The Hunger Games vs. Battle Royale: What all the fuss is about.

Something that has inevitably come up in online fan communities since the release and success of the first Hunger Games film is the apparently undeniable similarity to a Japanese series of similar themes called Battle Royale. This franchise also started out as a book and was made into a film in 1999, and I don’t know if it’s because I started participating in online fan communities in 2003, but I had definitely heard of this series and know already how popular it is not only in Japan, but in the U.S. and other Western countries as well. Everyone who’s even mildly engaged with fandom has heard of Battle Royale, and for the most part, everyone knows what it’s about: young teens who are made by a corrupt and dictatorial government to fight to the death on an island-turned-battle-arena, in which only one winner can emerge. The whole thing is made to look more perverse by the fact that the kids are wearing what looks like traditional Japanese school uniforms worn from elementary school until high school, and in all of the images and trailers advertising the franchise, their white collared shirts and pressed beige skirts or shorts are spattered with bright red blood. Essentially, it’s an image that sticks in your brain, so if you ever see a photo or comic of a Japanese school girl looking morbid and covered in the blood of her peers, you immediately associate it with Battle Royale.

So now, what with the Hunger Games movie breaking all of these box office records and the corresponding novels flying off the shelves as a result of its success, fans of Battle Royale are getting in a tizzy.  Oh my god, The Hunger Games is such a total rip off of Battle Royale, they’re saying. What a lie, I can’t believe Suzanne Collins is claiming she’s never heard of it, what a freaking outrage. This is just Western media and Hollywood ripping off Asian cultural products and not giving them any credit, like they always do.

Now, I’m not going to totally dismiss any of those claims. First of all, yes, the two plots are similar. As one enraged Battle Royale fan succinctly puts:

Both movies feature a corrupt totalitarian government that places children on an isolated island to fight brutally to the death, until one last winner emerges. They implant tracking devices into the children and fill the island with cameras, which are observed by a control room that airs the competition to the general population. A female protagonist ultimately triumphs with the help of a boy with whom she develops a relationship.

This is true. However, this concept has existed since gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome. And it has since been adapted to a more family friendly if not less distasteful form through professional wrestling of the flashy, gaudy WWE variety. Honestly, the idea behind the franchise’s success is in itself not that original—people just really get a kick out of seeing fellow human beings duke it out on the stage or arena. In a way, organized competitive sport amounts to the same thing. Do you know why the Olympics were invented? To replace WAR. So that nations would have a friendly way of displaying their prowess and mastery of the physical human form and competing for superiority in a way that didn’t involve the mindless slaughtering of thousands of people. So honestly, Battle Royale fans, get over yourselves. You’re not that original.

Second, as I said before, Battle Royale is a series that is KNOWN in online fandom, and thus potentially everywhere with access to the internet. Regardless of whether or not Battle Royale was blocked from U.S. distribution until recently, it’s been circling on the internet since 1999. I’m sure I could pull the movie up on YouTube right now if I wanted to. And if the creators of Battle Royale are really going to complain The Hunger Games being more popular internationally than BR, they shouldn’t have limited distribution in the first place! Japan’s culture industries for some reason are always hoarding distribution rights and calling up copyright laws in order to protect their precious intellectual property, for reasons I’m sure have to do with them being a naturally xenophobic society and wanting to keep their culture “pure” from Western perversions. Ugh, give me a break. You can’t complain if you’re unwilling to share your media products with the rest of the world who would gladly enjoy and pay for them.

But I don’t think it’s the creators of BR who are really complaining, it’s just the fans who want something to be indignant about. And it’s true, in the past, Hollywood has adapted Asian stories and many Western consumers of the U.S. adaptations have not consumed nor will they ever consume the originals—something which also has to do with Americans being rather ethnocentric (the rest of the world is used to watching Hollywood blockbusters with subtitles in their own language, whereas it’s harder to get an American to watch a foreign movie with English subtitles). But at least these films (21, The Departed, The Eye, The Ring, Avatar the Last Airbender, to name a few) admit that they were influenced by the original Asian cultural products. What the fans are taking issue with is Collins’ denial of ever having heard of BR. And I actually agree with them on this one. As original as her characters and universe that she wrote about may be, there’s no need denying your knowledge of the Japanese franchise’s existence. Because first of all, I’m not sure I could believe that, for the reasons listed above, and second because doing so just makes you seem less comfortable in your assertion that these really are your own, original characters. And admitting to knowing of BR would actually strengthen your argument because it would show that you’re not afraid of people harassing you about copying, or stealing, simply because it’s not true.

