eCahill on Culture & Society in Creative Media: February 2011

Introduction – “Fandom”

Above: Star Wars fan dressed as Storm Trooper

To explain exactly what a fan or fan base is, I found it difficult to give one singular definition as to be a fan is to be many things, both in practice and association. As such, I found a description given by Henry Jenkins, Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, who “argues that technology and mass media has moved to a more participatory “convergence” culture” and then goes on to break it down to its main characteristics. In his book Convergence Culture, Jenkins writes that fandom, as displayed within convergence culture, is generally characterized by five things:

Appropriation – A person appropriates in their own life a particular text, work, and practice relating to their fan object. Often these objects are reinterpreted in their own life.
Participation – There is an openness for people to participate at all levels within the community. They are so inspired by it they write music, create events, etc.
Emotional Investment – People become really invested in this object, topics, etc. It is something they are really into and something they want to talk about.
Collective Intelligence (rather than the expert paradigm) – There is room for everyone to have something to say and contribute to the collective understanding of the group. Collective intelligence doesn’t need credentials, degrees, etc., experiences and insights are beneficial to the community and conversation.
“Virtual” Community – These are communities that are not necessarily built around face to face meetings. Some of these people know each other and some are unknown, but more often than not these groups will have times to meet face to face.

Science-Fiction Fans

Above: Star Trek and Star Wars fans in costume

Above: Costumed Star Wars fans in parade

Above: Costumed Star Wars fans

Above: Costumed Star Trek fans

Science-Fiction/ Sci-Fi fans consist of individuals who have an active interest all elements of the science-fiction genre. This covers elements such as:

Sci-Fi programmes – Such as: Stargate, Star Trek, V, Battlestar Gallactica, Doctor Who, Firefly, etc…

Firefly tv series

Doctor Who meets Star Trek

Sci-Fi Movies – Such as: Star Wars series, Alien series, Terminator series, Blade Runner, The Matrix series, Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc…

Blade Runner

Star Wars

The Matrix

Sci-Fi games – Such as: Mass Effect series, Half Life series, Halo series, Bioshock, Gears of War series, etc…

Halo & Gears of War

Mass Effect

Sci-Fi books/novels – The oldest form of contemporary science fiction, sci-fi books range from Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, right up to the more recent of Douglas Adam’s Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and William Gibson’s cyber punk novels.

Above: Popular Sci-Fi novels

Comic books – As a source material for all things fantasy, fictional and futuristic, comic books provide story’s in the sci-fi genre while providing the visuals to bring them to life.

They range in extremes from those who buy and read comics as a passing interest, much like reading novels, where individuals may purchase comics from time to time. To those who are fully immersed in the universe of the comics they read. This full immersion can be characterized with the consistent buying of many comics each week (which to others would be financially straining), collecting of character models and action figures (kept in packaging to retain value), bought or self-made character costumes/ Cosplay (usually worn at fan conventions eg: Comic-Con), and fan-made movies modeled on popular pieces of film or tv.

Above: Doctor Who collectables

Above: Stargate collectables

Above: Star Trek collectables

Above: Terminator collectables

Above: Star Wars fan in costume

Fan Conventions - Comic Con

Online Fan-base Communication

As a massive, worldwide fan base, a good communication network is required to provide up-to-date information on the rest of the community as well as important events in the industry. Already there are many fan-specific magazines, such as Sci-Fi Now, SFX, and SyFy, as well as programmes on the tv and other features, all aimed the active Sci-Fi fan. These provide adequate informational supplements each month or week, but fail to be more regular than this. As well as this, society continues to become more fast-paced and ever growing and changing. Along with this, technology adapts and improves, so as to meet the demands of this advancing society, as such, fan-bases adapt and integrate this technology.

