“Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?” by Henry Jenkins briefly discusses the power and perspective of the fandom. Some companies and creators want to limit fan created work of a piece of media, such as fanfiction and fan art. Studios view it as a threat to the value and image of the work. For instance, George Lucas was strongly against erotic Star Wars fanfiction because he viewed it as a threat to Star Wars reputation of being family friendly. Fans, however, “embrace an understanding of intellectual property as ‘shareware.’ Something that accrues value as it moves across different contexts, gets retold in various ways, attracts multiple audiences, and opens itself up to a proliferation of alternative meanings. Giving up absolute control over intellectual property, they argue, increases its cultural value (if not its economic worth).”
Take Harry Potter for instance. Despite the book series ending several years ago, the world of Harry Potter is still incredibly relevant to pop culture. Books and movies that take place in that world are still being made, people describe their personality based on which Hogwarts House they are, and it even has its own theme park in Universal. A major reason Harry Potter became incredibly successful is due to the fascinating narrative universe. Jenkins notes that a complex and rich narrative universe is essential to sustain a prolonged relationship and interest with fans/consumers. People love to expand upon the Wizarding World or imagine themselves as a Hogwarts student, which has led to a lot of fan-created works. I’d argue that fan-created works have also significantly contributed to making Harry Potter so huge and culturally relevant. Some people discovered the series from watching Harry Potter Puppet Pals on YouTube. People make pop culture references from StarKid Productions’ “A Very Potter Musical.” The Tony-winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is basically professionally made fanfiction. All of these have kept the series relevant and increased profit for the franchise.
However, sometimes there is a genuine power struggle and tension between the fandom and the creators. In some fandoms, fans don’t just want the freedom to create their own interpretation and work, they want a greater say in what the original writers and producers create. Sometimes it can get violent and lead to fans harassing actors, writers, and producers. Some animators from the Dreamwork’s show Voltron accidentally leaked some drawings from the show. They could get fired for this, so the show’s team asked people to stop spreading the pictures and delete any current posts with the drawings on them. Some fans blackmailed the show’s team and said they would only take the pictures down if the writers promised to have two male characters on the show end up in a romantic relationship with each other.
I think fans should have the right to express themselves by making fanart, fanfiction, or videos inspired by another work. However, harassing and blackmailing the creators of an original work because the story isn’t being written the way they want it to should not be tolerated. Unfortunately, this will likely continue due to how easy it is to reach out to writers, producers, and production studios via social media.
Comments
Post a Comment