SUMMARIES FROM THE READINGS
As fanfiction is a personal interest of mine it was with enthusiasm that I undertook an exploration of the Fanlore Wiki http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction as detailed in MED104 readings. Fanlore is a one-stop-shop for all things fanfiction whether the participants are producers or consumers of fanfiction. Fanlore also has a number of useful resources to assist the new, as well the experienced author in the production and online publication of their work. Fanlore also has an informative section on terminology that is used for both the fanfiction reader/audience and the fanfiction authors and has an online community that promotes social networking and online chats within the community.
Fanlore has opened my mind to the varying types of fanfiction being written as the vast topics that have inspired theses online fictional writings.
I am also interested in how fans expressed their passion for their favourite fandom prior to the world wide web and would like to further explore use of media in pre and current world wide web. It was through reading Henry Jenkins interview with Joan Marie Verba (Jenkins, H. 2010) that I decided to explore further Verba’s work and was able to read exerpts of her book “BOLDLY WRITING A Trekker Fan and Zine History, 1967-1987 Second Edition” (Verba, J.M. 2000). I hope to be able to source the full version of this book to further explore Verba’s writings at a later date.
Through the example of Star Trek, Verba chronicles “the trends, obstacles, hard work, and success of the revival efforts are detailed through the first 20 years of fan publications” and notes that it is the work of fans through “clubs, organized conventions, published newsletters, letters to Paramount that kept interest in the show alive and flourishing” (Verba, J.M. (2000). In Jenkins interview with Verba she notes that prior to the world wide web old media “fanzines and fan publications were our primary means of communication” (Jenkins, H (2010).
When thinking about who produces entertainment media, movie studios such as Paramount, Universal Studios, Sony and Warner Brothers and television studios such as ABC & NBC in America or Channel 7 or 9 in Australia are the first to leap to my mind.
In reading Cucco’s “The promise is great: the blockbuster and the Hollywood economy” it appears that financially the Hollywood “blockbuster” or as Cusso describes, a movie that is “either a very expensive but unsuccessful movie, or cheaper but successful one”, is a powerful entity that can impact other entertainment media such as television, newspapers and the internet (Cucco, M. 2009).
To communicate the movie to audiences requires considerable advertising and marketing and in some cases where a movies advertising and marketing is online, the advertising and marketing is entertainment in itself. An example of this is the movie Avatar - www.avatarmovie.com/.
The official Avatar website is an example of a text that I consider to be an interactive media tool. The features that make this website interactive are tools that encourage the user to view videos, play games, join Avatar related social networks and online communities, create Avatars as well as purchasing Avatar related merchandise (Avatar the Movie. 2010). All of these tasks can also be accessed either via PC or mobile devices for consumption by audiences at home or on the move.
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