1.2 digital media. I’m a fan.
The medium of online publication and digital literature in the role of literature and story is very unique. Like Dr. Paterson suggests, I (tentatively) believe that the “reader on the www is also a listener and a writer and the reader is also a listener” (Paterson 1:2). The internet allows a discourse (much like this course) that is unavailable in either literature or orality. The increased capabilities of technology, including new websites, Photoshop, and various social media outlets have allowed consumers of literature to consume media in a brand new way. As someone who has been blogging for almost 5 years on Tumblr, I’ve noticed that the primary asset of the site is it’s ability to disseminate posts. In the
Social media is used in a variety of different ways; what people underestimate is its ability to connect not just friends–but strangers who share a similar interest in any kind of content.
corner of Tumblr I occupy, the majority of the content is in response to already published content: from gifsets to photosets to posts and links. With a simple click of the mouse, you can share whatever you want with (potentially) thousands of followers, who in turn share that with thousands more.
To narrow my focus a bit more, I’ll hone in on two aspects of “digital literature”. First, I’d like to examine the rise of fanfiction in the online community. The beauty of fanfiction is in its very form: how it is a response to a pre-exisiting literary or visual work that allows one person’s fantasy to connect with thousands of others. According to this ebook website, fanfiction makes up approximately 33% of the content about books on the internet. There are hundreds of fanfiction websites, from generic the generic fanfiction.net to more specific sites such as dramione.org, who only posts fanfiction stories about Draco/Hermione from the Harry Potter series. There are even blogs devoted to compiling stories across these various sites. With the fan creation and interaction of content, it is not difficult to see how this medium of digital literature has taken off.
To illustrate this further, my personal favorite fanfiction of all time is called “The Life and Times“, by writer Jewles5. It documents the era before Harry Potter–the Marauder Era, as it’s fondly named. It’s written better than many of the published books I’ve read and is over 600,000 words and still ongoing. But the story wouldn’t be where it was without the interaction between readers and the author; they comment and ask countless questions; she answers and answers questions in character on her blog. It is because of social media that I entered this whole new world.
The other use of social media in the dissemination of digital literature that I wanted to discuss was “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries“. This is but one of various modern-day adaptations of Jane Austen novels created by “Pemberley Digital”. The creators use social media, such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr to immerse consumers of their content (primarily videos) into that world. They have multiple channels for the different characters, and their main channel has had over 9,000,000 views. They even won an Primetime Emmy 2013 for it! I’m running low on the word limit, so here’s a nice article about the use of social media in their adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
And the hyperlink. As you might have guessed, I find it very useful. It allows readers to provide more information in an unobtrusive way, similar to a footnote or endnote. Like an endnote, it is purely up to the reader to follow that link. This choice alone provides different levels and depths of involvement and interaction with digital literature–and media as a whole.
To wrap up, social media and the hyperlink have greatly expanded not only the way we publish and disseminate digital literature, but also the way we interact with literature and story. Through social media, a rapport is created between the creator and the consumer, and in a way, those two once distinct roles are eradicated and blurred together through their ongoing conversation.Digital literature breaks down the traditional walls of literature and (I think) is giving way to a new era of literature and story that does not adapt traditional author/reader roles, but instead creates new roles entirely separate from all previous consumption.
Works Cited
Fanfiction.net n.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://fanfiction.net>.
Hawthorn and Vine. Hawthorn and Vine, January 2010. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://dramione.org/viewpage.php?page=about>.
Kowalczyk, Piotr. “10 Most Popular Fanfiction Websites”. Ebook Friendly. Ebook Friendly, 2014. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://ebookfriendly.com/fan-fiction-websites/>.
Jewels5. “1. Prologue” The Life and Times. Fanfiction.net, 2009-. Web. 22 May 2014. <https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5200789/1/The-Life-and-Times>.
Jewels5 (Jules). It Really Ate My Hand. Tumblr. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://itreallyatemyhand.tumblr.com>.
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”. Pemberley Digital, 2012. Web. 22 May 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6690D980D8A65D08>.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 1:2 Story & Literature”. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia, 2013. Web. 22 May 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl470/unit-1/lesson-12/>.
Rosane, Olivia. “Comfort Vlog: the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and the Taming of Digital Media”. The State. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.thestate.ae/comfort-vlog-the-lizzie-bennett-diaries-and-the-taming-of-digital-media/>.
“Students Like Social Media”. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.cblohm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/schools-+-social-media-infographic-804×1024.jpg>.
