works. This is an activity that shows the nature of fan culture and suggests the conflict fans tend to have with the original authors. The aim for this chapter is to provide a short introduction to fandom.

Episode II: Start of an Empire – I will discuss the emergence of fan culture of the 1900s by connecting technological developments with fan activities. It will show the fandom as a network that became more present as media progressed. This will not only show what role media plays in fan cultures, but also how the media industry initially treaded fan engagement.

Episode III: The Fans Awaken – This chapter focuses on the transition of fan cultures to the early days of the Web. The time period discussed is the 1990s until roughly the 2000s. Lucas already struggled to control fan activities and tried to use fans for his company. The concept of free labor in relation to fans is discussed. Fan products are not just valuable in the fan community. George Lucas always had an interesting relationship with his fans. He started out loving the attention of fans, but at a turn point he aggressively protected his intellectual property. Over time, the Star Wars fandom has grown to enormous proportion and all the fans have a certain view of what Star Wars is about. When their idea of Star Wars does not match with how Lucas envisions it, conflict emerges. Several media developments have fueled this conflict and they show that fans cannot be controlled. In the the group decided the rules.

5 Episode IV: The Empire Strikes Back– The final chapter will describe contemporary fan culture. After 10 years of silence, releases its newest Star Wars movie. The media environment has significantly changed, as has the behavior of fans. Lucas has denounced all rights to Disney, resulting in superfan Abrams directing the franchise he loves. In this chapter I will look back on the relationship of fans and the media industry and how companies have tried to control fan engagement. Lucas has not succeeded in creating a harmonious fan relation, but new owner Disney has a different approach.

6 Methodology

This chapter will focus on the different research methods used in this study. The aim of this research is to provide new insights and knowledge to contribute to existing research on media and fan studies. Through research we gain a deeper understanding of contemporary events (Creswell 2002 4). The research question ‘How has digital technology shaped fan culture and what are the effects of fan generated products in relation to the media industries?’ requires a qualitative research approach. Creswell explains that a qualitative research approach is best suited to address a research problem in which the variables are not yet known and exploring is essential (Creswell 2002 17). The answer of the research question cannot narrowly be measured in numbers. It is the exploration of a phenomenon that will provide a suitable answer and getting to know a culture and its artifacts will be key to this research. It is therefore necessary to choose for a qualitative approach, where a phenomenon is explored by looking at events and the reaction of people to these events. Though in a qualitative approach often plays a minor role (Creswell 2002 17) I have frequently used literature to guide the argument. The research question requires two different understandings: an exploration of technological developments from the 1900s until present day and an understanding of the nature of fan cultures. These two main questions must be connected to answer the first part of the research question. The technological developments and their impact on the culture are analyzed by literature. But connecting it to fan activities requires an understanding of what fan culture is all about. Getting to know a culture requires contact with participants of the culture. I have systematically analyzed my personal experiences (autoethnographic research) in order to obtain thick descriptions. Thick descriptions consist, opposed to thin descriptions, of more detail, conceptual structures and meanings and interpretation (Geertz 1994 213-220). As an active participant in fandom I have a clear idea of the essence of fan culture. Something that may not reflect in literature. In combination with my autoethnographic approach I have interviewed other fans and connected their answers to my personal experience and the literature presented. The interview results and my personal experience however did not contain data that provided an historical overview of the developments of technology. Many interviewees did not experience the shift from analog media to digital media and therefore could not comment on this. For this reason I have used mostly literature to structure the storyline that chronologically follows the developments of new media technology. New technology is then linked to fan activities to interpret its influence and effects. I have used the Star Wars case study as an example to more closely examine how a fandom could change. Not every fandom goes through the same

7 developments, but Star Wars has had a significant role in the history of Western fandom and has experienced the three time periods I have chosen to discuss in this thesis. The timeline of new technological developments linked with the Star Wars fandom therefore guides the storyline of this thesis. It is complemented with the thick descriptions of the interviews and autoethnographic research to enrich the insights obtained from literature.

Case study In general, case studies are an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin 1984 23). Eisenhardt and Graebner describe case studies as “a research strategy, which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings,” (Eisenhardt & Graebner 2007 534). My research strategy involves taking on a case study: the Star Wars fandom2. Case studies are rich empirical descriptions of particular instances of a phenomenon that are typically based on a variety of data sources (Yin 1994; Eisenhardt & Graebner 2007 25). This approach has been followed by analyzing how technology has shaped fan behavior before and after the influence of the Web 2.0. This is done by doing theoretical research where I historicize certain fan related events and connect them to technological developments. For pre-digital developments, I used pre-existing theories created by other researchers such as Henry Jenkins, , Mark Duffet, Matt Hills and Fransesca Coppa, who have all partially historicized fan culture but show different perspectives from different movements. I will connect their findings with the emergence of new technologies and the events of the Star Wars fandom. Contemporary fan culture will be analyzed by not only theoretical research, but also empirical research (interviews, autoethnography) that will have a leading role in especially the final chapter of this thesis. Star Wars has a rich cultural history that illustrates the struggle with original authors prior to present fan culture. The role of this case study will not be captured if historical events are not mentioned. Star Wars is one of the key in the science fiction/ scene. It could be argued that one the reason for fan cultures to become popular in the 1970s is the release of the first science fiction blockbuster movie: Star Wars. Even today, Star Wars is one of the biggest fandoms in the world with a large variety of fan activities and creative products. The reason I chose Star Wars as a case study is its unique relationship with the original author. The story of fan culture can be illustrated through this specific fandom, for Star Wars started during the time when fan culture was at its beginning. Many Star Wars related events have influenced the relationship between fans and the original makers of the franchise. George Lucas,

2 Fandom is a term used to refer to a composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest.

8 creator of Star Wars, from the beginning had a fickle relationship with his fans. He used them to promote his franchise, but tried to control them to eventually find out fans cannot be controlled, and eventually he denied their existence (Jenkins 2006b 138). Fans of Star Wars, on their end, have loudly critiques creative decisions George Lucas has made and used fan products to aggressively critique the source material. But even after disappointing events, the number of Star Wars fans did not decrease. The latest movie resulting in a creative fan engagement revival regarding Star Wars and participates in the newest of fan engagement. However, what makes Star Wars most interesting is that their fandom has had struggle when forming. Unlike popular fandom like The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings or , in which fans were welcomed by the original authors and encountered less struggle. Star Wars has encountered several counteracts by Lucas, but nevertheless evolved into a fandom with diverse fan engagement that have influenced the creative industries, the media industries, and fan culture behavior with the use of new (digital) technologies.

Autoethnography Autoethnography is a research approach that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience. It is a form of qualitative research in which the author uses self-reflection and writing to explore personal experiences and connect this autobiographical story to wider cultural, political and social meanings (Ellis, Adam & Brochner 2011 273). It is an approach that leads to thick descriptions. The purpose of this description is to help facilitate understanding of a culture for insiders and outsiders, and is created by (inductively) discerning patterns of cultural experience—repeated feelings, stories, and happenings—as evidenced by interviews and/or artefacts (Jorgenson 2002 350-380). Autoethnographers must consider ways in which others may experience similar experiences. They must use personal experience to illustrate facets of cultural experience and make characteristics of a culture familiar for insiders and outsiders. Autoethnography implies connection: the stories we write connect the self to the cultural. The way we research and write these stories blends social science methods with the aesthetic sensibilities of the humanities. I consider myself a fan and have been a participant in the several fandom as long as I can remember. Looking back at my childhood, I started creating fan of my favorite characters of The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter Laboratory in juxtaposed sequences, creating comic . This later evolved in crossovers3 and new narratives between several cartoon series, mostly of the Cartoon Network channel. Of course as a child I did not consider these practices fan activities and I did not yet actively participated in a networked fandom. But looking back at those activities I do see my acts as a way to engage with source material, one of the key characteristics of ‘fan

3 stories is a , originated from fan fiction, that spans multiple fandom.

9 behavior.’ During my teenage years (2000/2010) I was an active fan fiction writer and fan artist, mostly in the anime4 and manga5 scene. I have become more enthusiastic about several Western science fiction franchises, due to encountering fans and interesting fan products (fan fiction mostly). Although I do not engage in fan fiction/art anymore, I am an active member on , forums and do my deal of theory crafting6 on Reddit. Because years of personal experience in fan culture, I understand what it means to be a fan and how fans often think about their works in relation to non-fan productions. My personal experiences can provide richer (thicker) descriptions, because I can oversee the full context of my actions after self-reflexion and match these with the literature. This however, has not been an easy process. “Because many autoethnographical studies relate to painful experiences, the researcher may encounter difficult moments during the course of the research and writing,” (Raab 2013 14). To relate to my past identity and understand how it translates into my present identity is a difficult process. But it is worth the effort in order to reap the wards or reflexivity and introspection. This process required honesty and understanding. To balance my understanding of fan culture, it is necessary to contact other fan members and compare our experiences in order to capture the nature of fan culture, the motives of producing fan products and their view on ownership. To accurately illustrate what it means to be an engaging fan in contemporary times it is mandatory to get in touch with fans that currently creatively participate in fan communities.

Interviews In-dept interviews are often described as a form of conversation (Ritchie 2013 138). An interview is a form of survey on which the researcher records answers supplied by the participant in the study. The researcher asks a question from an interview guide, listens for answers or observes behavior, and records responses on the survey (Creswell 2002 382). These interviews were conducted to obtain information about fan’s motives, perception on fan culture, production of fan works and the effects of fan production within the community. What role does media technology play in the production and distribution of fan products? The interview questions are structured in a way they allow the interviewee to answer freely without being influenced by the interviewers opinions. The interview must be interactive in

4 Anime is Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the abbreviated pronunciation of ‘animation’ in Japanese, where this term references all animation without regards to the nation of origin. Outside Japan however, anime is used to refer specifically to animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful , vibrant characters and fantastical themes. 5 Manga are comics created in Japan, or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art. The term manga is a Japanese word referring both to comics and cartooning. ‘Manga’ as a term used outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan. 6 As an emergent practice of World of Warcraft (WoW) players, theory crafting is the search for the optimal set of strategies with which to play WoW. By using statistical analysis and mathematical modeling, theory crafters seek out the underlying formulae that govern WoW, largely in an attempt to play WoW better. Since the release of the popular novel and TV series Game of Thones, theory crafting is also considered the crafting of theories regarding the fictional narrative; solving the story mystery.

10 nature where the answers of the interviewees will lead the follow-up of questions. Initially, the first answers lead to a ‘surface’ question. The interviewers must use follow-up questions to obtain a deeper and fuller understanding of the participants meaning (Ritchie 2013 141-142). Anonymity was a big issue among interview interviewees. I received a lot of responses on my interview request on that are popular for creative fan engagement (DeviantArt, Fanfiction.net and ), however all stayed quiet the moment I wanted to schedule a Skype video chat. Because of this result I have changed my interview method and found out that ‘email’ interviewing was preferred among the interview applicants. Though the exchanging of email was still to personal, correspondence through private messaging was preferred. I have asked some of the applicants why they prefer to stay anonymous. Some have explained that they wanted their identity kept secret because they do not openly practice their hobby. Fan fiction writer David, for instance, is new to the fan fiction scene and was the only one who wanted to his first name. Rebel Spectre 6 explained that he was simply being careful with giving out personal information to people he did not personally know. From my own experience as a fan, I know that some fans consider their online fan behavior a secret hobby. Being an obsessive fan is completely accepted in fan culture itself, but might cause unwanted opinions from others in daily life. I respect their wished to stay anonymous during the interviews and have adapted my interview methods to the needs of the applicants. Email interviews were done by corresponding via email. My interviewees preferred to use the private messaging system provided by either FanFiction.net of DeviantArt. Although private messaging is different from email, it does show some resemblances. The private messaging (PM messaging) in DeviantArt and FanFiction.net resemble email corresponding. Sending messages are done from user to user, without the use of an email address or the exchange personal information. FanFiction.net directs incoming PMs to your personal email inbox, but to answer the message you must use the FanFiction.net messaging system. This is not like a chatroom, where the conversation synchronous. Though, a PM is considered less formal than an email. FanFiction.net does not allow to share URLs in the PMs, which caused smaller problems when the fans exchanged their information with me. DeviantArt does not redirect PMs to my email, causing me to remark responses a few days after the interviewee had send them. This is not a functional problem, but did cause the interview correspondence to take longer than was necessary. There are several advantages to private messaging interviews. It is possible to send multiple questions at once and unlike interviews, the applicant has the option to think about the questions and provide elaborate answers. The disadvantage was that this form of interview could result in interviewees forgetting or choosing to not respond (Creswell 2002

11 383). Another disadvantage is the chance to lose the conversation aspect. The interviewee might keep his valuable anonymity, but a chance to really get to know the person is minimized. With the absence of body language the answers could be interpreted in a different way (Creswell 2002 383). As an interviewer, I was fully dependent on the typed answers provided. I wanted my interviews to resemble a personal conversation as much as possible. For this reason, I send out five or six questions per email, so it would be easier to use follow-up questions. The first set of questions were used to get to know the person and the motives of their fan engagement. The second set often contained questions about the production process and the effects of their work. The third set question the matter of ownership of the fandom’s products, do fans credit themselves? And what do they think about collaborating or ‘being used’ by the media industry? Are they even aware? This structure is chosen to make the interviewee feel more comfortable. I would not ask delicate questions about authorship and possible exploitation in the beginning of the interview, it might scare the interviewee resulting in no responses. I have used a mixture or open and closed questions, though closed questions were often followed by a question to explain. During my interviews I noticed that several applicants have a busy daily schedule, scheduling a one-hour interview would have been demanding for them. This could be the reason why many fans did not respond after the request for a date. With a PM interview they can take their time answering the questions and message back whenever it suits them. I would then message them with follow-up questions until I feel no more questions were needed. Another advantage is the difference in time-zones. Hardly any of the interviewees were located in Europe, this issue would have made it hard to schedule a meeting that was convenient for them or me.

Interviewees The main requirement of the interviewees was that they had to be actively engaging with the Star Wars fandom by creating a fan product. At first I reached out to fan artist whose artwork has gone viral in popular culture. One artist was the German filmmaker Shawn Bu, whose fan video : Apprentice inspired me to use fan products as a thesis topic. It was the first fan video that I have encountered that had an extremely professional look and feel, but was made with a small budget by a small team. In March 2016 the video went internationally viral outside the fan community, presenting popular culture the underground world of fan editing. However, such artists have become minor celebrities within their genre and did not respond to my requests. I decided to dig deeper in the fan culture and invite active fans that are currently popular within their field and whose products will probably not reach non-fans unless they are looking for it.

12 I have searched several websites for fan artist within the Star Wars fandom and found several applicants on FanFiction.net and DeviantArt. To structure the large amounts of fan works I filtered the contents by the date of last published content. FanFiction.net gives basic information about every fan fiction such as amount of words, chapters, publishing date etc. I chose fan writers who recently updated their work and had writer a substantial amount of work. I did the same for the fan illustrations through DeviantArt, where the possibility to look by publishing date was also available. I specifically looked for active users and popularity of their product. The reason for this is to exclude fans that are creating one-shot products and may quit their project before it can contribute to the fandom. Interview interviewees are: - Rebel Spectre 6: fan fiction writer, fan illustrator, fan video (video edits) and theory crafting. - Nendwriter: fan fiction writer and English (academic) student. - Dark Side of the Mind: fan fiction writer. - David: fan fiction writer. - Murdered-Seconds: fan illustrator. - Quack Inc: writing duo, one writer is also a fan illustrator.

All interviewees have stated to prefer to stay anonymous and agreed on the use of their online identity (their account name). To respect their I have only used information given through their interviews or their online profile. The interviews were conducted between April 2016 and May 2016, using private messages on Fanfiction.net and DeviantArt. Most correspondence lasted for three to four weeks. More specific information per interview can be found in the appendix (page 64). The difficulty with interviewing using private messaging is that interviews are conducted over a longer time period. Interviewees could choose when to respond, resulting in some responses received after more than a week. The interviewees took the interview serious and always mentioned they needed time to answer them. I hardly ever received a response on the same day of questioning. Not all interviewees were elaborate in their answers and there is less pressure for them to be so, even if the same question is asked several times. This problem caused me to delete the interview with fan fiction writer DarthImperius. Even though I constructed many open questions, he answered in short sentences with several yes/no answers. Even after repeating the question in a different manner, there was no improvement. Several questions were not understood. It should be noted that this was the only non-English speaking fan (Portuguese fan), but all of his fan fiction was written in English. I decided that because of the lack of explanation, the answers were not usable. I cannot force an interviewee to give more information than they

13 want. This is the disadvantage of interviews using private messaging. This is in contrast with my interview with Nendwriter, an academic literature student based in . She responded with elaborative answers leaving plenty of room for follow-up questions. Nendwriter seemed to understand the debate of my research well and our interview seemed more like a conversation, discussing the issue of ownership over fan products and the effects of fan products on her personal life, but also the fan community. I contacted a few Etsy sellers and requested an interview, but they did not respond to my request. Interview finding of Etsy would be an interesting addition to my data, because the behavior of those fans differs from other fans. They sell their products with possibly a commercial motive, whereas other fan content is mostly offered for free. I wanted to know if these Etsy sellers considered themselves fans, or offered their fan related products for commercial reasons, and why they chose to ask money for their products.

Limitations Though it was my intention to talk to fans of different ages, the fans that wanted to participate in this research were mostly digital natives. Because a significant part of this thesis describes the transition from pre-digital fan culture to online fan culture, it would have been more interesting to have fans that have experienced this technological shift. When approaching fans for an interview I mostly focused on fans that created fanworks such as and fan fiction. Because of my decision to do interviews through online technologies I have never actually met my interviewees. I only knew about their age when I started the interview. The findings collected of these interviews where highly valuable. The task to use the collected data in the findings was challenging for certain chapters such as Episode II where the fan culture of the 1900s was described. These limitations in interviews were however complemented by more theory that has been written about this period in fan culture. Towards the last chapter on contemporary fan culture, I was struggling to find academic theory to structure my argument. The interview, case study and autoethnographic research were more important for describing contemporary fan culture. Another challenge was to transform my personal experiences as a fan into an academic analysis of fandom. Most of my intensive fan activities were done in the early 2000s, but at the time I was barely a teenager and hardly knew of the intense discourses regarding new technology. I was challenged to connect my past experiences with media theory and critically reflect on the works others have written.

14 Episode I – Defining fandom

Giving a clear definition of what it means to be a fan is a difficult challenge. There is not one definition of the word ‘fan’. Fan cultures are diverse and complex and fans come in all varied shapes and genres. It is impossible to mention all sorts of fans and their unique attributes; therefore this thesis focuses on the culture of the Western science fiction/fantasy fans and their relation to modern technology. This chapter aims to capture the nature of fan cultures by explaining the main characteristics all fandom have in common. What makes fan culture different from other cultures? Even though there are many different sorts of fans, they all share the same basic need to engage with source material.

