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gnineAs 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!
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-10 04:20 pm (UTC)How much of what you fan on is produced by your own culture/country?
I'd say it's about half and half. And it's very skewed depending on what type of media. For TV, I hardly watch *any* American shows at all, there's really just one or two that I follow, but I watch a lot of anime and a fair amount of British TV. Plus I read lots of manga, but no American comic books/graphic novels at all. For movies and books, however, it's heavily skewed towards American stuff; I may occasionally watch a foreign film but that's fairly rare.
How much of what you fan on is originally produced in your native language(s)?
Again, about half and half, with the same skew as above.
Have either of the above changed over the course of your time in fandom?
Yeah, definitely. When I was first introduced to anime, I only watched a little, but over time I've started to watch more and more. I was never a big fan of American TV, though. Also, I didn't read manga for my first several years in fandom, only watching anime, but gradually got into it and now I probably read just as much manga as I watch anime.
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.)
For anime, fansubs when available, official subs when not. There are a few decent dubs out there - Trigun leaps to mind - but they're the exception rather than the rule, so I prefer to avoid them when at all possible. I would get more in the way of official subs if buying anime wasn't so prohibitively expensive. For manga, I actually prefer to buy the official volumes released in America - greater image quality and consistency of translations, plus I prefer reading an actual book to reading on my computer - but since there's such a great delay in release time I'll typically read scanlations online while I wait for the volumes to come out.
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?
Well, I tend to avoid Japanese porn, because it's scary. Heh. But I can't think of anything else I particularly avoid. I don't really seek out stuff, either, I tend to watch/read stuff on recommendation from others.
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.) ?
The first anime I ever watched was Fushigi Yuugi and I thought it was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. It grew on me, but it was the character designs that first threw me for a loop. That still happens sometimes when I pick up a new series with a unique style - One Piece's art took a while to adjust to, for example - but for the most part I'm used to it now. I'm aware that there are probably some cultural references/language jokes that go over my head, but most of the time I don't worry about that.
I got into anime a long time ago, but the one thing I do remember finding confusing was all the honorifics and the different versions of "I" and "you" which of course heavily flavor dialogue and can tell you a lot about a character's personality. I still, to this day, *hate* it when a fansubber omits or changes the honorifics to "mister" or whatever. Just leave them in! We know what they mean!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-10 04:20 pm (UTC)Shonen anime/manga is one of the most predictable things I have ever read. 1) They fight a guy. 2) They level up. 3) A stronger guy comes along. 4) He kicks their asses. 5) Commence training sequence. 6) They fight the guy again. 7) They level up and kick his ass. Wash, rinse, repeat. Some series I don't mind it in - One Piece has endless creativity of villains - and some are more subtle about it - FMA was shonen and it sort of had that flavor, but it was much more mellow - but in some it bores the hell out of me, like Bleach.
Plus anime/manga has a strong tendency to have weak female characters, which drives me bonkers and is why I really like it when a strong female comes along in manga. Of course, with the Twilight craze going full force here, I expect most American female characters to be pathetic for a while, too.
At a guess, are the majority of the people you regularly fan with your nationality?
I'd say probably about three quarters, maybe even less. But I don't ask a lot of them about it, heh.
Do you think this changes depending on what fandom you’re in?
Absolutely. When it comes to manga/anime, I'm a foreigner to begin with and I think a lot of other people fanning it are as well, or are from Japan where it originated. But the American stuff I like - the Dresden Files (books, not TV), Chuck (TV), et cetera, I think most of the fans are American.
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?
I've only gone to anime cons, so I really don't know, but every con is very unique (I've been to Otakon, Anime Boston, YaoiCon, and one small con in New Hampshire and Arizona, both of which are now defunct, I believe), so it wouldn't surprise me at all. A loooooooong time ago I went to Arisia, a sci-fi con in Boston, and it had a *very* different flavor to it, but that was so long ago that it's hard for me to pin down what the difference was.
Have you ever attended fan events/conventions/meet-ups in more than one country? If so, did you notice any differences?
Nope, just America.
Has fanning with people from various countries ever caused surprise/confusion/misunderstandings?
I honestly don't think so. I mean, sure, I've had surprise/confusion/etc with other fans, but I think that's just because we're all people and sometimes communication is hard over the internet. I don't think it was a cultural thing.
Do your expectations for the fandom and its fanwork change depending on the source culture?
This is hard to answer because I don't really get into American fandoms. I'm sure there *is* a Chuck fandom or one for the Dresden Files, but I've never sought it out. Karasu is into the How to Train your Dragon fandom right now, and she says that it's much more cheerful, open, and inclusive than some of the other fandoms she associates with, but that may just be because of the source material. She's been in Supernatural and Dark Angel fandoms as well and never mentioned the change until HTTYD. (Objection! Hearsay! Sustained!)
Nationality: American
Native language(s): English
Language(s) you most often fan in (e.g. write/read/discuss in): Source material is Japanese, but my own fannings are in English.
Is it all right for me to reference you directly in the final paper: Sure, though I can't imagine anything I said was that scintillating.
If yes, how would you prefer to be called (e.g. LJ handle/name/nickname/anonymously, etc): Kouri is fine.
If needed, would it be alright for me to contact you for more questions/details via email/skype, etc.? Sure again. ^^
Hope this helped!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-10 11:15 pm (UTC)Thanks for responding, you'll probably hear more from me in the next week or so as I go through all the data I'm getting.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-11 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 04:44 pm (UTC)Also...I did as I said and spent the other 'night' (and by that I mean until 9 am, oooops!) rereading WYWM...I had planned to just read some of my favorite scenes and skim the rest and then I sorta accidentally read pretty much the whole thing and skimmed a few scenes...Do so love that story, in all its wonderful gay and h/c-filled glory! ^_- *huggles*
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 08:55 pm (UTC)In what ways (if any), for you personally, do your fannish practices change depending on the source culture of the material you're fanning on? (e.g. do you watch more music vids for anime, do you read/write particular kinds of fic for western shows, do you seek out cons for only certain types of fandoms, etc.) The more specific the examples, the better.
Semi-related to the above question, in what ways, if any, has your fannish practices changed over your time in fandom? (both in general over the years you've been in fandom and in specific fandoms. ) And have these changes at all coincided with differences in source culture? (eg for western fandoms, you've always just watched/read fic w/out much change over time but with Japanese fandom, you started watching anime then moved on to music vids then progressed to
helping scanlate manga because you went on to learn Japanese, etc.)
And one or two questions on one topic I might be exploring in a bit more detail, so:
Are you interested in/have any experience with/in slash/Boys Love/yaoi/ m/m etc.? If yes, do you notice a difference in how it is approached/explored depending on the source culture of the material? Examples/details appreciated.
Do you personally approach it differently/have different expectations for how it's depicted in fan works depending on the culture? If so, in what ways?
Oh, also, if I don't already know it (ie know you in person) and you're comfortable sharing it, what gender do you identify yourself as?
Again, thanks for your time, any details you have already or can additionally provide are a big big help! ^_____^