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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Making "Cents" of Subcultural Capital: The Preservation of Authenticity and Credibility in Penny Arcade Subculture by Bryanne Miller A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA NOVEMBER, 2007 © Bryanne Miller 2007 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38120-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38120-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Penny Arcade is a videogame web-comic and blog created by cartoonists Gabe and Tycho, and visited by roughly four million gamers a day. Penny Arcade's benchmark of authenticity is the unique gamer code and their specific style of relating to gamers. This thesis investigates Penny Arcade's special position within their field as both leaders of the gamer subculture and purveyors of economic capital. Specifically, this research attempts to answer the question: how are Penny Arcade able to remain authentic taste leaders and retain their credibility among gamers, while simultaneously promoting something as sub-culturally "uncool" as a children's charity? Drawing on subcultural theory and the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this thesis focuses its attention on the notion of subcultural capital and how it is a central unifying and strengthening force in Penny Arcade subculture. Penny Arcade's subcultural capital proves to transgress typical social- cultural boundaries, thereby allotting them success within both restricted and large-scale fields of production. iii Acknowledgements There are so many people who were integral to the shaping and writing process of this thesis. I would very much like to thank Dr. Dale Bradley and Dr. Maria Bakardjieva for sitting in on my examination committee and whose feedback was of tremendous value. Of course, thank you to Dr. Bart Beaty for supervising this work and for encouraging me to pursue this topic in the first place. Thank you to Dr. David Mitchell and Marion Hillier of the University of Calgary graduate program in Communication Studies for accommodating my unique circumstances. I would also like to express my gratitude to all of those who participated in this work and volunteered their time to share their knowledge with me and those of you who were so willing to assist me throughout my research. To gamers everywhere, you people have large and gracious hearts and I thank you for letting me experience that. My family and friends have been there from the start. Thank you to Constance O'Laughlin who encouraged me to pursue higher education by helping me to believe in myself. To Tali Schtelzer, Ian Miller, and Julia Beange - you three have been my pillars through the ups and downs. To Andrea Miller, Brendan Shearer, and Meeki Crotti - your love, support, and generosity I will be forever grateful for. My mother, Mona Troyer: There are not even words for how you have made so much of this possible and helped me become who I am today. My father Andrew and my step-mother Ardis Miller, thank you also for your endless encouragement. Thank you Wendy and Joe Schtelzer, for always opening your door to me. Last of all, I extend my gratitude to my grandparents, Dr. Ian and Hazel Miller, whose unconditional love always came with cookies and a warm cup of milky tea. Bless your hearts. iv Dedication To Steven. Thank you. v Table of Contents Approval Page ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi List of Figures viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: THEORY, METHODS, AND MADNESS 6 Early Origins: From Chicago to Frankfurt 6 Cultural Studies: A discipline is bom 12 Subcultural Beginnings: Youth, Resistance and Style 15 Post-Subcultural Theory 17 Bourdieu and the Cultural Economy 21 Subcultural Capital and the Search for Authenticity 22 Fan Cultures..... 28 A Brief Mention of Online Communities 32 Methodology 33 CHAPTER 3: SUBCULTURAL FOUNDATIONS AND THE CREATION OF SUBCULTURAL CAPITAL 38 Penny Arcade meets Hodkinson 39 Identity 40 Consistent Distinctiveness 44 Commitment 46 Autonomy 48 The Creation of Subcultural Capital 50 Insider Vocabulary 50 Sardonic Anti-Mainstream Persona 54 Penny Arcade Merchandising 57 The Fight against the Mainstream 60 The Corrupting of Strawberry Shortcake 61 Penny Arcade and the Foolscap Attack 65 CSI Miami: Jack Thompson 67 Selling Out: Revisited 71 Selling Out? Who, ME? Penny Arcade goes "Undercover" 73 Conclusion 76 CHAPTER 4: THE MANIPULATION OF SUBCULTURAL CAPITAL 78 Gestures of Goodwill 80 Child's Play: The Gamers' Charity 83 Move to the Mainstream: A Penny for some Capital? 84 Subcultural Capital 87 vi A Penny's Worth: Converting Values to Action 89 Merchandising 96 Insider Vocabulary: You are what you speak 99 An Evaluation of Subcultural Capital 100 Subcultural Capital Prevails 101 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 103 References 109 Appendix A: Interview Guide 116 Appendix B: Ethics Consent Form 117 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1 "The Next Generation"(2005/06/17) 1 Figure 3.1 "That Terrible Grip" (2007/06/20) 51 Figure 3.2 "Twisp and Catsby in: The Crocotillian" (2004/04/07) 53 Figure 3.3 "The Longest Line" (1999/12/13) 55 Figure 3.4 "Also known as Blackmail." (2003/06/30) 57 Figure 3.5 Penny Arcade T-shirts 59 Figure 3.6 American McGee's Leading Ladies 62 Figure 3.7 "Read it before they take Legal Action" (2003/04/27) 65 Figure 3.8 "And all of it True" (2005/10/14) 68 Figure 3.9 "I see what you did there" (2007/01/05) 70 Figure 3.10 "I'll just put this right here" (2000/08/07) 75 Figure 4.1 Spreading the Cause 92 Figure 4.2 "Dark Truths" (2003/12/03) 95 Figure 4.3 Child's Play Merchandise 99 Figure 5.1 "You Wouldn't Get it" (2003/10/03) 103 viii 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Figure 1.1 "The Next Generation"(2005/06/17) Walking into the 2006 Penny Arcade Expo, the largest annual videogamer's convention in North America, was the equivalent of attending a Star Wars convention despite never having seen the movie. First off, I was not in possession of a Nintendo DS Lite, (the equivalent of the Star Wars light sabre), nor was I dressed as my favourite avatar, or in the alternative, jeans and a gamer t-shirt. Rather, I was standing in my jean skirt and platform sandals with my video camera in one hand, a folder-full of interview consent forms in the other, and an overwhelmed look on my face. All around me, gamers congregated. Some lounged on the many bean-bag chairs lining the walls, while others stood in groups talking with their friends. Most of the gamers, however, stood in line outside of the big auditorium doors to get front row seats 2 to see the opening address given by the fathers of PAX and the makers of the number one gaming webcomic, Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade began as two guys who liked to play videogames and write comics. As the above comic suggests, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins attempted to establish themselves and be taken seriously as comic artists in the traditionally maligned field of comics. Forced to contend with the similarly positioned field of videogames, they struggled to make a living on just comics alone. Krahulik and Holkins held down fulltime jobs while they continued to play videogames and produce comics in their free time. After having their videogame webcomic rejected by numerous publishers, the team eventually got on with an online gaming magazine, which later led to the development of their own website, penny-arcade.com. The website functions as a videogame review site and industry watchdog, able to poke fun at such topics through the three panel comic strip that is linked to from an accompanying diatribe written by Holkins. As the writer, Holkins conveys a unique style through an impressive verbiage, whilst Krahulik articulates Holkins' blog via the web comic.