Title: Fans and Fandom ​

Semester: Spring 2019 ​

Department: Media Studies ​

Overview:

This module will introduce students to the study of media fans and fandoms in convergent media environment. Fans are often active consumers with a deep attachment to specific media texts and a desire to express their appreciation for those texts in a variety of ways. The module provides an overview of the history of fan studies and fan theories, with students examining a selection of diverse fan practices and cultures. Students will also investigate the relationships between fans and media texts, fans and media producers / creators, and fans and fan communities, with an emphasis on the participatory, interactive nature of fans as “produsers.” The module will also touch upon current debates in fan studies, including fan activism, fandom and identity, and the potential futures of fandom.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this module, a student will be able to:

● Reflect critically on the history of fan studies and the continued growth of fandoms in the convergent media environment; ● Demonstrate an understanding of key fan theories and current debates in fan studies; ● Describe, analyse, and critique different types of fan practices and fan-produced media content; ● Create a piece of fan work as part of a fandom or fan community; ● Communicate effectively in both oral and written forms.

Teaching and Learning Methods

12 lectures (2 hours per week)

Assessment

100% continuous assessment

Week One - Introduction:

What - or who - is a fan? What are fandoms? How and why do we study fans and fandoms? This lecture will provide a broad overview of the fan studies field and how it fits within the larger media studies discipline. Students will also be given an outline of the module and the assignments they will have to complete. Students will complete a short diagnostic quiz on fan studies terminology to determine a baseline and we will go over the basic terms and language associated with fan studies.

Required Readings:

● Sandvoss, C., Gray, J., and Harrington, C.L. (2017) "Introduction: Why Still Study Fans?" in Fandoms: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World. ​ ​ Second Edition. New York: NYU Press.

● ozhawkauthor. (2016) "The Three Laws of Fandom." Tumblr. Blog post.

Week Two - Histories:

This week, the historical roots of fandom and fan studies are explored. How did early efforts from readers of Arthur Conan Doyle and viewers of Star Trek inform the development of the fan studies field? How did fans as a group obtain the status they have today? Perhaps most importantly, the lecture will help students begin to trace fan studies from its origin as an outlier to the current, more mainstream, acceptance of fans and their activities.

Required Readings:

● Coppa, F. (2006). "A Brief History of Media Fandom" in Fan Fiction and ​ Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet. Karen Hellekson and Kristina ​ Busse, Eds. London: McFarland & Company, Inc.

● Ehrenreich, B., Hess, E., and Jacobs, G. (1992). "Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular ​ Media. Lisa Lewis, Ed. London: Routledge. ​

Week Three - Theories:

In this week’s lectures, we will be looking at the theories behind fan studies, with an emphasis on fandoms as subcultures and the exchange of subcultural capital. This lecture will also look at the foundational work of Henry Jenkins and his contention that fans are “textual poachers.”

Required Readings:

● Jenkins, H. (2014). "Textual Poachers" in The Fan Fiction Studies Reader. ​ Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse, Eds. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

● Jensen, S.Q. (2006). "Rethinking Subcultural Capital", Young: Nordic ​ Journal of Youth Research, 14(3), pp.257-276. ​

Week Four - Cultures:

This week will cover position fans as a part of media convergence and participatory cultures. The rise in readily-available digital technologies and media creation tools has reshaped how fans interact with the producers, creators and/or owners of media texts, with both positive and negative outcomes.

Required Readings:

● Dabek, M. (2017). 'Replies, Retweets, and Reblogs: Modes of Participation in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.' Paradoxa: Journal of Genre Fiction, No. 29. ​ ​ pp.263-286.

● Delwiche and Henderson (2013). "What is Participatory Culture?" in The ​ Participatory Cultures Handbook. Aaron Delwiche and Jennifer Jacobs ​ Henderson, Eds. London: Routledge.

Week Five - Labours

When fans take time to create a mash-up video or write a piece of fan fiction, they are undertaking fan labour. In many cases, these fan creations are exchanged via the fan gift economy, where the works are widely shared openly without expectation of compensation or reward. This lecture will look at fan labour and the idea of gift economy, while also discussing fan efforts to fund their favourite media content through Kickstarters, Patreons and crowdfunding.

Required Readings:

● Savage, C. (2014). "Chuck versus the Ratings: Savvy Fans and 'Save Our Show' Campaigns." In "Fandom and/as Labor," edited by Mel Stanfill and Megan Condis, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 15. ​ ​

● Turk, T. (2014). "Fan Work: Labor, Worth, and Participation in Fandom's Gift Economy." In "Fandom and/as Labor," edited by Mel Stanfill and Megan Condis, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 15. ​ ​

Week Six - Legalities

What are the legal boundaries of fandom? This lecture explores the intersection between fan studies and copyright law, fair use laws, and the legal limits of fandom. The lecture will incorporate some of Lawrence Lessig’s ideas on remix culture, as we consider the question: when it comes to fan creations, who “owns” the content?