Tumblr. Tumblr, February 2007. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.tumblr.com/about>.
Yes! I love your focus on fanfiction. I was tempted to consider it in my own blog entry but was already nearing the limit, so I’m glad you brought it up. Fandom is fascinating as a subculture and I think the Internet really helped it take off. The wide range of digital platforms online allows the fans to be diverse in their expressions but interact at a wide but closer level.
I remember the days of Fanfiction.net. There’s now another general/multifandom fanfiction site that’s popular, Archive of Our Own. I don’t know if you go on it? I particularly like the name. It makes me think of fandom as its own literary force, archiving and canonizing its own literature and art. Of course, we can’t discount the major role Livejournal and Tumblr play, prompting and encouraging the growth of fanwork through challenges and contests set up by fans for fans–like the Big Bangl challenges that happen across most fandoms.
I’m not sure if fanfiction has really embraced the orality/literature mix as much as other media has though. I feel like there’s a stricter sense of etiquette that fanfiction writers must follow to be considered “quality.” Personally, I’ve refrained from reading any that had poor formatting or consistently poor grammar or spelling, yet I’m perfectly fine with people using “text speech” in text messages, instant messaging, and twitter. I guess fanfiction is similar to blogging in that way, emulating the traditions of literature it’s rooted in, except unlike blogging, I don’t think hyperlinks are an encouraged addition to a fanfic.
Then again, fanfiction is founded on that transmutative quality of orality–or at least that’s what I believe. The majority of fanfiction is arguably dedicated to “fix-its” or “alternate universes”–basically worlds of “what ifs.” Fanfiction takes that permanence of literature (books, film, tv shows)–the “canon”–and plays with it, lessening its hold on the stories and the characters. The fans create their own stories, or “fanon.” I’ve noticed that sometimes the fanon even overpowers the canon to the point that fans are sometimes, at least momentarily, confused as to whether a characterization or an event happened within the actual text of the literature.
So, I guess I wonder where fanfiction stands in terms of the hybrid oral/literary nature of its platforms and the traditions of literature it has inevitably inherited. What do you think?
Have you heard of Transformative Works and Cultures? I love it. It’s a peer-reviewed journal of all things fandom and fandom related. An actual place that offers the fandom subculture a foothold in academia! I mention it because I remember one article off the top of my head that really got me thinking about fanfiction and fandom as a part of a literary history. Catherine Tosenburger does a good job discussing fanfiction in relation to a Gothic and Romantic background. It’s interesting knowing there is that tie and seeing how fanfiction and fandom play out as a subculture of change and hybridity.
Bonus question: you mention that “a rapport is created between the creator and the consumer, and in a way, those two once distinct roles are eradicated and blurred together through their ongoing conversation” which is often true within fandom (with “remixed” work and building on each others’ ideas), but do you think there’s a substantial give and take between creator and consumer outside of fandom? By this I mean, especially with Twitter, fans are able to interact with the creators, but do you think the fans have a power over the canon? Do you think they should?
(Oops, that got really long. Sorry for rambling so much!)
Ugh, I just wrote a super long reply back and it didn’t post or save, so here we go again!
Wow, I suck at this.
Thanks for your comment, and no worries about the rambling. Ramble away!
I’ve been on Archive of our Own once or twice, and I just noticed that they’re run by the Organization for Transformative Works, who spearheads a number of projects, including the Transformative Works and Culture. Speaking of which, thank you for mentioning it! I’ve never heard of it before, and now I have a number of interesting articles open.
In the direct form of fanfiction, I would agree that there is a lessened sense of orality. However, in my mind, fanfiction stems from both literary and orality. What I mean by this is that even though fanfiction takes from the canon, often a literary form, or TV and movies, it is through orality that it has been developed to where it is today. I know I’ve read a lot of stories, and thought of ideas for stories by talking with my friends about the canon itself, exploring the “what ifs”, and building our own scenarios and scenes. Often times on Tumblr, people will build stories together, or one person will provide a prompt and others will run with it (sidenote: it seems so strange to be talking about Tumblr in an academic setting). I don’t think that fanfiction would be what it is without this oral component.
Part of the beauty of fanfiction is in its literary form. Before you mock my ability to state the obvious, I mean that fanfiction generally stems from a literary canon, or a TV show/movie/video game created by a publishing company or production studio. The average person does not have the resources to realize their own “what ifs” in the same form that their canon is; and so fanfiction allows fans to realize their fantasies in an easy, simple way (although writing is quite difficult).
