Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn't fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it; but if it didn't frustrate us on some level, there would be no drive to rewrite or remake it.
Interpretation
Fandom arises from both the attraction to and dissatisfaction with media content.
Henry Jenkins suggests that fandom is a complex phenomenon that emerges from a delicate interplay between fascination with media and frustration towards it. When we are captivated by a piece of media, it sparks our interest and engagement, yet moments of frustration or imperfection inspire us to reshape, reinterpret, or create new narratives within that context. Therefore, both positive and negative emotions fuel our connection to media, leading to the vibrant culture of fandom.
In practice
During a panel discussion on creators' relationships with their fans, this quote illustrates the dual nature of fans' feelings toward media.
If old consumers were assumed to be passive, then new consumers are active. If old consumers were predictable and stayed where you told them, then new consumers are migratory, showing a declining loyalty to networks or media. If old consumers were isolated individuals, then new consumers are more socially connected. If the work of media consumers was once silent and invisible, then new consumers are now noisy and public.
...Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk.
A parallel between color and music can only be relative – just as a violin can give warm shades of tone, so yellow has shades, which can be expressed by various instruments.
I consciously think about the ethnicity of every character that I create and cast. But one thing that is equally important is quality representation. It's not enough to put an African-American in there, a female in there, a gay character in there: How significant is their contribution? Can they drive the story?
Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.
Dresses that are truly beautiful are never unfashionable.
I'm suspicious of the idea of categories in music and this idea of things being in boxes. To me, that seems unnatural. I write the music that somebody with my biography would write, and the thing that's always driven me is an enthusiasm for the material. I sort of follow the notes to where they want to go.
One of the ways my first novel failed was that I was too in love with my characters.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.