Not having an in-depth understanding of the Buffy TV series is a critical hurdle in understanding the Slash fanfiction, but some important concepts do arise from reading it. For one, it highlights some concepts in Jenkins' piece on convergence: in an unprecedented way, fans have the technology to contribute to commercial media; also these contributions may inform the producers of mass media.
In Sean Griffin's blog post on Jenkins' site, he claims that commercial media is lacking in a broad scope of who is viewing the media in question - his counterpart, Robin Reid speaks of advertising for her favourite shows as targeting a completely different audience, for example. Fan culture may be changing this a bit, as the content of the shows may be reflecting the culture of the fans. I'm not sure whether or not, for example, Xena: Warrior Princess was slated originally to be a lesbian cult hit, but in its development, it played upon that idea quite a bit.
What Slash fiction brings to the table, though, is not necessarily informing the mainstream culture, but enriching the fan culture in the folk tradition. It is an expression of the immersion in mass media combined with personal experience.
3 comments:
I have to agree that Slash Fiction is not informing the mainstream culture. It was brought up in class that to read the fan fiction of Star Wars is the only way you'll really appreciate and love those movies. However, no being a part of that "subculture" so to speak, I appreciate and really love those movies for what they are.
As far as Xena or any kind of movie or show (i.e Labyrinth or any of those other culty movies) I don't think they are ever slatted for a particular audience when they are first aired. I'm guessing what happens is they look at their ratings and demographics and that must have some kind of factor on what goes into the show. Who are trying to appeal to? Do they want they're audience to expand or do they want a small cult following?
intro2msa07=john arida
Slash fiction is a great example of convergence. It is integrating form and content within a media world. This type of fan fiction integrates across a range of platforms. It takes an already established fictional universe and "queers" it. Writers are able to take an established story and reimagine it. Similar to the way the queering culture takes established conventions and reframes them. I agree that slash fiction is not necessarily informing the mainstream culture. Slash fiction can be viewed as a part of one of the many subcultures present in our society today. Fans are able to take their favorite fictonal universes, such as Buffy, Star Trek, Xena, etc., and alter them to represent their own ideas and expressions. We see a merging of the already established society and personal developments that "go against the grain."
Stefanie Garcia
Post a Comment