.bmp)
Have you ever watched a movie that was great all the way up until the ending... and you wished the ending was different? What this chapter talks about is mostly fan culture and its evolution over time. This chapter starts off talking about the Star Wars followers and their choice to change the legacy. Although I have never been a Star Wars follower I did understand an important point the author wanted to portray.
Fans in this technology era have gone from taking what they have been given to changing what they have been given to fit their ideas. At the beginning of this post I posed a question, the reason for the question is to get you to understand the difference between just not liking the ending of a movie, to deciding to remake that movie to fit your own idea because you did not like the ending. That is what Star Wars fans today are doing, and it all began with a Star Wars fan film contest, now fans are hosting amateur movie websites.
The problem with these amateur movie sites is not only the possible violation of copyright (stay tuned to my next post), but fans in this technology era are not just trying to be creative but, some are actually trying to use their posts and sites as a way to enter the entertainment industry themselves. It used to be that skills were taught and presented simply for entertainment purposes (folk culture) but, now the skills of individuals are being posted on sites to gain exposure not just information (mass culture). Once the exposure is received it is the individuals that run out and purchase or subscribe to these innovative songs and movie remakes because it reminds the audience of their own fond memories (popular culture).
This reminds me of the individuals that use facebook and myspace as a marketing tool. Aspiring artists that have the hopes of being discovered through the internet. Included is an example of an aspiring artist using these site to help market his album. The question is will fan participation on these sites pose a threat to the artists and producers?
Interesting observations and comments. I think, as a blogger, the desire of every artist is to have ones works viewed by as many people as possible. And for this era of independent Internet artists it's all about generating as much buzz as possible, either to land with a more established player in the media space, either a bigger independent or one of the "real" media companies. I think the only threat the fans pose is to those in the media groups are not part of the creative end of things.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your review. I'm doing my college assignment about it. Very helpful! Thanks :)
ReplyDelete