View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Boise State University - ScholarWorks STILL FLYING: THE COMMUNICATIVE CONSTITUTION OF BROWNCOAT FANDOM AS CULTURE by Jonathon Nicholas Lundy A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Boise State University December 2010 © 2010 Jonathon Nicholas Lundy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COLLEGE DEFENSE COMMITTEE AND FINAL READING APPROVALS of the thesis submitted by Jonathon Nicholas Lundy Thesis Title: Still Flying: The Communicative Constitution of Browncoat Fandom as Culture Date of Final Oral Examination: 29 November 2010 The following individuals read and discussed the thesis submitted by student Jonathon Nicholas Lundy, and they evaluated his presentation and response to questions during the final oral examination. They found that the student passed the final oral examination. Natalie Nelson-Marsh, Ph.D. Chair, Supervisory Committee Trevor Hall, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee Marvin Cox, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee The final reading approval of the thesis was granted by Natalie Nelson-Marsh, Ph.D., Chair of the Supervisory Committee. The thesis was approved for the Graduate College by John R. Pelton, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I always told myself that I wasn’t going to include one of these because they seemed very cliché and overtly sentimental; both things I try to avoid as a matter of course. However, after nearing the end of this project, I realized that acknowledgement of those individuals who are directly responsible for the fruition of the work is warranted. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Natalie for inspiring me to continue on with the program and being my guide and mentor these past several years. She has a great passion for higher education and a tenacious mind for theory. I would not have completed this project without her selfless support and encouragement. Secondly, I’d like to thank the other two members of my committee who have patiently awaited the completion of my thesis with little or no word from me in quite some time. Dr. Hall has been a great sounding board and a like-minded conversational partner throughout my stressful days of managing graduate school, work, teaching, and life in general. Dr. Cox is the experienced legend I brought into as my expert on narrative and although the direction detoured somewhat I still feel fortunate to have such a wise and well-respected faculty member rounding out my committee. Lastly, I’d like to thank the Communication Department as a whole and my fellow graduate cohorts. I would also like to specifically acknowledge two of my fellow graduate students in particular, Wayne and Stephanie, for letting me into their project groups and their office. You guys are awesome. iv ABSTRACT In contemporary western culture, fandom is common. Many academics and members of the general public alike conceive of fandom as outside the norms of spectatorship; to be a spectator is to enjoy an interest individually and passively. However, others contend that fandom is a more significant cultural achievement. This study qualitatively investigated how Browncoats, or fans of the cancelled television series Firefly, communicatively construct their fandom culture. Methods included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, data analysis through Grounded Theory, and a comparative thematic analysis of the original Firefly source texts and Browncoat cultural data in order to discover meaningful themes evident in both. It was found that three specific discursive patterns of practice; Conversation, Cultural Practices, and Co-authoring symbolically represent and recreate specific themes from the Firefly source texts while simultaneously enacting an overarching Underdog cultural ideology. This suggests that current conceptions of fandom may be inadequate to properly account for the symbolically lived practices of contemporary fans. As active constructors of culture through shared text engagement, the Browncoats are examples of a new construct in fan studies: fanactivism that closely resembles more accepted cultural forms like religion. Fandom may be the topic of interest, but at the heart of this study is a deeper understanding of the constitutive forces that are involved in the creation of all social reality v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1 Literature Review ............................................................................................ 3 Fans and Fan Studies .......................................................................... 4 Fandom (Re)conceptualized ............................................................... 8 Fans and Texts .................................................................................... 13 Communication and Fandom .............................................................. 15 Communication and Organization ...................................................... 17 Organization and Discourse ................................................................ 18 Discourse and Discourses ................................................................... 19 Organizations as Discursive Construction .......................................... 20 Discursive Communities ..................................................................... 21 Communication and Culture ............................................................... 23 Communicatively Constructed Fandom Culture ................................ 24 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER TWO: METHODS ................................................................................... 27 Case Study ...................................................................................................... 28 vi Research Site ....................................................................................... 28 Data Collection Methods ................................................................................ 30 Data Collection and Procedures .......................................................... 31 Data Analysis Methods: Grounded Theory .................................................... 42 Comparative Thematic Analysis ......................................................... 44 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS ................................................................................ 50 Browncoat Discourse ...................................................................................... 51 Conversation ................................................................................................... 52 Discourse, Cultural Patterns, and Ideological Themes ................................... 59 Philanthropy ........................................................................................ 60 Shindigs ............................................................................................... 68 Co-Authoring ...................................................................................... 75 Discursively Practiced Fandom as Symbolic of Underdog Resistance ................................................. 79 An Afterlife Through Practiced Ideology ....................................................... 84 Summary of Findings ...................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION ............................................................................. 87 Challenging Culture ........................................................................................ 88 From Poaching to Production: Adding to Classic Fan Theory ....................... 93 Challenging Fandom ....................................................................................... 95 Faith in Fiction: Legitimizing Fanactivism ..................................................... 99 Significance ..................................................................................................... 104 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 108 vii Importance of Study ............................................................................ 108 Acknowledgement of Influence .......................................................... 110 Limitations .......................................................................................... 112 Directions for Future Research ........................................................... 115 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 117 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................... 137 Interview Protocol for Semi-structured Interviews of Browncoat Participants viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Examples of Firefly-isms from Firefly Used in Browncoat Discourse ............................................................. 58