“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.
Fan fiction and transmedia storytelling are very strang. If you think about it, transmedia storytelling uses the tools of fan fiction but comes from the franchise, like in the case of The Matrix movies. Star Wars also uses forms of transmedia storytelling through video games and novels. I think that what the large media companies want to do is cash in on transmedia storytelling, but in order to do that they have to squash out fan fiction. They are afraid that people will spend their time reading and creating fan fiction rather than buying into sub-plots and minor character stories.
Companies can try to stop fans from creating fan fiction, but in the end I think they’ll realize that their efforts were wasted and they’ll simply have to accept it. I believe that when this finally happens, they will realize that fan fiction actually helps the franchise, as is the case with the anime culture.
The Star Wars fan fiction that you posted I feel isn’t really straying from the criteria that George Lucas requires of “appropriate” fan fiction. It’s building on a known character, but not changing it drastically. The Simpsons parody I’m sure had received copyrights in order to create and play the introduction. I don’t feel that this is really fan fiction since The Simpsons parody everything and were simply going with popular culture.
Take a closer look at The Simpsons parody. Are you sure it’s a Simpsons production? I’d also mention that parody is protected by Fair Use provisions. For this reason, the social satire of The Simpsons provides enough protection to “borrow” from all copyrighted works almost at will.
I’ll also agree with Jbster when she says that Lucasfilms would likely approve of these two uses because they do not denigrate the original films. In short, the help Lucasfilms. The concerns usually involve more taboo uses of the characters, like erotica.
This draws out a larger question. Does Star Wars erotica really hurt the franchise? In short, are there proper and improper forms of fan fiction?
I understand that the Simpsons can borrow copyrighted work because it’s sattire however I feel that buy doing this, this is what other fans do and it is creating a story unto itself even if is small. The characters are still being used to but to be told through a different perspective. I do not necessarily think that there is a proper and improper form, I think it is open to interuptation.