Core Response #3 - Sebastian

    In many ways, I feel that this week’s readings reflect yet another iteration of a key debate that we’ve been tracking since the start of the semester: Is everything about television and the television experience dictated by dominant ideology, or can certain aspects be negotiated or even outright subverted? Both Mark Andrejevic’s “Watching Television Without Pity” and Henry Jenkins’ “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten” analyze the relationship between television creators and television fans within this framework. Jenkins analyzes the work of female fans who created feminist-oriented fanfictions in response to the limitations and outright sexism of the original run of Star Trek. Jenkins observes that “[f]an writers… frequently express dissatisfaction with these women’s characterizations within the episodes” (479). As such, their fanfiction seeks to rewrite Star Trek to their liking, thereby “repairing the damage” (479).

    Meanwhile, Andrejevic argues that the increasing permeability in the creator/fan relationship simply facilitates further opportunities for corporations to exploit fans. He analyzes the Television Without Pity website, observing that fan sites such as these have become vital resources for television producers to gather free marketing and demographic information. Andrejevic writes, “Work that used to be the province of producers is being redefined as that of the active consumer” (30). These readings suggest an evolution in the relationship between creators and fans which might requires us to reconsider questions of authorship regarding television texts and their ideologies. 

    Jenkins’ essay, written in 1988, presents fans and creators as operating in separate spheres; creators made content that fans subsequently reworked, with little overlap between these activities. Indeed, Jenkins describes a “strange mixture of fascination and frustration” in this relationship; fans often respected television creators even while rewriting their creations to “better satisfy their personal interests” (486). Andrejevic’s essay was written 20 years later, in 2008, and considers a very different fan/creator dynamic. He notes that television creators wouldn’t just use Television Without Pity for marketing research, but also to gauge the response of their core audience. For instance, while working on his show Alias, J.J. Abrams argued that “you probably shouldn’t be working in TV right now” if you’re willing to simply ignore the feedback posted on fan sites (25). And as far as I can tell, the fan/creator line has only become more porous in the intervening years. In 2017, Westworld co-creator and showrunner Jonathan Nolan openly admitted to changing a twist in one of the show’s episodes after Reddit users guessed the original reveal (Grobar). And, in 2019, author and critic Lindsay Ellis posited that the final season of Game of Thrones was substantially shaped by the showrunners’ efforts to both fulfill and subvert fan expectations and theories (Ellis). Given this trajectory, I suspect that fans will only become more active participants in television production as time goes on. 

    But how does this trajectory relate to the aforementioned concern about ideology? Will fans follow in the footsteps of the Trekkies/Trekkers described by Jenkins and upend the dominant ideology of television programs, rewriting them to serve more marginalized needs? Or will fans follow in the footsteps of the active posters on Television Without Pity that Andrejevic discusses? As Andrejevic argues, fan websites like this encourage fans to view themselves as “insiders.” Fans who think of themselves as “insiders” increasingly feel as though they understand why “things [in the television industry] are as bad as they are and why they could not be any different” (45). In other words, the closer these fans get to the actual sites of television production, the less critical they are liable to become. 

    Frankly, I think that Andrejevic and Jenkins are probably both right and both wrong in their own ways. Andrejevic’s concerns are absolutely valid, but I think it is unfair to entirely dismiss the activities of fans simply because they haven’t yet successfully led a Marxist revolution. After all, as far as I can tell, neither have any of the rest of us (at least, in the American context). In that regard, I find Jenkins’ argument quite compelling. He acknowledges that fan activities are not “a magical cure for the social ills of post-industrial capitalism” (491). Rather, they are a way to survive and negotiate within the oppressive confines of capitalism. Andrejevic seems to vaguely acknowledge this but is unwilling to give it due consideration. That said, I do find Jenkins’ optimism about fan activities to be overly utopian. Outside of the world of television, I can’t help but think about the relationship between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars fans. The film was made by Rian Johnson, a self-confessed fan, but one who almost seems to have more in common with the fans described by Jenkins. At various key junctures, The Last Jedi upends the traditional ideology of Star Wars and rewrites it in a way that one imagines better suits Johnson’s personal interests. Yet this approach infuriated many Star Wars fans, who felt that Johnson’s actions violated the sort of reverence that they assumed a true fan should have for the text. Whether or not one likes The Last Jedi or views Johnson’s subversion of Star Wars’s tropes as truly progressive is ultimately beside the point here. The response to the film clearly demonstrates that not all fans are interested in rewriting the text to make it better serve their needs. After all, particularly for those in privileged positions, it might already be serving their needs perfectly. As such, perhaps neither enthusiasm nor dour cynicism but instead cautious ambivalence is warranted regarding the current trajectory of fan/creator relationships. To dismiss how fan activities help people survive under capitalism seems smug and cruel. But to dismiss that many fans would perpetuate capitalism and other dominant ideologies if given the chance seems naïve and shortsighted. 

 

Works Cited

Ellis, Lindsay. “We Need to Talk About Game of Thrones I Guess.” YouTube, uploaded by

Lindsay Ellis, 28 June 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hys_m3BPTS8&t=1246s. 

Grobar, Matt. “‘Westworld’ Team On The Series’ Super-Engaged Fan Base, Music Hints &

Being Part Of The Solution – PaleyFest.” Deadline, 25 Mar. 2017, https://deadline.com/2017/03/westworld-season-2-hints-thandie-newton-paleyfest-1202048554/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2021.