I’m not sure why I felt I had to make this post, maybe just to show that fans can spin things in whatever direction they want. There’s a host of articles and blog posts written on the subject, by BR fans hating on THG, by THG fans adamantly defending the American series, to fans of both trying to mediate between them. If anything, the debate has made for interesting discussion which only adds to wealth of internet knowledge on both The Hunger Games and the Battle Royale series, which could only pique the interest of fans of one series to the other.

Fan-created works: creative form of flattery, or vile genre which impinges on the financial livelihood of original authors?

'Fan fiction' in the modern sense of the term has supposedly been around since the 60s, when fans would write stories borrowing the characters and universe from Star Trek and publish them for other fans’ enjoyment in fanzines—which were sold for a small amount in order to pay for printing costs, but never for profit. When the World Wide Web went into common household use in the 90s, needless to say the quantity of fan fiction produced and consumed all over the world and in all different languages increased exponentially. Suddenly there was a whole world of potential readers towards whom writers could gear their craft, and they didn’t even have to create their own original characters or elaborate universes to gain audiences’ attention—they already had it just by engaging with content that was already known and loved by fans potentially around the globe. And not only did the range of fan fiction produced broaden, as stories derived from existing books, comics, television shows, movies, video games, music groups, and plays popped up, but I’m also going to go out and say that the age group probably widened as well, especially as the internet became more user-friendly and younger generations grew up immersed in the digitally networked society.

Now there is no one centralized archive where fan fiction is published and consumed, so like anything else on the net I suppose, it’s impossible to really measure how much there is. But I think it’s safe to say that at least a substantial volume of cyberspace is occupied by this particular genre of fan mediated literary content. And as society evolves into a state where being online and connected is increasingly essential not just for entertainment purposes, but for keeping up with social and professional life as well, what was once a negligible online subculture is starting to be noticed and addressed in the mainstream. And some of the mainstream producers of content, and often the original content that the fan mediated products such as fan fiction, art, comics, and videos are based on, are not happy with what is transpiring (and has been, supposedly for the past 50 years).

Flavorwire’s article on the subject mentions several prominent authors who have spoken out on the issue. George R.R. Martin, writer of the best-selling Game of Thrones series which has blown up in recent months and has now been adapted for premium cable-television on HBO, author of the wildly popular Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice, fantasy and science fiction author Ursula LeGuin, Ender’s Game author Oren Scott Card, author of the Outlander series Diana Gabaldon, and science-fiction author Charlie Stross, to name a few, are vehemently opposed to the idea of fan fiction involving their characters, for legal, monetary, and personal reasons (LeGuin even mentioned feeling personally violated—oh jeez, give me a break).

On the other hand, J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer, authors of the Harry Potter and Twilight series, respectively, are more tolerant of the fan practice, with J.K.R. even saying she was glad her stories could inspire young people to engage with her work in a personally creative way. But something else to take into consideration is that these two women are behind the most popular franchises on the current children/young adult market, making them what, richer than the Queen of England now? And really, they probably have more to gain from young fans spreading enthusiasm for their work over the internet because at this point all it could do is bring them more and more dedicated fans, whereas some of the still successful-but-not-filthy-rich authors, like Scott Card, see fan created works employing his characters as something that could act as a substitute for buying his works and which can encroach on his livelihood.

