Fan art and shows at Dokomi 2012

Since I live near the border with Germany and Belgium, on occasion I visit conventions abroad. Past weekend, on 26 May, I went to the German Dokomi again that I visited three times before in Düsseldorf. The first times that I attended was with my artist friend Marissa (Ealynn) and my sister and on behalf of OpenMinded, we sold our booklets there. Dokomi has always been a small convention that supports fan artists, more so than the bigger German conventions such as Animagic.

One of the reasons I love about going to Germany is that, even though is very nearby, the scene has developed completely different from the Dutch one. Manga were sold in Germany very early already (and in much larger quantities than in Anglo-American countries even) and anime were on TV a lot. On first sight, German fandom is big, enthusiastic,  about 90% (I’m not exaggerating, I did several headcounts at Animagic and here) of the visitors wears cosplays and these are not the shabbiest outfits either. This, amongst others, also generates a different focus at German conventions compared to The Netherlands and the US. In part, German cosplayers also have different performances, for instance of cover bands and show troupes as well. Let’s look at some take-home messages, then.

Publishing Fan Art   

Though I had attended Dokomi a few times before, this time they had moved to the Düsseldorf Messe. Now that I’m working on an article about fan conventions, and that we are in a year when Dutch conventions move around a lot as well, I find this specifically interesting. We arrive late and the building turns out to be quite big. It’s not huge, not Animagic type of huge, but it’s definitely spacious. Since they estimated an amount of 4.000 visitors at the site, during the weekend, this is no luxury. Overall, the atmosphere reminds me of Animagic: many visitors are sitting outside in the beautiful weather, the location is near The Rhein too and though it’s in the city centre, it feels detached from it. Dokomi was beautiful last year too, but the first building – a kind of school – only had a small square before it with some patches of grass. This year, the bigger location seems to have drawn a bigger amount of visitors as well. Outside, as well as inside the building, the convention is crowded. We manage to get a ticket, even though the convention is sold out, because Marissa emphasizes that she works for FireAngels and has been at Dokomi many times. This time, we have no artist table, and that is for the best because we want to see some of the events.

Interestingly, the first time that we were at Dokomi selling doujinshi, we were mistaken for professional artists by many fans that looked at our booth. In part that is because in Germany, fan publishing is something has evolved very rapidly into a professional scene rather than an independent fan scene. Many original manga are either published online, or are picked up by companies. Some of these (e.g., FireAngels) have their roots in fandom, but many publishers, such as Carlsen comic,s are big companies that try to support fan manga through competitions and for the lucky ones, contracts.

Another reason that we were mistaken for a company rather than a doujinshi circle is that circles are not a thing in Germany. Fan artists make prints, posters and other things, but they do not often make booklets. The fact that we had real books with us also characterized us as a bigger platform. Unlike the US, where I’ve also seen a vibrant prints and button culture at Otakon, the emphasis in Germany is still on original rather than fannish drawings. They are inspired by Japanese visual styles, yes, but the content is original. This year, particularly, the artist alley is much bigger. I expect that this is because Dokomi makes it very affordable, and Marissa also tells me that it’s not a good time for many German publishing companies. Many are on the verge of going broke, publish less, or have to cancel certain publications (e.g., Carlsen recently cancelled Daisuki, their version of Shoujo Beat). Perhaps this is also why the artist alley is nearly twice as big as last time.

With the decline of traditional publishing companies, fan artists seem to be publishing themselves again. They draw commissions and many of them do this in conhons that the visitors bring, little dummies in which they let all of their friends scribble, but also the semi-professional fan artists. The quality of the fan artists is very high but they have not organized, like the Dutch, in a Japanese model of doujinshi circles. They don’t team up and their focus is less on storytelling and more on illustrating. This is not a flaw, I think, well, hope. Perhaps this will change, but I’m happy – and I can’t quite explain why – that the fans are least getting their voice back. Though I’m not against publishing companies at all, I think a culture where both can go hand in hand – both traditional models that function as gatekeepers as well as fans that learn to do things themselves and get their training wheels on – will ultimately be the most productive and most worthwhile for everyone’s creativity.

