Henry Jenkins’ Theory of ‘Fandom’

Henry Jenkins’ Theory of ‘Fandom’

Henry Jenkins is an influential media theorist who has made the book named Textual Poachers in 1992. It describes how communities in online and digital media combine numerous different media sources and channels in both approved and unapproved ways.  He has created terms modern media theorists still use today. Firstly, he has created the term “Media Convergence”, which means the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want. This then leads to Textual Poaching which is when the fans carried out such creative cultural activities as rethinking personal identity issues such as gender and sexuality; writing stories to shift focus onto a media "storyworld's" secondary characters; producing content to expand of the timelines of a storyworld; or filling in missing scenes in the storyworld's official narratives order to better satisfy the fan community. An example of this is Star Trek; the fans “poach” textual meanings and reread them in a fashion that serves different interests. He has also made Participatory Culture which refers more broadly to any kind of cultural production which starts at the grassroots level and which is open to broad participation and Fandom which refers to the social structures and cultural practices created by the most passionately engaged consumers of mass media properties.

Over the last 50 years, technology has advanced dramatically, meaning that gaming platforms have originated from arcade machines in stores to consoles at people’s homes. This has allowed some game developers to create games that are able to connect players from multiple gaming platforms and play with each other seamlessly. The second best-selling game with 144 million sales, Minecraft made by Markus Persson now owned by Microsoft is the first game to introduce the term “Cross-Platform Gaming”.  Everybody in the gaming community thought it was impossible to accomplish but it was successful. Minecraft was now encouraged other game developers to allow their games to support cross-platform play. Now there is a total of 132 games that support this feature which allows players to play their games and their games will last for a longer duration. Synergy meaning the way in which an element of a media conglomerate or different companies works together to promote linked products allows different gaming platforms to converge their games.

With more games being produced, some gamers will not like the gameplay or how the game performs. Therefore, they use modifications (“mods”) to alter any game into their own version. This only happens to cheap games or games that have little or no security. Game “Modders” are from Participatory Cultures that originated roughly from the post-2000 and when Web 2.0 was introduced. This is because they are creative people who produce new games of their own and they collaborate to solve the problems which force them to change the aspect of the game. This then generates what Jenkins describes as “Collective Intelligence” which is when media causes a buzz in consumer communities which are of increasing value to media producers.

Media 2.0 was also introduced shortly after Web 2.0 and it starts with a platform that enables the community to create a digital identity which gives them the ability to connect and share with one another. After this, they create content which is user-generated but the community managers look to differentiate their content with others within the community.