Fans and Participatory Culture
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Marvel have been producing comics since 1939, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going since 2008, so the fandom has a very varied age demographic, meaning producers have to consider many groups of people when making films based off of comic books. ‘Fan accounts’ on social media are majority younger fans, under 18/18-25, these bloggers and tweeters are usually the ones who are actively participating with the text.
Jenkins concept of participatory culture (1992) is key when looking at fans in the 21st century. With social media and technologies being accessible to most people, anyone can participate within their fandom. These fans can be described as “group of people who all produce or create original documents based on extant media objects” (Booth, 2010. p.40), they use platforms such as twitter and tumblr allow fans to post theories, fan fiction, fan art etc, as well as being able to interact with other fans. Worldwide events such as comic-con are used as meeting points for fans, where the can interact, share fan creations and cosplay.
Events such as these mean fans can connect with other fans; organising group cosplays like the Guardians of the Galaxy (as seen in image 7 from San Diego Comic Con 2014), meet actors and creators of their favourite text, but are also able to participate with buying and selling of merchandise. For the fans it’s not just a means of consumption, the objects they buy bring them closer to the text and symbolise an emotional connection to their passion. (Geraghty, 2014. p.93-94) They are able to feel a part of the world that an author has created for them, events such as these are a major form of escapism, fans can physically enter a place where they are accepted and among people who share the same interests.
Image 7
One of the biggest events for fans of popular culture texts is Comic-Con, the “primary location for fan gatherings” (Geraghty, 2014. p.93), in 2016 over 130,000 people attended San Diego Comic-Con (LA Times, 2016). Cosplaying is prime example of Participatory Culture especially at events like Comic-Con, fans will dress as a character from their favourite media text, a way to express who they are and how much said text means to them.
Theories are a big part of fandom and fan culture; the theories can allow them to create their own story in an already shaped universe. Looking at the concept of participatory culture in relation to the soundtrack Awesome Mix Vol. 1, some fans have taken the soundtrack and created a narrative from the songs, one example is how the songs represent Peter’s mums story before she died. An amateur film reviewing site (Negroni, 2015) posted a fan theory surrounding the soundtrack; how each track shows how Peter’s mum met his dad. From Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling", a song about lusting after someone, to The Five Stairsteps “O-o-h Child”, a song about how things are going to get better. For fans, the soundtrack isn’t just used as another piece of merchandise, they look beyond the intended meaning and create a whole new meaning of their own, the “fans must create their culture” (Jenkins, 1992) based off the text, but they are the author and they can choose where it ends up.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - Every Easter Egg & Reference
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Vol. 2 Trailer - Easter Eggs, Things Missed & Weird Characters
YouTube is also a key platform for fans when they want to express ideas and creations on the internet, for example some fans create videos dedicated to finding hidden easter eggs and references etc. These fan accounts become highly rated in the fandom and become one of the key places for fan information, “Mr Sunday Movies”, a YouTube account featuring reviews, references and easter eggs within Comic and Sci-Fi movies, has over 743,000 subscribers.
To the right are two of his videos about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1/Vol.2. The first being “Everything missed” in the first film, and the second being a trailer breakdown of the second film, where he predicts the plot and refers back to canon within the comic book series. Burgess and Green argue that YouTube has a cultural hierarchy, there are those considered “experts” on YouTube are verified by audiences, the fans decide “who gets to speak, and who gets attention” (2009, p.11) because they have the popular culture knowledge.
There are many different ways in which fans can participate with media texts, so they can feel more emotionally connected to the text, whether its talking to other fans on social media, creating their own media on tumblr, YouTube etc., or experiencing it and participating in person at events like Comic-Con. The more things that fans can be involved in, provides a deeper, emotional connection to the original text, so they’ll be invested with the text for a longer amount of time.