Doppelgänger  

Other than fan art being more institutionalized, this year’s Dokomi also put cosplay on the agenda much more. When I look back at their schedule, I realize that this is the first time that they also host the European cosplay championships, which explains a thing or two. Like the Dutch Animecon, they also show much new interest in other cosplay events. Dokomi has workshops in grime, cosplay vidding, costume-creation and Japanese for cosplayers, amongst others. Whereas the Dutch focussed more on showcasing cosplay, Dokomi suggests help and an increase the quality and skills.

I wonder if the Germans need that many workshops, though I can see already that many workshops focus on specific issues and advancing aspects of your cosplay. Many of the cosplayers are at a good level already. This year, my friends and I are not dressed up this time and in the end, I kind of regret not wearing an outfit because it’s a very easy way to address people and strike up a conversation. Now, it’s much easier to observe and exclude yourself, but that’s not the most fruitful thing if you want to gain insights about how people enjoy the convention. We are just a bunch of Dutch people, silently eating the Japanese catered food (hm, sweet bean bread!), roaming around at the maid cafe, impressed by the lines. I take a lot of pictures for the blog because at least it gives me a sense of purpose and honestly, in terms of outfits, there’s a lot to be seen. Homestuck is also popular in Germany, I finally find another Effie cosplayer (few, not one of the outfits I did).

More than half of the workshops at Dokomi are about cosplay. Other fan practices are left out and so are in-depth panels and lectures about the content of manga and anime themselves (a blind spot that we should work on in The Netherlands too). However, there are some tea ceremonies and there’s karaoke, some of it in German, some of it in Japanese. What lacks is a video room, but that’s not a new thing at German conventions either. Animagic always broadcasts its video program separately in cinemas, for instance, but here, there’s no solution offered. Upsides are refreshing workshops in K-Pop dancing and cover bands in visual kei. There’s a LARP too, but where I could identify some players at Otakon, here I see no one engaging in it or subscribing at the booth.

There’s convention memes here too. At the start of the convention, a meme similar to Animecon, where you have to pull badges from a piece of papers. In the lobby I spot another one too, free Brohooves rather than free hugs signs.  Some people stand out because they have different tickets, turns out the Dokomi hosts a dating initiative too. f you are looking for a date, there’s specific colours that you can stick to your badge (yes, also a colour for LGB’s) and others can address you. Lastly, there’s a list of achievements in the booklet and titles that you can earn with them. Your friends need to make sure you fulfil them well and you can tweet about them if you want. For instance, for the achievement ‘Doppelgänger’ you need to find a cosplayer with a similar outfit. If only I had worn my Effie.

Das Letztze Einhorn

Still, my friends and I went there with a mission. We wanted to see Tsuki no Senshi (TnS)’s version of The Last Unicorn. For Marissa and me, this animated film and the original novel have a special place in our hearts. We often watch bits of it together, talk about it, admire the animation and laugh about Schmendrick. Though it was my favourite animation film as a child, last year I learned to really love it for what it was. I met the author at Otakon, saw the animation on big screen and felt overwhelmed. I read the novel afterwards, and then its sequel, Two Hearts, and then, the graphic novels. I started to fan girl much more, and part of that was because its author, Peter S. Beagle, was reviving the story properly and really started connecting with his fans. I grew much fonder of the narrative now that I heard its backstory, saw different instalments of it, and, now that I am older, could see how brilliant some of the scenes were (Molly meeting the unicorn, the unicorn’s discussions about love, the unicorn mirrored in the harpy). Marissa then, after YaYCon, gave me a very rare LP of the movie that she found a flea market nearby.

Needless to say, going to Germany meant getting in touch with one of our favourite things in a new way. I had seen TnS at Animagic before and I liked their work immensely. The troupe seems inspired by Takarazuka, the Japanese all-female show choir, though I think that TnS is not necessarily an all-female one. We hog seats during the European cosplay competition and wait while TnS members (can we already identify Molly or Schmendrick, maybe?) set up the decor. It seems simple but when they play with the light, we see that both the forest on the right, and the ocean on the left, can have fully different looks (another forest, another cold ocean).

