Henry Jenkins: Fandom theory

Fandom Theory

• Jenkins believes that audiences are a really important part of the media production and consumption and distribution circulation process in particular fans. 
• Fans are those who love something, so those fans play a really big role in media
• This is like the ‘prosumer’ term – a producer and consumer of content. It also links to media convergence – a coming together of lots of different media elements which can make a new product.
• Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own culture. The development of the ‘new’ media has accelerated ‘participatory culture’, in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers.
• They create online communities, produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems, and shape the flow of media. This generates ‘collective intelligence’.
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Stranger Things fans:

• fans became convinced that Brussels legislation was responsible for a mysterious purge of their favorite meme accounts.
• Internet giants are battling against the legislation in a very public lobbying campaign, spreading the word that memes could vanish from the internet if it is passed.
• But their warnings may have been slightly too effective, prompting fears among young people that the EU (European union) is planning to remove much-loved parts of the internet.
• the deletion of a Stranger Things fan account last week did not have anything to do with article 13. For one thing, the directive has not passed into law: it is awaiting a “trilogue”, where the EU internally negotiates between the three versions of the draft directive produced by the parliament, commission and council.
• Online content creators, who are concerned about the threat to their livelihoods, have also mobilized.
• A search on Instagram for the #article13 tag reveals image posts warning that the law is “gonna happen” on 22 January, and that when it does, “apps like Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube will be blocked from people in Europe”.
• That is how Julie found out, she said – “People were posting about it and signing petitions”

Star Wars- Mandalorian fan:

• It pushes the performance over the edge – to a place where it feels natural enough that it's apparent that it caught the eye of someone at Industrial Light and Magic.