eng553s18unessay

[eng553s18unessay]

The Digital Development of Fandom - Unessay

Fandom has always existed, whether it's the many published retellings of Dracula by Bram Stoker, directors who get into the film industry as fans of Star Trek and then go on to direct both Star Trek and Star Wars, or every Renaissance painting of mythology or biblical events. The digital evolution has allowed fans around the world to connect and bond through a shared love for an event, celebrity, type of media, etc.

The above photo shows the definition and usage of the term "fandom”.

For my unessay, I'm going to guide everyone through the digital development of fandom. Consider the beginning of this WordPress post as the "introduction" for the project, much like an introduction in a tradition essay. Here, you'll find a brief overview of the project and some thoughts to consider as you click through the project. You'll also find a list of the links for each subsequent post in my unessay. After that, you'll find the conclusion (much like the conclusion in a traditional essay) at the bottom of the post. So bookmark this page and come back to reorient when you get sucked into clicking on multiple tags on the different sites or when you're ready for the conclusion.

As I cited in my proposal for this project, I have continually linked fandom to our readings and discussions throughout the course. I wanted to use my unessay to examine the ways fandom has influenced digital literacy, especially for fans, and the way it intersects with the ideas discussed in class. Initially in my proposal I included the site Deviantart. However, while working through this project, I realized that most of my comments around the site were addressed through the LiveJournal and Tumblr pieces, hence its omission in the final version of my unessay.

We'll start with LiveJournal and discuss the early digital presence of fandom on the platform in the 2000s. The platform gained international recognition and use primarily with the Harry Potter fandom, especially as the films began to premier and the final three books were released. From there, we'll go to a second post hosted on LiveJournal that covers one of the earliest fan fiction websites - FF.net - and its culture, use, and legacy. After that, we'll hop over to Tumblr - the current international platform for all fandoms. If you meet a fan and ask them what platform they use the most, more than three-quarters will answer that they utilize Tumblr. The site has become the integrated solution for all types of creative output - art, videos, GIFs, chats, links, audio, music, writing, and meta discussions. After a look into Tumblr, we'll go to a second Tumblr post that talks about the current fan fiction platform - AO3. We'll look at the interactions on the platform and its prominence in current fandom. After AO3? We'll come back to this blog post to wrap up my unessay. Along the way, I'll be linking each platform to specific readings or ideas we've covered in class and the way it has influenced what it means to be digitally literate as a fan in the twenty-first century.

Ready? Let's dive in!

Intro - You Are Here!

LiveJournal - The Early 2000s Fandom Experience

FF.net - The Early 2000s Fanfic Archive

Tumblr - The Integrated Fandom Experience

AO3 - The Modern Fanfic Archive

Conclusion - Welcome Back!

Well, now you can say you have been thoroughly educated on the digital development of fandom in the last eighteen years! From LiveJournal to Tumblr and FF.net to AO3, fandom has seen some sweeping changes - and platform jumps to boot - since 2000. Each has emphasized an aspect of digital humanities, such as participatory culture, new media interaction, and Gunning's technological lifecycle. Having been a part of fandom since the early 2000s, I have really enjoyed watching the ways that digital fandom has shifted from platform to platform and always looked for new ways to engage, create, and share their passion for their specific fandom(s). Hopefully, I've demonstrated for all of you that fandom isn't just what preteens get up to after class. It's a bright, creative, diverse, beautiful environment that welcomes all and encourages personal and artistic growth. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey through digital fandom. As Spock would say, live long and prosper!

Looking back over the project, I wanted to share some thoughts about my decision to use the platforms I did and my thoughts on my creative process for the project: I think utilizing LiveJournal and Tumblr - the two dominant fandom platforms of the last two decades - helped users visualize and understand the interactions on both sites. I struggled with deciding on how much of fandom lexicon and history to include. I wanted to focus on the digital development of fandom, especially as it relates to this course. Making sure that I didn't get bogged down in helping non-fandom readers to understand the history of fandom was a bit of a struggle, but I think I achieved a nice balance in the end. After all, some history and lexicon is necessary to illustrate the point of digital development and interaction. It's been quite a while since I interacted with LiveJournal, so it was fun to see how the site has evolved and it definitely made me glad for the easy-to-navigate platform of Tumblr. Looking for screencaps of the original homepage for FF.net was a trip back in time and I had way too much fun reminiscing with my girlfriends about the "golden days" of fanfic - while all of us are so grateful and hooked on AO3. Overall, I had a blast putting this project together and being a fangirl about being a fangirl. And if you want a further taste of the fangirl life, I highly recommend Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. It's a love letter to fandom, fangirls, and the unique perspective fangirls have on the world around them.

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AO3 - The Modern Fanfic Archive

For this last post examining the digital development of fandom, we’ll be looking at the current fanfic database - ArchiveOfOurOwn.org, otherwise known as “AO3″ in fandom.