The two horse men from the opening sequence enter through the crowd. The unicorn is played beautifully. Her movements are elegant, shy and hesitant. Not much later, the opening credits of the animation start playing. The animation is also used as a background and to tie the scenes together (split in three different screens, which was pretty dynamic at points). The dialogue turns out to be that of the animation as well. The opening dance is quite pretty but after that, the musical, like the animation, starts slow. It is only until the flamboyant Schmendrick is introduced, and a wonderfully played Mommy Fortuna, both in perfect costumes, that I really get drawn into the piece. I now see a performance with a heart that’s hilarious and moving. Though TnS obviously had to rework the story into more of a musical, even where it is a bit of a tight fit (with dance scenes that involve some extra songs by the Dutch metal band Epica and other slightly odd choices), it conveys something.

Partly, that’s because the cast does a great job. King Haggard – who as it turns out is an understudy – really stands out. Interestingly, ‘That’s all I’ve got to say’, the love song between Liir and Amalthea,  is mirrored with Molly and Schmendrick. I feel very moved by the dynamics and choreography. It really shows that this group has been around for a while. They know how to act and plan their movements carefully. The stage is busy and even with a few tables, a big scenery. Marissa is particularly impressed by the red bull and very disappointed when he turns out to be a she. I find it hilarious and telling that crossplays can still surprise a routine-fan like her. I hope that for a Dutch convention, we can convince TnS to drop by once with an English show because this is something that needs to be shared more.

All in all, Dokomi turns out to be totally okay again and though we hear rumours that this location is expensive, I hope they’ll stay there a bit because I would love to see more events like this at their convention. It used to be small but just by shifting locations, they got so much possibilities. The nice thing is also that this edition immediately gave a professional, good vibe with many new events. I guess that’s an upside for the Dutch cons who will be moving this year. It can be for the best.

    

Take-home:

- Should we start thinking about bigger cosplay shows with groups as well?

- Can conventions stimulate meeting new people and maybe even dating activities more?

- What do you like to buy  in an artist alley? Books, buttons, something else?

Progressing Dutch fandom at Animecon 2012

On Friday 18 May, I leave for Animecon 2012 with my sister and a friend. It is the eight time that I am attending this convention in Almelo. I join as an ethnographer and by now, a blogger but also as an eager fan, ready to promote YaYCon at our booth and sell doujinshi. Our artist group, OpenMinded, has close connections with the convention and has made the comics in the program booklet that is handed out to all visitors. Since 2006, when we were asked for the first time to do this, we have often made about 20-30 pages, an amount of pages that has been downsized now to keep it feasible. The months before the convention, we try to work with the theme of this year’s edition, Apocalypse Cow, a dystopic theme that feeds into Japanese movies like Godzilla as much as in Western action movies.  Unlike my other blogs and fieldnotes, I’ll structure this story a bit along my personal experiences and themes that inspired me throughout the convention. 

‘Cosplay are the clothes we create to make our lives less boring’

-          Helen McCarthy, Animecon 2012

As a cosplayer, I focussed mostly on getting my Effie Trinket outfit, as featured above, done before the convention. Though Hunger Games has no formal relations with Japanese pop-culture (even if it has some thematic resemblances with Battle Royale) this dress inspires me before the convention. Since it is a more Asian variety of Effie’s outfit, I assume I can pull this off and wear it proudly on Friday. I even get interviewed in it by RTV Utrecht. I get some questions by fans though if I’m wearing something original or fannish but that gives me ample chance to recommend Hunger Games to anyone that hasn’t seen it. Even though I am more happy with this Effie outfit than the Elf Fantasy Fair version, the fabric is itchy and uncomfortable and though I plan to wear it on Saturday as well, I kind of refuse it in favour of a Twilight Sparkle inspired get-up that I smacked together a week before the convention. Though I am less interested in wearing the outfit because it is partly bought and completely casual, I still put it on because it is the only other option I have. Literally. I simply did not pack enough real clothing or another costume.