I would agree that hyperlinks are seen less often in fanfiction. However, I’ve noticed a lot of fics are inspired by songs or other stories, and oftentimes, the author will post a link to the inspiration. There’s even a whole sub-genre for “song fics”! I think if we look at this discourse of inspiration a little closer, we’ll be able to explore a new form of literary discourse and how digital literature is shared.
To answer your last few questions, I would say that it largely depends on the creator(s). Disclaimer: I’m about to mention a bunch of TV shows (Dr. Paterson–I’m sorry if that’s not totally relevant or appropriate–just let me know!) With social media, such as Twitter, consumers are often allowed a direct line of communication to the creator. Because of this, I believe there has been a larger focus on pleasing the fans, and as a consequence, the fans have power over the canon. One example of this is Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. The show was created because fans wanted to see more of Agent Coulson, who was killed in The Avengers. Joss Whedon (the creator), recognized the fan’s desire for more content and responded in kind. There are other TV shows such as Doctor Who and Supernatural that will often include minor elements or details that recognize the fans, kind of like a “tease”. Another more obvious example would be the Harry Potter series. I don’t know if any of the content itself was created or altered in relation to what the fans said, but it would not have been the success it is today without the fans and their (our) demand for more content. It is because of the fans that J.K. Rowling is continuously creating and releasing new content (see Pottermore, the new Fantastic Beasts movies). Ultimately, it’s up to the creator whether or not to take the fans into consideration. And of course, there are other external elements such as money and the longevity of the content.
If you’re around Vancouver this summer, I’d love to meet up! I’ll also message you on Facebook–I see we have a few friends in common!
I definitely agree with you about fandom being a oral culture. It’s extremely collaborative in nature. As a fan artist, I love nothing more than to read a fic someone has written based on one of my drawings. And vice versa, I’ve drawn things based on a certain Doctor Who AU (Alternate Universe) series, making sure to link back to the source material. (re: your side note: it is weird talking about Tumblr in an academic setting, especially when I usually try so hard to hide the fact I even have a Tumblr!)
Oh, how could I have forgotten about the song fic! I’d love to discuss inspiration as a new form of literary discourse. There’s a wonderful nebulous quality to ideas of ownership within the fandom community that isn’t found in the same way in commercial publication. Of course, plagiarism or art theft still isn’t acceptable, no matter how pervasive it is within fandom, but ideas are encouraged to be built on and disseminated. I also find that fandom is readily open to being inspired by a vast array of media, and willing to refer back to it. Maybe this is because no one in fandom actually owns anything. After all, fanfic and fanart exist in a grey area of copyright because the legal owners are the original creators of the canon.
Of course, this begs the question, where is the real defining line between canon and fanon? Why is Steven Moffat’s Sherlock a source material now, when it’s really a Sherlock Holmes fan creation with a high production value? Besides legality, is there really a difference between Sherlock and its fandom and Jamie and Allison’s Gallifrey Records Doctor Who AU and its own subsequent mass of derivative works?
There’s an interesting embracing of fandom happening with source-content creators. For instance, the official Doctor Who tumblr. They often reblog and actively encourage fan creations, working as a wide-reaching platform for fandom.
In terms of fans’ influence on the canon, I do agree with you about there being a certain amount of power fans have and that it’s up to the creators to decide how much they are influenced by it. There might even be a certain amount of pressure to cater to fans (for a television series particularly) because their livelihood often depends on viewership. (After writing out and then deleting my thoughts on whether or not fans should have this power, I’ve come to think it’s a matter of a separate discussion.) Here’s to hoping JK Rowling will come out with a Marauders Era book, haha!
I’m not in Vancouver until August 11th (just at the start of the exam season), but I’d love to meet with you when I get back! I hope you don’t mind that I followed you on Tumblr, maybe I’ll message you there too. 😀
PS. Here’s an interesting example of fan creations in the same form as the source material. It’s a fan created Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode in which several versions of the Doctors meet in a world where Doctor Who is a popular TV show.
Hm, my links aren’t working for me. If they aren’t working for you either, let me know. I’ll repost them.
They aren’t working for me either. Sorry for the delayed response—life got a little hectic for a bit there! But not to worry, this has always been on my mind.
1. DOCTOR WHO. A;LKDJFA;DLSKFJA;LDKSJF <3 <3.
2. On a more coherent note, your point on ownership of fandom material was very interesting to me. As a fandom, we (essentially) steal copyrighted material, but we also copyright (or at least put our url on it) the material that comes from that the canon we're referencing. Lately, I've noticed that there has been a much stronger response to people who "repost" artwork as their own.
