University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2013 Literacy and identity in popular and participatory culture. Laura A. Detmering University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Detmering, Laura A., "Literacy and identity in popular and participatory culture." (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 340. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/340 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LITERACY AND IDENTITY IN POPULAR AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE By Laura A. Detmering B.A., Northern Kentucky University M.A., Ohio University A bissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2013 LITERACY AND IDENTITY IN POPULAR AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE By Laura A. Detmering B.A., Northern Kentucky University, 2003 M.A., Ohio University, 2006 A Dissertation Approved on December 3, 2012 by the following Dissertation Committee Bronwyn T. Williams, Dissertation Director Karen Kopelson Debra Journet John Alberti Dennis Hall ii for Matt the greatest Phil Dunphy fan I ever knew III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my director Dr. Bronwyn Williams for his unwavering support throughout my entire doctoral program, and particularly for his guidance through this dissertation. I would also like to thank my other committee members: Karen Kopelson, Dennis Hall, and Debra Journet for their feedback throughout this process, as well as their help in shaping these chapters into articles for future publication. And a special thanks to my outside reader, John Alberti, who has served as a mentor for most of my adult life, and who first introduced me to the scholarly pursuits of Rhetoric and Composition and Popular Culture. Several colleagues served as sounding boards and readers for various drafts of this project, so I would like to thank them, as well: Alicia Brazeau, Caroline Wilkinson, Hollye Wright, Shannon Howard, Ashly Bender, Brice Nordquist, Matt Wiles, and John Vance. I have been fortunate to work with this wonderful group of colleagues who helped shape my thinking about this dissertation. I am especially appreciative of the participants in this study, both my former students, who made chapter four both easy and difficult to write-I am in awe of you all-and those who participated online through the Dan Harmon Sucks forum and other fan communities. Your ideas have inspired me to continue research in this area, as well as to become more active in fan culture myself. Of course, this dissertation would not have been possible without the continued support of my family. My parents John and Terry, who encouraged my avid interest in IV reading and writing from a very young age, and who never quashed my interests in popular culture. My brothers Dave, Joe, and Matt (who passed away during the composition of this work), whose shared interests in television series result in bizarre family dinner conversations filled with quotation, and my sister-in-law Edith, who offered additional feedback and encouragement in response to the chapter on Modern Family. My father- and mother-in-law Don and Ellen, as well as my brother-in-law Don, who have also encouraged my work and often served as a sounding board for my ideas. Finally, my partner in academics and life, Rob, who not only watched these series with me and listened to my constant commentary on them, but also read each chapter mUltiple times. You helped me to find my voice, to embrace my inner fan, and to develop the confidence to compose this work. v ABSTRACT LITERACY AND IDENTITY IN POPULAR AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE Laura A. Detmering December 3, 2012 This dissertation examines two contemporary television series (Modern Family and Community) and fan communities dedicated to those series. It then discusses a project developed within an upper-division English course at the University of Louisville, in which students created, reflected upon, and analyzed their own television show fan communities throughout the course. The first chapter reviews recent literature about literacy, identity, fandom, and popular culture, as well as describes the methods utilized within this dissertation project. Analyzing these television series and fans' and critics' responses to them, this dissertation argues that online communities provide a ripe space for community-building, as well as offer television show fans an opportunity to both weigh in on and potentially influence the production of contemporary television series. Finally, the dissertation makes a pedagogical turn, offering one practical application of the concepts explored throughout the earlier chapters in chapter four. As stated above, the introductory chapter reviews current scholarship on literacy, identity, fandom, and popular culture. This chapter also describes the methodology applied to the project. Chapter two opens with an analysis of representations of gender and literacy on the popular series Modern Family. The second half of this chapter discusses two groups' attempts to effect change in the series' production. Chapter three VI opens with an analysis of the television series Community, focusing on its treatment of the intersecting relationships among literacy, social class, and fandom within the series. The second half of this chapter describes series showrunner Dan Harmon's use of social media to interact with fans of the series, as well as the interactions among members of the Dan Harmon Sucks fan forum. Chapter four describes a pedagogical application of the ideas explored throughout the earlier chapters, focusing on three television show fan communities developed within a 300-level English course at the University of Louisville. Finally, the conclusion brings together the concepts explored through the three body chapters and offers future directions for this project. Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DEDICATION ................................................ .iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................... .iv ABSTRACT ...................................................vi LITERACY AND IDENTITY IN POPULAR AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE ..................................................... 1 "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE INTERNET, GRANDMA": LITERACY, IDENTITY, AND FANDOM IN MODERN FAMILY . ...... 44 "JUST TELL ME THE RULES AND I WILL FOLLOW": LITERACY, IDENTITY, AND F ANDOM IN COMMUNITY AND DANHARMONSUCKS.COM ..................................... 88 "NEW KIDS" AND "ARMCHAIR F ANA TICS": TELEVISION SHOW FAN COMMUNITIES AND THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM ................................................ 129 CONCLUSION ............................................... .175 REFERENCES ................................................ 184 APPENDIX A ................................................. 197 APPENDIX B .................................................200 APPENDIX C .................................................202 CURRICULUM VITAE ........................................ .204 viii CHAPTER I LITERACY AND IDENTITY IN POPULAR AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE "I mean, in a lot ofways, when I was younger, ... I was a nerd, and I didn't have a ton ofreally, really close friends, and so . .. ffan communities are] definitely a welcoming atmosphere to be going in and talking about things that you enjoy. Um, but I guess that's kept me around because I have friends now . .. but . .. it's just, like enjoyable, and it's entertaining, but it's not always passive. It's kind of, ifit were just straightforward watching something or reading somethingfor entertainment value, I probably wouldn't have stuck around for as long. "-Annie, 22, interview 8/3/11 "[A]sfar as . .. [seeing characters on television shows] reading it makes mefeel good because alot ofpeople think me and my family r wierd because we read so much so i guess it validates me. and the writing is alittle different because my spelling is so bad and everyone says i have a stange handwriting style that i wish i could do better.and,i try and write letters to certain family members as often as i can but it isnt enough id rather call them so they cant see my handwriting. "-Melinda, 42, email interview 8/10/11 "A lot ofthings happened in my family that shouldn't have. I had a step-father who wasn't very nice to me, and I think that I read a lot to escape that. "-Cassie, 37, interview 8/31/11 Introduction As the quotes above, taken from face-to-face and email interviews conducted for this project, indicate, literacy is intimately tied to emotional experiences; regardless of any other aspects of their life experiences, people tend to discuss literacy in very affective ways. Numerous writers have published narratives describing their processes of acquiring literacy, poignantly describing their struggles to read and write, often citing their ultimate l acquisition of literacy as a moment of pride and personal empowerment . In such accounts, reading and writing