We need to apply Jenkins's ideas to our upcoming videogame CSPs but also think back to where his ideas are relevant with other media texts we have studied. His work on participatory culture links with Clay Shirky in places and the concept of fandom is important to many media texts - from TV drama to Taylor Swift in particular.
Videogames: an introduction
Videogames is our final in-depth media topic. Our Videogames CSPs are The Sims FreePlay and Horizon Forbidden West.
These are in-depth CSPs and need to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts. This will then be tested in the Media Two exam with a 25-mark essay question.
The videogames industry is a huge media market – bigger than video and music combined. It is worth more than £4bn – more than double its value in 2007. Remarkably, these figures do not include mobile and free games such as Fortnite (which has over 600 million players worldwide).
With games like FIFA/FC, Red Dead Redemption and Call of Duty each selling millions of copies, it is important to consider the influence games can have on audiences and society.
Henry Jenkins: participatory culture
Henry Jenkins is an expert in fandom and participatory culture. Key to this idea is the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – audiences that create as well as consume media. This culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. It also links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’.
Fandom is now big business – with Comic-Con events making millions. More importantly, the internet has demonstrated the size of fan communities so it is no longer a minority of ‘geek’ stereotypes but mainstream popular culture (such as Marvel, Harry Potter or Doctor Who).
Jenkins defends fan cultures and argues that fans are often stereotyped negatively in the media because they value popular culture (e.g. films or games) over traditional cultural capital (high brow culture or knowledge). The irony is fan culture is often dominated by middle class, educated audiences.
Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support.
Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks
The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following:
Factsheet #107 - Fandom
Read Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or log into your Greenford Google account to access the link. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) What is the definition of a fan?
2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
3) What makes a ‘fandom’?
4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?
6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?
Henry Jenkins is an expert in fandom and participatory culture. Key to this idea is the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – audiences that create as well as consume media. This culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. It also links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’.
Fandom is now big business – with Comic-Con events making millions. More importantly, the internet has demonstrated the size of fan communities so it is no longer a minority of ‘geek’ stereotypes but mainstream popular culture (such as Marvel, Harry Potter or Doctor Who).
Jenkins defends fan cultures and argues that fans are often stereotyped negatively in the media because they value popular culture (e.g. films or games) over traditional cultural capital (high brow culture or knowledge). The irony is fan culture is often dominated by middle class, educated audiences.
Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support.
Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks
The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following:
Factsheet #107 - Fandom
Read Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or log into your Greenford Google account to access the link. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) What is the definition of a fan?
2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
3) What makes a ‘fandom’?
4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?
6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?
Henry Jenkins - degree-level reading
Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins (note: link may be blocked in school - try this Google Drive link if you need it.) This will give you an excellent introduction to the level of reading required for seminars and essays at university as well as degree-level insight into our current work on fandom and participatory culture. Answer the following questions:
1) There is an important quote on the first page: “It’s not an audience, it’s a community”. What does this mean?
2) Jenkins quotes Clay Shirky in the second page of the chapter. Pick out a single sentence of the extended quote that you think is particularly relevant to our work on participatory culture and the ‘end of audience’ (clue – look towards the end!)
3) What are the different names Jenkins discusses for these active consumers that are replacing the traditional audience?
4) On the third page of the chapter, what does Wired editor Chris Anderson suggest regarding the economic argument in favour of fan communities?
5) What examples does Jenkins provide to argue that fan culture has gone mainstream?
6) Look at the quote from Andrew Blau in which he discusses the importance of grassroots creativity. Pick out a sentence from the longer quote and decide whether you agree that audiences will ‘reshape the media landscape from the bottom up’.
7) What does Jenkins suggest the new ideal consumer is?
8) Why is fandom 'the future'?
9) What does it mean when Jenkins says we shouldn’t celebrate ‘a process that commodifies fan cultural production’?
10) Read through to the end of the chapter. What do you think the future of fandom is? Are we all fans now? Is fandom mainstream or are real fan communities still an example of a niche media audience?
Due date: on Google Classroom.
