Peer Review

I will be communicating with Kelly Remnant and Chris Kennedy regarding the peer review component of the Critical Writing project.

Thesis Statement

Participatory Culture and Derivative Works.

People express their love for a production by creating tribute artworks and sharing these. ‘Fandom’ can be described as the fanbase, interactions and derivative works surrounding a piece of media, whether it be a dramatic series, Hollywood film, comic book, fantasy, science fiction.

My perspective is that fan works are an under-utilised promotional tool and rather than taking action against them, they should be encouraged.

The two works (and their associated derivatives) that I will be paying particular attention to are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the Star Trek franchise, Sherlock Holmes because of a recent (June 2014) ruling that the original works by Arthur Conan Doyle are in the public domain and Star Trek because of how widespread the fan stereotypes are. Both of these also have a long history of fan participation.

I also will discuss copyright issues surrounding fan works. Is this ‘cease and desist’ approach stifling creativity?

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Jenkins, H., 1958. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans & participatory culture. New York: Routledge.

Textual Poachers offers an ‘ethnographical analysis of media fans’ and their relationship with mass media. It gives an outsider’s view of how fan culture is perceived (in the chapter Get A Life) and also an insider’s view to how creating derivative works can “Cut through generational and geographical boundaries” I like his description of fan-creation as a system that rejects the concept of [monetary] profit.

Henry Jenkins writes as an academic (University of Iowa –Media Studies) and as a fan, his writing is very concise and easy to understand but quite a lot of the content is his opinion.

This book is at the Kelburn library but can only be issued for two hours.

Busse, K. (2009). In focus: Fandom and feminism: Gender and the politics of fan production. Cinema Journal, 48(4), 104.

There is an ever growing diversity among fans and subsequently fan works. This article focuses on the politics in fan works and how they may differ from the original source. Women are represented in fandom in a way that they aren’t in the media and when they take on the role of a creator they often “create narratives the commercial media wouldn’t offer”

Wong, M. W. S. (2009). "Transformative" user-generated content in copyright law: Infringing derivative works or fair use? Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, 11(4), 1075.

I don’t have a very deep understanding of copyright law so this text will be essential. There is a lot of vagueness in the wording of the laws surrounding derivative and transformative works. The content would fall under ‘fair use’ if the work is categorised as parody. In other cases it depends on how much is changed. The full text for this is online.

Final Submission

Haiku -3

A new perspective
You see with more than your eyes
Now, which way is up?

Haiku -2

Mistakes, stumbles, flaws
Which way is up? Don’t tell me
I walk on the walls

Grounded

There cannot be comprehension without context and 'Getting lost' or being in a situation of incomprehension can lead to innovation.

My perspective has been inspired by the concept of 'The Flaneur' in particular the Taking a Line for a Walk reading. Lucas writes about the "sense of isolation" in the city and though there were people in some of these shots I have cropped them out to reinforce this isolation.

I am very familiar with Wellington so I had to spend some time thinking about how I would 'get lost'. Though I wasn't in a place that was unfamiliar I forced myself to see these locations in a way that was unfamiliar.

I cropped out a lot of the indicators of the orientation of each photo. My aim was to make the viewer take an active stance in viewing the series. Rather than passively observing, they will have to consider various aspects and elements in order to parse the scene.