Fans and fandom Fandom is a socio-cultural phenomenon largely associated with modern capitalist societies, electronic media, and mass culture. When looking at the characteristics of fans it might be tempting to think that fan culture was always there, fully formed in society. “Nobody functions entirely within fan culture, nor does fan culture maintain any claims to self-sufficiency. There is nothing timeless about this culture; fandom originates as a response to specific historical conditions and remains constantly in flux,” (Jenkins 1992 3). These conditions stem from the emergence of new technology and their tendency to reconfigure everyday experience. Merriam-Webster, the Oxford dictionary defines the term ‘fan’ as a shortened version of the word ‘fanatic’, already suggesting the nature of fan behavior. The word ‘fanatic’ was introduced to the English language in the seventeenth-century with the definition: “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion,” or someone who cannot change his mind and will not change his subject. Both these definitions often refer to a (irrational) religious zeal. Later the word was shortened to ‘fan’ and used as a synonym for ‘devotee’ or ‘adherent’. The word ‘fan’ became significant one century later when it was used by journalists to describe the passion of baseball spectators (Duffet 2013 5). A fandom is the collective title of the cultural production (movie, show, novel, celebrity etc.) and all fan activities surrounding it. It is a combination of the words ‘fan’ and ‘kingdom’ and often used in a way one would use the word ‘kingdom’. Such a fandom can consist of several that form communities or groups that are still connected to the main fandom but have a preference for a specific character or storyline. Sometimes a subculture is big enough to be considered a fandom on itself. For instance, there is the main fandom of Star Wars where all Star Wars related activities resolve under. But there are also fandom dedicated to characters, fan practices or storylines. For instance there might be a Wars fandom, where fans specifically gather to talk about the series, there is a Kylo Ren

15 fanbase where several fans dedicate artwork, fan fiction or blogposts to this specific character, and there is the 501st Legion, a community dedicated to the act of (stormtrooper) cosplay7 that could be seen as a fandom of its own. All these fandom have several gathering spots, but eventually all contribute in the circulation of Star Wars content; the main fandom. Defining the term ‘fan’ or ‘fandom’ has been proven to be difficult to several researchers. One problem most authors encounter is that a fandom cannot be pinned down to a singular definition as expressions and performances of fandom change over time and place. Many authors come up with distinctions within the general category of fans. Tulloch and Jenkins (1992 23) for instance, make a distinction between ‘followers’ and ‘fans’, along the axis of engagement with the object of fandom. Unlike a ‘follower’, a fan claims a social identity. Brooker and Brooker’s (1996 141) distinction in ‘admirers’, ‘fans’ and ‘cult fans’ echoes a similar mode of distinction (Meers 2006). Abercrombie and Longhurst’s (1998) taxonomy of audience involvement is arguably the most extensive example of such attempts at refinement. They have proposed to consider fandom as the first degree of intensity with which one can relate to cultural texts. In a continuum of audience involvement, they distinguish between mere consumers on the one extreme and producers on the other, with fans, cultists and enthusiasts in the middle. While it does make sense to distinguish between different kinds of audience involvement, their proposal is problematic for its overhaul of common academic and common sense concepts. Abercrombie and Longhurst explain that the fan in previous studies resemble most closely their definition of a cultist, but as Mark Hills (2002 xi) observes, “It seems faintly unhelpful to produce a taxonomy in which the definition of ‘fan’ is at odds with the use of this term in almost all other literature in the field.” Hills continues to approach cult fandom as a ‘particular (enduring) form of affective fan relationship’ (Hills 2002 xi). Although fans have an intense love for their fandom, they are by no means uncritical. Fans have a voice and have proven not to be afraid to use it. Jenkins states: “Organized fandom is an institution of theory and criticism, a semi structured space where competing interpretations and evaluations of common text are proposed, debated, and negotiated and where readers speculate about the nature of the and their own relationship with it,” (Jenkins 1992 86). Fan gatherings consist of talking about specific characters, scenes and story possibilities. Fans might be one of the most critical and hard to please audiences storytellers have to deal with. They have a specific expectation of how a story should go and have shown to be very vocal about decisions that do not meet their standards. Media and music expert Mark Duffet describes in his Understanding Fandom the fandom as the recognition of a positive, personal, relatively deep, emotional connection with a mediated

7 (costume play) is the practice of dressing up as a character from a , , or . The act usually coheres with costume crafting. Traditional cosplayers create their own costumes.

16 element of popular culture (Duffet 2013 2). Fan communities have a special bonding between fans that cannot be seen in any other group formation where participant do not personally know each other. There is an underlying acknowledgement and understanding between fans of the same fandom. They are not the same, but all share the same interest. This aspect of ‘shared interest’ is what makes fan cultures special to me. As a teen, I was an isolated fan and had a hard time talking about my interests with others. No one shared the same enthusiasm in sci-fi, fantasy or Japanese animation the way I did. Getting in touch with fandom online has resulted in the development of close friendships. Many of those friendships are still active, though the friendships I have constructed with non-fans have drifted apart due to ‘not sharing the same interest’. I personally consider myself a fan of several series, books or authors, movies and comic books. Often I hear people claiming they are also fans, but most of the time it means they just really like a certain TV series, celebrity or novel series. There is no strict rule that can exclude them as fans. To be a fan means you must feel a fan, therefore you are a fan once you consider yourself a fan. However, when I proclaim that I am a fan, the love I have for a specific fictional storyline exceeds the average liking of an individual. Other people might enjoy watching a movie, express their opinions and afterwards simply move on with their lives. Fans will not leave it at only a few days of interest. Fans dedicate (small) parts of their lives to the fandom. “When I say I am a fan it means signing up for a membership to a particular culture,” (Jenkins 1992 14). To Jenkins being a fan means participating in a community and the share of a culture among people with the same interests. They engage with their fandom by creating new content in the form of blogging, fan video or fan art. They are not just consumers, people who buy or use the products and services and just enjoy it, they are also producers in their culture and contribute to the fandom by creating new content. Academic fan Karen Hellekson describes the fan as someone who engages within a subculture organized around a specific object of study. “Fans engage in a range of activities related to their passion. Not least, they create and pass along a culture, with its attendant rules of behavior and acceptability,” (Hellekson 2009). To be a fan means to be an active participant within a fandom. Whether it may be dedicating hours of free time writing fan fiction or spreading opinions on a page. A fan engages in some way with their fandom. This is what makes them different from non-fans. During the interviews with Star Wars fans, love and dedication was a criteria often mentioned when questioning the definition of fan. Fan fiction writer Nendwriter states that fans usually are emotionally invested in fandom. Dark Side of the Mind mentions the dedication of fans and the role the fandom plays in daily life. None of the interviewed fans seemed to have a set of rules that fans should obey and all were appreciative of everyone just loving the fandom. Referring to yourself as a fan already proves that you are one. There seem to be no hostility towards new members. Nendwriter explains: “If you had never had a donut before in your life, but once

17 you've eaten a donut you decide you love them, I'd say you're a true fan of donuts; just because you didn't grow up eating them doesn't mean you enjoy them any less than someone who has.” New fans or fans with a lower activity level therefore are not considered less of a fan than those who are actively producing fan content. They might engage with their fandom in other ways, such as reading content and occasionally sharing fan or non-fan content and thus spreading the joy caused by fan activities. Even new fans and less active fans engage in some way with their fandom.

Remixing the canon There are multiple ways for fans to engage with the franchise they love. But American academic Lawrence Lessig districts user behavior in two different segments: R/O (Read Only) and R/W (Read/Write). Read-Only (RO) culture is professionally produced, hierarchical, and characterized by control. R/O culture allows amateurs to consume ―tokens of culture (music, movies) but not adapt them. But R/W culture allows people to create, participate, and ―re-mix products that become improvisations of other people’s work (Lessig 2006). Lessig explains how technology has affected our culture by resurrecting American composer John Philip Sousa testimony of how in ‘the old days’ (Sousa said this in 1906) young people would vocally remix the songs of their ancestors and changed it to their own liking. Sousa was afraid that the act of read-write culture would cease to exist with the arrival of electronic media, in case of music the machine would do the singing and the consumer would only listen. But in present day this is not the case. In fact, technology has given popular culture the opportunity to remix in different ways and it has become the dominant creative culture of our time. According to Lessig, the act of remixing is a creative and artistic art. Such artistic expression represents an entirely new way to process and absorb information. The art of remixing is the art to create by remaking (Lessig 2008). Lessig argues that this remixing culture is a characteristic of the new generation due to the arrival of electronic media, but when looking at the history of fan cultures I would argue otherwise. is one of the key characteristics of fan culture, the earliest activities of fans resolve around modifying source material and the creation of new storylines from pre- existing sources. Fans have always been early adapters of new technology. Fans are the most active segment of the media audience, one that refuses to simply accept what they are given, but rather insist on the right to become full participants (Jenkins 2003 135). Fan culture has always been primarily a remix culture.

Fan culture expert Henry Jenkins refers to fans as ‘poachers’, meaning “an impertinent raid on the literary preserve where fans take away only those things that are useful or pleasurable,” (Jenkins 2013 9). One of the core characteristics of fans is the need to engage with their fandom

18 more than an average supporter would do. Poaching or remixing is whereby fans reproduce content by taking the original and utilize it in the creation of something new. The sharing of remixed content is always done with the use of media technology. Remixing source material is traditionally done by creating fan art (visual interpretation of source content) or fan fiction (creation of new narratives). Contemporary fan culture however shows how diverse the art of remixing can be, the creation of new videogame material, the editing of complete movies or series, the crafting of costumes or creation of music, the possibilities are endless. The original content, the content created by the original maker is referred to as the canon. As British poet and novelist Sheenagh Pugh mentions this in her The Democratic Genre (2005): “One thing all fan fiction have in common is the idea of the ‘canon’, the source material accepted as authentic and, within the fandom, known by all readers in the same way that and folk-tale were once commonly known.” To illustrate, the Marvel comic series by, among others, are considered the canon in the Marvel fandom. Many Marvel storylines have been adapted to live action movies. The movies differ from the comic books, but are considered official canon, usually when referring to a movie adaption one speaks of a cinematic canon. Most fan works are adjustments or personal interpretations of fans regarding the canon. The concept of the canon is something all fandom have in common. When certain adjustment become popular within the fandom and many fans use that same adaption, the concept of the fanon emerges. Academic professor in New Media, Bronwen Thomas, introduced the concept of the fanon. She uses Sheenagh Plugh in her article Canons and Fanons: Literary Fanfiction online (2007) and she mentions the concept of the fanon, referring to the process whereby adjusted elements of the narratives become accepted among the fan fiction writers. “The fanon is something that is collaboratively achieved and subject to constant revision and updating. It is rarely prescriptive in the same sense that the canon can be, although usually fanonical material draws on rather than runs contrary to the canon, as fans pour over the minutiae of eye color, genealogy etc. in the source texts,” (Thomas 2007). The most famous fanon in fan cultures is the gay relationship between Captain Kirk and Spock in the science fiction series . Kirk and Spock are not a romantic couple in the canon, but fans shared an interest in this development resulting in several fan fiction and illustrations portraying Kirk and Spock as lovers. This storyline has been used over and over and has become a leading adjustment in the fan fiction scene: a fanon. Fans like to explore the possibilities of a story left undiscovered in the canon. They focus on characters that they like, even if they only have a small role in the canon. “Fans give meaning to what others have characterized as worthless,” (Jenkins 1992 2-3). Fan products single out aspects of texts made for millions, and elaborate on them in ways that only a certain segment of consumers will appreciate. Some narratives or art pieces focus on specific situations or characters that fans feel have been unjustly marginalized in the source material.

19 Fan fiction writer Nendwriter explains how she saw the possibilities in characters Rey and Kylo Ren as a romantic couple, though the movie The Force Awakens had not introduced them as lovers. She explains: “I became emotionally attached to two of the main characters, Kylo and Rey. I felt that they were original and complex, and the dynamic between them was unsettling and compelling, due to the sexual subtext laced with their characters in the film.” Nendwriter is not the only fan who saw the possibilities of the unofficial couple ‘Reylo’ (Rey x Kylo), just querying on shows the many dedicated to the couple and present fan produced content that highlight their possible romance. This kind of personalization (or customization) makes mass- media productions more engaging to fans. It can be a way to either glorify the original material or be an outlet for an unsatisfactory part for which fan content might function as a supplement. For dedicating their own effort and energy to fan production they increase the likelihood to stay invested and involved with the fandom of their choice over a longer period of time than they might have had if they had not invested in their work (De Krosnik 2014). Fans have explained the importance of fan production for their own creative inspiration. In a discussion with fan fiction writer Rebel Spectre 6, he mentions that he is often inspired by other fan fiction writers and loves to use ideas others have suggested. Following the interpretation that other fans have presented will result in new material complementing this specific modification. This kind of cross-pollination might explain the emergence of the fanon. Some fanon are so popular that fans hope it will become canon in later material, especially romantic interpretations of specific scenes. This is for instance the case with the Reylo fanon that has a massive fanbase and could be considered a fandom on its own. Future canon material might confirm this fanon interpretation and by that point the fanon will become canon.

20 Episode II – Start of an Empire

This chapter will describe the emergence of science fiction fan culture and how these fans used technology to produce and share fan content. Poached products consist of a large variety of creative works. Every created piece of content shared among fans could be considered a form of fan production. This could be fan fiction, fan art, fan video, blogging, cosplay, creating video modifications, developing new videogames, additional character design, editing, video blogging and much more. The possibilities are endless and more genres are gaining popularity within certain fandom. Fans have always been early adapters of new technology. But how does the media industry handle the emergence of remix culture? To what extent will original creators welcome the growing production of fan content? Media plays an important role in both the creation and circulation of fan content. Even when using traditional instruments such as pen and paper for the creation of fan art, the spreading of these images media technology required media technology. A drawing must be scanned into the computer and published on a website in order for others to see it. But even before the advent of digital technology, fans used media to create and especially share fan content.

Fanzines and APA’s Remixing or modifying the canon is a typical fan culture characteristic. This act of modifying source material has been one of the main fan activities since the beginning of organized fan culture in the early 1900s (Brown 2009). The traditions of collective interpretation, such as Jewish Midrash8 and with stories such as Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, which functions as a of prequel for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (Thomas 2011), are often considered early forms of fan fiction. However, it could be argued that during that time organized fandom did not yet exist. Fans of the detective novels Sherlock are widely considered to be the first modern fandom (Brown 2009). They publicly demonstrated against the death of the protagonist Sherlock in 1893 and openly mourned. The first Sherlock fan fiction supposedly arose around 1897. Remixing of modifying the canon is a typical fan culture characteristic originating from science fiction/ culture in the 1900s (Brown 2009). The products of fan remixing were traditionally published in fanzines, not to confuse with fan magazines. Fanzines are nonprofessional and nonofficial publications made by fans, fan magazines are made for fans. The earliest versions of fanzines are found in the beginning of . Fanzines were a medium of interaction, a carrier of correspondence and response, and one that sustains ongoing sociability. In a way, fanzines were as a node in a

8 In Judaism, the Midrash are homiletic stories as taught by Chazal (Rabbinical Jewish sages of the post-Temple era) that provide an intrinsic analysis to passages in the Tanakh.

21 network, often seen as the origins of science fiction fandom with the emergence of a letter column in the of 1926 (Straw 2013 9). Usually the editor of Amazing Stories printed the addresses of the correspondents and contacted each of them personally to sustain a that is different from a professional magazine. This horizontal communication would become solidified as individual fans, in order to avoid the tedium of retyping very similar letters to each correspondent, began reproducing them using low-cost technologies such as the hectograph9 (Stoneman 2001 24-25). Fanzines were usually spread around by post mail. Authors had a mailing list of the correspondents and personally send each reader a copy of the . This way it was uncommon for non-fans to obtain a fanzine, it was a products that stayed within the fan community (Barton 2013 132-133). The circulation was sometimes done as a form of trade economy where fans distributed copies for other publications or items as a form mutual gifting. In fanzines authors could express new ideas or stories regarding their fandom that were too personal or not popular or mainstream outside of their mailing list. Networking with other fans resulted in the ability to subscribe or obtain the fanzines. The 19th Century hectograph advertisement with instructions. fanzine was a carrier of correspondence; each issue was one moment in an ongoing set of overlapping communicative sequences. Another development of the fanzine is the characteristics of resemblance of a professional magazine. A fanzine usually contained fan fiction, fan art, reviews and articles about the fandom it addressed. Fantasy Fan, launched in 1933 by a 17-year-old named Charles D. Hornig, did not contain fan fiction exclusively, but fan fiction was its distinguishing feature. Fantasy Fan was known for featuring some of the fan fiction by H. P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard (creator of the Conan character), which had not been sold professionally. Each issue was the gathering up of materials of presumably self-contained value, rather than a moment in an ongoing interaction

9 The hectograph or gelatin duplicator or jellygraph is a printing process that involves transfer of an original, prepared with special inks, to a pan of gelatin or a gelatin pad pulled tight on a metal frame.

22 (Stoneman 2001 24-26). The letter-oriented fanzine, like The Comet, helped to solidify fandom as a space of horizontal exchange. Fanzines came to occupy two sorts of spaces within a larger culture of science fiction/fantasy publishing. Through them, fandom emerged as a space of insularity and self-reference in which the key relationships were between fans and not to a professional publishing sector (Straw 2013 13). Publishing in technology within this space moved from crude carbon paper reproduction through to the slightly less crude apparatus of the hectograph machine and on into a more laborious and precious forms of mimeograph10 publishing. The look of fanzines diverged considerably from those of the professional magazine because standards of amateur craft and the fetishism of reproductive technologies like the mimeograph became central to the fan culture ethos (Straw 2013 9-13). During the same decennium the first fan conventions (cons) were organized. Frederick Pohl claims to have organized the first sci-fi con in 1936, a trip he and seven other New York-area fans took to meet a similar group of fans in Philadelphia. A year later a group of British fans meet in Leeds (Hansen 2012). The first official World Con was held in New York during the World War in 1939, this convention is still held annually. These conventions were used as meeting places for fans. They would discuss storylines, character development and new official content as well as exchanging fanzines. Fan conventions are usually a weekend experience where fans gather to talk about their interest.

A more organized form of fanzine creation emerged fairly soon after the first publication of a fanzine. Professional printers who wanted to write and publish their own writings could do so without significant expense; writers, who wanted to print, could purchase (or borrow) a small and create magazines (or in case of fan culture; fanzines). The group of writers and printers formed an APA (Amateur Press Association). The APA has multiple roots, which precede and have nothing to do with sci-fi or . Their origins lie in the , with the increased availability of cheap printing presses in the middle of the 19th century. The growth of APA from these amateur magazines followed two lines of development. One was the bureaucratization and nationalization of informal popular culture: publishers of these magazines formed associations at the regional and national levels, elected executives and held conventions. All in the manner of other civil society groups doing a period, which saw the national institutionalization of academic disciplines, hobbyist groups and so on. The other line of development came with the recognition that economies of scale could be achieved if different magazines were sent out together in bundles to groups of readers (Straw 2013 15-18). The APA

10 The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper.

23 was a medium by which publishers of magazines sent a specified number of copies to a central mailer, who assembled them in identical bundles and distributed these among their members. In science fiction, the first APA was the Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA) formed in 1937 and still going at its traditional quarterly frequency. In the development of the sci-fi FAPA we may see some of the ethical, social and technological features of sci-fi fandom in the 1940s taking shape. Fanzines of the early and mid 1930s were intended to be sold to their readers, but many editors quickly accepted exchanges of fanzines with other editors as a common activity. By formalizing a system of exchange, FAPA helped to eradicate the sense of the fanzine as saleable commodity: from the 1940s onwards, it was expected that most fanzines would be distributed free of charge. Hectograph duplication however has its limits. Fan production in the late 1930s remained fairly small (FAPA’s membership was limited to 50) because duplicating the original more than 50 times would wore out the ink and the process of setting the product together would start all over. Limitations on membership would pose difficulties, when FAPA reached maximum capacity, its waiting list grew longer, and newer entrants to fandom came to feel excluded. In the 1940s, FAPA might have been seen as the powerful inner circle of fandom. The Fantasy Amateur Press Association shaped the fandom by noticing the emergence of the mailing comment as a key category of content. With APA projects, we can see the start of an organized fandom around a coordinated network of distribution and a controlled temporality of publication.

Organized fandom Several academics consider the beginning of the popular American TV series Star Trek in the late 1960s the beginning of organized fandom (Bacon-Smith 1992; Busse & Hellekson 2006; Penley 1997). I would argue that the formalization of fan activities with the emergence of APA’s already shows an organized form of fan cultures but the networks were local with a limited member list. Around Star Trek an organized fandom began rising with fan communities emerging in higher numbers than ever before. Fanzines and APA organizations may have been the start of planned fan culture, with the mass broadcast of Star Trek several Americans all over the country were converted to fandom. It is uncertain what about Star Trek attracted fans – was it the utopian politics or the futuristic technology? — But Coppa (2006 44-45) argues that it might have something to do with the fanzines such as Spockanalia (1967) and ST-Phile (1968) emerging from the fandom. From the start, Star Trek produced not only the typical discussion of sci-fi fandom but creative responses from fans. Gene Roddenbery, creator of Star Trek, turned a blind eye to fan art and fan fiction and might be responsible for the flowering of media fandom (Coppa

24 2006 45). Many new ways of fan engagement sprung from Star Trek. The popular slash fiction11 is one of the various genres that quickly emerged from the Star Trek fandom and is still popular today. Star Trek may not have initiated fan gatherings such as fan conventions or fanzines, but it was among the fandoms that popularized conventions to a larger extent. When in the 1977 the movie Star Wars: The Motion Picture came out, fan communities formally started to get recognition. Star Wars was the first popular blockbuster movie within the science fiction scene (though it is officially a space fantasy) that enlarged the number of fans once again.

The epic story of Star Wars From its start, George Lucas made clear that Star Wars, unlike Star Trek, was a space fantasy, not science fiction, when he made the decision in one of his first audience viewing to let the audience hear explosions during one of the pitched battles. Of course, there is no sound in space therefore Star Wars is considered fantasy and one of the first big movies to enter the /space fantasy genre. In comparison, Star Trek is considered science fiction and the difference resolves around realistic scientific possibilities portrayed in the genre. Science fiction tries to depict the future, but Star Wars starts all their episodes with the iconic words referring to the past: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....” ’s sci-fi series Star Trek had enjoyed long- lasting popularity in American popular culture. And is portrayed by its makers as a rational and progressive approach to storytelling. Star Wars however, has a strong mythic quality alongside its political and scientific elements. Unlike the heroes of earlier space sets, the main characters of Star Wars are not militaristic types but romantic individualists. It is the epic story between good and evil, democracy and the struggle of an empire. The first Star Wars film, at release was simply called Star Wars, of 1977 came at a time where people grew up with few contemporary tales. George Lucas, a young science fiction filmmaker, had spend years creating the of Star Wars but when the film finally premiered it surpassed his expectation and discovered he created an epic franchise that would change filmmaking forever. Star Wars premiered on May 25 1977 and soon after release a fandom was in development (Taylor 2015). At first a friction with the Star Trek fans emerged, because many of the Star Trek fans changed their favorite fandom to Star Wars, a subtle quarrel that can still be observed when contemporary Star Wars and Star Trek fans cross paths. But Star Wars soon started fan communities of its own and the Star Wars fandom produced fan products related to the Star Wars scene. Fans started to create fanzines and fan conventions gave more attention to Star Wars related topics. Shortly after, more Star Wars movies were released and Lucas renamed the first movie Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, implying that there were more movies to come.

