The Origins of Fandom Studies

About the lecture

In this module, we look at the origins of Fandom Studies. In particular, we focus on: (i) how Fandom Studies' origins can be traced back to the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies in Great Britain, including a discussion of Raymond Williams' essay "Culture Is Ordinary"; (ii) how Stuart Hall's idea of "encoding-decoding" challenged the notion of a dominant reading and emphasised various interpretations of media texts by different audiences; (iii) Dick Hebdige's idea of subcultures, particularly working-class adolescence, and their use of appropriation and remixing of symbols to form their identities; (iv) how Angela McRobbie criticised Dick Hebdige for not acknowledging women's roles in subcultures and their cultural expressions; (v) how Bell Hooks highlighted the oppositional gaze and critical reading of media representations by marginalised groups; (vi) how John Fisk popularised the idea of how ordinary people resist dominant cultural meanings and process television images; (vii) how Henry Jenkins saw fandom as a mix of fascination and frustration, and viewed fans as "poachers" who creatively appropriate and remix elements from existing culture to create new expressions; and (viii) a discussion of "Have you heard George's podcast?" which serves as an example of appropriation and resignification in modern media.

About the lecturer

Professor Henry Jenkins is Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California, Annenberg. He specialises in media studies and fandom. With this in mind, he has published widely, including Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Spreadable Media: Creating Meaning and Value in a Networked Culture, By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activists, Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change and Comics and Stuff.