University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2011 "Veni, Vidi, Vids!" audiences, gender and community in Fan Vidding Katharina M. Freund University of Wollongong, [email protected] Recommended Citation Freund, Katharina M., "Veni, Vidi, Vids!" audiences, gender and community in Fan Vidding, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, 2011. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3447 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] “Veni, Vidi, Vids!”: Audiences, Gender and Community in Fan Vidding A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy From University of Wollongong by Katharina Freund (BA Hons) School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications 2011 CERTIFICATION I, Katharina Freund, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Arts Faculty, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Katharina Freund 30 September, 2011 i ABSTRACT This thesis documents and analyses the contemporary community of (mostly) female fan video editors, known as vidders, through a triangulated, ethnographic study. It provides historical and contextual background for the development of the vidding community, and explores the role of agency among this specialised audience community. Utilising semiotic theory, it offers a theoretical language for understanding the structure and function of remix videos. This thesis explores the role of gender in this female-dominated community, and argues that vids are socially constructed as women’s responses to popular culture along paradigmatic lines. The construction and negotiation of community among vidders is also analysed: despite academic work to the contrary, this thesis demonstrates that face-to-face and offline markers of identity are still of great importance to online communities. It also supplements academic research into copyright issues in Web 2.0 remix environments by providing ethnographic insight into how fears of legal action for infringing copyright have affected and shaped a particular community, and details the strategic work of the vidders to mitigate these perceived risks in relation to legal discourses. This study has implications for larger debates of method, meaning, and agency in fan studies, and supplements existing theoretical and textual research into vidding by highlighting tensions among the community through ethnographic inquiry. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincerest thanks go to my supervisors, Professor Philip Kitley, Associate Professor Graham Barwell, and Dr. Andrew Whelan for their endless support and enthusiasm throughout this endeavour. I am also grateful to Professor David Marshall for his guidance during the early stages and for encouraging me to undertake this Ph.D. Thanks to the postgraduate community of the University of Wollongong for always being there to listen: your friendship and good humour made this path infinitely more enjoyable. Thanks also to all the members of the vidding community who took the time to share their thoughts and passion with me. I dedicate this to my mother, who has always been my biggest fan. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ iv LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... ix LIST OF VIDS ............................................................................................................. x 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Purpose of Study .......................................................................................... 6 1.3 Significance .................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................ 9 1.5 Structure of the Thesis................................................................................ 10 SECTION I................................................................................................................. 16 2 THE PRACTICE OF VIDDING............................................................................. 16 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 16 2.2 History of Vidding Practice........................................................................ 16 2.3 An Exclusive History? ............................................................................... 36 2.4 “You Can’t Stop the Signal” ...................................................................... 42 2.5 Creating Contemporary Vids ..................................................................... 45 2.6 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 58 3 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 60 3.1 Fan-Ethnography ........................................................................................ 60 3.2 Researcher and the Researched: Subjectivity............................................. 63 3.3 The Fieldsite and Virtual Ethnography ...................................................... 66 3.4 Methodology .............................................................................................. 70 3.5 Demographics............................................................................................. 75 3.6 Coming Face to Face .................................................................................. 78 3.7 Privacy, Consent, and Confidentiality........................................................ 82 3.8 Interviews ................................................................................................... 85 3.9 Case Studies ............................................................................................... 86 3.10 Acknowledgement of Limitations .............................................................. 87 iv 3.11 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 87 SECTION II ............................................................................................................... 89 4 MEANING, AUDIENCES, AND AGENCY ......................................................... 89 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 89 4.2 Audiences and the “Text” .......................................................................... 89 4.3 Reception and Audience Theory ................................................................ 92 4.4 Specific Audiences ..................................................................................... 97 4.5 New Media Audiences and the Postbroadcast Era ................................... 104 4.6 Complications and Complexities ............................................................. 109 4.7 Intertextuality and Meaning ..................................................................... 112 4.8 Semiotic Structure in Media Texts........................................................... 114 4.9 The Semiotics of Vidding ........................................................................ 121 4.10 Music and Suture Theory ......................................................................... 127 4.11 Narrative Structure in Vids ...................................................................... 135 4.12 Conclusion................................................................................................ 143 5 GENDER AND PARADIGMS ............................................................................ 146 5.1 ”How Women Do Fandom” ..................................................................... 146 5.2 Gendered Audiences ................................................................................ 156 5.3 Genres and Paradigms .............................................................................. 163 5.4 Vidder as Bricoleur .................................................................................. 168 5.5 Conclusion................................................................................................ 174 6 CASE STUDIES ................................................................................................... 176 6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 176 6.2 The Vidders