The Influence of Fandom on the Creative Producers
Date
2023-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine, this is the world of fandom. Looking at the ways in which fandoms have had an influence on storytelling; do stories really belong to the original content producer once they have developed a big enough fandom or, are they trying to fulfil the needs of the consumers? Once a fandom has become large enough there is a possibility of malcontent within audience members that can eventually lead to the rise of toxic fandom. The aim of this research is to look at the ways in which creators have tailored and filtered their own original ideas to please audiences, specifically toxic fans and how they have potentially compromised authenticity so that they could franchise a certain story and its respective universe. This paper will investigate the following televisual/ filmic icons of popular culture: Harry Potter (2001-2011), Game of Thrones (2011-2019) and finally Rick and Morty (2013-present). They will be analysed to determine the ways in which fandoms possibly become toxic and lose the ownership of the creative producers/authors/show runners/directors. By analysing these three case studies and their respective fandoms the research will attempt to verify whether a story still belongs to the creative producers or whether they have been appropriated by fans, by forcibly adapting the core story to fit the consumers’ needs. All three fandoms will be looked at by taking different approaches, as they could be said to have very different fanbases and therefore it will give this research a better understanding as to how these fandoms work and the ways in which they adapt a story to make it popular or in turn change the story to create shock value. This research will approach a six-phase framework of fan appropriation which will attempt to prove the thesis statement. These phases were created in order to look at and therefore demonstrate how once a story has a big enough fandom, they no longer belong to the original producer but are rather made in the form of participatory culture, as theorised by Henry Jenkins.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Digital Arts) to the Faculty of Humanities, Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023.
Keywords
Fandoms, Toxic fandoms, False ownership, Participatory culture, Fan appropriation, Textual poachers, Fantagonism, Fan theories, Easter eggs, Fan service, UCTD
Citation
Moodley, Seyurie. (2023). The Influence of Fandom on the Creative Producers. [Master's dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WIReDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40173