Personally, I don’t really have a strong opinion. I think the bottom line is that whether you approve of it or not, people are going write fan fiction. And instead of bitching about it, authors should just embrace it and be flattered that characters and worlds they created could be so interesting and important to someone that they would want to engage with the content in a way that allows them to show their appreciation for the existing media text and dialogue with others to bring up conversations that might not have taken place without the fan-mediated activity. That being said, I’m not sure how much authors stand to lose financially from people reading fan fiction rather the original works, but I’m going to go out on what I think is not that long of a limb and say that if people are reading and writing fan fiction derived from your story, they probably have already bought and read the original stuff, which is the reason for which they want to expand on and imagine a continuation or alternate retelling of it.

All they’re doing is loving your work, Author X, and what with the media increasingly encouraging participatory media culture as an interactive marketing strategy (“Did you like today’s episode, what do you think should have happened instead? Tell us at our website…” “Think you can make a better video commercial? Create one and post it on YouTube, winners will receive…” “Go online and vote now for your favorite contestant!”) it’s probably a lost cause to try to get them to stop—not to mention it makes you seem like an inflexible, self-important fuddy-duddy who doesn’t understand the direction pop culture and entertainment is going nowadays. These kids are just trying to have fun, hang out and talk with others about your book/movie/series/game/what have you; no one is trying to make a profit here. And who could? The rest of the fan community would be up in arms about it. If fans are anything, it's loyal to the creators of their preferred media texts. So don't worry, and let digitally connected fans be fans and do what they do best: dish and gush and gossip about characters who don't exist in the living world but have somehow taken on significance in people's lives. Honestly, you should be so flattered.

For more information: 

“Abusing the People of Westeros: Famous Authors on Fan-Fiction” by Emily Temple

“The Boy Who Lived Forever” by Lev Grossman

Visiting Fangirl - The Hunger Games Premiere

I’m sure many people who haven’t read the book and have no desire to see the movie are getting sick and tired of all the buzz around The Hunger Games premiere this weekend. However, my friends roped me into going to the midnight showing on Friday, and I have to say, I’m glad I had the chance to be sucked into the fun and magic of being part of a physical fan community again—if only for a few hours.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of screen adaptations of books, but The Hunger Games movie took me by surprise. I read the first two books last summer, but my friend told me that the third book was slow, frustrating, and that the ending was a major cop-out, so I didn’t make the effort to finish the series before going abroad.

And I know, if you’ve read the books, you’re probably thinking, “What effort? You can read those books in 6 hours if you want to.” It’s true; the books are categorized as ‘Young Adult’ fiction, which means they’re aimed at young teens. This is why I was so reluctant to read them in the first place—I was embarrassed by the literary quality and the cheesy, ‘young love’ themes.

Honestly, I did end up liking them—they’re fast, easy reads with great characters, a riveting plot, and some eerie subject matter. My main problem with them was that the author didn’t push far enough with some of the ideas she had developed (intellectually-stimulating concepts but writing style was too simplistic), and spent way too much time on the romantic aspect of the story.

But anyway, let’s just say I just didn’t want to spend the money on the last book, and figured I would find a PDF version online and read it for free if I ever got the chance. And that was pretty much the end of that. I only saw the full trailer a couple days before the premiere, and I had already made up my mind that the movie was going suck because the kids they had chosen for the leads were terrible actors anyway.

However, just being at the theater, sitting in the auditorium for an hour before the actual screening with a bunch of other college-age fans, got me pumped about it. No one was in costume or anything, but you could just feel the excitement in the air when the lights finally dimmed. You could feel the fan solidarity when the trailer for Twilight (another franchise of the same genre) came on, as literally every single audience member guffawed, making their contempt for the rival series known. And once the movie started, you could feel the collective, nervous anticipation as everyone gripped the edges of their seats, the sound of a large clock in the film helping the audience count down the seconds until the bloodbath scene, when the young characters would start to savagely and gruesomely kill each other, gladiator-style.

It. Was. Awesome.