AO3 is a site hosted by Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) that was found in late 2009. The site’s easy-to-navigate interface has made it an ideal destination for fanfic readers. The tags function works much the same way as sites like Tumblr, WordPress, and Twitter. Writers who post their work on AO3 can enter common tags or use the tag function to enter their thoughts or snark-heavy commentary about the work. The common tags allow the work to be indexed on the site and easily found when searching for specific tags or ideas. The screencap below is a great example of standardized tags (such as characters, setting, and relationships), while snarky non-standard tags have been added as well. The non-standard tags give readers a sample of the author’s sense of humor about their work and fun instances or fandom references to expect within the fic. My particular favorite is “the author’s blatant disregard for narrative structure”.

The tagging system on AO3 is also used much the same way the TAGS project from Twitter are, especially the databases we explored in class. Readers can filter types of post by tags they include or exclude, characters involved, relationships tagged, settings, emotions, or events within the fandom (such as a specific movie in the franchise). Readers can also exclude specific tags, characters, relationships, and potential triggers they would like to avoid (such as mentions of trauma, abuse, etc.). The screencap below illustrates the sort and filter system for tags on the platform:

The community aspect of AO3 has been a big draw to the platform for many writers and readers. The ability to leave “kudos” instead of “likes” on works is one reason readers love the site and the connected atmosphere present there. Works are able to have multiple authors and be listed under multiple collections. The WIP Big Bangs from LiveJournal have been migrated to AO3 as well. Authors will post their works on the site and then list them as part of the WIP Big Bang collection, which collects all fics completed in the competition in one easy-to-access page. The ability to leave threaded comments on works, especially chapter by chapter, has contributed to the participatory culture found on AO3 as well.

Authors can respond to specific comments and pin certain comments that either answer readers’ questions or includes ideas of the next installation in the work. Authors can include notes at the beginning and end of each work (and at the beginning and end of each chapter) with hyperlinks to their site, inspiration photos, videos, or fanmixes of music - usually hosted on 8tracks.com. Readers can also bookmark fics and their bookmarks can be made public, so as to enable easy sharing amongst fellow readers and friends. It is quite common in fandom for friends to share their bookmarks list for specific pairings or fandoms and having those lists hosted on AO3 enables easy reading and interaction within that community.

Another aspect of AO3 that’s fostered communal interaction is the burgeoning fandom lexicon and its newest additions that have appeared on AO3 and Tumblr specifically. To understand the following terms means to be literate in fandom and specifically fan fiction. Such new additions are as follows: 

#EverbodyLivesNobodyDies: Usually used regarding The Hobbit films, the later Harry Potter films/books, and other series that involve multiple main character deaths. Authors will choose which parts of the canon to keep or simply write an AU (alternate universe) where the plot remains the same but all the characters survive.

PWP: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot. This is usually attached to fics that are short scenes with the barest of plot to set up for pure porn (or “smut” as it is called in fandom) that is the bulk of the fic.

What It Says On The Tin: Used as a snarky tag to highlight the absurdity of the plot in the fic and is included in the description or the tags. Derived from the British use of tins for biscuits, tea, etc. where ingredients or plain descriptions are listed on the tin.

Fluff: Used to describe light-hearted fics with no large drama plotlines, dark subject matter, or character deaths.

RPF: Real Person Fanfiction. This tag gained a lot of attention during the golden era of One Direction. You might remember fics of this category mentioned in stories about fangirls writing “self-insert” fanfics that involved going on tour with 1D or that former RPF stories were being turned into published novels by the same fangirls.

Self-insert: Inserting the author into the works, such as dropping the self-styled, idealized version of the author into the world of Lord of the Rings, for example.

OC: Original Character. A character of the author’s creation in the midst of standard characters from the fandom. For example, an OC in the world of the Avengers might be a new superhero that the author created themselves.

The AO3 platform has become the main destination for fanfic readers and writers. The integration of indexed tags with an easy-to-navigate platform has made it appealing to many mainstream and lesser known fandoms around the world. The site largely links to Tumblr for references, collated lists of fics, interaction with the authors (commonly hyperlinked in the fic notes as “come say hi on my tumblr!”), and links to inspiration for the fics. The ability to protect works (so that only registered users can view and interact with them) has helped writers maintain their privacy or to protect against the potential of their works being stolen by other writers or internet trolls. Overall, AO3 works because of the interaction between fans on the site and that it is built, maintained, and supported (via monetary donations and word of mouth) by fans themselves. AO3 is the culmination of what it means to be digitally literate as a fan in the twenty-first century. Its use is dependent on knowledge of fandom lexicon, the ability to interact with Tumblr, and certain accepted headcanons or rhetoric within the fandom.

Ready for the wrap-up to this unessay? Click here to go back the initial Tumblr post for my concluding thoughts!

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Tumblr - The Integrated Fandom Experience

Welcome to Tumblr - the current platform utilized by different fandoms around the globe. Here, you’ll find RP (roleplaying) blogs, the circulation of GIF sets (that tell their own story via manipulate captions), fan art, fan fiction (and links to it on other sites), and fandom discussions about the fandom itself, headcanons about the media, meta, rhetoric, etc.

