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O Mighty Flist (and beyond), I seek your assistance!
As you may or may not know, I’m currently working on my MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies at University of London, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). For my thesis, I’m delving into the question of how culture, one’s own, as well as that of the source material one is fanning on, affects how fans identify and interact with said media and the fandoms surrounding them.
I am very aware that academic scrutiny of fandom has at times been…less than pleasant, shall we say. With that in mind, I’d like to make clear that it is not my intent to place fen or fandom under the microscope, but rather to use them as one concrete example in the broader investigation of culture’s impact on the field of media studies.
The following questions I’ve split into two sections, one focused on the media itself, the other on fandom as a whole. These are just a jumping-off point; feel free to answer as many/as few of the questions as you’d like, in as much/little detail as you feel comfortable. If you’d prefer to comment anonymously or email me directly at gnine AT livejournal DOT com, that’s fine, too.
Media Questions:
How much of what you fan on is produced by your own culture/country?
How much of what you fan on is originally produced in your native language(s)?
Have either of the above changed over the course of your time in fandom?
If/When consuming material not originally produced in a language you are fluent in, how do you access it? (e.g., dubs, scanlations, muddle through the raws and just enjoy the pretty people/art/voices, etc.)
Are there any culture’s materials you particularly avoid or seek out? (e.g. you avoid anything Japanese, be it anime, manga, video games, etc.; you love anything British, TV, books, etc.)If so, why?
The first time you watched/read/listened to something produced by a culture whose material you had not previously fanned on, were there details you had to adjust to (e.g. narrative styles, character depictions, pacing, cultural references, etc.) ?
Are there any particular tropes/stereotypes/character traits/plot devices you particularly associate with a certain culture’s material?
Fandom Questions:
At a guess, are the majority of the people you regularly fan with your nationality?
Do you think this changes depending on what fandom you’re in?
If you go to live fan events/conventions/meet-ups, have you attended different fan events for media of different cultures? (E.g. have you gone to both conventions for an English-language series (such as Supernatural) and anime conventions?)If so, have you noticed any differences between such conventions?
Have you ever attended fan events/conventions/meet-ups in more than one country? If so, did you notice any differences?
Has fanning with people from various countries ever caused surprise/confusion/misunderstandings?
Do your expectations for the fandom and its fanwork change depending on the source culture?
Additionally, there are a few details that’d be helpful for everyone to include, if they could:
Nationality:
Native language(s):
Language(s) you most often fan in (e.g. write/read/discuss in):
Gender (that you're most comfortable identify yourself as):
Is it all right for me to reference you directly in the final paper:
If yes, how would you prefer to be called (e.g. LJ handle/name/nickname/anonymously, etc):
If needed, would it be alright for me to contact you for more questions/details via email/skype, etc.?
Beyond that, if there are any other details, personal experiences, general trends you’ve observed, feel free to expound. Further discussion/questions in the comments is also very welcome.
If anyone's willing to link this in their journals, I’d be grateful, as the more responses the more expansive the research.
Thanks for your help!
I am very aware that academic scrutiny of fandom has at times been…less than pleasant, shall we say. With that in mind, I’d like to make clear that it is not my intent to place fen or fandom under the microscope, but rather to use them as one concrete example in the broader investigation of culture’s impact on the field of media studies.
The following questions I’ve split into two sections, one focused on the media itself, the other on fandom as a whole. These are just a jumping-off point; feel free to answer as many/as few of the questions as you’d like, in as much/little detail as you feel comfortable. If you’d prefer to comment anonymously or email me directly at gnine AT livejournal DOT com, that’s fine, too.
Media Questions:
How much of what you fan on is produced by your own culture/country?
How much of what you fan on is originally produced in your native language(s)?
Have either of the above changed over the course of your time in fandom?
If/When consuming material not originally produced in a language you are fluent in, how do you access it? (e.g., dubs, scanlations, muddle through the raws and just enjoy the pretty people/art/voices, etc.)
Are there any culture’s materials you particularly avoid or seek out? (e.g. you avoid anything Japanese, be it anime, manga, video games, etc.; you love anything British, TV, books, etc.)If so, why?
The first time you watched/read/listened to something produced by a culture whose material you had not previously fanned on, were there details you had to adjust to (e.g. narrative styles, character depictions, pacing, cultural references, etc.) ?
