Fan Culture – Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins defines Fan Culture in their book Convergence Culture as “Culture that is produced by fans and other amateurs for circulation through an underground economy and that draws much of its content from the commercial culture.” (2006, p. 285).

Jenkins discusses how in the twentieth century the entertainment industry was, at first, content with folk practices of stories and songs being circulated and minstrel shows, circuses and showboats competing with “barn dances, church sings, quilting bees, and campfire stories”, but later changed their attitude “[setting] standards of technical perfection and professional accomplishment few grassroots performers could match”. This resulted in “practices [being] pushed underground – people still composed and sang songs, amateur writers still scribbled verse, weekend painters still dabbled, people still told stories and some local communities still held square dances”. (2006, p. 135).

This so-called underground economy was fuelled by the popularisation of the internet and “The culture industries never really had to confront the existence of this alternative cultural economy because, for the most part, it existed behind closed doors and its products circulated only among a small circle of friends and neighbors.” (p. 136). Jenkins suggests that “Allowing consumers to interact with media under controlled circumstances is one thing; allowing them to participate in the production and distribution of cultural goods – on their own terms – is something else altogether.” (p. 133) and explains how “With the consolidation of power represented by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, American intellectual property law has been rewritten to reflect the demands of mass media producers.” (p. 137), resulting in these media corporations seeking a tighter control over what can, or rather cannot, be produced by fans.

Operating behind closed doors and circulating their products through an underground economy, away from official channels and through word of mouth and in-person sales at conventions would aid in fans avoiding the eyes of the big production companies who may wish to stop them.

In their 2013 book Textual Poachers, Jenkins defines what they mean when they say they are a fan by comparing their mentor’s definition:

Later, Jenkins discusses how the term “fan” strayed away from its original meaning and became a “more negative connotation[s]” (p. 12), before being used by 19^th century journalists to describe followers of professional sports teams. Citing other works, (Campbell, 1956; Jewett & Lawrence, 1977), Jenkins outlines how “science fiction television and its fans constitute a kind of secular faith”, with an example of fans of Star Trek (Roddenberry, Arnaz & Ball, 1966-1969) and their devotion to the characters of Captain Kirk and Mr Spock.

S. Elizabeth Bird (2003) discusses what it means to be a fan, noting how “Being a fan can be an important cultural marker–a way we can signal our preferences and demonstrate connections with others.” (p. 51) and:

They discuss their involvement within an e-mail discussion list dedicated to Beth Sullivan and Carl Binder’s Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1998), importantly outlining how different members were considered experts in specific subjects surrounding the television show and would be expected to comment on such discussions.

Bird argues that the internet “is a new tool of communication that can be used in many different ways, just as other forms of communication can. It is certainly changing social interaction for many participants”. (p. 56). A member of the community uses the metaphor of a quilt to describe the community, “where each of us comes to share and we bring our own pieces of fabric that make us unique; sewing the different offerings together to make something special and memorable.” (p. 59).