The Tumblr platform makes it incredibly easy to create all types of posts on your blog, as evidenced in the screencap below:

The blue chat bubble isn’t where you go to chat with fellow blogs, but instead create chat posts. Usually in fandom, these are dialogues between certain characters. In the last few years, it has led to the creation of “incorrectXquotes” blogs, with the X representing the fandom. For example, this post is from an incorrect Avengers posts blog and the post is a reference to the TV show Parks and Rec. These mashup chats and quotes are highly reminiscent of Kuhn’s “The Rhetoric of Remix”.

Kuhn specifically analyzes fan-made videos, such as the “Closer” video of Spock and Kirk from Star Trek as a way to illustrate the culture of mashup in fandom and digital communities. Tumblr is filled with mashup videos as well, including ones like this Pride & Prejudice mashup and this Star Wars mashup. However, GIF sets are utilized more often on Tumblr for mashups. The GIF format is easy to manipulate, especially if using footage with captions. Often, this format is used to create alternate universe (“AU” in fandom lexicon) narratives. One great example of this is this GIF set that utilizes filmed footage and outtakes from Captain America: Civil War to create an AU where Captain America and Iron Man get together romantically (with a little help from Nick Fury). Another version of the mashup culture evident on Tumblr is through photo manipulation. For instance, using Photoshop to edit readily available photos means that anyone can create art for any fandom idea. A popular example is the movie poster trope - such as this mocked up poster for an AU of Aquaman and Superman becoming romantically involved. 

One aspect of mashups on Tumblr relies on temporality, a key trait of the genre as outlined by Booth in his article “Mashup as temporal amalgam: Time, taste, and textuality”. (If you mention temporality or time to any Doctor Who fan on Tumblr, you’ll get some variation of the GIF below, which is an iconic Doctor Who moment.)

So what was that about temporality and Tumblr? Generally, in any given fandom, you will see an explosion of content and interaction around the release of new mainstream media in the fandom. When new content is released, it means more fans, more interactions, and more fan-generated content because time is of the essence. Everyone wants to get involved with the fandom before lack of content or ennui takes hold. For example, let’s look at the Marvel franchise. Every year when a new movie is released, there is a high uptick in GIF sets, photo manips, art, fic, and discussion around the new movie. There is also discussion of how this new movie (and its new characters) fits into the wider Marvel universe. Over the last seven years, there have been three Captain America films. Content has been generated before, during, and for about six months after the release of each film. After that, during the lull between Captain America films, content slows down. Yet, despite the slow generation, there is still fandom interaction and usually it tends toward deeper discussions about meta and rhetoric of the films and its characters. One example is the ongoing discourse around the evolution of Bucky Barnes (Captain America’s righthand man) into the Winter Soldier and then into a member of the Avengers. Every frame of film he appears in is minutely analyzed and discussed, including his body language, expressions, word choice, etc.

While temporality holds sway over massive content generation in fandom, it has no effect on the deeper discussions evident in fandom (it’s been 11 years since the last Harry Potter book was released, yet you’ll still find high-level discourse around the series occurring on Tumblr), but it does affect the initial content generation and sustained content generation within fandoms. The same is true with fandoms centered around TV shows (the gap between seasons can be difficult for fans) and sports teams (the offseason can be slow unless broken up by international sporting tournaments). 

Yet, despite the lulls between released content, the fandom is still bound together and often friendships and even relationships are formed through the bond. Jenkins touched upon this in his discussion on participatory culture: “What holds a knowledge community together is not the possession of knowledge -- which can be relatively static -- but the social process of acquiring knowledge -- which is dynamic and participatory, continually testing and reaffirming the group's social ties.”

The collaborative interaction between fans is a central element of Tumblr. One fan will post a headcanon (an accepted idea, theory, or scene by fans about a show, movie, etc.) as a text post on Tumblr. Other fans will reblog it and either comment on it in the tags of the post or as an add-on. It’s common for text posts to have multiple add-ons as it circulates and some posts even become widely accepted within the fandom as part of the lore around the content. This text post about the Avengers in comics and the headcanon of how they fight as a group in battle is an excellent example of this communal collaboration and dialogue. Jenkins also discusses this community interaction and dialogue in his paper on the community of Wikipedia. He writes that “Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy training from individual expression onto community involvement: the new literacies are almost all social skills which have to do with collaboration and networking.”

Overall, Tumblr has become the one-stop shop for all fandoms and all fandom needs. Even references to famous fanfics have become a part of Tumblr. The platform has become the preeminent expression of collaborative, interactive participatory culture, especially through the medium of mashups, whether in video, photo, chat, or GIF mode. Often, text post discourse and headcanons on Tumblr give rise to mashup fanfic (where two fandoms collide within a fic). Speaking of which, fanfic is our next destination in this unessay. Ready for the final fandom stop? Click here for the post on AO3 - the current fanfic database (and much improved version of FF.net).