Wearing the outfit becomes a rather sad performance because of personal reasons as well. As a result, I distance myself from the outfit and the character, as I did a few days before already the con already when putting effort in the costume was not energizing anymore but almost a punishment. And believe me, this character and what she stands for, being an intellectual and caring, and also her colours and personality, are really representative of me. (Though my dear friend Falco often calls me a combination of Twilight and Rarity.) It is a strange but compelling fact that it is as complicated to break a relationship with a character as you would with any real person. However, the wig looks good and the outfit is snug. In fact, it does not really feel like ‘Twilight’, but much more like ‘me’ with some Twilight features. and I decide that come Halloween, I might make a more elaborate Twillight if life settles down. The character means loads to me but she’s inherently tied up to friendships and relationships that I have in real life and without them, she loses her context.

In the lobby and elsewhere, I see many other bronies and pegasisters dressed up (and their responses to me) and notice how very difficult it is to do justice to the ponies. That’s another fact why I do not like dressing up as them so much. A fur suit as well as a humanized version are both versions that simply do not capture the characters at fullest, I feel, because of their highly stylized and animated qualities. Still, I have so little other capital to express my love for this show otherwise and what it meant to me as one of the few series that is so well-animated, funny, female-fronted and diverse. In fan fiction I cannot express it, in art I cannot show it and even in costume I feel so utterly limited.

That brings me to another theme that I felt throughout this convention, and that is representing the stories that we love in an interesting, innovative way and how cosplay can achieve this. Does the authenticity of cosplay lie in its performance, the oeuvre or diversity of one’s costumes or is it more in the development of skills and taking the creative act seriously as a process? My friends all have different opinions. Marissa makes a few strong claims that one Joker cosplayer who has worn his outfit during a few editions of Animecon already is authentic in his own right and having fun. I am the last person to doubt this, but I do believe that his idea of cosplaying is not that of other people who work towards their outfit for many months.

There is much diversity in cosplay. Part of that depends on the many phases that construct this performance. Like music and performance art, and unlike literature and visual art, it is a two-step program, that is, it is allographic, art historian Nelson Goodman would say. The art consists of a stage in which it is written down and documented, or sewn in the case of cosplay, and a stage in which it is performed. The amount of performances and the quality of them then also shapes the interpretation of the art work. Cosplay is more difficult for two reasons: First, the original is more complex here because the costume also reflects your qualities as a seamstress or creative consument/appropriator that tries to grasp the character. Second, the performance depends on other cosplayers that may perform the same character or characters from the same fiction. The originality can come into play in many of these phases and will also depend on the context. I remember very well that last year, I wore an outfit of Jesse from Toy Story that was celebrated in Germany because it was so unlike what they usually saw at anime conventions whereas in Holland, the reactions were much milder.

If fandom does mean making creative, derivative art, where can we find it? During her talk ‘A brief and selective history of cosplay’ Helen McCarthy shows some very interesting outfits from science fiction fandom throughout the years. She has been an active fan for many years and hearing her thoughts on this matter are simply inspiring for my own work as well. Helen’s ideas trace back the history of cosplay to older phenomena of dressing up in subversive ways that transgressed existing norms. She explains how Japanese clothing appropriated elements of Chinese narratives that were associated with being rich. Similarly, cosplayers use narratives to show who they are. Obviously thisis more local and more related to expressing emotions about the fiction itself, but there is much truth in this broader comparison. Helen’s lecture provides ideas on the cultural dynamics of fashion and visual culture itself and what stories our clothing indeed tell. The history of cosplay and of anime fan practices in general (the development of Western doujinshi I still want to write comes to mind) is still largely unwritten but after my current project, definitely something I want to help write and develop as well. This should be out there.

‘Who’s your favourite Robin?’

- Tea Leaves doujinshi, fan booklet

What inspires me most of all though, and returns in conversations throughout the convention, is the idea that we are all artists. Helen emphasized this a few times during her lecture and there’s much truth in it. Both derivate artists and original creators are important today but unfortunately, we are wrapped up in discussions of labour so often (especially when creativity pays our income) that our own creativity and drives get lost in terms of productivity and quantity. Creativity is a real need and should be viewed in this light.

