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FanVids, or, Why I'm in this class

I know we're supposed to be at an early stage here, but I've been working on this awhile...

Given the ease of video editing software and the proliferation of web-based forums on which to post amateur productions, it's not surprising that fanvids have become a favorite tool for fans of television and film to create new arguments about their reading of the original text. "Fanvids" have the potential to return control of the text to the reader by giving the creator the power of suture. By analyzing vids from two different fandoms, I hope to tease out what it is these amateur auteurs know about visual rhetoric and how they choose to either accept or ignore Hollywood film conventions in order to make their arguments. Specifically, I will look at the argument for a romantic relationship between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy (of Harry Potter) and the argument for a romantic relationship between Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson (Stargate: SG-1).
I plan on usnig Henry Jenkins' Textual Poaching and Laura Mulvey's work on suture as my starting points, but I'm open to just about any framework to help me sort through all this data.

Submitted by Amylea on Thu, 2007-01-25 10:42.
Amylea's blog

FanVids, FanFic, and Mashups
David Blakesley's picture
Submitted by David Blakesley on Thu, 2007-02-01 06:32.

There are lots of interesting issues swirling around the topic of FanVids, so looking at them from the standpoint of visual rhetoric should prove very interesting.

Not too long ago, I did some work related to a sample essay in The Thomson Handbook on the subject of FanFic, so I have a few additional resources to suggest (in addition to the sources you've already mentioned--Jenkins, Mulvey--and particular FanVids). These focus on Tolkein FanFiction primarily, but they still might be helpful (I hope).

Bacon-Smith, Camille. Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1992.

Chonin, Neva. "Love Between Men Is a Powerful Thing in Lord of the Rings." 15 Jan. 2002. SFGate.com. 11 Aug. 2002. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2002/01/15/neva...

FanFiction.net. 2006. .

Godawful Fan Fiction. 2006. 17 February 2006. http://www.godawful.net/mb/

Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge, 1992. See his website/blog: http://www.henryjenkins.org/ and this useful discussion: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/09/how_to_watch_a_fanvid.html

Rice, Anne. “Important Message from Anne on ‘Fan Fiction.’" 2000. 17 February 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20000511150950/www.annerice.com/scoop.htm

Schulz, Nancy. "The E-Files." Washington Post 29 Apr. 2001: G1.

Smol, Anna. “‘Oh . . . Oh . . . Frodo!’: Readings of Male Intimacy in The Lord of The Rings.” Modern Fiction Studies 50.4 (2004): 949-79.

Here's a Star Trek FanVid hosted at Salon:
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/misc/2006/09/13/kirk_spock/index.html

It would be interesting to do a FanVid on FanVids. . . .

Finally, check out Atom Films:
http://www.atomfilms.com/home.jsp


Fandom exploding
Amylea's picture
Submitted by Amylea on Thu, 2007-02-01 10:43.

I've read some of these (and quite a few others...); some of the Buffy studies have nice essays on feminism, female fans, and the gaze.
Recently a Buffy site added "BadFic" as a genre. The fics are chock full o' cliches, bad dialogue, and even worse plot elements. Fans seem fond of creating new "genres"--"angst" and "Revenge" are two that come to mind. But is "Bad" really a genre? Or maybe it is only a genre for fan based texts?


Fanvids
Ryan's picture
Submitted by Ryan on Thu, 2007-01-25 10:49.

Amy, aren't you going to explore the Kirk/Spock love affair? This sounds really interesting, as current technology has allowed amateurs to alter the narratives of their favorite stories. I am also interested in the point where technology comes far enough for amateurs to expand the stories of their favorite cultural products instead of just re-editing existing footage. I wonder if computers will ever allow the seamless reuse or expansion of special effects and filmmaking to let fans create footage beyond that which is poached. Just a thought - the project itself sounds very interesting.


Slashing the Captain
Amylea's picture
Submitted by Amylea on Thu, 2007-01-25 10:53.

Ryan
The K/S slash has such a long history to it...and the fans are mostly adults who don't have time to edit fanvids. Sadly.
I think.