Of course, you can’t please everyone, and there are always fans who are going to say the movies were terrible, disappointing, etc. One particularly annoying instance of this is the ignorant racists who are bashing the movies because they didn’t comprehend that some of the main characters were supposed to be black. But overall, fans seem pretty satisfied with the film adaptation. The movie grossed $155 million on opening weekend; that’s #3 on the top 10 all time opening weekends, and THG is now the biggest non-sequel opener, and the biggest non-summer opener. It also still has an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is better than good.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m a fan of THG series. I read the books, I enjoyed them, and I saw the movie, which I enjoyed even more, but that’s as far as it goes. I have no desire to engage in any kind of online participatory culture around it—mostly because I’m not crazy enough about the actual original media text, but also because the majority of people who make up this online fandom are probably thirteen-year-old girls.

(I did however rush to my go-to beauty supply store and buy four of the nail polishes from China Glaze’s The Hunger Games - Capitol Colours collection—starting with District 2, my favorite character’s district…yes, I am still a geek.)

In other words, not my fandom, but I enjoyed visiting!

Being a Fan and Secondhand Embarrassment

This is a something that myself, and many other undercover fans who lead successful social lives IRL, have become familiar with: the issue of secondhand embarrassment.

Let’s look at this terminology for a second: embarrassment, or “the feeling of self-consciousness or shame”, and secondhand, meaning “received from or through an intermediary,”or indirect. I first heard this term used by one of my best friends (if not my ‘one BFF to rule them all’), and could immediately identify the feeling she was talking about—the feeling of embarrassment, or even shame, for another person.

I know this sounds kind of harsh (or maybe I’m just sensitive), but you should see some of these kids. The people I usually reserve this feeling for tend to be fans of anime, or Japanese animation. For some reason, some of these fans can be extremely obnoxious—in my experience, they tend to congregate and then are especially vocal about their obsessions with a particular series, and it’s just… annoying. I honestly can’t tell you why this particular brand of fan gets on my nerves, besides being unnecessarily loud.

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps what would be general annoyance towards the volume switches to embarrassment when I hear the subject matter these kids are borderline-yelling about it. Maybe it becomes clear that these kids are fans (and when I say fan, I don’t mean someone who mildly appreciates a particular cultural media product, I mean someone who is largely invested in that product, devotes large amounts of time to being a fan, consuming the product, discussing the product, trying to promote and share the product, etc.), which means that I inherently, intrinsically have something in common with them—which is what embarrasses me. I mean, one the one hand, I identify with them, for being so passionate about whatever it is they’re passionate about but on the other, I’m like… dude, get a grip. You’re in public.

UGH, it’s such a complicated feeling, I’m getting frustrated now just trying to describe it. On another level, maybe I’m even, to a degree, I don’t know—envious of them? For being so passionate about whatever they’re into, and not caring that they look absolutely ridiculous to almost everyone else? Like, those kids that wear those dopey metal Naruto headbands on their heads. That is just the worst. You see that and you’re like, oh man, please go take that off. But who the eff am I to decide what someone should or should not wear? How is wearing the dorky metal headband any different from wearing a big, abrasive Iron Maiden T-Shirt? Is it just that the metal and punk rock kids have culturally been around for longer (over 40 years now, since the 70s at least), that that sort of display is acceptable, whereas kids seriously dressing up like I don’t know, an orange ninja (I am really unfamiliar with the series, I apologize for the blatant inaccuracy and ignorance) makes me and other fans—even of that particular series— cringe in dismay?

I see these kids and internally I’m just like, WHY ARE YOU REPRESENTING US IN THIS WAY. YOU ARE THE REASON SOCIETY LOOKS DOWN ON ANYBODY WHO ENGAGES IN FANDOM.

These are the same dorkoids who embrace the Japanese term “otaku,” which is in its original form actually an extremely negative term, used to describe somebody that is obsessed with a particular media product (usually comic books, anime series, or video games) to the detriment of their social skills, staying at home all the time instead to indulge in these obsessions. In Western culture, this term has taken on a new meaning, and is used by self-proclaimed “otaku” simply to describe people who like Japanese media products such as anime, manga, etc.

I think this has to do with the fact that the concept of "shame" simply does not exist anymore in American culture, which is all about individualism, being liberated, etc. Consequently, instead of being ashamed of their “otaku” status, these kids wear their colors proudly (even if it is, bright, freaking, traffic-cone orange), and do so together—the internet and online participatory culture making this possible, of course.