Are there any particular tropes/stereotypes/character traits/plot devices you particularly associate with a certain culture’s material?
Fandom Questions:
At a guess, are the majority of the people you regularly fan with your nationality?
Do you think this changes depending on what fandom you’re in?
If you go to live fan events/conventions/meet-ups, have you attended different fan events for media of different cultures? (E.g. have you gone to both conventions for an English-language series (such as Supernatural) and anime conventions?)If so, have you noticed any differences between such conventions?
Have you ever attended fan events/conventions/meet-ups in more than one country? If so, did you notice any differences?
Has fanning with people from various countries ever caused surprise/confusion/misunderstandings?
Do your expectations for the fandom and its fanwork change depending on the source culture?
Additionally, there are a few details that’d be helpful for everyone to include, if they could:
Nationality:
Native language(s):
Language(s) you most often fan in (e.g. write/read/discuss in):
Gender (that you're most comfortable identify yourself as):
Is it all right for me to reference you directly in the final paper:
If yes, how would you prefer to be called (e.g. LJ handle/name/nickname/anonymously, etc):
If needed, would it be alright for me to contact you for more questions/details via email/skype, etc.?
Beyond that, if there are any other details, personal experiences, general trends you’ve observed, feel free to expound. Further discussion/questions in the comments is also very welcome.
If anyone's willing to link this in their journals, I’d be grateful, as the more responses the more expansive the research.
Thanks for your help!
no subject
Ooh, definitely different approaches. Slash (as mentioned above) was introduced to me in SGA in McShep form. I would never have made the connection on the show without fan influence (if writing for myself, I'd have written gen, probably). But most of the appeal in the pairing is the fan following of the pair rather than the canon moments on the show. In fact, 99% of the appeal is the fans--the fic, the artwork, the manips, the vids. In the G.I. Joe fandom I read a total of ONE slash story just to see, and it truly had no appeal for me. It had all of the pitfalls and failings of "immature" slash (for lack of a better expression)--"gay for you/out of the blue," "first time," and "but then he realized he didn't have to be gentle like he would with a woman" were all there in this relatively short story and it was just blech. Like, the story was written without developing the relationship or a reason to slash--the author just wanted to whip out a slash story and it could have been any two characters, and it was really obvious. But McShep, boy do the fans care about the characters. Most of the time you couldn't replace Sheppard with, say, Lorne or Ronon and have the story make sense, or McKay with Zelenka. I think that's really unique to SGA and MOST of the other western shows (What I've read of Numb3rs, Doctor Who, Torchwood, X-Files, &etc. slash isn't just ANY MALE CHARACTERS X AND Y, but their OTP).
I think in Anime this is a little less the case, though the canon relationship does tend to play an important part in who people ship with whom (and I mean Naruto with Sasuke because they were on the same team, there was a betrayal, etc. not canon romantic relationship). But on shows like Bleach, all of the boys are so pretty (and quirky really ;) that lots of people pair X with Y not interchangeably, but also NOT because they see X and Y as their OTP. Like an author might write Bleach porn with Ichigo and Renji, and in the next story pair Ichigo with Byakuya, and the next Renji and Hisagi (and so on). There are a couple pairs that have a larger following than others, but really only maybe two. I think the same is true for a lot of the shows that have larger casts, like Prince of Tennis, Naruto, Hetalia, etc.
One thing that at first threw me off but now I love to pieces is that in Ouran High School Host Club, the Hitachiin brothers (twins, Hikaru and Kaoru) play the romantic "forbidden love" roles in the club. They actually call it "twincest" on the show. At first I was like, "WHAAAAAT???" But now I just laugh it off as those wacky Japanese! and think it's adorable. Honey Senpai is labeled the "Lolita type" and so on. That would NEVER fly on an American show (even though obvs Supernatural has its own fan created version of that). So I guess...on American/Western shows I expect more characterization, and reasons for slashing, pining, longing, and so on before the big hook up. In anime it's already canon that there's stuff like TWINCEST, hello--no need for a set-up if it's already set up. I expect more thinky psychological stuff--at least a little--from my fic based on Western stuff.
I am female.
I hope that all makes sense. Let me know if you want any more details.
(fixed syntax)