Though being an artist is a status and role that was constructed very late – indeed it is a Romantic notion as such – it is one that is only applied to the media industry and not to us fans. Throughout the convention, I again noticed how we are forerunners of a creativity that is often misinterpreted. What artist are we talking about when those that work in the industry are always held in higher esteem? Whether we create derivative art or original art, our art needs to be protected and cannot be viewed with very simple ideas of imitation. During the panel ‘The Future of Comics is Manga’ both journalist Tamara and I root for counter-voices but there are little to none. The discussion slips in a very easy, simplified idea of stealing other people’s bread whereas current user practices and publication rights are very difficult. Especially in anime fandom, where getting your hands on content legally is sometimes not even possible, there is a lot of gray ranging from fan subs to scanlations.

However, the panellists do not just discuss regular piracy but fan works and especially in these cases, current copyright law is in many countries is ambiguous and emphasizes originality and ownership which are very specific values today, not only in relation to fandom and internet, but to art in general. The discourses on how we should review our copyrights are still going strong, and with due right, but even under current copyright laws fans have more leeway than many of them think because there are rights that protect transformative works in Europe as well. I’m happy though that The Organization of Transformative Works and Cultures  sticks up for fans and for misinterpretations concerning their art as piracy or infringement. All fan art to some degree displays values of the derivative artist and should be taken seriously.

At this convention, but also at previous ones, I notice the tendency of fans to debunk what they do because it involves existing content. It is one that I note all the time and that I constantly want to pull apart. There is no need to debunk what you do only because you work with existing content. You are attributing and when you transform it well and learn to develop your own voice, there is much beauty in fandom, just as much as in original art, and to be frank, the starting point may be different but the intent is the same: to tell an untold story. There’s no need to beat around the bush when something inspires you. You can either use these characters and work with them or mould them into your own new characters that wink at existing fiction. Both is fine and depend on your intent. If you want to pay homage to fiction that moved you, it is perhaps even better to be clear about this and show the derivative links. Today, we live in an intertextual culture and we should not be ashamed of this. We constantly combine stories. A convention is one way of living out the fiction that inspires us.

‘It’s dangerous to go alone!’

- Magikarp meme, Animecon 2012

Animecon manages to move me for the eight time and make me think. As one of my first conventions, it feels like home, and seeing it improve is a good feeling. The game room is better and has some innovative games, including Typing of the Death. Outside, I do Chinese exercises in the morning and marvel at martial arts. I attend the M.O.V.E. concert and feel glad that the last three years the Dutch scene has also incorporated more concerts. The band does a supreme job, technical difficulties aside, and there’s loads of audience participation. In terms of events, the convention surprises me and I am sure there is much to be gained there still but at least this year, for the first time, there are more informative events about voice-acting, comics and fandom that are inspiring. A personal highlight of mine is the EMV compo, which is a typical Dutch event by Kaj in which ecchi (light-erotic) music videos are presented. The cosplay competition, then, does not disappoint either though it is a shame that there are not as many participants now that big prizes, like going to Japan or Paris for competitions, are awarded. The group competition, which does not have an award, has no contestants at all, and that makes me a bit sad since I competed in that category all too often.

The artist alley is new (well, reborn, there was one before), and though it doesn’t draw a huge crowd because it is smack-dab in the visitor flow to the dealer room, the atmosphere is okay. Now that all artists are not in the dealer room with regular vendours  between them, a few of them arranged a game to draw more people. This card game functions rather well though all in all, only about twenty people attend. Extra cards can be commissioned from the artists and though the game was intended to be location-based, it has become more of a regular card game. The Dutch scene still focuses on original booklets, and the manga awards are one way to put our own original and fan comics out there. Whereas in other countries the emphasis is on fan art and maybe selling some original prints (like I noticed at Otakon last year) in The Netherlands there’s a vibrant doujinshi scene that also makes original comics. The manga awards, that are run for a second time, nominate many of my friends and the awards go to three of them for the categories best original comic, short comic and fan comic. All of these artists come from fandom and get artistic credit for what they do by judges from Dutch comic magazines. Thanks to staff member Mattijs, the Dutch industry has to talk back to what is happening here. A vivid comic scene that draws audiences that they lost long ago: women and even teenage boys that so rarely buy comics in The Netherlands.