11 is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on interpersonal attraction and sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.

25 George Lucas always had a love-hate relationship with his fans. When A New Hope came out in 1977, he was very fond of his fans and saw the potential of fan engagement for promotional reasons. Fans creatively engaging with Star Wars was like having a free campaign for his products. Lucas encouraged fans to use his intellectual property and even helped fans with potential copyright infringements. In 1977, Lucas’ movie company Lucasfilm established a no-fee licensing bureau that would review material and offer advice about potential (Brooker 2002 164-171). This however, seems in contrast with his obvious need to control the fandom. Beyond losing control of the Official Movie Poster 1980 Star Wars: official ancillary texts, as early as the spring of 1978 Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas and company were already engaged in an effort to exert control over the evolving world of unofficial, non-profit fan publications. Asked about his stance toward fanzines, Lucas responded: “Right now we’re working out a policy about fanzines. Basically, a problem with has to be resolved” (Garret 2015). His relationship with fans shattered when he saw the possibilities of Star Wars erotica; slash fiction12. From the start Lucas has stated that he only wanted to see PG-rated fan stories. Around 1981, Lucasfilm’s legal department had sent several stern warning to authors with X-rated content. One Swedish fan story featured Darth Vader sexually torturing male lead and other stories containing sexually explicit content of Han Solo’s and Princess Leia’s relationship. “The word has come down from George Lucas himself. That Star Wars pornography is unquestionably unacceptable…” cites Maureen Garrett, director of the official Star Wars . “…due to damage to the whole Star Wars saga,” (Taylor 2015). The amount of fan works distributed among fans however was beyond Lucasfilm’s control or reach. When Skywalker actor Mark Hamill came back from a trip to Japan with an erotica Star Wars dojinshi13 as a joke, Lucas tried to sue the authors, but at that time did not have any copyrights in Japan because Star Wars had not yet been released in Asia (Taylor 2015). Lucas was one of the first original makers that started protecting his creative works from the remix culture. Unlike the immensely popular Star Trek franchise, Rodenberry had allowed

12 Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on interpersonal attraction and sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex. 13 Dojinshi is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga (Japanese comics) or novels. Dojinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry.

26 poaching, Star Wars fans were kept on edge. It could be argued whether Lucas was in his rights. Star Wars was his intellectual property by law and Lucas feared that some fan products would harm the brands reputation. Especially high quality content, that could be mistaken for canon material (Jenkins 2006b 156-157). Lucas was afraid that he himself was at risk for being sued for if he allowed himself to come into contact with fan produced materials, that may resemble elements of his future products (Jenkins 2006b 159). The stern warning Lucas had sent hindered the creative freedom that is at the heart of remix culture. Instead of providing a safe haven for popular culture to flourish, the law seems to obstruct the development of creative remixing culture. As Lessig has argued, the act of remixing is a creative and artistic art that allows for new ways to process and absorb information. This art form was now obstructed by the fear of prosecution, but did not put a complete stop on fan production. The distribution of fan content did not cease to exist; it was pushed underground and was made visible again around the 1990s, where fan fiction entered the ‘electronic frontier’ (Jenkins 2006b 154-155). But even before the arrival of electronic media, fans provoked Lucas with their creative use of new technology. The emergence of VCR technology14 (around 1980s/1990s) would change the way Star Wars was experienced forever. VCR technology itself undermined the initial vision Lucas’ had of the fan-text relationship. Prior to VCR, fans were forced to visit movie theatres in order to watch Star Wars. The VCR experience provided fans the option to watch their favorite movie as much as they wanted in close detail. Lucas has said in a 2004 interview: “It was not meant to be seen more than once in a movie theater. It was designed to be a large theatrical experience that would blow you away,”(Lyon & Morris 2007 190). Apparently, Lucas not only believed that Star Wars should not be seen multiple times, but he was also initially unwilling to show the on the small screen, as this would diminish the Star Wars experience. The combination of mass appeal and technological conditions led to the emergence of a passionate fan base with a detailed knowledge of every aspect of the original texts. “Rereading is central to the fan’s aesthetic pleasure,” (Jenkins 1992 351). The development of affordable VCR technology allowed fans to ‘own’ the text in a way that facilitated the repeated rehearsal of fan interpretive rituals. Because of the circulation of VHS15 tapes, fans were able to share favored media text with other potential fans and in doing to impact their reading of those texts. VCR technology would also popularize the remixing genre: fan video. Where fans create (short) movies and parodied the original storyline by acting out scenes with either fans as actors or the many merchandized toys available on the market. With a sound mixing board, music and sound

14 The videocassette recorder, VCR, or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette and can play back the recording. 15 The Video Home System (VHS) is a standard for consumer-level use of analog recording on videotape cassettes.

27 effects could be recorded from the surroundings and added to the frames. Star Wars fans were one of the first to embrace these new technologies and used these to produce hundreds of fan movies (Jenkins 2006a 144). Jenkins even goes as far as crediting them for paving the way for contemporary fan video and the higher tolerance by the media industry. They would use home computers to duplicate effects Lucasfilm had spent a fortune to achieve several decades earlier and remixed them to create one new movie. Star Wars fans were certainly not the first to create a fanmade video, but they definitely popularized the genre by showing the possibilities of VCR technology. Like other fan content, fan videos circulated in the fan community during the 80s/90s for fear of Lucas’ stern warnings against copyright infringement. Fan communities inevitably shared videocassettes, broadcasters and companies still controlled the means of mass productions and exhibiting films. Thus at that point VCR technology did not lead to an easy accessible public sphere of ‘homemade’ movie presentation (Jenkins 2006b 146). Fans undermined Lucas in several ways. Lucas’ biggest embarrassment is The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), a Christmas special made in such poor taste that Lucas would preferably erase it from history. According to urban legend, Lucas said he wanted to smash every copy with a hammer. In reality, he told Maxim magazine in a May 2002 interview, "That's one of those things that happened, and I just have to live with it," (Robb 2012). The special was never rebroadcasted, but still built up a legendary reputation. A bootlegged VCR copy circulated in the fandom and it soon became a must-have item of bad taste merchandise that real committed Star Wars fans must have. The Holiday Special was an American fantasy musical about main characters Chewbacca and Han Solo visiting Kashyyyk, Chewbacca’s home world, to celebrate Life Day. They are pursued by agents of the Galactic Empire, who are searching for members of the Rebel Alliance on the planet. Although Lucas tried to burry the , the issue of The Holiday Special kept popping up and he, and the actors presented in the special, were often asked about it. The Holiday Special could be seen as fans taking ownership over the products. They may not legally own the product, but have decided that it was of (entertainment) value for the community and must not be ignored. The fans decided the rules of engagement and when they decide that content is valuable, they will make sure that the content is not lost. Lucas’ efforts to try to control the fan community caused a constant struggle for both the fans and Lucas. But its failure to completely control the fan community proves the power of fan culture. Though Lucas has given the people a fandom with his filmmaking and storytelling, he is not completely in charge of the rules in which his products regulate. This becomes apparent with the influence of the Web on fan cultures. The Internet pushed the underground scene of fandom to the visible front when fans started to distribute their products online. The early lawless years of the Internet were giving way to a period of heightened corporate scrutiny and expanding control.

28 Episode III – The Fans Awaken

Fans are early adopters of modern technology and where among the first to embrace electronic media. Digital media has changed fan culture significantly. Although early Web fan culture held the same essence and nature as the fan culture from the 1900s-1990s, the fan experience itself has changes dramatically. Their fascination with fictional universes often inspired new forms of cultural production ranging from the creation of artworks to fanzines and now digital cinema. Fans have always been eager to try out new technology and unlike previous developments, such as the amateur press, digital media provided easy to use tools that were more accessible to a digital layman. The distribution of fanzines did not suddenly cease and in fact there are still fanzines being distributed, though most of the content is posted on websites. This chapter will describe the first steps of digital fan culture and how it significantly differs from the pre-digital fan experience. When fandom entered the electronic frontier it changed its relation with the media industry and paved the way for contemporary remix culture to flourish.

Fans and the Web 1.0 Around the 1990s digital media was gradually taking presence in fan cultures. This was shortly after computer technology started using Tim Berner-Lee’s concept of a distributed hypertext system, which could link files in an ever-expanding network shaped more like a cobweb than like chain or tree structure, as was standard at the time (Fox 2014). This was one of the elements that had resulted in the emergence of the . The Web is a global digital information space where documents and other web resources are identified by URLs, interlinked by hypertext links and can be accessed via the Internet. The Web was among the things that made the more popular. According the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey the amount of households owning a computer increased significantly from 1990 to 1997 (BLS 1999). It could be argued that in essence, not much in fan culture has changed with the emergence of the World Wide Web. The core characteristics of fan culture such as remixing source material, create engagement, fan gatherings (fan conventions), discussion of original and fan content, fanzine distribution, though executed and experienced in a different way. The early Web has given birth to new ways of fan engagement, chat rooms and forums were built online and fans no longer had to leave their homes in order to discuss fans related content. Is it just the medium that has changed and did the social structure remained the same? Media expert Marshall McLuhan states in his Understanding Media how a change in medium can change the way it is used and experienced. “A new medium is never an addition to an old one, nor does it leave the old one in peace. It never ceases to oppress the older media until it finds new shapes and positions for them," (McLuhan 1964). Every medium has certain

29 characteristics that suggest a way of use. An eBook takes less effort to carry around than a heavy printed book for instance. What McLuhan explains is that even though many older forms of media have been updated to a digital version it cannot still be considered the same medium. Although there are still fanzines being produced and new fan videos created and shared, the culture and activities surrounding that form of engagement have changed significantly. Creating a new cultural behavior that might show resemblance with the pre-digital fan culture but is different none the less. Fans were unmistakably among the first to take on the new technology, since the amount of fan content exploded online. They created digital mailing lists that started replacing the ‘letter mailing list’ used for the spreading of fanzines that increased in numbers. A fandom in the early 1990s may contain only two mailing lists; by the late 1990s it could have a hundred mailing lists dedicated to the different sub genres in the fandom (Hunsinger & Senft 2013 83). The 1990s commercial Internet service providers gave the fans the opportunity to create and host their own individual web pages resulting in thousands of fan web pages being created on hosts like AOL, Tripod and GeoCities. This momentarily weakened the social networking of the fans, how were they supposed to get in touch with each other? How would they find these web pages? Fans responded with their typical creativity, they created directories16 of fan pages and linking each individual web page under a common theme (the fandom) in means of webrings (Hunsinger & Senft 2013 83). There would for instance be a Lord of the Rings websrings, Highlander Ring but also more specific like a Star Wars Slash ring or The Yaoi17 Fan Network Ring. Fans made their e-mail address public, gave visitors the option to ‘sign their ’ and created mailing lists their visitors could join. They also created centralized hubs, archives and conversation forums to maintain the community aspect of the fan lifestyle. After gaining more knowledge on web building, more fans got the opportunity to control their own online areas and publish their own personalized content. One of the most popular fan fiction websites, that is now the biggest fan fiction archive, is FanFiction.net that was created in (1998). Fans were able to publish their works or read those of others in a pleasant structure. Other websites containing fan video, fan art, video games and other emerged with a similar speed creating a whole subculture online. Although digital media might make it seem as if digital fan cultures cost less effort than offline fan activates, this is certainly not the case. Professional tools for producing new content and to create new media became more accessible. Everyone with a personal computer had the

16 A or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. A collection of data organized into categories. It specializes in linking to other websites and categorizing those links. 17 also known as Boys' Love (BL), is a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, typically aimed at a female audience and usually created by female authors. Although yaoi is typically aimed at a female audience, the genre also attracts male readers; however mango aimed at a gay male audience () is considered a separate genre.

30 opportunity to obtain (free) to write fan fiction, create fan art, edit fan video or build a website. Image editing program was already available on the market 1990, a popular tools among fan illustrators but also among professional artists. Fans would dedicate hours to learn the software’s possibilities and obtain the skills to create astonishing artworks that were easier to share online than a hand drawn image. The availability of Photoshop and similar software increased the quality of fan products to an extent that some resembled professional products and could not be distinguished from official (canon) material. The massive explosion of new web pages, mailing lists, forums, archives and websites resulting in a positive development for creative products. Many new fans became participators in the community and could now easily network around every conceivable theme imaginable. But for older fans, there was a downfall because they were no longer required to leave their homes in order to come in contact with others fans. They might never meet the fans they interacted with. Fans would more often choose an alias as their username instead of their real names, so they remained anonymous for the group. These effects resulted in a less personal interaction between fans. McLuhan explains in his Laws of media that one of the characteristics of new technologies is obsolesces of prior behavior. What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new organ?” (McLuhan 1988). In case of inter-personal relations, digital networking has lowered the need to physically meet others resulting in a less personal relationship with the group. In my personal experience as a fan, I can confirm this effect; I have never met some of my fannish friends in person. I sometimes interact with people online that I do not know and will probably never interact with again. In a way, this anonymity results in the feeling to speak more openly about topics but it is a shame that not every good conversation ends with a friendship. But what might have had the most impact on fan culture is its visibility. Jenkins describes how the creativity of remixing culture has been ignored for years by the (Jenkins 2006b 140). The cultural industries never really had to confront this alternative cultural economy because it was mostly underground and products circulated among a small circle of friends and neighbours. Now that fan content is published online, everyone has the possibility to encounter it at some point and the media industry could no longer ignore the products of fans. Jenkins describes in his Convergence Culture (2006) how, what he calls, the participatory culture has come to emerge. He clearly distincts ‘interactivity’ from ‘participation’. He explains: “Interactivity refers to the ways that new technology has been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedback,” (Jenkins 2006b 137). Different digital technologies provide different ways of interactivity and with new technologies emerging, new ways of interactions follow. The constraints on interactivity are technological. In almost every case, what you can do in an interactive environment is pre-structured by the designer. Participation on the other hand, is shaped by cultural and social protocols. Jenkins explains how the amount of conversation

31 possible in a movie theatre is determined more by the tolerance of audiences in different subcultures or national contexts and less under the control of the theatre itself. Participation is less under the control of media producers and more under the control of media consumers.

Digital The computer offered expanded opportunities for interaction with media content. It was relatively easy for media companies to commodify and control the action that took place. The Internet gives consumers the possibility of participation in many unauthorized and unanticipated ways of relating to media content. Long have fan commodities been unseen, if not ignored, by the creative and media industries (Jenkins 2006b 137), but the Internet has pushed these matters on the foreground and can no longer be overseen. Allowing consumers to interact with media under controlled circumstances is one thing; along them to participate in the production and distribution of cultural goods is something else completely. Fan culture is a sharing culture where new official and fan-produced material circulated in the community and value is created for a specific niche group in society. The spreading of content is the base of a . Richard Barbrook mentions the concept of the gift economy in his Hi- Tech Gift Economy (1998). A gift economy is a mode of exchange where valuables are not traded or sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate rewards. Italian theorist and activist Tiziana Terranova uses Barbrook’s critiques this notion of the gift economy, because she does not see digital culture as consisting of a gift economy but as an act of free labor. She explains it as unpaid work being done by collective minds (or the ‘hive minds’) that create value to the Internet in diverse ways (Terranova 2000). This definition does not only resemble the labor of fans, it illustrates one of the main characteristics of fan culture, which is a culture that mostly depends on the gifts circulating in the community. A fandom is based on a group or community working together. Although there are many individuals operating in this community, the fandom does not center around one individual. A discussion is not interesting without others participating, writing a fan fiction is less satisfying when there is no audience to read, creating a video blog is useless if no one is watching it. The culture resolves around a give and take economy; a gift economy. Labor power is one of the key concepts by the revolutionary socialist Karl Marx as a critique on capitalist political economy. Marx distinguishes the act of labor with the concept of labor power. Labor refers to the activity or effort of producing goods or services. On the other hand, labor power refers to the ability to work, his actual muscle or brainpower. “Labor power exists in any kind of society, but on what terms it is traded or combined with means of production to produce goods and services has historically varied greatly,” (Fine 1975 47). The gift economy assigns significant worth to ‘gifts of time and skill’ (Hellekson 2009 115). Gifts made by fans, for fans.

32 The value of these gifts lies not simply in the content of the objects, nor in the social gesture of giving it freely. The worth lies in the creation of the gift. Fan content can be purchased financially, but are worth less in context of fandom were gifts are made and shared for free by the giver. In the 1930s APA already made the gifting nature a dominant characteristic in fandom, the circulation of fan content should be free of charge. The value of gifting is often invisible or unarticulated until something goes wrong within the culture. Work can be plagiarized, a fan fiction in progress is abandoned or entire archive is deleted. Fans can spend hours of their free time on some social meeting places, if they were to suddenly vanish because others no longer care to maintain it hundreds of fans could be left disappointed. Imagine a website like FanFiction.net, that holds thousands of fan fiction and has thousands of active writers and readers, to suddenly quit without notice. All content would be lost and writers would lose their familiar publishing spot and their faithful followers. Visitors would lose the ability to read their favorite stories in a space they enjoyed. These events prove that fans rely on the work efforts of others and the technological infrastructure that facilitate fan activities.

Fan labor is not per definition free. There are services that ask a fee, but the majority of fan production is an act of free labor. “Fans insist on a gift economy, not a commercial one, but it goes beyond self-protective attempts to fly under the radar of large corporations, their lawyers and their cease-and-desist letters,” (Hellekson 2009 114). Fans themselves have no attempts to commercialize their content. When talking to writer Rebel Spectre 6 about the thought of selling his fan fiction, he answered: “I've considered it, that way I could see what others do with my work but I finally decided that if anyone wants to use my work they can.” The act of selling would not even be for commercial reasons but to see the possibilities of his own work presented through a remixed version of the media industry. Of all the interviewees I spoke to, only fan illustrator Murdered-Seconds sold some of her artwork. She rediscovered Star Wars after the release of The Force Awakens and has developed an interest in one of its main characters Kylo Ren, portrayed by actor Adam Driver. Several of her artworks contain highly skilled portraits of Driver or chibi18 versions of either Star Wars or characters. However, if she were to sell her art it would not contain any fannish characters but she would ask payment for requested portraits of her followers. Her build reputation and practiced skill might be a result of her fan engagement, but the way she commodifies her talents are indirectly related to fan products.

18 Chibi is Japanese slang for ‘little person’ or ‘cute and little’. It originated from Japanese fan culture (the ‘’ culture, otaku meaning: obsessive fan). But is often used for a specific art style where the characters are illustrated as little cute and chubby.

33 Hellekson believes that fan contents have no immediate value outside the fan community context: “The gifts have value within the fannish economy in that they are designed to create and cement a social structure, but they themselves are not meaningful outside their context,” (Hellekson 2009 115). Hellekson is specialized in fan fiction and when looking at fan fiction culture, her statement seems solid. Usually fan narratives are meaningless outside the fan community. They provide entertainment to fans because of their niche topics and storylines, the content is created for a specific audience and discuss things that others might consider uninteresting. As a fan fiction writer and reader myself, I have never come across non-fans reading and engaging with fan narratives. There are some success stories about fan fiction being published for mass production, such as the novel sage Fifty Shades of Grey that was originally a Twilight fan fiction. But when being published the narrative had to be adjusted in a way it would not resemble the original source in any way. Character names were changed, specific canon elements were redesigned en the final result evolved into something that shows no resemblance to the source material. It may have started out as a fan production, the narrative evolved into something that no longer accords with the definition of fan fiction. However, Helleksons statement is certainly not accurate when looking at the third party that is present when talking about fan labor. Especially with digital technologies, there is a third person in the exchange of gifts between fans. Not just the giver and receiver, but also the facilitator of the medium used, in the case of new media often a platform or website. “The basic idea is that the dominant capital accumulation model of the contemporary corporate Internet platforms is based on the exploitation of users’ unpaid labor, who engage in the creation of content and the use of blogs, social networking sites, , micro blogs, content sharing sites for fun and in these activities create value that is at the heart of profit generation,” (Fuchs et al. 2013). The data that is at the heart of these activities will fuel the knowledge-based economy19 big companies such as and Facebook drive on. Terranova explains free labor as “the moment where [...] knowledgeable consumption of culture is translated into excess productive activities that are pleasurably embraced and at the same time often shamelessly exploited,” (Terranova 2000 37). The products fan create are commodified by companies and used for their own profits. The collective work of fans are now tied to the modes of cultural productions, but often fans are not rewarded by the companies that used them. While companies like FanLib used fan content to increase financial profit, fans were rewarded with visibility online (Holt & Perren 2011 2006). The reward of providing a visible space that can be used by fans to produce and share content is a valuable reward. But is not equal compared to the worth of their fan labor for the facilitator.

