PTSD

I see you smiling you're smiling for the camera

Over at the University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog, Randy Picker is doing a series of posts reviewing Convergence Culture, a book that's at the top of my "stuff to read as soon as I get a free moment" list. Go take a look, even if you're a Priya-type fan and not a FAN. Academics and pop culture is always a good mix. And it's Friday afternoon, so you weren't doing anything useful, right?

Part One (On audience participation and canon in general. For the record, I don't understand the appeal of Survivor, and the idea of Survivor fic baffles me. Isn't it all just RPF?)

Part Two (On fanfic as a concept--this post could turn out to be a one-page primer on those wacky fen, as in the book Jenkins takes on both the terrifying mob* that is HP fandom and the equally disconcerting Star Wars universe)

Part Three (Not yet posted, but apparently going to tackle the impossible task of calmly discussing fanfic and copyright / fair use) Well, it was an attempt. I'm not sure if the uncertainty was a result of the original text, or the post, so draw your own conclusions about whether it succeeded.

I'm going to have to go read Convergence Culture eventually--if only to find out if Jenkins takes on the issue of fan-generated series renewals as part of his discussion of audience influence on canon. (What? Sunglasses? Sent in the mail? I don't know what you're talking about, Loyal Reader.)

One last thing: describing Survivor spoiling using hotel visits as "extreme fan participation"? Somebody's never been to a Con.

* I was going to use the more accurate term "clusterfuck" but I don't want to be burned in effigy. So, mob it is.

posted by Elizabeth @ 11:55 AM