There actually used to be a blog devoted entirely to the feeling of secondhand embarrassment caused by these kids but it’s been taken down. Basically it was a site where people could submit their horror stories encountering these kinds of overly enthusiastic fans, and it got super popular because it was really kind of hilarious, but I'm sure it elicited an uproar from those very fans and the moderator got fed up and would rather shut it down than deal with all the internet chaos and noise directed at him/her for it.

But don’t worry! This is a phenomenon starting to become recognized in mainstream culture as well. SNL has a now recurring segment that depicts this breed of fans at their worst.

In a blog post entitled "J-pop America Fun Time Now is Terrifyingly Authentic,"  one self-identifying anime fan reviewed the first airing of the segment:

Saturday Night Live ran a skit this weekend making fun of insane, obsessed-with-a-very-particular-vision-of-Japan anime fans -- I mean, how many viewers could be even be familiar enough with anime fans to get half of what the hell they're doing? -- but I would like to say this skit isn't funny, it's a 100% accurate recreation of the most obnoxious portion of anime fandom. Now, I love anime, and I love anime fans. But I've been to many, many anime cons, and there is literally nothing in this video that I haven't seen done by white, Midwestern Americans in utmost seriousness with my own eyes. Watching this video was like my own personal 'Nam flashback.

I couldn't agree more, though I will say for me it has nothing to do with fans being Caucasian or Midwestern or whatever, but just the absolute level of ridiculousness of their behavior a lot of the time. Really, cringe-worthy stuff.

Thank god the last anime I was into was on Cartoon Network on Toonami (yeah, remember that?) when I was still in middle school.

Music industry marketing teams embrace online participatory culture

So a topic that comes up in a lot of my Communication courses is that of how the entertainment industry is adapting to today’s “changing media landscape and new media technologies,” by which they mean of course consumers’ power to share music and video and download entertainment illegally free of charge. The entertainment industry has been doing everything they can make up for lost profits as a result of illegal file sharing by hitting every clueless (and not so clueless) thirteen-year-old with an internet connection with a lawsuit that their parents will have to pay for and undoubtedly suffer the ramifications of.

BUT, something savvy advertising and marketing teams are picking up on is the power of social media and online participatory culture to capture online fan bases and fan communities. Fans love nothing more than to express whatever it is they’re interested in, be it a particular band or TV show or the latest vampire franchise. And online fans in particular are by (unofficial, urban dictionary) definition, overly enthusiastic, moderately creative geeks who use their free time to consume and contribute to the content of online fan communities. So what better way to tap into this market than through the use of online participatory culture?

Blogger Alphonse Ha writes about how artists’ marketing teams should capitalize on social media sites like YouTube to increase exposure, connect with fans, and promote live concert. For example, he encourages music artists to:

Set up a contest! Encourage your audience to submit their best cover over Youtube, supply them with the instrumental. Ask visitors to vote for the best cover and have the winner win tickets to his next show with a VIP pass, an autographed CD whatever.  How many of these cover artists’ friends do you think will go to the website and support their friends?  The bigger the exposure, the more chances these visitors will want to attend Jason’s next show in town.
 [Here Ha embeds a popular fan cover of a Jason Mraz song posted on YouTube.] Notice the great annotations.  Unless the marketing team is behind it, you have free advertising.  The fan is a free postergirl and encouraging viewers to buy the album.  How great is that?  Capitalize on it!  The video has been viewed over a million times.

Me being a fan of 2NE1, I’m here to gush about how that’s exactly what they (or their big boss label YG Entertainment) did. 2NE1 has been using new social media to connect directly with their fans, both domestic and abroad. YG makes all of 2NE1’s music videos, television and concert appearances readily accessible to fans free of charge on YouTube. All three seasons of the reality television show ‘2NE1 TV’ that have aired on the South Korean music channel M-Net are available for free viewing on Youtube, subtitled for international fans.