19 The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge generate tangible and intangible values. Technology and in particular knowledge technology help to transform a part of human knowledge to machines. This knowledge can be used by decision support systems in various fields and generate economic values. Knowledge economy is also possible without technology.

34 George Lucas saw the possibilities of fan labor in the early years of the web. In 1996, Lucasfilm offered Star Wars fans a free Web space (www.starwars.com) and unique content for their sites. Luces supposedly created this space to help market the upcoming Special Edition DVD release of the Original Trilogy. There was a strict condition: whatever fans created and posted on the website would become the intellectual property of Lucasfilm. This is still the modus of operating of every corporate web platform today. Their no-erotica rule was still enforced. This development shows that Lucas has seen the value of fan content and tries to use it to his benefit. By giving his fans a ‘free-zone’ for fan engagement Lucas poses to be a generous supporter of creativity and storytelling. But he forces his fans to hand in the intellectual property of their labor, so he has full control over the content that is being made. Fans will produce free labor resulting in commodities that he might use for his own benefit; marketing attention, inspiration for newer storylines or simply the control over the published content by fans. The offering of this website is an act of exploitation, using the fans love for the franchise to control creativity and use it for personal (financial) gain. Though fans were given visibility and an easy access and usable website, all their creative products were no longer theirs when uploaded on the site. A fan, Elisabeth Durack, started a protest website to counter the effects of www.starwars.com. In her protest she urges fans not to let themselves be exploited by Lucasfilm: “I urge fans to boycott Star Wars Fan Homepages, or at the very least to place no creative content there. All fans should understand clearly before having anything to do with the Star Wars Fan Homepages service that by accepting the Terms of Service they are giving up their legal rights to anything they post there, even if it is not Star Wars-related (section 8.6). Most will not read and understand the fine print. It is even more important that anyone who intends to archive other fans' creative work on their site understand this before moving in at www.starwars.com, lest they give other people's work to Lucasfilm ‘in perpetuity’ against the creators' wishes. Inform other fans of this attempt to strip them of their rights,” (Durack 2000). If Lucas has complete ownership of all works, he has the possibility to sell the commodities without compensation. Or even decide to remove the works without permission or warnings. Clearly George Lucas made brilliant move, by giving his fans a free websites he looks amazingly generous towards his fans. He does not hate his fans or their websites. In fact, he sees how he can benefit from this free publicity. However, these actions of control show that Lucas also fears his fans for their power he may not be able to control. Though some fans, like Elisabeth Durack, were critical about this peace offer, many other fans took the bait and even today www.starwars.com is a popular website for uploading fan content. Although exploitation might be an issue still at hand, for fans it is of less importance. When asking interviewees about payment for their effort, most of them only cared about being credited. Dark Side of the Mind: “If they somehow credited me, I would feel accomplished.”

35 Nendwriter explains how being credited is more important to her than receiving money: “ If they wanted to pay me, great. If not: equally great. To me, payment wouldn't really be of consequence. I feel intrinsically rewarded by my work. That sounds cheesy and cliché, but it's really true. I really do write for my own self and finished my Star Wars stories before publishing it on FanFiction.net.” Fans do not engage in fan activities because of possible income. When looking back at the history of fan cultures it is obvious that fans produced content before companies commodified their products. What fans want is to practice their hobby because it makes them happy. The feeling of validation for their work is more precious than money. Dark Side of the Mind explains: “I feel so happy that people are reading what I am putting out there. When you finish a story that you really want to tell, and you sit back and scroll through the paragraphs of text that describe the story you wanted to tell. You smile and think 'I did that' and it just brings a joy I cannot really describe.” My personal experience follows their argument of undervaluing the importance of exploitation to the act of giving itself, even with my knowledge of data collection by third parties. The act of giving is more important than the possibility of exploitation, because that exploitation does not hurt the initial purpose that motives my engagement. Though I sometimes see companies shamelessly using fan created content, such as Game of Thrones theories originally crafted on Reddit being published as articles on websites such as Mashable, Vogue or Times. They profit from it by the amount of clicks on their page, but do not always credit the original crafters of the fan theory. This is a nuisance, but does not immediately hurt me in a way that I would decide to no longer share my insights on Reddit. The act of giving outshines the negative effects of exploitation. If I were ever to decide to start a project that would have a commercial purpose I would treat this matter differently. But fans do not engage for commercial reasons, so having no profit will not disappoint them. Fans are rewarded in other ways such as the pleasurable experience of participating in a community where giving, sharing and receiving are more important than monetary rewards. When speaking of free labor, the lack of a monetary reward seems to be one of the main criteria for defining a product of labor ‘free’. In her Free labor: Producing culture for the digital economy, Terranova does not specifically mention what kind of reward would suffice in the exchange of labor. A financial reward seems the most obvious, still the article emphasizes more on free labor being a part of an economy where any kind of reward is not immediately clear. In fan cultures a financial reward is not common. But the lack of financial payment does not mean that there is no reward at all. Fans can engage with content to practice their skill (Hesmondhalgh 2010) an act that may lead to better career prospects, to gain a reputation in the fan community (Sabotini 1999) or just simply because they want to engage. Interviewee Murdered-Seconds for instance practiced her skill by creating fan illustrations and these skills have lead to a job opportunity. But even so, I dare to say that the majority of the fan generated content is not particularly intended as an artist

36 statement. There are many skilled artists among fans and many that intent to become highly skilled and pursue a job in their creative field. But the majority of fan arts, fan fiction or fan videos are made for humoristic purposes, an additional piece to a discussion, a critique or just simply for fun. Fans want to engage with their fandom, they want to produce content that glorifies what they love. Their labor is a labor of love. They are not forced to do something they prefer not to do. They do it voluntarily and do not always think of the possibility of exploitation. Even is there is a chance that their content is being used for purposes unknown, what is important to fans is the act of giving (Sabotini 1999). New Media professor Abigail de Kosnik agues that the goal of most fan labor is to modify a commodity, which is made to suit everybody, so that it suits the fan laborer and other fans who share the laborer’s particular tastes much better (De Kosnik 2012 109). Like Terranova, De Kosnik qualifies fans cultural activities as free labor that is pleasurable and voluntarily done. She argues that fans often discuss fandom opposed to finance; therefore it is unlikely that fans organize officially, as a kind of labor union and that they articulate compensation claims because this is somewhat contrary to the underlying principles of fandom. Fan labor however is needed for the circulation of information on the web. Jenkins often refers to Terranova when he explains the necessity of fan labor. Fan productions help to sustain awareness and interest over time by supplying the Internet with fresh commentary, news, videos, narratives and art. Companies can fuel the amount of fan engagement by providing new material to interact with. George Lucas has given his fans numerous material for fan engagement and assumingly used fan labor in his company Lucasfilm. Lucas is notorious for his wish to control fan engagement, a struggle that has arisen from the very start of the Star Wars fandom in 1977. He would also see the negative side of fan engagement in his attempt to produce new canon material that would satisfy fans.

A rebellion brew The nature of fan engagement would take a critical turn during the 1990s. Even though the amount of fan content exploded with the use of digital media, the message of these products did no longer just glorify original source material. Star Wars creator George Lucas had made several attempts to control fan engagement, by sending out stern warning to unwanted fannish remix material in the pre-digital age and in the early web by ‘gifting’ a website for engagement that commodified fan products. Conflict between Lucas and his fans did not cease; in fact it only worsened. The first conflict emerged in the 1990s, when George Lucas decided to release the original trilogy (Episode IV, V and VI) in a re-mastered Special Edition on DVD20. At this time, the

20 DVD (digital video disc) is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995.

37 technology for creating special effects in the movie business had progressed. Lucas is a perfectionist and decided to release an improved version of his films. The Original Versions seemed to have disappeared and some fans think Lucas was collecting them to make them disappear (Phillipe 2010). It felt as if Lucas was ashamed of his previous works and wanted his movies to last in the new age of filmmaking. It is unclear what happened to the Original Versions of the movie, but until today there are few copies circulating in the fan scene. At first it was thought that the Special Edition were only re-mastered versions of the original and that not further modifications were used. Fans however noticed more differences between the Special Edition and the Original Version than just visual improvements. Some changes were quite subtle, but changed the way Star Wars was experienced forever. For instance, the never- ending topic of discussion is the famous ‘’ controversy, referring to a scene in A New Hope where characters Greedo and Han were conflicted. In the original version of 1977, the shot was first fired by Han Solo. But in the 1997 re-mastered version the scene was cut in a way that implied that Greedo shot first. To fans, this changed the whole experience of Han Solo as a character. These modifications of the original caused fans to be outraged. They were not pleased to see their beloved rogue sanitized in this fashion. George In 2012, Lucas explained his choice in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “What I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down,” (Lucas 2012). Regardless Lucas’s arguments, the original script of A New Hope was found in 2015 mentioned no shooting on Greedo’s behalf. The script was discovered in the archives of the University of New Brunswick library by Kristian Brown and clearly states that Han Solo shot first (Bingley 2015). Lucas’s reaction in The Hollywood Reporter is notable because it shows how Lucas is not trying to just set the record straight. He is denying the changes and rather tried to re-write Star Wars history. The disingenuous suggestion that Greedo shot at all is clearly contradicted by existing evidence. The ‘Han Solo Shot First’ controversy highlights Lucas’s stubborn nature and the vocal outcry of his fans. As with The Holiday Special in the 1980s, the fans decided what was important to them and although official canon material no longer shows ‘the truth’, fans preach it in the fandom. ‘Han shot first’ is now a popular fan slogan that is printed on T-shirts, but also an influence of fan art and fan video. The issue made an, at first unimportant character, Greedo, suddenly popular in fan products. In 2004 fans went as far as to start a petition for an unaltered, non-revisionist, theatrical release of the Original trilogy named www.HanShootsFirst.org. The petition did not receive enough attention and

38 although several similar petitions popped up over the years, George Lucas did not feel the need to change his creative decision.

Fan art by JimSam-X

Apart from the release of the Special Editions, George Lucas also removed the from the Star Wars canon. This was a major turn in the fan scene, because the official content of the Expanded Universe had created an idea of how the Star Wars universe regulated. By not acknowledging the Expanded Universe as canon material, the whole concept of what is considered Star Wars could be changed in the upcoming movies. This was a universe fans had grown to love. Being uncertain about its future condition was worrying to say the least. The Special Editions were the first step on the seductive path to the Dark Side, but George Lucas would prove his after releasing the second trilogy of the franchise. In 1999, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released and it would go down in history as the most disappointing Star Wars movie of all time. The Phantom Menace was the first of the prequel movies after a long hiatus of over 20 years. Many of the fans had grown into adulthood, but where still dedicated fans of the franchise. What exactly was so wrong with The Phantom Menace is hard to explain. But I think part of the reason it was a disappointment was because the adult fans were reminded that Star Wars was originally aimed at a younger audience. The notorious CGI21 character Jar-Jar Binks is often a victim of hatred, due to its slapstick humor used to attract the younger generation. Matt Hills explains how Jar-Jar hatred is part of a certain generation that devalues the character for its commercial purposes (Hills 2003 78-79). In the George Lucas documentary The People vs. George Lucas (2010) several fans explain their dislikes

21 Computer-generated imagery is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, shorts, commercials, videos, and simulators. The visual scenes may be dynamic or static, and may be two-dimensional (2D), though the term ‘CGI’ is most commonly used to refer to 3D computer graphics used for creating scenes or special effects in films and television.

39 about the disappointing prequels. One of the main critiques is that Lucas, again, did not considered his fans when he created the storylines. Fans have created several narratives where they fantasized about how the prequels would go. Years of discussion, fantasizing and analyzing Star Wars lead to a certain expectation of the prequel. And the prequels did not meet that expectation. After the release of The Phantom Menace an eruption of critique spread the Internet and reached audiences outside the fan communities. In parody films such as Kevin Smiths Clerks (2000) one of the protagonist beats George Lucas, demanding his money back. The cartoon- Lucas explains that he has written the script over the weekend and refunds the ticket. Comedian Brian Posehn equated the experience of watching the prequels to being molested by his favorite uncle (Lopez 2012 5-6). It was awfully clear that fans were unhappy with the newest edition of Star Wars. This collaborative dissatisfaction resulted in a new genre in fan culture: the fan-edit. It was different from previous fan videos, because they usually portrayed a parody, new narratives (fan fiction video) or a documentary. Fan video frequently focuses on character studies, or they draw out the emotional or internal lives of characters (Jenkins 2006, 159–60; Gray 2010 144). Fan edits, on the other hand, re-orders, removes or adds new material to the original story. Where fan video would sooner try to create a new story with the groundwork the canon material has presented, the tries to tell the same story but with new interpretations. circulated in Hollywood around 2001 on a VCR tape. Its creator, Mike Nichols, intended to create a stronger film by bringing it in line with the filmmaking philosophy that George Lucas espoused while making the original Star Wars trilogy (Kraus 2001). The main element that Nichols sought to adopt was an emphasis on story over special effects (Plinkett 2009). Nichols attempted to differ from other fan videos, because he edited a film directed by Lucas to make it adhere to the style of a film directed by Lucas himself. This frames fan poaching of text as akin to restoration, and Nichols presents himself as the equal of Lucas in his prime years. His edit is more than a humble fans revision of a disappointing product. The Phantom Edit is a statement that tells George Lucas that he is unfit to lead the Star Wars fandom, and that fans must take control. This fan approach is now a common one: fan poachers are often moved by a desire to protect a franchise from its creator (Jenkins 2000 472). It also stands in opposition to many fan videos and other forms of fan creation, which embraced their marginality to enable greater creativity (Tushnet 2007 67). This need to protect the franchise is at heart of the fan culture’s nature. It shows that the franchise is no longer owned by the original creator only. Fans claim a part of that ownership upon themselves. In the documentary The People vs. George Lucas one fan explains that Star Wars is a that needs to be protected. The story George Lucas set up in 1977 has lived a life on its own through its fans. What is considered Star Wars is no

40 longer defined by Lucas, but by the participatory culture surrounding that fandom. If there is a creative disagreement with the creator, fans will stop acknowledging that content. They will create their own storyline in order to keep the glory and essence of their fandom alive. No matter how much George Lucas would like to keep control of his franchise and the portrayal of his creative offspring, the fans have a way of their own and if they do not agree with presented material they will do everything to save the story they love. But is this idea of the ‘taking control’ realistic. Fans may have felt obligated to save their precious fandom, whatever they produced were still derivative works. Interviewee Nendwriter explains her idea of ownership: “It’s clear that individuals can feel a part of the production, even deeply personally invested (like myself), without having any sort of real ownership/control over it. This can make people feel the illusion of having some ownership, but they still do not alter the course of the canon production so I don't personally consider them to have any sort of ownership of the production itself. I think that these ideas of ownership in regard to media and entertainment center a lot on control; fans aren't the ones who come up with and produce the canon narrative of something like Star Wars, so in my opinion they don't have true ownership of it because they don't have direct control over it.” Though the fan edits might have caused a turn- point in fan cultures by showing the inferior talents of fans. They could never change the storyline itself. No matter how many times fans have written about Jar-Jar’s death, he is still alive by the end of the prequels, Luke will never turn to the Dark Side and Padme Amidala does not have an evil twin sister that takes over Naboo. These are fan storylines, they are not canon. Despite the intense criticism, most fans were unwilling or unable to reject the prequels completely and have acknowledged that the prequels have added important details to the Star Wars experience. Without Attack of the Clones they would not have the popular animation series The Clone Wars, and the romantic development between Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) and his love interest Queen Padme Amidala have been fuel for several fan fiction narratives. Moreover, the prequels were canon material that could not be ignored. If there were to be new Star Wars movies, information used in the prequels will have part in those too. George Lucas still owned the intellectual rights to the franchise and no matter how many fan edits circulated online and offline, true denial of the original was impossible. Fans may have the technology to criticize vocally, they cannot and will not change the canon narrative. Those rights are still in the hands of the original creator of the franchise. What fans create, no matter how much better those version are, is still remixed content. Interviewee Nendwriter explains her vision on fans involvement in the franchise: “Personally, I feel that fans have a different sort of 'ownership' of these things: they own their fan art, Star Wars merchandise, and their own creative contributions to the media at hand, but they don't directly affect or produce the canon narrative of the production, so to me they technically don't have any real form of ownership of something

41 like Star Wars, regardless of the level of their emotional involvement, because they are not the ones who develop and alter the narrative.” Fan fiction and fan edits may have the ability to present an interpretation of the source, they will never be considered canon. The prequels might have been experienced as a failure by the older generation, Lucas’s tactics to introduce a new generation to the fandom had succeeded. The fandom was amplified with new younger fans. This generation of digital natives will eventually experience a newer form of fan culture and embrace new technology and its possibilities to its fullest.

42 Episode IV – The Empire Strikes Back

In 1992, Jenkins described fan behavior in his Textual Poachers as ‘weekend-only’ activities (Jenkins 1992 361), referring to fans being hobbyists. Today, the relation between fans and their fandom is much more intense. The early days of the Internet had already given fans new ways of engagement with their fandom. The publishing of fan fiction is no longer done in fanzines but on fan fiction websites such as FanFiction.net or Archive of Your Own, which makes the spreading of content not only faster and easier, it also reaches more audience resulting in a growing number of fans. Though annual fan conventions are still a popular thing, the experience has changed significantly. It is no longer the only fan gathering that used to be essential in a fandom (it was the only way to gather and discuss), it has more of an additional role because fans already gathered online on discussion forums to talk about recent developments. Not all forms of fan engagement require hours of work and with the Internet becoming more mobile with the emergence of smartphones and laptops, fans are no longer restricted by time and place and can engage whenever they want. Now with the arrival of social media the old style consumer is dead (Jenkins 1992; 2012 358). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, fans were emblematic of audience resistance (Jenkins 1992) understood as actively appropriating and transforming mass media content as raw materials for their own cultural productions. By the early 21st century, fans have been redefined as the drivers of wealth production within the new digital economy: their engagement and participation is actively being pursued by media companies interested in adopting new media strategies of user-generated content, social networks and harness collective intelligence (O’Reilly 2005 23-27). In contemporary fan culture, fans are all prosumers22, matching Lawrence Lessig’s description of the new generation and its Read-Write culture. The previous chapters have shown that fans have always been by remixing source material. The evolution of the Internet has supported their key behavior and has given way for them to use these possibilities to its fullest. Fans have proven to be early adaptors of new technology, by the explosion of fan activities online during the early 1990s. In the mid-2000s however, new platforms emerged that have changed online behavior and thus fan culture. This chapter will describe contemporary fan culture, the new way of fan engagement, and how the media industry has appropriated fans as part of their new marketing strategy.

22A is a person who consumers and produces media.

