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!