In order to keep up to date and informed on events relating to them and to maintain consistent communication within the entire global community, the Internet has rapidly become an essential tool to the continued existence of any fan base today. Online, fanbases can rapidly expand and provide information and assistence on-the-go. This is done through many forms:

Forums and chat rooms provide areas where fans can disscuss topics of choice with others, ask questions of their peers, get answers from others, create debates and socialize with like-minded individuals, sometimes longtime relationships are made. Most notably, these areas provide a place where changes can be made to the industry and suggestions made. As fan-feedback becomes more and more important to those in the industry and the success of projects, these fan-forums and chatrooms become more inclusive in the creativity of the industry. An example of this would be a change in a comic-books storyline or the death of a loved character, these would be discussed online through forums and chatrooms where fans voices are heard and suggestions made.

http://forums.syfy.com/

http://www.coolscifi.com/forums/

http://www.scififorum.org/forum/

http://www.scifitv.com.au/forum/index.asp

Websites aimed at fan-bases or fan-made websites for fans will generally provide equally important information on events and the wider community. Here, pieces of media can be viewed easily and feedback can be given, in turn affecting changes in the industry. Media websites however, will generally take on the form of news outlets and gossip goblins where industry events are leaked before release or on release.

http://www.syfy.com/

http://www.darkhorizons.com/

http://www.starwars.com/

http://www.sfx.co.uk/

http://www.xfiles.com/

http://www.startrek.com/

http://www.worldcon.org/
http://www.comic-con.org/

“A moral panic refers to the reaction of a group of people based on the false belief that another sub-culture or a group poses danger to the society.”(1)

It was Stanley Cohen, in his work, Folk Devils and Moral Panics. (1987) who first coined the term 'moral panics'. He defined the concept as a sporadic episode, which as it occurs, subjects society to bouts of moral panic, or in other terms, worry about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy. He describes its characteristics as "a condition, episode, person or group of persons [who] become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." [Cohen, 1987: 9](2)

Cohens work predominantly focused on the Mods and Rockers, the ‘folk devils’, of the 60s and the controversy generated around them as a result of the medias sensationalism of groups which it deemed a deviance and a threat to what Cohen called the ‘control culture’.

"Moral panics then, are those processes whereby members of a society and culture become 'morally sensitized' to the challenges and menaces posed to 'their' accepted values and ways of life, by the activities of groups defined as deviant. The process underscores the importance of the mass media in providing, maintaining and 'policing' the available frameworks and definitions of deviance, which structure both public awareness of, and attitudes towards, social problems." - Key Concepts in Communication (O'Sullivan, Fiske et al 1983) (3)

Throughout history, groups have been victimized under the pressure of authority groups, most recently since the emergence of subcultures such as the Teds of post-ww2 Britian where youths and the middle class began to rebel against the ideals of the upper classes. Such changes in authority and class shifts are always hard to accept and as such, members in authority tend to unfairly demonized such groups as a form of punishment.

“Media coverage is often key to producing moral panic, because certain stories get done to death in the media. This is because the press will tend to latch onto anything of a bizarre nature as more interesting than standard crimes. For instance, a few instances of accusations of Satanism in the 1970s and early 1980s created significant moral panic. Many people truly feared that Satan was being worshipped in just about every town in the US, and that their children would “fall in” with a satanic cult. Though virtually every instance of satanic ritual has been largely discounted after significant investigation, this is still something that concerns many, and their fear grows from an inflated view of the danger.”(4)

These moral panics can quite often be provoked by boredom and the mass media coverage which in many cases can encourage violence or other forms of confrontation or competition by building simple, passive situations into spectacles; in turn feeding media coverage and its need by the public. A perfect example of this was the public confrontations between Mods and Rockers in the 60s. In the beginning, these two differing groups coexisted and socialized in similar areas with little animosity. As these two groups became known and observed by the public, the media began creating a Mod-Rocker polarity, which encouraged violent clashes and forced non-participating teenagers to take sides.

From here, the media has latched onto sub cultures, taken sparse groups of individuals and provided an ideological framework; thus taking sub cultures mainstream and capitalizing on its coverage. This media coverage and motivation goes on to create a fictional image of these sparse groups in the public as full blown youth movements and therefore a threat to the fabric of our peaceful and structured society. Thus, the presentation of these groups in the media can go on to outrage the wider society and generate a sense of persecution and group solidarity among these sub cultures. Every generation has these, most notably:

Mods v Rockers of the 1960s.
Skinheads of the 1970s.
Punks of the 1970s.
Football casuals of the 70s / 80s.
New romantics of the 1980s.
Goths of the 80s / 90s.
Emos of the 90s / 00s.

In worst case scenarios “moral panic may be aimed at a particular group, it can lead to mobs attacking members of that group, or mistakenly attacking people who are supposed members of the group. It has also led to mass killings of people who seem to threaten the very fabric of society. The Salem Witch trials and mass executions, the Crusades, McCarthyism, pogroms, and the Holocaust can all be called moral panics.”(5)