43 The emergence of platforms In the mid-2000s several key players of the Internet environment were born. In 2004 online social networking website Facebook was created, where users could create a personal profile, share (personal) information and socialize online with both friends and strangers. In 2005 video sharing platform YouTube was created where users could upload and watch videos for free. In 2006 social networking service emerged, providing a micro-blogging service for its users. Between 2000 and 2010 the Internet environment has changed significantly, partly due to the emergence of these social networking platforms but also due to other technological developments. These new technologies have changed user behavior, have changed society and thus have also changed the way fan cultures operate. Tim O’Reilly explains the transition of the new web and refers to it as ‘Web 2.0’. To him, the Web 2.0 means a change in emphasis. Several technologies used for ‘the Web 1.0’ (the early Web) are still used such as forums and e-mail. In the Web 2.0 the emphasis was more on user- generated content, usability and interpretability (O’Reilly 2005 18-19). This emphasis on user- generated content is what has a greater influence on fan culture, because fans are keen on creating new personalized content. O’Reilly describes how platforms have emerged; platforms that are often structured to be organized around people rather than the traditional computer hierarchies of the directory trees. Websites designed in the 1990s (and later) offered fewer connecting points for individuals. There were of course forums and , but generally speaking a website did not provide a lot of possibilities for socializing through the content. This is in contrast with the Web 2.0 where tools are built to combine micro-content from different users with the same interest: a blog post and a comment; a Delicious page for a URL with many different users having bookmarked the same URL; a group of photos from different people connected by the common use of a descriptive tag; or multiple authors in a single page. Combining social media with micro-content yields a series of synergistic effects, including conversations that occur across multiple sites with multiple connections in between (Alexander & Levine 2008 40-41). A fan posts a review. Another fan comments on this review with a link to a YouTube video. A third fans writes up a posts on his personal blog (which may send a ‘’ to the original blogpost as connection). A fourth describes the conversation so far in her YouTube video blog, adding more commentary. Such distributed conversation occurs and continues to happen on other Web platforms. Fans use this cross-pollination of content for their own marketing purposes. Interviewee Rebel Spectre 6 for instance shares his art and fan fiction on multiple website to attract more readers, and of course because he likes to share Star Wars related content. In return he is inspired by others and creates more art. The conversation between fans is what makes being a fan much more rewarding. Social networking in this case underlines this aspect, it makes it easier to interact with others and to share appreciation with a

44 like. Moreover, websites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have the ‘like-fuction’ where users can ‘like’ a posts when appreciated. It very simply marginalized appreciation that was before only indicated by the number of views or comments on a fan fiction page. If an artwork on Facebook is liked over a thousand times, it feel much more rewarding for the fan artist than anonymous views on a fan art page. The new Web has lowered the bar to content creation, combined with increased social connectivity. It also results in what Jenkins refers to as ‘spreadable media’, content that travels the Internet and is re-used by different authors. Online tools have increased the speed and scope of the sharing of media messages. Spreadability refers to the potential for audiences to share content for their own purposes (Jenkins 2013). As it has been proved several times in this thesis, fans have always been producers of new content and the emergence of the Internet just made their products more visible. In 1996 Lucasfilm was among the first companies that saw the possibilities of fan products and commodified fan works when uploaded on www.starwars.com. Lucas provided fans a website to share their fan products without the danger of being sued over copyrights. The content uploaded however, would become Lucasfilm’s intellectual property. Other companies would later follow example, in 2007 FanLib for instance began hosting officially sponsored fan fiction competitions and promoted their services to fans. They would help fans with the rules of the copyright laws and help them when they were being prosecuted. The company wanted to profit from the content that had previously circulated for free. This is again a rife between the fans that wish to remain a gift economy and the third party that interferes by commodifying their products. Though fans have protested against FanLib, the company still attracted more than 18.000 participants (Jenkins 2008). In 2008 FanLib was partially bought by Disney, assumingly due to the negative reputation of FanLib Disney pulled the plug on FanLib and within two weeks they uploaded Take180, which is basically the same concept but not restricted to fan fiction. Take180 is explained in the site description: “Take180 is a website featuring shows made with audience participation. Members of the website’s community contribute videos, stories, photos and artwork in response to specific challenges from the show producers. The community also provides feedback by commenting and voting on submissions from other members. Winning submissions are then features in future episodes and the winners of each challenge receive various prizes,” (Walker 2010). Take180 is another example of big companies using user-generated content with an unequal payment for their efforts. Walker mentions that their prizes are usually between the $100 and $300, while Disney assumingly profits significantly more from their uploaded works. These examples show how media companies are being forced to reassess the nature of consumer engagement and the value of audience participation in response to a shifting media environment characterized by digitalization. The results is a constant pull and tug between top-

45 down corporate and bottom-up consumer power with the process of media convergence shaped by decisions made in teenager’s bedrooms and in corporate bedrooms (Jenkins 2008). As Lessig had stated, remix culture is a characteristic of the new generation. With the new Web focusing on user-generated content and the spreadability of this content more non-fans started to engage in remixing material. Several key characteristics of fan cultures had become mainstream activities that were now being done by the new generation. This also results in more companies struggling with their audience engagement, something Lucas has struggled with since the 1980s and he did not have solution to this problem. Some companies have adopted a more collaborative approach, such as Disney’s Take180, embracing audience participations and capitalizing fan-generated content. Lucas on the other hand has tried to tighten his control over his intellectual property, trying to reign in the disruptive and destabilizing impact of technological and cultural change by prosecuting everyone who overstepped his boundaries. Even when trying to be collaborative, Lucas actions mostly evoked critique. The release of the prequels was just before the transition to a more social networked Web. Though fans were criticizing especially The Phantom Menace, their deep anger was even more visible when platforms like YouTube emerged. At first is might not seem as such a difference when a fan uploads a fan video on YouTube as when he posts it on a fan website, but on the contrary the difference in effects are quite significant. Social networking websites made fan content more available to non-fans. Of course the uploading of videos on the Internet was not new in the 2000s, but with social media plug-ins embedded in every website a video was bound to be watched by people outside the fandom. Especially a service like Facebook or YouTube was not aimed at fans, but many fans do make use of it. Visibility would again be enlarged on a different level, resulting in more growth of the fandom. The new digital environment spreads the communication in fandom. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube not only presented new ways of engagement, it also facilitated new digital meeting places for fans. It became easier for fans to search for other fans and start a discussion. Matthew Hills refers to this as ‘just in time fandom’, where practices of fandom have become increasingly enmeshed within the rhythms and temporalities of (Hills 2002 78-79). Fans once traded ideas through post mail, but now few people would choose that over an e-mail or direct digital message, such as a tweet or WhatsApp message, because those service invite immediate response. Fans now go online to discuss new episodes immediately after the episode’s transmission time or even during ad-breaks perhaps in order to demonstrate the timeliness and responsiveness of their devotion. Before fans might have raced the phone to discuss last night’s episode with other fans, but now they might use Twitter, WhatsApp or Facebook sometimes during the broadcast itself.

46 Hills also cautioned against describing the changing temporality of fandom “as a techno- evolution towards fuller interactivity,” (Hills 2002 179). He argues that this eradication of the time-lag works ever more insistently to discipline and regulate the opportunities for temporally- licensed feedback. Though Hills wrote his argument in 2002, we can now see the technical developments of this ‘just in time’ fandom where viewers use digital recorders or circumvent broadcasts entirely by downloading content on their own. These shifts continues to affect fans’ media engagement, their social networks, and their creative practices. In turn, the media industries continue to re-strategize. The information flow is constant and the result is an enormous proliferation of fan websites, discussion lists, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, blogs and more websites that are becoming more intertwined with social media. As fandom diversifies, it moves from cult status towards the cultural mainstream, with more Internet users engaging in some form of fan activity (Jenkins 2006a 142). This statement is very apparent in every day fan culture, as well in fandom like Star Wars, whose popularity has surpassed fan culture and has become something more like an American heritage. Most people in Western society have probably seen at least one Star Wars movie, and even if they have never watched the movies, they have heard of Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Skywalker and can quote the famous words “Luke, .” Star Wars has been referenced in several other popular media such as the Friends episode where main character Rachel cosplays as Princess Leia to seduce her boyfriend Ross, or the Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: Family Guy trilogy that parodied the original trilogy with Family Guy content. American President Barack Obama even referred to Star Wars several times and has been escorted by stormtroopers when he left The White House to watch the newest movie (CNN 2015). The borders of fan communities are slightly shifting with social media emerging and allow interaction between fans and non-fans. ‘Just in time fandom’ is everywhere and all the time, a central part of the everyday lives of consumers operating within a networked society (Jenkins 2007 361). Of course there are still people who just watch a movie and are not immediately fans, but if you have seen a movie and there are articles to comment on, why not add your opinion on a social media service like Facebook or Twitter? Fans gather on platforms such as Facebook to discuss their opinions about their fandom, but non-fans who have seen the same episode or have read the same book can also reply. Not everyone who has seen Star Wars considers himself or herself a fan, but they might engage in a fan activity, and thus produce fan content, nonetheless. The Web 2.0 provided new ways to harness the nature of fan culture, the wish to engage and share their interest. The phenomenon of online is one of the newer forms of engagement that appealed to fans. Crowdsourcing is the solicitation for a contribution to a project. A project is pitched and everyone can contribute in the process. The Star Wars Uncut project is perhaps the best-known crowdsourced video today. Star Wars Uncut is a famous fan

47 edit of A New Hope initiated by Casey Pugh. In 2009 she created a website (www.starwarsuncut.com) where she requested fans to collaborate in her Uncut project. Pugh cut the movie in bits of 15 seconds at the time. She asked fans to remake that scene in every way they wanted. In the end, all the bits were put together to form a complete film but with a different perspective every 15 seconds (Pugh 2009). This movie shows how diverse the creations of fans are. Some fans have contributed by providing an artistic interpretation of the scene, some do their best to restore the original version, some use parody, some mix the source material with popular culture content and some simply have fun with the content and just want to participate. This movie is a clear reflection on the possibilities of fan works, their intentions and its diversity. Though the movie might seem eclectic and not coherent to a non-fans, for actual fans that know every scene of the movie it is a symbol of their collaboration and hard work. The movie was rewarded with an Emmy Award23 in 2010 for Creative Achievement and the movie can still be viewed on YouTube.

A few scenes of Star Wars Uncut (2010)

This capacity of consumers that work together across geographic and social distances has been the heart of the Web 2.0 discourse. Networked communities represented an alternative source of knowledge and power, which intersects but remains autonomous from the transnational reach of consumer . Web 2.0 companies incorporate and embrace this collective intelligence rather than allowing it to exist as an independent source of consumer power and

23 The Emmy Awards are administered by three sister organizations, which focus on various sectors of television and broadband programming: Television Academy (primetime) National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (daytime, sports, news and documentary).

48 critique (Jenkins 2008). Star Wars Uncut might have been a non-profit initiative, its uploading on bigger corporate sites such as YouTube have involved a third party that has different intentions. Star Wars has such a large fanbase with an active community that constantly engages in the creation of new content. What if Lucas could give in and collaborated with his fans more. Working and listening to users will encourage them to engage more and will indirectly result in a relation that is beneficial for the audience and the company. Lucas would not be the one to further analyse this option, he had no intention to create new content for his fans. But this does not mean the story of Star Wars was over.

The Disney reign In 2012, it was announced that George Lucas had sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company. Disney immediately announced the release of three new movies, with The Force Awakens (2015) being the first canon movie after a hiatus of 9 years. Lucasfilm and Disney had always had a connection and the Star Wars movies matched the nature of the Disney way of storytelling, Lucas had often stated that he did not want to direct another Star Wars movie and he has specifically mentioned fan criticism as a reason (O’Toole 2015). The reactions of fans were mixed, as several fans still considered Lucas the maker of the franchise while others were skeptical because of the failure of prequels, but many were optimistic because unlike Lucas

Disney did intend to make many more Star Wars movies. Even though the Star Wars community was less active in the few years prior to The Force Awakens, due to the long hiatus, Disney would soon realize that the Star Wars fandom was still very much alive. The movie trailer circulated on online video services such as YouTube and Vimeo was the most viewed (in 24 hours) trailer ever, until the recent release of Disney’s live action version of Beauty and the Beast. The trailer alone was a cause for a Star Wars fan revival. Fans were inspired to use the few shots presented as a base of derivative works. I remember clearly, that even before the release of the movie The Force Awakens dominated several fan fiction and fan art websites with stories that guessed the narrative of the canon. A fairly new way of engagement was that fans filmed themselves, watching the trailer for the first time and uploaded their acts of excitement on YouTube. Even the main actors, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, shared videos and pictures of themselves excited for the release. An excellent marketing decision from Disney, the video of Boyega and Ridley was also frequently shared and fans were delighted to see their excitement (Walters 2015). Noteworthy is that the trailer mostly circulated online, most fans viewed the trailer online and shared their excitement through social media. They posted videos of themselves in pure excitement, started creating and tweeted with the trailer-phrase #ChewieWereHome (which was trending at the time). Imagine this is all before the release of the actual movie. This was just the effect of an 88 second movie trailer. The trailer did not show clues for a possible

49 plotline, it introduced some (recurring) characters and mostly reassured the fans that the movie would have everything they expected from a Star Wars movie. To me, the release of the trailer is a perfect example of the necessity of spreadability as a mandatory part of successful new media marketing. Henry Jenkins explains in his Spreadable Media (2013) how important it is for content to travel across platforms and circulate online. Present day, the Internet is no longer only accessible through a Personal Computer that is stationed at home to only use in your spare time. The Internet is mobile, with portable computers such as tablets and smartphones we can access the Internet throughout the day. It is important for content to adjust to these other devices and be readable on every platform. In an interview with NiemanLab, Jenkins explains: “We live at a moment where every story, image, or bit of information will travel across every available media platform either through decisions made in corporate boardrooms or decisions made in consumers’ living rooms,” (Usher 2010). The Force Awakens trailer caused a massive outburst parodies, fan art, fan fiction, theory crafting and much more. The outburst was unofficially named: The Memes Awaken, referring the meme culture24 in combination with the latest movie. A stop-motion25 Lego version, of the trailer appeared within 24 hours after the release of the original trailer (SnooperKing 2014). Stop- motion is a high demanding effort and SnooperKing created this video on the same day of release. Vine26 videos were shared of fans staging a lightsaber fight with their old Star Wars toys. It was as if the fans were giving Disney a big “we approve” message with their online posts sharing their excitement. Unlike Lucas, Disney buried the fans with new Star Wars information without spoiling the storyline. They intensively used social media to feed the fans with pictures, clips or news about the upcoming movie and the merchandise. Not only were the actors continuously posting Star Wars hints in their social media feeds, Disney themselves also teased the fans with new information. Director J. J. Abrams often shared a video with a personal message to Star Wars fans, speaking directly to them as if the fans were there in the studio. Disney organized surprise video chats with actor Harrison Ford who plays Han Solo in the original trilogy and his role in The Force Awakens. Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) was send undercover as a stormtrooper in Hollywood Boulevard. These fan meet-ups were shared on social media and only enhanced Disney’s relationship with their fans. It created a feeling that they wanted to do something back to the fans. Though of course, they knew a good fan relation would result in financial gain. The videos of the meet-up were shared among fans and only fed the hype around

24 An Internet meme is a concept or idea that spreads "virally" from one person to another via the Internet. An Internet meme could be anything from an image to an email or video file; however, the most common meme is an image of a person or animal with a funny or witty caption. 25 Stop motion is an animation technique that physically manipulates an object so that it appears to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. 26 is a short-form video sharing service where users can share six-second-long looping video clips.

50 Star Wars which would later assumingly result in the massive ticket and merchandise selling. For the release of the Star Wars merchandise Disney organized a live-stream event where the fans could watch the unboxing of the new never-seen-before merchandise live. They encouraged the fans to share their excitement with hashtag27 #ForceFriday. This generated an exceptional amount of engagement from fans (Walters 2015). This fan engagement fueled the Star Wars hype and was used as a cheap marketing campaign that was immediately profitable for Disney. Before the movie was released, Disney already produced $5 billion worldwide on merchandise alone (Heller 2015). A profit that was partially made because of the fans that openly hyped both the brand, the upcoming movie and shared their user experience of the toys. Why would Disney still spent money on a TV commercial if fans are going to spread free videos online on the same day the toys are released? They used the labor of fans and commodified their products, but they did it more subtly and fed the fans with rewards they actually wanted: new Star Wars. This was a tricky decision, because a major hype may turn on the company if the newest movie would turn out to be as disappointing as the Phantom Menace. This however was not the case. The first day of the ticket sales illustrates the mass change in fan behavior from the release of the second movie in 1983 and the seventh movie in 2015. Where my father had to stand in line for hours to be able to acquire a ticket for the premiere show (even before the ticket stand opened), I simply stayed at home and bought my ticket online but experienced major lag28 due to the popularity. This underlines my earlier statement where I explained how fans no longer need to leave their house for the fan experience. In the week of the release everything around me screamed Star Wars. The bus I was taking had a Force Awakens poster, the food at the grocery store was Star Wars themed. But also Facebook offered me the option to use a lightsaber filter (which I gladly used, as did the majority of my friends network) that showed my profile picture with a lightsaber in the color I preferred. Google spread Easter eggs29 in their code that encouraged several fans to search out these eggs and publish their findings on Reddit. For instance, when querying Star Wars’ iconic openings crawl ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away’ the results would be presented in the same style as the official opening, with matching dramatic music if you chose. Although Facebook and Google do not seem to have a commercial agreement with Disney regarding Star Wars, it is not unthinkable that they wanted to use Star Wars’ popularity to engage with their own platforms. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Google assumingly profit from user activities on their platforms. Using their services is free, but unmistakably the data extracted from user activity is

27 A is a type of label or tag used on social network and microblogging services which makes it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content. 28 Lag is impaired computer functionality (slow application responses or reduced/choppy framerates) resulting from high latency, packet loss, or low-performance (generally video) hardware. 29 In popular culture, Easter eggs are often used to refer to hidden messages. Usually messages that are only visible for those who look it or know the split meaning of the content.

51 used for their benefit. User behavior provides insights in user interests. This data can be sold to advertisers that can specifically present their ads to the right audience. User engagement with the platform is hugely important for companies like Facebook and Google. And like Disney, they provide a likeable environment to engage with. With many Star Wars fans actively searching for the Easter Eggs in Google, massive user engagement is guaranteed. Or maybe, Mark Zuckenberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are major Star Wars fans themselves. Mark Zuckenburg showed his fannish side when he photographed his baby daughter Max as a Jedi and posted it on Facebook, where the picture was shared over 48.000 times (THR 2015). Maybe he just likes Star Wars, or maybe he wants to evoke engagement. Either way, the hype was on. In The Netherlands, the movie was released at midnight and I got to see the first evening show the next day. Afraid of spoilers30 I decided not to use the Internet or social media all day. In my experience, the movie is one of the best Star Wars movies ever made. I have read many reviews calling The Force Awakens a ‘retro’ movie that mostly borrowed ideas from the first movie A New Hope. Director J. J. Abrams, self-proclaimed superfan, explains how he tried to use the things he liked most about the franchise, the old characters, events and storyline, suggesting that this is a movie made for the fans. Interviewee Nendwriter explains how she thinks The Force Awakens has influenced the fandom: “It's pretty obvious that the Star Wars fandom has changed a lot in the past five years, and I'd go so far as to compare it to an earthquake.” She notices how the last movie has divided the Star Wars fandom mostly by generation. The older middle-aged fans, that have experienced the first trilogy, are less recipient of the newer film. Whereas the younger fans are stirred into action and are now playing the largest part in the fandom, at least in terms of spreading awareness and hype about the film and Star Wars culture. Nendwriter clearly sees a huge spike in creative writing. Fans have caused the widespread involvement with Star Wars- related writing and media on websites like Tumblr and DeviantArt. I think this spike is due to more fans using the easy-access technology to prosume and the many unsolved issues presented in The Force Awakens. Fans like to explore the possibilities of a story left undiscovered in the canon (Jenkins 1992 2-3) and that is exactly what they did when remixing The Force Awakens by creating new fan fiction stories. The latest movie seemed to have left open several questions that will be answered in the upcoming movies. Questions like who are Rey’s parents, what was Luke doing all those years, how did Kylo turn to the Dark Side or who is Snoke were among the popular themes that were discussed on forums and used in fan fiction. Kylo Ren was an immensely popular character and Disney used him to created several promotional videos, such as the video Undercover Ren which was a parody sketch of the TV series Undercover Boss that was aired during the popular talkshow Saturday Night Live. Promotional content was released

30 A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot elements which threaten to give away important details concerning the turn of events of a dramatic episode.

52 every few weeks to keep the buzz of Star Wars going. This content would sometimes also be the subject of remixing, Undercover Ren was popular enough to become a recurring image on its own. Fan and custom toymaker Jim Heston even created an action figure of the undercover character. The image got his own fanbase, with a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account and several Tumblr posts memorizing the sketch. Though Disney had probably not anticipated such an extreme response, it again shows how spreadable media works. An image that is easily adaptable into several context, easily shared and circulates the Web to an extent that is can no longer be tracked. Who knows where Undercover Ren will pop up next? Walt Disney Company however, was not immediately keen on the remixing of fans. Like its predecessor, Lucas, they were very protective of their newly bargained franchise. When the movie was just released they were acting like Sith lords31 when they started to send out warnings in case anyone stole their profits. It went as far as warning company ImageShack for allowing the upload of a Force Awakens screenshot and the Michigan cake baker of Wilison’s Wild Cake Creations for portraying ‘Darth Vader and son’ on one of their cakes (Triedman 2015). These acts resembled Lucas’s wookie-like32 behavior prior to the Disney take over. Though, it could be because of the commercial nature remixed products such as the Darth Vader cake had. Disney was more lenient towards creative remixing such as fan fiction and fan art. Since the success of their highest grossing animation movie Frozen in 2013, they have come to appreciate fan engagement more. In contrast to George Lucas, they noticed that although many others might benefit from their movies by using the Disney title, in the end the company would still benefit most. Disney’s animation movie Frozen had quickly evoked a large fanbase and the iconic song Let it go is one of the most covered songs among fans. Nonetheless, Frozen achieved most Blu-Ray and legal digital movie sales than any movie ever at that time (Osterndorf 2013). They had now experienced the power of fan engagement and the effect of flexible content; Let is go was a popular cover song that was remixed into several music genres, but also sketches Fan art by digital artist and fan Ara Badiya for the Cinema Poster Awards 2015.