You bring up another good point to the legitimacy of fandom..ness in Sherlock/Gallifrey Records. Personally, I can't think of a difference (aside from legality) that differentiates the two. Of course, Sherlock has a much larger fanbase, but aside from that I fail to see a difference. Maybe that is what defines canon vs. fanon: legality, but more importantly the fans. Of course, it's a bit difficult to recognize something as canon without legality, but you also wouldn't have this debate without the fans.
I hope that made sense. It's Sunday afternoon and it's warm and I'm a little sleepy.
(And no, I don't mind. What's your url? I just got a few new followers so I would like to know which one is you!)
Ack, I’ve been typing out the html wrong for links. No wonder! Here are the links to the fan-made DW 50th Anniversary episode, “El Mundo Imperfecto” and the tumblog for Gallifrey Records (the masterpost for the actual fics is linked at the top of the page).
Don’t worry, you make sense haha. And on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, which I applaud you for!
I’ll send you an ask letting you know which one I am. My tumblr is a pure fandom blog and incredibly self-indulgent/boring so I like to keep it on the down-low as much as I can.
By the way, do you watch Supernatural? I ask because I recently read a great post discussing the show’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall and the relationship between creator and fan. It might get a little confusing at times for someone unfamiliar with the material though (or might not be as interesting as I found it to be!) but I can link you later (to circumnavigate that pesky two link limit on comments) if you want!
I totally love this post… and your Harry Potter fan fiction links! I’m a huge HP fan so this is all so exciting.
I didn’t realize that fanfiction is such a huge movement online.
🙂 – i was hoping for a link to your Tumblir blog? This is great – you have sent me off exploring all sorts of new avenues this morning: wonderful – thank you. RE: “(Dr. Paterson–I’m sorry if that’s not totally relevant or appropriate–just let me know!)” – when it comes to your dialogues, you are free to follow any paths you find together that matter to you 😉 I am always interested in the world of the students I work with, indeed — I learn as much as you do 😉
I’ve actually created a page for some of my personal links! It’s under links&things: https://blogs.ubc.ca/fideliaolam/links-things/
I just put my Instagram and Tumblr there for now, but who knows? Maybe I’ll start vlogging (something I’ve been thinking about) and put it up!
Ah yes, thank goodness for fanfiction. I haven’t delved into Harry Potter fanfiction much though – I only read fanfiction for TV shows that have disappointing story lines. Three cheers for dedicated writers of fanfiction!
Since you’re a Tumblr user I’m assuming you’ve seen those posts about the 6-word story (I would hyperlink here, but HTML is jibberish to me). Do you think social media changes the not only the way the audience interacts with the story, but also changes the conventional form of the story? (When I say conventional, I’m referring to stories that have a sequence of events.) Would you consider daily updates on Twitter the story of people’s lives (in place of journals/diaries)? Lastly, do you think social media could bridge the gap created by the Us versus Them mentality?
Sorry for the late reply! It’s been a busy week.
I totally think that social media changes the way the audience interacts with the story! Of course, it depends on how social media is used. I think social media can be used to add a lot of depth in multiple ways: for a digital story (such as The Lizzie Bennet Diaries), Tumblr, Twitter, and multiple Youtube Accounts can enhance the immersive experience of the story, even though you can still experience the story by just following the main Youtube channel. By creating this depth, it also completely changes the conventional form of the story, but not to the degree where the conventional form is eradicated and made obsolete. It just adds a bit of spice!
I personally don’t use Twitter, but again, I think it depends on how people use Twitter. (It depends is a common answer in my book–I normally explain my reasoning though). If you have someone who tweets once a day about what they had for lunch, I wouldn’t necessarily consider that the story of their lives. But there are people who tweet every few minutes about what they’re doing, and that obviously chronicles what they’re doing better than the person who tweets about their food. Also, I don’t know if Twitter as a medium works in the same way that journals and diaries do. Journals and diaries are normally immensely personal and detail oriented, and Twitter, with it’s 140 character limit..limits the experience. Of course you could post a link to a blog post, but it’s not the same thing is it? But again, it depends on the user, and how comfortable they feel with using Twitter to document their lives.
Ugh, I can’t remember where I wrote this but I’ve been having difficulty with the Us and Them argument. Once we “bridge the gap”, there is no more Us or Them. So what are we? We’re not us, but we’re also not them. There’s no name or term for it, is there? I think that social media can help in bridging that gap, but I don’t think it should be the sole force in taking on that task.