Required Readings:

● Freund, K. (2016). "'Fair use is legal use': Copyright negotiations and strategies in the fan-vidding community." New Media and Society, 18(7), ​ ​ pp.1347-1363.

● Tushnet, R. (2007). "Copyright law, fan practices, and the rights of the author" in Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World. ​ ​ Jonathan Gray et al, Eds. New York: NYU Press.

Week Eight - Fan Practices, Part 1

This week, we start to look at specific fan practices and activities, starting with fanfiction. Fanfiction (or is it fan fiction?) is arguably the most popular form of fan labour and, as a fan practice, has increased significantly in the digital era. This lecture will look at fanfiction as an activity, the different types of fanfiction, and how fanfiction invites us to rethink the concept of “authorship.”

Required Readings:

● Coppa, F. (2017). "Introduction" in The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for ​ the Digital Age. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ​

● Jamison, A. (2013). "A Prehistory of Fanfiction" in Fic: Why Fanfiction is ​ Taking Over the World. Dallas: BenBella Books, Inc. ​

Week Nine - Fan Practices, Part 2

Fans express their appreciation for and devotion to their favourite media in a variety of ways and readily available tools and technologies have made it easier to create videos and GIF sets, share original artwork, and produce podcasts. The module’s exploration of specific fan practices continues with a lecture on audiovisual fan creations: art, videos, podcasts, etc.

Required Readings:

● Freund, K. (2018). "'Becoming Part of the Storytelling': Fan Vidding Practices and Histories" in A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies. ​ ​ Paul Booth, Ed. Oxford: Wiley and Sons, Inc.

● Seymour, J. (2018) "Homage, Collaboration, or Intervention: How framing fanart affects its interpretation" in Participations: Journal of Audience and ​ Reception Studies, 15(2), pp.98-114. ​

Week Ten - Fan Practices, Part 3

The third and final week of lectures looking at fan practices will focus on fan conventions and cosplay (costume play). Conventions and fan meet-ups play an integral role in fan experiences, providing individuals with a (often-rare) chance to engage with other fans in person. Cosplay, in particular, represents a chance for fans to develop their identity through their fannishness.

Required Readings:

● Scott, S. (2015). "Cosplay is Serious Business: Gendering Material Fan Labor on Heroes of Cosplay". Cinema Journal, 54(3), pp.146-154. ​ ​

● Kington, C.S. (2015). "Con culture: a survey of fans and fandom." Journal of ​ Fandom Studies, 3(2), pp.211-228. ​

Week Eleven - Fandom and Identity, Part 1

Sandvoss, Gray, and Harrington suggest that "fandom has become an increasingly important identity resource", especially in a world where more traditional identity markers "are increasingly unstable, fluid, and on occasion ephemeral." Gender and sexuality, in particular, are identity markers that reside on "complex and contested cultural terrain" (Duffett 2013:193) and consequently, many fans use their fan identities to help express and develop other aspects of their self. This week, we'll look at how fandom is used to express different gender and sexual identities as well as how fans use their experiences in fan communities as spaces to explore the different aspects of their gender and/or sexuality.

Required Readings:

● Duffett, M. (2013). "Fandom, gender, and sexual orientation" in Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture, ​ New York: Bloomsbury.

● Shaw, A. (2017). "The trouble with communities". In B. Ruberg and A. Shaw (Eds.), Queer Game Studies, Minneapolis, MN: University of ​ ​ Minnesota Press.

Week Twelve - Fandom and Identity, Part 2

One more recent development in the fan studies discipline is a closer analysis of how race, nationality, and ethnicity intersect with fan identities. Only in recent years have fan scholars attempted to remedy the lack of research pertaining to fans of colour and fandoms of colour. This week’s lectures offer an overview of current research that seeks to discover how race and ethnicity affect fans and fan studies.

Required Readings:

● Chin, B. and Morimoto, L.H. (2013). "Towards a Theory of Transcultural Fandom", Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 10(1), ​ ​ pp.92-108.

● Stanfill, M. (2018). "The Unbearable Whiteness of Fandom" In A ​ Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies, Paul Booth, Ed. Oxford: ​ Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Week Thirteen

This week, we wrap up the module by looking at fans on the edges of fandom, specifically the “anti-fans” and “non-fans”. We’ll also discuss potential futures for fandoms and fan studies, by looking at where the discipline has been and where it might go in the future.

Required Readings

TBD