31 The Sith is an organization in the fictional Star Wars universe. It is an ancient interstellar quasi-religious kratocratic government led by those who seize power through force or cunning. Sith characters are characterized by their lust for power and their desire to destroy the Jedi Order (the hero’s). 32 Wookiees were a tall species of furry from the Star Wars franchise. Despite their fearsome appearance and volatile temperament, Wookiees were regarded as intelligent, sophisticated, loyal and trusting. When angered, Wookiees were known to descend into a berserker rage.

53 and fan art. They therefore allowed the massive adoptions of Star Wars content and eventually even encouraged it in 2016 when they announced the return of the Star Wars Film Awards on www.starwars.com. This is the website Lucas had set up in 1996, that at that time had caused some negative attention. The revival of the Star Wars Film Awards however did not seem to initiate a critical response from fans. Other contest also emerged, both initiated by Disney/Lucasfilm as by other companies. The prices are fairly low compared to the use of fan generated content for companies. The prize for the 2016 Star Wars Film Awards for instance is only $750, maybe a big prize for the average citizen but unmistakably low compared to the financial value it generated for the company. The winners of the competition will parade their excellent fan works online and express their excitement once again, resulting in not only free publicity but also movie posters and other artworks. Disney seems to have given fans the freedom to remix their intellectual property. For quite some time there has been no news of fans being sued for copyrights infringement. Disney seems to have taken a more friendly approach when dealing with fans. Unlike Lucas they have encouraged fan engagement and rewarded participation with new entertaining content, events and toys. The Force Awakens has been a great success, possibly because of director J. J. Abrams who, as a fan himself, knew exactly what fans wanted to see in the new movie. He did everything Lucas did not wanted to do because he knew what fans would like. Of course, there is some critique of the movie resembling A New Hope too much, but overall the movie was positively received. It was not the greatest movie out of the franchise, but what fueled the amazing profits were the fans and their catchy excitement that lured new fans. Does this new approach show how accepted remixing has become? Will Disney’s successful approach show the best way to deal with fans? Instead of trying to control fan engagement, stimulate it and slightly guide it towards an intended goal? Disney has never lost control of their franchise and neither did Lucas. The difference in this matter is the nature of their relationship. Lucas did not listen to his fans, he did not reward them with something they wanted. He ignored their wished and did whatever he envisioned himself. It was his right as an artist and filmmaker, but those decisions did ruin his relation with his fans. Critique and rebellion followed. The Phantom Menace was a low point in Star Wars history and many fans tried to fix it by editing a new better version. Some fans even ignored the original movie entirely and encouraged others to do the same; The Phantom Edit was among the hundreds of fan edits that were better received than the original. Fans have taken it upon themselves to save Star Wars. But no matter how inferior these fan edits were compared to the original, they would always remain fan edits. They could never replace the original version. Lucas was resistant against fan engagement, but Disney has given fans the creative freedom to use Star Wars in their artworks. And this has enriched the fan experience. Interviewee Rebel Spectre 6 argues that the biggest change in Star Wars was Disney’s take over:

54 “I've seen Star Wars change in many ways and I think the biggest change is Disney taking over and making Star Wars greater. You can disagree with me but I think this has given fans something more to look forward to for Star Wars and will continue one of the best stories of all time.” Disney is giving the fans what they want. Eventually the fans are the ones that create the hype. They are the ones that heat up the audience and encourage others to go see the latest movie. Fan fiction writer Nendwriter explains: “I wouldn't be as much of a Star Wars fan as I am without fan contributions, mainly the fan art I see around the Internet. The fans are what create the hype around large-scale films and entertainment like Star Wars, and without the various creative contributions of the Star Wars fandom, I would be less likely to revisit the films as I wouldn't have other people to discuss and analyze them with.” Disney harnessed this feeling, this great connection fans have with their fandom. They are what makes a brand successful. Disney has encouraged fan engagement and rewarded fans for the engagement with small favors. They feed this attention economy by constantly providing information and news to keep the social buzz going and in exchange fans express their excitement. This relation of give and take might be the future of fan cultures.

55 Conclusion

This research is set out to explore the connection fans have with technology and how digital technology has changed fan cultures. Fans have the specific need to engage with source material and they do this in diverse and throughout ways. It is clear that fans have always had a special connection with media technology. A core fan characteristic is the need to engage with the fandom, the wish to use that source material and create something new. This is always done with the use of media. Lawrence Lessig has argued that this remixing culture is now a characteristic of the new generation. But when looking at fan cultures, it is very clear that fans have been actively remixing content since the late 1800s. They created fanzines with pre-digital tools such as the hectograph and upgraded their technology once digital tools were available. Fans were among the first to use the Web and the Internet to its fullest. At first, the transition of offline to online media seems nothing more than a digital update of technology. However, Marshall McLuhan argues that a change in medium is a change in behavior. When looking at fan cultures, the way fans engage with content might have its grassroots in the pre-digital period, it has significantly changed fan culture forever. New software and technologies have made creative reproduction more accessible. Distribution en circulation of media content became easier and the reach of the audience grew. Before fan activities were often too demanding to do on an everyday basis, and fans often saw it as a weekend hobby. Fan conventions were organized annually and were a day event. Though fan conventions are still an important part of fan culture, it is no longer the only way for fans to gather and discuss new content. Present technology allows fans to interact with new content on a daily basis. This accessibility did not only mean a change in quality of fan activity, but also in its quantity. In the early days of the Web, the amount of fan content grew to an extent that it could no longer be ignored by the media industry. The Web pulled fandom to the surface. They made fan products more visual to an extent that they could no longer be ignored by the media industry. Filmmaker George Lucas tried to control fan engagement as soon as he encountered it. He was among the first to capitalize fan engagement and use it for his company Lucasfilm. His early activities caused some resistant by fans who initially intended fandom to have a gifting economy. Fans have no commercial interests, they engage with fictional stories because they love the story and they love the activity of creating and sharing. Early attempts of capitalizing this behavior online caused friction. Lucas did not feed his fans with satisfying rewards the way Disney does. Lucas desperately tried to control his fans and refused to listen to what his audience wanted from him. By not granting his fans the content they yearned for the relationship between Lucas

56 and his fans only worsened. Finally Lucas gave up and Disney took over, choosing a completely different strategy. Instead of alienating their fans, they encouraged them to engage with content. The present Web has a social networking nature, where websites and social media are connected. This environment is fitting for fan engagement, because it makes it much easier to build up a relationship between fans and the franchise. Fans generated an extreme amount of content that Disney used in its marketing plan, they could capitalize fan engagement and directly saw the fruits of their effort in profits. It was the fans that caused the renewed popularity of Star Wars. The relationship between Disney and the fans has become a mutual understanding where Disney gives the fans what they yearn for; new content to engage with. It could be argued that this is exploitation, because Disney financially profits from the free labor of fans. However, fans never intended to make money of their work. Their labor is a labor of love. And no matter how much others may profit, as long as there are new Star Wars movies to come and Disney gives fans the freedom to do what they love to do, the fans are satisfied. The pleasure of carelessly enjoying fan activities cannot be measured in monetary rewards.

Further research This thesis has focused on the influence of digital technologies in Western sci-fi and fantasy fan cultures. The remixing culture has clashed with the original owners and copyright laws are restraining remix culture to developing freely. In Asian cultures the copyright laws differ significantly and remixing culture is more encouraged with no criminal effect. It would be interesting to compare the developments in fan culture between these two extremes. Especially Japan has a rich fan culture of Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga) that have gained popularity in Western fan culture since the emergence of the Web. Fans translate weekly episode for foreign fans hours after broadcasting and criminal prosecution does not take place. The ‘otaku’ (otaku: fan) culture is also different from sci-fi fantasy culture. As well among Asians as the comparison between Western anime fans and Asian fans. One could recognize a subtle strife between these fandoms. It would be interesting to see how this type of fandom has developed and what role media has played during its evolution. Did they encounter the same problems and did they solve them in the same ways? How does contemporary culture look at the remixing of source material, and is this something we, as Westerners, could learn from?

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62 Appendix

Interview questions

The questions mentioned are written for fan fiction writers. When a fan active in another art form is interviewed, the questions are altered to his art form.

1. Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? Gender/country/age/job(You do not have to mention your name if you prefer to stay anonymous). 2. To you, what does it mean to be a fan? 3. What role does Star Wars play in your life? 4. How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? 5. Could you describe your fan fiction projects? 6. What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? 7. How much time do you spend on your fics? 8. What is the nature of your fanworks, is there a recurring theme? 9. What role has digital media played during your projects? 10. To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? 11. How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? 12. What tools do you use? Could be pen and paper or a software. And why? 13. What are the effects of your work? 14. Do you feel rewarded by your work? And if so, how? 15. How important are these rewards to you? 16. What role does social media play for your project? 17. What is your opinion about using the world someone else has already created? 18. Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? 19. How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? 20. Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? (Yes/No why?) 21. To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? 22. Could you imagine Star Wars without the fan production? (If not, how do they contribute to your experience with Star Wars?) 23. Are you participating in other fan communities? If yes, which ones and what are your activities? If not, why not?

63 24. How does 'being a fan' influence your life? 25. How do you think the Star Wars fandom has changes in the last five years? 26. Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture?

64 Interview findings

Interview with fan fiction writer Rebel Spectre 6. The interview with mediated through personal messaging on Fanfiction.net between 22 April 2016 and 30 April 2016.

Rebel Spectre 6 Due to personal reasons Rebel Spectre 6 prefers to be anonymous during the interview. We have agreed to use his account name as a reference. Rebel Spectre 6 is an active fan fiction writer on FanFiction.net and has written nine fan fics by April 2016, all containing around 10.000 words or more. Apart from fan fiction writing Rebel Spectre 6 is actively creating video edits, fan art and crafts fan theories around the latest Star Wars news. Used avatar on FanFiction.net by Rebel Spectre 6. FanFiction.net profile: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7440699/Rebel-Spectre-6 Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/rebel_spectre_6/

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? I'm going to probably always be known among Star Wars Rebels fans as Rebel Spectre 6. My everyday life consists of acting, singing, video editing, art and most of all being there for someone who needs another person to listen. I'm still in school so that comes first but I'm working to get a scholarship to Julliard (I know that's REALLY hard but I'm trying).

Why do you prefer to stay anonymous? I stay anonymous because I'd really like to keep my identity secret and not let anyone know who I am. I know one little thing can lead to hacking your email or finding out where you live and I don't want to risk that.

To you, what does it mean to be a fan? To be a fan to me means that you like a movie, TV show, book, etc. and to have at least a small understanding of it. Fans don't always have to go as far as writing fan fic or doing fan art. Just to know you love something and are willing to let that be part of who you are known by as a person.

65 What role does Star Wars play in your life? Star Wars has been part of my life as long as I can remember and to me it plays a lot of roles in my life. I look to it fun, a getaway if I'm having a rough day and since the thing I see most from the trilogy is hope I like to have Star Wars when I feel hopeless to remind me that even in real life there's always light in a hopeless situation and good will always win in the end.

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? Well obviously I'm a fan fiction writer. But I also do video edits, fan art and I theory craft.

Could you describe your fan fiction projects? I already explained how I believe in hope and good over evil and that's what I do in fan fic. I like to bring a hopeless situation and then use someone to fix it. That's why I love using Star Wars Rebels because they're people who are taking a crazy risk for the greater good and they'll fight to the end for their cause. Not that imperials are ‘evil’. These are people too and everyone has good in them. That's why in my fic Murder in the Ranks I focused on some imperials and what they might be thinking.

What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? Hard to explain but I'll try. The reason I said before was just one of them. I love to write but I also love to be part of communities and have a project to work on every day or something I can commit myself to and once I saw how great the fan fiction community could be I figured "Why not?".

How much time do you spend on your fics? At first I tried one update per day but my life started getting crazier and now I do Tuesday's, Thursday's and sometimes weekends. Each new chapter depends on what I'm writing about and what I need to think about but it most definitely always takes an hour or more.

What role has digital media played during your projects? I use digital media for everything in my fan fics. I find Google docs very helpful and I need a good computer whenever I write. Digital media has proven to be fast, reliable and efficient.

To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? Fan fiction writing isn’t a job at all to me. I just update when I do because I like routine and if that goes out of balance I can panic (I'm autistic if that helps explain that. Not that I'm saying all

66 autistic people do that but my reactions to certain situations can seem strange to some people.) I look at fan fic as a hobby and something I can do for other fans and give them something to do.

How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? I don't really know how I write. I just decided I want to write something and I did it. Being a teen doesn't mean I lost imagination in fact I think it just expanded. I usually have a basic idea of what I want and then I fill in the details as I go along. I'm a fast learner so figuring out iMovie for videos wasn't that hard.

Can you tell me what tools you use for your fanworks? Just pen and paper for my artworks and iMovie for video editing.

What are the effects of your work? I never really know what the effects of my work are. I know I think it's good and it makes me happy to write but I hope the effects aren't negative on people and that I really am just making people happy when I update.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? And if so, how? I feel extremely rewarded by my work. To tell the truth I like giving myself something to read every now and then. But mostly because of the reviews I get. If people really are happy with what I write then that's all that matters.

How important are these rewards to you? These rewards are very important to me. All I want to do is make people happy when they see I've updated and I would love to know if I've inspired other fans to write just as authors Artemis the Rebel, Padawan-Saoirse and Lordandempiressdoodle have inspired me.

What role does social media play for your project? I just use social media for promotion of my work and connecting with other fans. I only have an Instagram for now but even that's been fun.

How do you stay in contact with other fans? I use PM here (FanFiction.net) and trust this website to be safe so I can communicate with other fans. I also use Instagram and I'm going to get YouTube!

What is your opinion about modifying a pre-existing universe?

67 I don't have a big opinion on that. I you feel like modifying something that's already been done go for it and I'll still read it. I've just never done it.

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? I would love that! It would show that people actually care about what I do and that they like what I've done. I support creativity and if people want to do something off of what I've done then I'll support them!

Setting legal issues aside, to you who owns Star Wars? The fans do have some ownership over their work because these are their ideas. And regarding legal issues, I think that Disney owns Star Wars. I believe if you want to release something to the world, like George Lucas did with Star Wars, then expect for people to do things with it. Once I release something, it belongs to the fans and myself. People who would've done something differently than I have wrote their own adaption and I think that's amazing. Star Wars belongs to the world when it comes to fan works.

Have you ever considered selling your products and why? Selling my fanworks? I've considered it, that way I could see what others do with my work but I finally decided that if anyone wants to use my work they can. But I'd like to encourage people to come up with their own ideas and be creative.

How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? I break down in happy tears and thank god over and over again. And scream... Yaaaas!!!!!

Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? Money? Who cares! It's Disney! I love them and if they like my fan fic then I'd probably be too busy crying tears of joy to care about money

To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? I think fans making things of their own as shown the world just how much people care about Star Wars and that can make people think of their own ideas so the only effect that I see is it growing a little more very day and that on my opinion can only be good as long as these fans don't let it take over their life.

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Are you participating in other fan communities? If yes, which ones and what are your activities? If not, why not? Do I participate in any other fan communities... If by fan communities you mean fandoms then yes. I am currently on a collaboration with my cousin Piratespideyphan that mixes Once Upon a Time and Star Wars Rebels but if you mean sites then know because I never have really though of it or I don't like the site.

How does 'being a fan' influence your life? Being a fan hasn't changed me much at all or influences my life. Family and real things come first. I can't live in a pretend world and let that take over what I have in my real life and means more to me then anything else.

For you, what defines a true (Star Wars) fan? Just liking Star Wars and saying so makes you a fan. I don't think there's a real rule set. If you say you're a fan and you know the truth then you are one.

How do you think the Star Wars fandom has changes in the last five years? Whoa. I've seen Star Wars change in many ways and I think the biggest change is Disney taking over and making Star Wars greater. You can disagree with me but I think this has given fans something more to look forward to for Star Wars and will continue one of the best stories of all time.

Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture? I'm someone in this world that has a lot of time on this hands and does more things then I can count with that time. I'm trying to act and sing more so that'll count for some things. Have a good one! ;)

69 Nendwriter

Interview with fan fiction writer, professional journalist and editor Nendwriter. The interview is mediated through personal messaging on Fanfiction.net between 22 April 2016 and 4 May 2016.

Due to personal reasons Nendwriter prefers to be anonymous during the interview. We have agreed to use her account name as a reference. Nendwriter is an active fan fiction writer on FanFiction.net and has written three fan fiction stories on the website by May 2016, two Star Wars fics and one Uncharted fic. Nendwriter is a 21-year old Californian woman studying English literature. For her, fan fiction is Used avatar on Tumblr.com by Nendwriter. mostly a (secret) hobby.

FanFiction.net profile: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3785268/nendwriter Tumblr blog: http://reykenobiandbensolo.tumblr.com/

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? I would prefer to stay anonymous in name, but I'm female, 21 years old and I grew up in Las Vegas, NV. I'm an undergraduate in college in California and I'll be graduating in a few weeks. I'm an English literature major and a marketing minor. I work for my school's as a business editor. Balancing my academics, my job, and my social life has proven to be quite difficult, but I enjoy having a full schedule. If you're into the whole Myers-Briggs personality spectrum, I'm an INTJ, and I definitely feel that I fit the bill. Though I do enjoy my time with friends and family, I'm definitely an introvert, and leaving time for myself every day is crucial. If I'm in a crowded social setting for too long, I feel mentally exhausted, even frustrated. I crave alone time, usually to express myself creatively through drawing or writing, or to just sit down and read a good book. In terms of my everyday life, my Monday-Friday schedule is dominated by my classes, work, and squeezing a workout in between. If I finish my homework by a decent hour at night, I'll usually do some drawing, read a book of my own choosing, or I'll work on my fan fiction. My weekends are usually spent surfing and spending time with friends. I'm a total bookworm, and though I push myself to read all different genres, I tend to gravitate towards nonfiction and adventure/survival stories. As mentioned I enjoy drawing and art, and I sketch anything from animals to people to architectural structures.

70 To you, what does it mean to be a fan? Being a ‘fan’ of something—whether it be of a film, book, or sports team—definitely means something a little bit different to everyone, depending on their own interests and level of devotion to their 'fandom.' To me, being a fan of something is to be devoted mentally and emotionally to a subject, to be bound by it in some way. Being a fan of something is allowing the thing to shape your lifestyle, social image, and way of thinking, to varying extents. The main things I would consider myself a fan of are equestrian sports, sci-fi films, and my favorite novels and TV shows, as these some of the forms of entertainment that have most greatly influenced my life. I rarely feel compelled to jump into a fandom, but when I do, I personally tend to become a bit obsessive over the subject, although the fandoms I feel I am a part of tend to be temporary phases I go through with. I tend to truly fall into only one fandom at a time, and for now that happens to be Star Wars (you got me, J.J. Abrams).

What role does Star Wars play in your life? I had watched the original Star Wars films when I was younger, and I loved them (as a kid, I liked the prequels, but now I really don't), but I wouldn't say that these films really affected me all that much until the last one came out; The Force Awakens. I do, however, feel that the original Star Wars saga was one of the initial triggers of my love for sci-fi. For some inexplicable reason, I became really emotionally invested in the characters of the newest film, to the point that I felt compelled to start a fan fiction story about it—and for me, that's really rare. As for now, the role it plays in my life is that I devote some of my free time to writing fan fiction about the potential events after Episode VII, but my stories still take into account the original films and prequels.

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? I wouldn't consider myself a huge participant in the fandom as a whole, but I am active in a particular segment of it, the Reylo33 part of the fandom. I participate mainly through a Tumblr side blog and my fan fiction writing. On Tumblr I write essays/meta about the implications of the narrative tropes, cinematography, script choices, sexual subtext, and musical soundtrack of The Force Awakens, and how all of these elements combine to signify the underlying dynamics and relationships of the characters in the film. Mainly, I focus on how these elements imply that the characters of Kylo Ren and Rey (combined, ‘Reylo’) are not related and will likely have a romantic relationship in upcoming films, and that Rey's lineage is not what most people think it to be. Because I have studied film and literature for years, I'm used to breaking down narratives, approaching them like puzzles, and with my enjoyment of The Force Awakens and its many

33 ‘Reylo’ refers to a fanon of the relationship between The Force Awakens characters Rey and Kylo Ren.

71 unanswered questions, I felt compelled to try and solve them myself. So, my involvement in the overall Star Wars fandom is fairly personal, but I still feel pretty invested in it.

Could you describe your fan fiction projects? I rarely write fan fiction, and when I do, I usually don't publish it publicly; it's typically something my sister and I write for each other, just for fun and laughs. Aside from my two current Star Wars stories, I've only ever published one other fan fiction story, and I wrote it as a to a video game I'd played years ago (total nerd, I know). As for my two Star Wars stories, they go together, as one is a sequel to the other. In these stories I explore some potential conflicts and a plot that could take place after The Force Awakens. My stories are centered around Kylo Ren and Rey and their romantic dynamic. For these two works I've drawn inspiration from the older Star Wars films as well as from well-known narratives such as Romeo and Juliet, Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera etc. At its very core, I explore the tropes of 'enemies-to-lovers' and 'star-crossed lovers' with my work.