As you can see, this is especially important for international fans—as 2NE1 is a South Korean band, and while they’re gaining huge success in Korea and increasingly throughout the rest of Asia, they have had almost no representation in the mainstream music scenes in the U.S. (Although in Europe consumers of mainstream music are already used to listening to songs with lyrics in a foreign language (with 75% of their mainstream music coming from the U.S., and the rest from European countries), so K-pop is even starting to pick up over there).

2NE1 and YG are also encouraging online participatory culture on these social media sites, and engaging fans directly by using, to use Ha’s term, ‘social media marketing’: YG and 2NE1 have hosted song and dance cover competitions promoted on YouTube, where fans upload their own user-generated videos for the chance to win tickets and backstage passes to 2NE1’s first live solo concert. Korean music labels are also developing a reputation for being more lenient on copyright infringement laws than their music industry conglomerate counterparts, which fans appreciate and creates fan loyalty, so that when they do put their merchandise on sale, fans will readily purchase it.

YouTube: YouCan Do Anything!

Okay, I know this is a topic that’s been played to death because it’s basically the number one example of social media and online participatory culture in action in our society today, but today I’m going to talk about YouTube.

There’s so much rhetoric going around about YouTube and other user-generated content sites as the being the prime example of audiences moving away from being simple passive consumers of media content, to being consumers who also have the ability to become producers in today’s social media world. There’s you, your media creation, and potentially billions of viewers if you’re lucky enough to ‘go viral,’ the term used to describe a video when it suddenly gets a ton of views very quickly.

Now the reason I’m interested in this topic today is because my friend, a film student who graduated from my school in 2008, recently uploaded a music video that he’s been working on tirelessly for about 3-4 weeks now. This particular video is a tribute to Beyonce (so clearly a fan work), one that uses one her song ‘Schoolin’ Life,’ and that he interpreted with the theme, “When I grow up I want to be…”

Basically what he did was decorate his bedroom with toys, stuffed animals, child-related props basically, and recruited about 30 of his friends to come over dressed up as what they wanted to be when they were children. I had the privilege (or horror, considering my utmost dread at having to go in front of the camera) of being one of these friends, and he basically directed us to jump and dance around his bedroom apartment acting like the character we had chosen. I was a professional soccer player. (If you saw me now you’d probably be skeptical about me having ever engaged in any kind of physical sport, but I actually did play for about 6 years when I was a kid.)

Then after those two nights of ridiculous filming, he hid away in his editing cave, only to emerge three weeks later to email us about when the video would go live. His first email said he would premiere it on February 21^st, after President’s day when people would be back at work, ‘in order to harness the most viral potential.’ Unfortunately, YouTube gave him some copyright issues over the use of the song (one of the main reasons fan-created music videos and tributes are taken down—regardless of the fact that if something is changed enough from the original product, copyright law does not apply), which delayed its premiere by a couple days.

When he finally got it up and streaming, I was amazed at how great it turned out. A tribute to Beyonce, at the same time an homage to pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, and a celebration of our childhood dreams. This to me is a case in point of the amazing ways YouTube and other user-generated content sites allow young creators and producers to publish their media texts, with a potential worldwide audience. Essentially, his publication remixes some of Beyonce’s top songs with a concept he imagined, using footage entirely shot for the purpose of creating this fan work. Comments range from “I can't believe you shot this in your own bedroom,” and “BEYONCE NEEDS TO SEE THIS!” to “I'm definitely showing my daughter this, what a wonderful, positive message!" And YouTube tried to pull the copyright card on him. Tsk.

Of course, that’s because the music industry has been getting their panties in a bunch since Napster in the late ‘90s and wants to protect their financial interests, wants very much for the producer-consumer model to remain a locked system in which they control the content audiences have access to.

At the same time, social media allows the creation of YouTube celebrities such as Rebecca Black, who’s music video “Friday” went viral instantly because of how damn stupid it was and people’s exasperation that her parents would hire an amateur director or producer or whatever to make this crap. Suddenly, this talentless twelve-year-old is famous, the video is generating tons of parodies and general WTF-ery, and next thing you know she’s in a Katy Perry music video. Now a lot of these parodies are actually hilarious, which I guess is the amazing thing that comes out of the remix culture enabled by today’s new media technologies combined with the attention spans and sense of humor of our generation.

