“The Web represents a site of experimentation and innovation, where amateurs test the waters, developing new practices, themes and generating materials that may well attract cult followings on their own terms.” (148)
After reading the chapter Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? in Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins, the quote above made me think about the relationship between the consumer and media companies. If the web provides the opportunity to experiment and be innovative why are media companies surprised or upset when a consumer of their product has created another version of their product as an ode to the product. Isn’t is the goal to attract niche audiences and have them participate. My question is where is the line drawn?
“Media companies are giving out profoundly mixed signals because they really can’t decided what kind of relationships the want to have with this new kind of consumer. They want us to look at but not touch, buy but not use, media content.” (138)
This kind of relationship cannot work if the studio does not recognize the consumers effort. If the studio wishes to only take credit for all the value in their media product. However is it wrong for consumers to want to embrace a film like Star Wars and create different media products besides the films? Some studios and producers such as George Lucas make this clear,”We’ve been very clear all along on where we draw the line. We love our fans. We want them to have fun. But if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that’s not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is” (149). If fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is, then why has the story of Star Wars turn into something bigger. I think that the fans definitely have appreciation and wish to celebrate the way the film originally was but they have their own interpretations of how they feel about the story and that is what is portrayed through their media products. Even with such a statement do they really think that can stop the fans from doing so? With the technological advances we have made in society since Star Wars why not use the Web to experiment and be innovative. If anything, this probably makes cult fans and niches feel negative towards the studio. When they are Star Wars conventions or events don’t you think the fans are creating a story unto itself, it’s their interruption of what the characters would do in the story, they are just in their shows now, and they are bringing the characters to life.
Here is an example of fans interruptions of Star Wars. Now you be the judge and think about if there is something really wrong with fans using the Web to pay ode to the film.
Here’s a Simpsons pardoy of Star Wars made by fans.