What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? The main reason I write fan fiction (whether I publish it online or not) is really just to entertain my own self and practice creative writing. As mentioned, a few years ago I wrote and published a fan fiction story based off of a video game called Uncharted. For some reason, the two romantic characters in the game really latched onto my mind, and I felt that they were incredibly well- developed for a mere video game. Through that story I wanted to explore what a sequel to the canon video game could have turned out like. I never did end up finishing that story, but this was my initial introduction to fan fiction. With the characters of The Force Awakens, I again became emotionally attached to two of the main characters, Kylo Ren and Rey. I felt that they were original and complex, and the dynamic between them was unsettling and compelling, due to the sexual subtext laced with their characters in the film. This film ended on such a cliffhanger, I just felt like I had to flesh out my own version of a sequel to the film, to draw upon the character dynamics and the classic tropes used in the film that I am already familiar with through having studied English literature and film.

How did you obtain the skills to write fan fiction? I've grown up writing creatively and I'm an English literature major. As I mentioned before I also as an executive editor for my college's newspaper, so I do a lot of writing and publishing through that. I also have always been a h*** reader, I read very quickly and usually finish at least a book a week on average. I believe that my extensive reading as well as my academic and professional background in writing have provided the foundation for my fan fiction writing,

72 though I wouldn't consider my fan fiction writing to be my best writing by a long shot, I guess because I just don't take it very seriously and approach it as a hobby.

What kind of tools do you use? In writing my stories I just use Google Docs usually. I occasionally work on commission as an artist, and I just digital drawing tablets, Photoshop, and Corel Painter, and a few times I've gotten requests to do Star Wars art, but this is pretty unrelated from my fan fiction.

How much time do you spend on your fics? With my busy schedule, I usually spend around an hour or so a day, if even that. I enjoy writing fan fiction, and I've been inspired by the positive feedback I've received from readers, but I definitely don't prioritize it over my other hobbies or my academics. It's something that I get really into when I'm doing it, but I don't let it detract from the more important (and real) aspects of my life; I try to keep everything in perspective.

What role has digital media played during your projects? Digital media has played a huge role with my Star Wars stories. There is so much beautiful fan art to be found through websites like Tumblr and Deviantart, and being an artist myself who has worked on commission, I really appreciate the love and detail that some people put into their artwork. In many instances I've actually based scenes in my stories on some of the fan-made Star Wars art that I've seen.

To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? Although I would consider my fan fiction writing just a (secret) hobby of mine, it actually does feel somewhat like a job, mainly because I feel obligated to post new chapters online fairly regularly. My readers always ask for new chapters to be posted, and I understand how frustrating it can be to have to wait for an indefinite amount of time for new reading material. Even so, like I said before, I make sure to put school and work first, and I definitely wouldn't ever consider this a real job, unless I somehow got paid for my writing (which would be illegal). But because I keep my fan fiction hobby to myself, sometimes I feel like I'm almost leading a double life; oddly, I'm usually better able to express my true self when I am communicating with anonymous others on platforms like Tumblr, as none of my friends in my daily life would ever understand or connect with my interests in things like Star Wars and fan fiction writing.

73 What are the effects of your work? The effects of my work primarily include me sometimes cutting into sleep time to finish up a chapter for my story, but I'm okay with that. When I'm writing, I get really into it, mentally, and sometimes I stay up late in order to keep the flow of writing going. Another effect is obviously the impact that my writing may have on others. Though my stories are not the most popular "Reylo" fan fics online, not by a long shot, I've gotten positive comments on my stories, and it makes me happy that others besides myself can enjoy my writing. Some people's comments and reactions are pretty funny, especially seeing how invested some people seem to be with my stories. I have been receiving private messages on the websites I publish on (like yours) to answer questions about why I write fan fiction/what has inspired me to write it, and I've received less formal asks, such as if people can feature my fan fiction on their Tumblr blogs, people wanting to know what will happen in upcoming chapters of my stories, people asking me to write stories based on their own head canons, etc. It can be a little dizzying trying to answer back to everyone, especially on Tumblr.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? I feel intrinsically rewarded by my work. That sounds cheesy and cliché, but it's really true. I already mentioned this earlier, but I do sometimes write fan fiction stories for myself that I have no desire to publish or share, and the only person that gets to read some of them is my sister. Above all, I really do write for my own self (I'd finish my Star Wars stories even if I didn't have any readers).

How important are these rewards to you? As stated, the primary reward I receive from writing fan fiction is intrinsic, self-expression. This 'reward' of being able to express my imagination isn't so important to me as it is necessary. I always crave ways to express my thoughts, feelings, and interests, and writing fan fiction is just one way that I do that. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading people's comments and reactions to my stories, but this isn't really why I write fan fiction; it's mainly just a way to entertain and express my own self.

How has creative writing helped you with your professional work? Just as I push myself to read books of all different genres, I have challenged myself to learn to write in many different forms, but casually and academically/professionally. My fan fiction creative writing is just one way I do this and express myself, but I do feel that in varying the avenues in which I write has in turn bettered my more formal writing. Sometimes this just comes down to the fact that in creative writing I tend to use more descriptive and abstract

74 language, and I adopt new vocabulary that I then sometimes apply to my formal modes of writing. I would say that overall, my creative writing has helped me to be more open-minded and less formatically-bound in my writing, and it's also helped me to figure out my true voice as a writer, as well as how I can alter that voice.

What role does social media play for your project? Well, I guess that depends on what you define as social media. I've given out my fan fiction pen name on Tumblr because people have asked for it, but I don't advertise my stories on platforms other than http://www.fanfiction.net and themselves. As I previously explained, fan art I've seen on Tumblr has greatly inspired me while writing, and I have a Tumblr side blog dedicated to the 'ship' (hypothetical relationship) of Kylo Ren and Rey, called ‘Reylo.’

What is your opinion about using the world someone else has already created? This is something that I've mulled over for a very long time. Fan fiction is a way for people to explore hypothetical fictional plots, and if I'm to bring up ownership, a "pre-existing universe" of a fictional work technically (and usually legally) belongs to the author/creator of that universe, so fan fiction works are usually never considered to be as important as the work coming from the original author themselves. I think fan fiction is a creative way to explore that which is not canon, to flip an already-existing universe on its head, or to add to it. Though, when it all comes down to it, I feel that all works in the accepted sphere of literature are in themselves a version of fan fiction. There's really no book, no film out there that doesn't take already-existing tropes, devices, or inspiration from other already-existing works and fictional universes; fan fiction just takes this one step further. I mean, this is especially true when you look at accepted and celebrated works like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead the Broadway play Wicked, "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister," the countless renditions of Beauty and the Beast etc. These are all essentially works of fan fiction, yet they have been published and awarded. I think this makes for interesting debate on the grey area that fan fiction creates in fictional universes and what we accept as 'literature.' I think that modifying a pre-existing universe—whether it be through a published work or someone's online fan fiction story—can be refreshing, and when done well, it can sometimes even prompt one to look at a canon, already-existing fictional universe in an entirely new light.

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new?

75 No, not at all; that's exactly what I'm doing myself with the work of the writers and producers of Star Wars. After all, I have no real ownership or legal claims to my work. I'd be flattered if someone took inspiration from my stories and wanted to write a fan fiction based off of my own fan fiction (so meta!). If my work can inspire someone else, I think that's great.

How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? If Disney were to use my work, again, I'd be flattered—I mean, that would be a dream come true—but I would also be very concerned. While I do actually expect a select few elements I've included in my story to be canon in the upcoming Star Wars films, for the most part, I expect the next two films to go very differently from how I've written them, and honestly, I hope they do. The writers for these films have many more years of training and experience and have to appeal to a much wider audience; they're much more capable than my own work could ever be.

Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? Nope; if they wanted to pay me, great. If not, equally great. To me, payment wouldn't really be of consequence; to see my work become a real, widely-accepted part of something I love about would be reward enough.

To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? I feel like fan-made productions have enhanced the fandom, and even the Star Wars films themselves. What are films like Star Wars or The Rocky Horror Picture Show without their fandoms? On websites, Tumblr especially, people take the existing material of films like these and add to them, whether that be through the alteration of screenshots from the films, fan fiction stories, or art. For example, I consider myself a part of the Reylo fandom of Star Wars, the sub- fandom that has been created by fans themselves in reaction to the last film. To a large extent, a modern 'fandom' is really just a highly effective form of autonomous marketing, in which the consumers/entertainment viewers themselves build up the hype around products/films. Fandoms are thus beneficial to the entertainment market, as they help to rake in more money to the creators and producers.

Ignoring all legal issues, in your opinion, who owns Star Wars? Hmmm….even ignoring all legal issues, as you say, I would still say that the production of Star Wars—or of any film or book for that matter—to me belongs to the writers/producers of the film/books. Personally, I feel that fans have a different sort of 'ownership' of these things: they own their fan art, Star Wars merchandise, and their own creative contributions to the media at hand, but they don't directly affect or produce the canon narrative of the production, so to me

76 they technically don't have any real form of ownership of something like Star Wars, regardless of the level of their emotional involvement, because they are not the ones who develop and alter the narrative. But it's clear that individuals can feel a part of the production, even deeply personally invested (like myself), without having any sort of real ownership/control over it. This can make people feel the illusion of having some ownership, but even disregarding legal issues, they still do not alter the course of the canon production so I don't personally consider them to have any sort of ownership of the production itself. Legality aside, I think that these ideas of ownership in regard to media and entertainment center a lot on control; fans aren't the ones who come up with and produce the canon narrative of something like Star Wars, so in my opinion they don't have true ownership of it because they don't have direct control over it.

Could you imagine Star Wars without the fan production? I think I've basically already answered this question, but I wouldn't be as much of a Star Wars fan as I am without fan contributions, mainly the fan art I see around the internet. The fans are what create the hype around large-scale films and entertainment like Star Wars, and without the various creative contributions of the Star Wars fandom, I would be less likely to revisit the films as I wouldn't have other people to discuss and analyze them with.

Are you participating in other fan communities? I wouldn't say I'm playing any sort of active role in any other fandoms right now. I am a fan of TV series like Game of Thrones, Girls, and Reign, but I'm not an active member in those fandoms, at least online. I watch these shows with my friends, but that's the extent of my participation with these forms of entertainment media.

How has 'being a fan' influenced your life? To put it bluntly, it's caused me to sleep less and spend more time sitting at my laptop. I'm usually only ever very invested in fictional fandoms (as opposed to being a fan of, say, a sports team) and as such I spend some of my free time writing fan fiction, scrolling through Tumblr and YouTube videos pertaining to the Star Wars and Reylo fandom, and writing meta/analytical essays breaking down films like Star Wars, solely for the sake of discussion through the Internet. Many would consider this a waste of time, and in the grand scheme of things perhaps it is, but it's one of the ways I entertain myself; it's like a personal hobby. If I wasn't the introverted, over- analyzing English student that I am, I don't think fictional fandoms would have ever really influenced or impacted my life much at all.

For you, what defines a true (Star Wars) fan?

77 I've heard a lot of talk over the years about what makes someone a ‘true’ fan of this, or an ‘original’ fan of that, and I think it's silly to argue these things, considering how inconsequential this delineation is to peoples' contributions to fandoms and to any of our daily lives. But if I had to define a ‘true’ Star Wars fan, I guess would say that it is someone who just really loves the Star Wars films and the culture created around them, whether or not they grew up with the films, and whether or not they like all of the films and fandom involvement. I think that if you love/are passionate about something, you can then consider yourself a ‘true’ fan of it. I guess a really random example of my line of thinking is that if you had never had a donut before in your life, but once you've eaten a donut you decide you love them, I'd say you're a "true" fan of donuts; just because you didn't grow up eating them doesn't mean you enjoy them any less than someone who has.

How do you think the Star Wars fandom has changes in the last five years? It's pretty obvious that the Star Wars fandom has changed a lot in the past five years, and I'd go so far as to compare it to an earthquake. With the release of the last film, there's been a huge surge in younger Star Wars fans, and I think that's great (especially for Disney, who is making big money off of them). The Star Wars fandom as a whole has been pretty dormant for years, which makes complete sense considering the distant release date of the last prequel film. But with the release of The Force Awakens, the old Star Wars fandom once again—you guessed it— awakened. However, I do feel like Episode VII has divided the fandom into various subgroups, one of which seems to be mainly composed of the longstanding, middle-aged and older fans of Star Wars. I've heard many of these long-time Star Wars fans complain that the last film was too similar to Episode IV, that it was just a nostalgia trip with an 'emo, crybaby' villain and a character as its lead. (Everyone is of course entitled to their own beliefs, but I never fail to roll my eyes at these claims—this film requires you to dig a lot deeper than surface level to understand what's really going on, and I'm surprised these self-proclaimed "true" Star Wars fans fail to see what I do). The younger fans that this film has stirred into action seem to now be playing the largest part in the SW fandom, at least in terms of spreading awareness and hype about the film and Star Wars 'culture,' especially considering the huge spike in Star Wars fan fiction following the release of Ep. VII on creative writing sites across the Internet. The awakening of the interest in the newer Star Wars fans seems to have caused the spike in the widespread involvement with Star Wars-related writing and media on websites like Tumblr and Deviantart. Of course, the entire Star Wars fandom isn't split neatly in two sides like this; these are just two of the biggest divisions I've seen forming since the release of Ep. VII last December. With the release of Episode VIII, I hope some of these divisions begin to sew themselves back together.

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Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture? I think I've made most all of the points I feel are relevant to bring up. Overall, I think fandom culture was at first at least partially spurred by the encouragement of genius marketing firms, to generate hype and near-hysteria for entertainment giants like the Star Wars films, and honestly, I'm okay with that. As long as Disney keeps churning out quality Star Wars films, I myself will continue to buy right into it. Perhaps in some eyes that makes me a consumer sheep, but at least I'm a self-aware sheep.

Murdered-Seconds

Interview with fan artist Murdered-Seconds. The interview with mediated through personal messaging on DeviantArt between 25 May 2016 and 4 May 2016.

Due to personal reasons Murdered-Seconds prefers to be anonymous during the interview. We have agreed to use the applicant’s account name as a reference. Murdered-Seconds is an active fan art illustrator on DeviantArt and has created several art pieces of Star Wars and My Little Pony.

Used avatar on FanFiction.net DeviantArt profile: by Dark Side of the Mind. http://murdered-seconds.deviantart.com/

Featured art by Murdered-Seconds on DeviantArt.

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? I do want to stay anonymous, but, friends call me 'Ren', due to my Star Wars addiction, but, being gender-fluid, it's also my neutral name. I'm 20 years old, I live in Australia and I work in retail. My everyday life mostly consists of doing my art or working, it's not very exciting aha.

What role does Star Wars play in your life?

79 Star Wars has the role of keeping me afloat, suffering from mental illness, I found that Star Wars was something I really enjoyed and it got me involved in a way that helped me.

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? There's a few ways I participate, my biggest way is of course my fan art. Other ways include cosplay and collecting merchandise.

Could you describe your fan art projects? My fan art projects are screenshots from the movies that I use as a reference to create portraits that look similar to the original screenshot.

What is the reason you started creating fan art? Adam Driver. As silly as this may sound, when I saw Adam Driver acting as Kylo Ren, it just drew me in so much, I was fascinated by his character and his acting methods and I just had this urge to draw him in some of his more emotional scenes, I just had to capture his acting in my own personal way.

How much time do you spend on your art? Depending on how much detail is involved, it can take between 5-8 hours to complete.

What is the nature of your fanworks, is there a recurring theme? Yeah I suppose, portraits and realism is the two main themes, but, capturing the more emotional side of things is another theme.

What role has digital media played during your projects? Digital media plays a huge role with my work, it's the baseline of my work in honesty, without digital media, I could never do what I do, as stated earlier, I use screenshots of the movies as a reference image.

To what extent do you consider creating fan art a job? I don't consider it a job at all, I'm not being paid for it, I'm just doing it as a hobby I guess, I just want people to enjoy things that I create.

How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? Years and years and years of practice basically, I used the Internet for help a lot, I was in art classes at school as well, but, a lot of it was self taught especially when it came to my digital art.

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How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? I use Photoshop CC, the reason behind it was because I found it easier to do art with, well, maybe not at first, but, over time I found it way easier than doing art on paper, the tools I use as well (like my blending and color picker tools) are something I could never do on paper.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? Sort of, in a mental way I guess. I enjoy doing it, people seem to enjoy it when they finally see it, it makes me excited and happy I guess.

How important are these rewards to you? Really important, my mental health isn't grade A after all.

What role does social media play for your project? Social Media gets my art seen by people around the world, instead of never being seen. It gets me comments that could be useful and help me improve.

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? I probably would mind, I guess it really depends on how similar to the original piece it is, but, really I see no harm if full credit is given and such.

How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? I don't even know how to explain how I'd feel, I'd be overwhelmed, I would probably annoy people with how excited I would be.

Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? No, money isn't something I'm begging to have, I'm not looking to become rich or whatever, I just want to be seen, if that makes sense.

Everyone is different when it comes down to it, exploitation comes down to what the original artist thinks, exploitation to me, is taking art in any form and using it without giving a single credit, but, some artists might not even care what happens with their art and wouldn't consider exploitation as a threat. I think it's wrong to be stealing fan fiction/fan art and using it without giving credit, the artist should know if the art is being used, they should definitely be told, from there the artist should be given a choice, whether it's in the form of payment or a basic credit

81 and if that choice isn't given, then the artist has every right to push for a choice, the artist holds some form of copyright, in my opinion. Therefore, they can push for legal action if it really came down to that. Let’s put it this way, if I wrote a story for example, and it got popular and people started writing fan fiction or creating fan art of my work, and I really liked it and decided to use them in some way or form to progress my story, I'd be making sure to inform the artist before I even use it and I'd make sure to credit them properly and/or give them some sort of payment depending on the income I was bringing in for the story.

Legal issues aside, where does the ownership of for instance Star Wars lie in your opinion? Do you think fans have any ownership on the franchise or maybe the products they make out of it? Honestly, I think that ownership is 50/50, for instance the art I have done of Kylo Ren, it is my image, I drew it, BUT, Kylo Ren is technically a character owned by Disney, he isn't my original character so I can never take full credit.

When creating fan art, you are modifying a character someone else has already created. Moreover, in creating fan art of a live action movie you are using the image of the actor in your art. How do you feel about using other peoples creativity to inspire you to create something new? Like when I said I think ownership is 50/50, the way I feel about using other people's creativity for inspiration is also a 50/50 situation. A part of me feels like I'm stealing in a way, but, I still do it because it's a screenshot from a movie and thousands of people also do it, I mean, it's kind of really hard to explain it, but, with other artists creating fan art, and I used their work for inspiration, I'd be making sure my work had no similarities that were noticeable because if I made it very similar, I'd consider it stealing or feel like I had a lack of . Sorry if that doesn't answer the question, it's a super hard one to answer.

Do you think there should be a line in regards to how an actor is portrayed in fan art. I noticed you mostly make portraits, but there are artists that create adult themed art with the characters that are also real people. What is your opinion about that? This is also a tricky one, my asexuality makes my opinion different to what others may think, when it comes to adult themed content, I am repulsed by it, I don't like looking at it and I do believe the line is crossed when it comes down to it, but even if I didn't identify as asexual, and say I was the actor/actress in question, I believe I would be uncomfortable with it, so in a way, my opinion still stays the same no matter what I identify as. People/artists can do whatever art

82 they want, I can't stop them from doing NSFW, but, I just think, in my opinion, that they shouldn't. I guess I try to think "What would the actor/actress think if they saw this?" as an artist, I want my work to be liked, especially if it was the featured actor/actress, I definitely wouldn't want them to see me portray them as a sexual object, if that makes sense.

If George Lucas or Disney were to loathe your works, would you consider quitting? Would their opinion matter to you? Absolutely not, their opinion wouldn't matter to me, I would continue doing my work, it's something I enjoy doing, it's something others enjoy seeing, their bad opinions would be no different to a regular person giving me a bad opinion.

And a more personal question, is there a special reason you create art? I understand that it's mainly just a hobby for you but I wonder if you see this as a first step to professionalism? I don't really have a special reason, I don't really look for a career in art or have a specific aim. I mean, I do want to improve my art, but, not for a future career and such. It's definitely just something I do because I enjoy it and others do as well.

Would you ever consider selling your art? Maybe on Etsy? What is your opinion about people who are doing this. Nah, I'm not the type of person to make business by selling art, in my opinion, my skills aren't really that high enough to be selling prints, I make mistakes in my art and until I can really crack down on what I'm doing wrong, then I cant really consider selling anything. I don't think it's exploitation, I think people doing this, actually helps the franchise, it reaches out to people who may have never seen any of the movies. Disney/George Lucas could see fan art, fan fiction, etc and maybe find some little idea to use based off of it, the way I see things, the creators would be looking at their audience and looking at their views and opinions and changing things to benefit the audience.