Saturday Night Live actually did a mock-talk show skit called “You Can Do Anything!” that addresses these YouTube and internet celebrities who are for the most part untalented, inexperienced, and delusional. "The only show that celebrates the incredibly high self-esteem of the YouTube generation," the hosts say.  "Because now, thanks to technology (…) it doesn't matter if you don't have skills or training or years of experience, you can do it!"

So yes, it is annoying how suddenly all these tweeny-boppers think they matter and are, in some cases at least, undeservingly shot to stardom (justin…bieber…). But overall, of course the ability to publish your creations is ultimately a good thing. Fans in particular might actually have a wider potential viewing audience for their publications, because other fans will be searching for content related to what they are interested in. So, bar the music industry trying to hit you with a million-dollar lawsuit, what we can take away is from this is that you can do ANYTHING!

My Social Bookmarking Soul-tag

Last night I perused both Diigo and Delicious to try to find my Social Bookmarking Soulmate. The first tags I tried, “online participatory culture,” and “participatory culture,” turned up zilch, and just “fandom” presented me with a lot of actual fan-created content that really isn’t of any use for me, neither for this blog nor for all my intents and purposes as a fan.

Only when I finally typed “fandom academia” into the Delicious ‘search tags’ box was I able to come up with some useful links. Notice however it actually retrieved links which users had saved with the separate tags of “fandom” and “academia,” rather than “fandom academia,” which explains why some of the links sometimes lean one way or the other in terms of relevance to my search. However, it came up with 118 entries, and luckily for me the articles that were of most use to me seemed to show up on the first few pages on results.

Actually, a  surprising amount of the links that came up had “Henry Jenkins” as a tag, and a pretty good amount didn’t even link to his actual blog (although the ones that did were super interesting), but to blogs of people simply discussing the topic of participatory culture and new media in relation to fandom, which is super helpful.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anybody with similar enough interests and relevant links whom I could adequately and deservingly label as my Social Bookmarking Soulmate. However, I looked at their saved links and if they had more than five bookmarks which were related to my blog topic and interests, I followed them on Delicious.

A lot of the users who had saved the pages that were of interest me were online fans, and many of their links were to actual fan-works (fan wikis, episode guides, discussions, etc.), which doesn’t really do anything for me. But besides that, many had links to articles commenting on some particular phenomenon in fandom, studying a particular fandom through a pseudo-academic lens (here is a site entirely related to academic work on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom), or maybe introducing fandom subculture to the mainstream audience.

But for some of the users which had bookmarked these pages, when looking at their other saved pages, you wouldn’t immediately assume they were online fans. Many had bookmarked articles about Web 2.0, new media developments, a LOT of articles about blogging (how to improve readership, start making money off their blogs, and just the blog literary genre in general), links to articles about and works by communication theorists such as Stuart Hall, articles on how to effectively use social media (in business, professional uses, personal uses), social media digital marketing, discussions around online anonymity and social relationships ("Are real names required for socializing?"), and a surprising number or articles about new social media that somehow involved gender and feminism (“Is Google+ sexist?”).

After several hours of virulent clicking and opening new tabs everywhere, the tag “fandom academia” seems to me to be associated with a large mix of users: many of them bloggers, some developers and marketers, some creative writers, and many fans simply interested in the objective take on fandom and what the mainstream media has to say about fans and their activities.

Although it was really frustrating at the time, I’m pleased at what I found as a result of engaging in social bookmarking. I’ve seen the Delicious site being linked to in my fandoms since maybe 2010, and my best friend from home—who’s always two steps ahead of me in terms of  everything participatory culture-, social media-, and fandom-related— was always telling me to get an account. And I think I even did sign up for a Delicious account at one point, but I just didn’t get when or how to use it. But I’m really glad I finally did this, because I can definitely see how it’s so much more efficient than just bookmarking things on my regular browser.

Plus, I’m way too lazy to make folders and organize all my bookmarks as I bookmark them.