Are you participating in other fan communities? Yeah, the other fan community I participate in is My Little Pony and I do fan art for it.

83 Dark Side of the Mind

Interview with fan fiction writer Dark Side of the Mind. The interview with mediated through personal messaging on Fanfiction.net between 25 May 2016 and 4 May 2016.

Due to personal reasons Dark Side of the Mind prefers to be anonymous during the interview. We have agreed to use her account name as a reference. Dark Side of the Mind is an active fan fiction writer on FanFiction.net and has written six fan fiction stories on the website by May 2016. Most of her fan fiction is related to Star Wars or Adam Sackler. Dark Side of the Mind is a 17-year old girl from Maine, USA.

Used avatar on FanFiction.net by Dark Side of the Mind.

FanFiction.net profile: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3910520/Dark-Side-of-the-Mind

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? My http://www.fanfiction.net and AO3 username is Dark Side of the Mind, I am a seventeen year old girl, a full time high school student in Maine, USA.

To you, what does it mean to be a fan? To me, a fan is someone who finds such an interest in something that it becomes a part of their life. They think about it often, even obsess over it a little, which isn't at all a bad thing, as long as it doesn't interfere with day to day life.

What role does Star Wars play in your life? Ever since The Force Awakens came out in December 2015, I have felt the Star Wars fandom come alive again. I grew up with Star Wars, I remember being in my stroller waiting in line to see The Phantom Menace, even though that wasn't a huge success amongst fans. I remember watching Return of the Sith in theaters and being in love with Anakin even more as he turned to the dark side. But even I thought that the prequels were badly made, and when I heard they were making a seventh movie, I wasn't too excited. I didn't go see it right away, but as soon as I did, I fell in love all over again! The story was like a reawakening the new and improved Star Wars, and I immediately fell for Kylo Ren. Over the past few months, I have seen the movie seven times in the theater, and now that I have the DVD version, I've watched it three times more. I

84 collect all the merchandise I can, including POP vinyl figures, T-shirts, even the limited edition mascara!

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? I have written fan fiction my whole life. When I really find an interest in something, I want to analyze it until I know everything I can about it, and create my own take on it. So I've contributed to the fandom by writing two fan fictions, and I have three in the works right now, including my current work For the Experience. I have also worked on a bit of fan art, but it is all unfinished and unpublished at the moment.

Could you describe your fan fiction projects? Like my username (Dark Side of the Mind) suggests, my fan fictions are rather dark and sad. I always mean to write a happy fan fiction, but anything happy feels unnatural. I feel the pain with the characters I am writing, and I feel like the way I put such a dark tone on some things can shed light on other things, and make some of the characters find a good ending. But I don't fully plan out each story. I kind of just write when an idea comes to me.

What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? As I stated before, I have written fan fiction basically my whole life. I am constantly writing in my head, making alternate universes to a movie I had just seen or a book I had just read. Up until a few months ago, I couldn't seem to write a fan fiction without adding original characters (OCs), but with my latest fan fic, I seem to be dealing with just the main characters. I think I started writing fan fiction because the dark, fictional realities in my head distracted me from the things happening in real life.

How much time do you spend on your fics? It entirely depends on how busy I am with school. I try to get at least a chapter a week, which means probably about three hours every night, give or take a few, just writing and going back and editing and finally posting.

What is the nature of your fanworks, is there a recurring theme? My fan fiction tends to be very dark in nature, with a lot of drug use, alcoholism, and sex and violence. I actually haven't had much exposure to any of the things I listed above, but the culture of crime and addiction is one that interests me in an academic sense (AKA, I don't want to do any of those things particularly, I just find it interesting, and I watch from a safe distance).

85 To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? To me, fan fiction is a job in every way except that I don't get paid. I am always thinking of my reader's responses and about the next chapters I'll be writing.

How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? I've just practiced writing for years and years, improving as I go, learning what works for me and learning what people want to read.

What tools do you use? I use my laptop to write, Google Docs as my document writer, because if I don't have my laptop I can continue writing on my phone, since Google Docs is connected to my email.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? For me, I always feel rewarded for writing, in a sense. When I see that the numbers of views and followers/favorites on my stories has gone up, I feel so happy that people are reading what I am putting out there.

How important are these rewards to you? Honestly, seeing that people read what I write makes me want to keep writing. Without my readers, I probably wouldn't have the motivation to write at all.

What is your opinion about using the world someone else has already created? I don't feel like using someone else's world is stealing, I don't feel like it's a lack of creativity. If anything, I feel like someone who makes fanworks is someone who is inspired by the work of another person, and who wants to show that they are with the story and the characters no matter what happens.

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? As long as I was credited as the original creator, I wouldn't mind at all if someone made something based off of my work, in fact I would be honored if someone was inspired enough by something I wrote to create something new.

How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? I would be concerned that Disney was going a little too dark (haha), but if they were to use some

86 of the happier, positive notes and fan theories I have put forth through my stories, and if they somehow credited me, I would feel so accomplished.

Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? Well, I didn't even think about whether or not there would be money involved, so no. Money wouldn't matter to me as long as I somehow credited by name (For example: Dark Side of the Mind in the ending credit roll or something)

To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? I definitely think the fanmade parts of Star Wars have influenced the fandom, in so many ways. The ships have changed how some people view the characters (Examples: Poe is gay because StormPilot; Kylo and Hux are more silly because of Kylux; Kylo and Rey can't get together because their cousins (although some say innocent until proven guilty because of Reylo).) The characters have almost completely changed personalities in fan fiction and fan art because of the way the fandom has shaped them to look like outside of canon.

Could you imagine Star Wars without the fan production? I couldn't imagine Star Wars without a fandom base, because I think the fandom is what has kept the whole thing going for so many years. For me, personally, I have so much fun being a part of such a HUGE and amazing fanbase, and I shape my work around how fans react to certain things (Examples: how people feel about Reylo, how people perceive Kylux, etc.)

Are you participating in other fan communities? I am currently not participating in other fandoms. I used to be a big Hetalian and Sherlockian, but over the years I have just grown out of it.

How does 'being a fan' influence your life? I am a fan every single day of my life. I have enough Star Wars T-shirts to wear every day of the week, I have bobble heads of the characters, I base my school projects on Star Wars, I quote Star Wars all the time. To me, 'being a fan' means having something to hold onto that you know will never leave you behind, even if you stop giving it a lot of attention after a while.

Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture? All I can add about the Star Wars fandom is, I think we are currently in a state of slight unrest, there is a bit of argument over some unexplained pieces of information. I think once episode 8 and 9 come out, everyone will get their explanations and there will be balance again.

87 David/ExamplaryHumanBeing

Interview with fan fiction writer David. The interview with mediated through personal messaging on Fanfiction.net between 25 May 2016 and 1 May 2016. Due to personal reasons David prefers to be anonymous during the interview. We have agreed to use his first name as a reference. David is an active fan fiction writer on FanFiction.net and has published his first fan fiction Star Wars The Pureblood Conspiracy earlier this year. The fan fiction already has 10 chapters and over 70.000 words in total. David is starting fan fiction writer, new in the Star Wars community but a lifelong fan.

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? My name is David and I am a 16-year-old American Student who spends his time writing stories, studying, hanging out with friends and playing video games.

To you, what does it mean to be a fan? To me, a fan is someone who loves a story, whatever it may be whether it be , Star Wars, Star Trek, Hunger Games etc… a fan is someone who loves a story.

What role does Star Wars play in your life? Star Wars is something I think about at least twice a day, it inspires me to go forward in life and achieve something, anything. Star Wars has taught me to look at everything with equal importance.

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? I participate by watching the movies, playing the games, watching the shows, and by writing my own Star Wars stories. I don't write blogs, but I do watch fan theories and at times help some of my friends with fan art. In fact there is some fan art of one of my characters made by a friend of mine. I've set it as a goal to get involved with blogs and forums at some point in time when I feel less nervous about it. Like I said, this is my beginning integration into it.

Could you describe your fan fiction projects? My current project, and my first, is the Pureblood Conspiracy. This is based around Characters I created in SWTOR, the MMO, and NPC characters in the game. It started out with me just making the Sith Warrior and getting attached to the light side of that character. I then got introduced to the Legacy system that allowed you to connect your characters in a family tree. From there I started building a story in my head and eventually it got to the point where I had to write it

88 down. I then basically molded the class characters into my own characters who were different from what I played as originally.

What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? Basically, what got me into it was reading other fan fiction and thinking 'I can do that' and got right into it after months developing the story I wanted to tell.

How much time do you spend on your fics? I spend at least an hour a day thinking about the fan fic overall, but it depends day to day if I decide to write anything at all, but when I do I usually write a scene, or if I really get motivated I start writing whole chapter, sometimes in a row, and usually while listening to music.

What is the nature of your fanworks, is there a recurring theme? I like the idea of inner conflict with one's self, which I feel is something a lot of people deal with on a regular basis. There's also the realism I try to bring in when it comes to characters meeting and becoming friends. When you meet someone you've fought, you won't be a cliché and hate them immediately, and as seen with Quaffot and Hawk in my fan fic after Hawk starts insulting Quaffot's order that's when the anger for Hawk comes in.

What role has digital media played during your projects? Digital media such as soundtracks, fan films, and movies have had a big impact on me. I know some stereotypes and cliché's and now when I watch movies I spot certain elements that could work well with my story if I did it right. Soundtracks help get my brain process going, and get me right into the mood of whatever I'm doing.

To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? I consider fan fiction writing as much as a job as writing, but a little easier. Someone could always make money by selling their fan fiction… I never would… and that would be completely up to them. One difference between a writer and a fan fiction writer is that fan fiction writers have a world to go off of already…whereas writers create a world.

How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? I got my skills from reading others' work and studying grammar and writing skills online and in the books. I like to get right into what is going on instead of spend a couple of pages describing the environment, although I do describe when I feel it's appropriate.

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What tools do you use? I use Word usually…mostly because it feels easier to type than to actually write with a pen. (Especially since my handwriting is like chicken scratch) It also feels easier to check for spelling errors and sometimes as I read through I find things that I'd like to add on too, if I wrote I wouldn't have such an easy time doing that.

What are the effects of your work? The effects of my work would just be the fact that I've put another story out there among the rest of them. Some people will like it, others may not, but the point is that I've done something.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? I'd say I feel much rewarded. (Answering these questions is a reward in itself for me) When you finish a story that you really want to tell, and you sit back and scroll through the paragraphs of text that describe the story you wanted to tell. You smile and think 'I did that' and it just brings a joy I cannot really describe.

How important are these rewards to you? I feel joy whenever I do something cool or fun…but writing the fan fiction and finishing it made me feel like I had actually accomplished a huge goal…I'd say it was really important to me that I reached the goal and even surpassed what I had wanted.

Do you consider fan fiction personally valuable to you? I consider fan fiction extremely valuable, because it shows what the fans think should have happened or allows us to explore the alternate viewpoints in a different way or visit alternate versions of Star Wars stories, such as mine which is an Alternate version of the SWTOR MMO. My aim is only to create stories I want to tell, whether it's in a universe I create, or another. Becoming a writer is one of the career paths I will explore, and I'll see then if I'm good at writing original stories.

I noticed that you are a starting fan fiction writer, is this the first fic you have ever written? Can you tell me about your experience so far? This isn't the very first fan fiction I've written, but it's the first one I think is good enough to be published. It's me second one, and it's gone through three drafts before I found the right way I wanted to write it. My first was one about a videogame and I deleted it long ago due to

90 how terrible it was. I feel like there is a community of fan fiction writers out there, and I have yet to intermingle with them, so far I'm on the outskirts, isolated. The fan fiction scene has many wonderful writers and even those who don't necessarily write well, have good ideas that should be explored. I've read fan fiction that have TERRIBLE grammar and everything, but yet their ideas are so good that I almost want to write my own version of their idea just so I can be satisfied. Not to say that terrible grammar ruins it, it's just a bump in the road as you're driving along. The benefit of posting my fan fiction here is that this is one of the most popular fan fiction sites in the world, and I've looked that up to be sure, and the good thing that comes from that is the fact that it'll be seen and read here more than other sites just due to the popularity. If I did a blog by myself, there is nothing special about me that would gain attention anyway, so it's best I just post it here and wait, because patience will get me what I seek, which is some criticism and opinions about my story, and perhaps more goals later.

What role does social media play for your project? Not much, I mean there's movies and TV that influence me in ways here or there…if there's one way they do make an effect it's that social media has shown me how other Star Wars fans will react to any work… whether its canon or not, if I know what they will like, then I have an easier time writing what they might like.

What is your opinion about using the world someone else has already created? If I were to create my own world, and people started using it for stories they wanted to tell within my world…I'd feel honored that they consider it cool enough to create a story out of it, or that they were thinking of a story to tell while reading, just so long as they never claimed the world itself to be theirs.

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? I would be completely OK with someone using my work to make something new. If you find that certain something you want to create, whether it be a story, a game, a business, you need to go for it…and along the way you will be inspired by others…it's inevitable.

If you were to set legal issues aside, who do you think owns Star Wars? Is it just George Lucas, Disney or do you consider fans to have some ownership over the franchise too? On the ownership, I believe that George is credited with the creation of the universe, and he told the story he wanted to tell with the first six movies. Now that it's been sold to Disney, they're allowed to make their own Star Wars with the new ones. As they are concerned, that's their

91 stories. For the fans they make their own stories on their own, when they're inspired. I believe firmly that everyone owns it, as of right now the only thing owned is a current timeline of stories with the Prequel Trilogy, Original Trilogy and the New Sequel Trilogy, in their own canon. The fans can do whatever they want, create any story they want, and that'll be their own choice.

George Lucas is the original maker of the story, but do you think people have a right to be inspired by his story and create new stories? I believe people do have the freedom and the right to be inspired by anything, not just Lucas' story, and even still unless he has a problem with inspiring others there is no problem with it happening.

Fan fiction is a strange thing, where you use someone else his creative intelligence to create something new of your own. Do you think fan artist have any claim on what they are writing. I often see fans crediting either George Lucas or Disney for the characters or Star Wars, but do you think this is fair to the fan artist? I wouldn't say that fans have a particular claim on the world that they are writing in, and if they're using characters from the movies/games/other books and novels then they need to of course give credit because they have no claim on them. However if they create their own original characters and in a story that they felt like making, then they have a claim on the characters they created and the events in their story. I believe it's fair considering the fact that George or Disney or the novel writers or the crews that work on the TV shows and video games created those characters first, so they have the rights to them and should be credited with their creation.

If George Lucas, or Disney, would loathe your adaption of Star Wars, would you still consider writing them? If they did loathe what I wrote, I would keep writing. Despite George creating Star Wars, not every fan respects his opinion about stories, and in fact some don't think he was a good story writer. Disney is no better, with people angry with them for decanonizing the EU and even still, Disney is just getting started with their star wars stories so it leaves room for criticism for them as well. Personally though, I would respect both opinions and any criticism they would give me for my of Star Wars, even if it was just hate.

How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? It would be like a dream come true if they decided my story was good enough to draw elements from for their next film.

92 Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? No, I wouldn't care if they paid me or not, Star Wars is Star Wars and if Disney wanted to take a thing or two from my fan fic then I'd allow it free of charge.

To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? It has definitely inspired others to go out there and create their own stories, and live their own . It's like this, you go on with your days since Star Wars was aired, and you come up with a story you could tell in the universe but you're too nervous to do so, seeing someone else make an amazing or fan fiction will inspire you to do what you wanted to do because you've now seen that others can do it, so why can't you?

Could you imagine Star Wars without the fan production? Star Wars without fan production would be just as good as it is now, but the fact that we fans are allowed to make our own fan films and fan fictions about this wonderful universe is what keeps Star Wars so popular. Someone could jump in and create an insane story and no one would hate them for it…The fandom has given me ideas and hope that I can eventually be like them…and create my own story, which I now have.

Are you participating in other fan communities? I have not, as of yet, mostly because I'm starting from square 1, I'm starting by writing my fan fiction. Overtime I might join forums and other fan communities once my self-esteem is boosted…but mostly I'll just be taking it slow…no need to rush things.

How does 'being a fan' influence your life? It makes my life happier, knowing that I have a whole universe to just fall back into as if it were my own bed after a long day.

How do you think the Star Wars fandom has changes in the last five years? I think that more people every year jump onto the Star Wars train and head off to greatness. More so now that shows such as the Clone Wars have redeemed the Prequel Trilogy in a lot of Star Wars Fans' eyes, it has reduced division within the fandom and as a result they talk about new ideas and discuss what they love together.

Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture? As my final statement, this kind of fan culture could be applied to anything else…Star Wars is just one of the big ones that I happen to be a part of with a passion. Star Wars has been a bit black

93 and white, and I, along with some other star wars fans out there, want a bit more of the grey side of things in it…where neither side is truly good or evil. In my fan fiction, that's what I bring to the table.

94 Quack Inc

Quack Inc is a writers duo, consisting of writer/illustrator Miles and writer Carson. The duo tries to differ in their stories by decreasing the romance in their narratives. They think too many young women write overly romantic stories. They try to emphasize on action and Star Wars. The duo has written over 12 fan narratives containing several fandom; Star Wars, Percy Jackson and The Olympians.

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in everyday life? We're high school students. We don't want to give away too much personal information, but on the Fanfiction website we are known as Miles and Carson. We live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

To you, what does it mean to be a fan? To love everything about what you're obsessed about, never get tired of it, and being able to relate. Also quoting it. That's always fun.

What role does Star Wars play in your life? It's just fun to be obsessed over. It's not necessarily our life.

How do you participate in the Star Wars fandom? We quote it, talk about it, make jokes, projects, and cartoons about it, make fun of it, and tell other people to watch it.

Could you describe your fan fiction projects? We basically took all the Star Wars characters along with famous quotes and actions and put it all in a school setting. We try to make it funny and less romantic.

What is the reason you started writing fan fiction? We were at our lockers in school and Carson slammed her locker door and joked about how that's how Anakin would slam his locker door. Then we wrote a story based off of that. Then it just grew.

How much time do you spend on your fics? We do them during class, but it's really when inspiration kicks in.

What is the nature of your fanworks, is there a recurring theme?

95 You take a character, put him/her/it in school, and based off of the personality of the character, see how he/she/it deals.

What role has digital media played during your projects? We use the Internet to watch Star Wars, but otherwise we use our noggins.

To what extent do you consider fan fiction writing a job? It's just a fun hobby. We're not real authors, so we don't have to deal with the pressure.

How did you obtain the skills for creating your fan related work? Sometimes we amaze even ourselves. :) We just come up with it in our heads, with public schools giving us inspiration.

What tools do you use? Could be pen and paper or a software. And why? Pen and paper, because, again, we do them in class.

What are the effects of your work? We like making people laugh. Seriously, there are just too many frowny faces in the world.

Do you feel rewarded by your work? And if so, how? Of course. We didn't think we'd go this far. Miles was jumping for joy when we got your email!

How important are these rewards to you? We like when people appreciate our work, but we're not too obsessed over wanting for people to comment on our stories. It's nice, though!

What role does social media play for your project? Zilch. We're not on social media.

What is your opinion about using the world someone else has already created? Well, it's easier because the characters were already created and you know their personalities. All we have to do it think "What would ______do in this situation?"

Would you mind if someone else would use your creative works in order to create something new? No, but they would have to give us credit. We like keeping our ideas our own.

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How would you feel if Disney were to use your work for their upcoming movie? We would be like WHOA! We'd totally agree. We would want to be paid, of course!

Would your opinion change if there is no money involved? We'd still feel very honored, but we would be more reluctant for them to use our ideas.

To what extent has fanmade productions influenced the fandom according to you? The more fans are into it, the more YOU get into it. Plus it's fun seeing Star Wars-themed merchandise everywhere.

Could you imagine Star Wars without the fan production? (If not, how do they contribute to your experience with Star Wars?) Yes, the movies are great without fan production. But there would be less fans to talk about it with.

Are you participating in other fan communities? If yes, which ones and what are your activities? If not, why not? We're Scratchers ratch.), but Scratch isn't all about fandoms. It's just a good place to make Star Wars projects. (Our usernames: @Rikka01 and @NerdEtiquette101)

How does 'being a fan' influence your life? It makes life more interesting!

How do you think the Star Wars fandom has changes in the last five years? We've barely been fans for a few months, so we wouldn't know. Miles's dad would have something to say about it, though! Since the Force Awakens came out, there's been way more new fandom going around. We're not sure how we feel about it, because we saw the originals first.

Is there anything you would like to add in relation to Star Wars or fan culture? We love Star Wars because it was original before original was original. It's a fun and universe relate-able characters, but they don't fir your ordinary mold either. Plus, it's just plain- out cool! It has all the components of a good movie: action, humor, tragedy, victory, aliens, explosions, romance (but not TOO much!).

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People do too much -- putting couples together based on what THEY think. Let the directors/authors do their job. We just try to write our stories as true to the original movies as possible. (Besides for mixing up the generations a bit!)

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