The other dialogue that surprises me at the convention is that among visitors. They bound not just by performing characters and by joining events but also indirectly, by putting up memes in the convention building. This is the first time that I see this kind of activity at a convention at such a large scale. The elevators and lobby increasingly feature memes of our own and almost seem to mediate online image boards. There’s a Batman looking for Robin poster that one minute is there, and then gone again. There’s little Magikarp memes, as featured below, in the elevator. There’s Loki from The Avengers, or so I heard. This almost seems to be a response to the serious flyers of Mangakissa and the maid cafe that are also put up everywhere but it gives an energetic feel. The convention ends with a sad note though. The hotel in Almelo that we occupied for years will most likely not be the place of next year’s edition. Like the community itself, or even fandom itself, it has to move forward and Animecon wants to grow bigger, better and be more international. The World Forum in The Hague might be the next stop. This will undoubtedly change the meaning of the convention but perhaps it will be for the better.

Still, a convention depends on its visitors and the cultural capital that binds them. Whether that’s an award, a character or even a meme, it doesn’t matter. For some reason, I think this meme says it all. It’s hilarious and really says to me, ‘this is fandom, this is what we do’. We change places into media environments. We bring art into the everyday. We transform fiction and fool around with it. We can transform The Hague as much as we can transform Almelo, and hey, we can do it at a beach now too. This is something worth pursuing and that means that every now and then, you have got to take a risk, be a little subversive and think outside the box. That’s fandom in a nut shell.  If that’s not art, then what is?

Unbending Korra

By now, I have watched five episodes of The Legend of Korra. Since I like to do some fiction-related blogs every once in a while, a review is in order. Korra is an animation series that I was not too anxious to watch because Avatar: The Last Airbender ranks on top of my TV-list. Avatar was amazing in its multicultural atmosphere, its diverse and interesting cast, its fleshed out universe and details (e.g., the choreography of bending) and its sincere, tragic and inspiring plot lines. It stood out as a Western animation that was clearly inspired by anime and its sequential, comical but also tragic storytelling. Korra, then, was something that I could not really feel excited about. The main character seemed so cool and the premis so amazing that I felt it would disappoint. It didn’t. In fact, it adresses its fan base even more than the first series did and plays with the huge legacy of the series very well. With the exception of episode five, I am quite amazed. Let me tell you why.

a) The main cast is simply amazing. Both in terms of personalities and ethnic diversity, but also in terms of age. Even compared to anime – where there may be older characters but those will be in their twenties or thirties, maybe added up to by an excuse old man – this ensemble stands out. Some of the more important characters that actually carry the plot until now are the children of previous cast. Those that seem to have the most background are Tenzin, his wife and Lin and we’ll probably be seeing more older characters pop up that have some relation the previous show. I like it how this also involves the older viewers more and also establishes good storytelling. Where I was sceptically about setting a show so late after the first series, it actually works out very well and still has clear relations to the older series.

b) What a rich universe! Seriously, we are dealing with industralisation here but not in a steampunk way, rather they carried it further to metropolitan city that’s young, has an American feel to it and is structured like Hong Kong mixed with the roaring twenties. I am excited about this. The addition of technology really gives the universe shape and will probably in due time also play a vital role in its politics and the way that bending is given shape. Bending is also dealt with less in relation to spiritual and martial arts and more in relation to sports. This becomes very clear in pro-bending, which seems to be a combination of wrestling and martial arts with more emphasis on area control, is a very interesting one, though its rules are still somewhat vague.

c) There’s new political intrigue. This time, the concept is not nation vs. nation but benders against normals. It reminds me of Harry Potter, RPG’s like FInal Fantasy IV and series (e.g., Merlin)  in which magic gets banned.  The new antagonist is not just someone who fights benders with technology, as one would expect, but one who actually removes benders’ chi in some way. Though I expect his power to be technological, because it would fit the themes of magic vs. technology in the show more, I also get the impression there are hints towards this (e.g., his henchmen have weapons that resemble bending). Nonetheless, this villain portrays himself as an ideological one that has certain strenghts and, awkwardly, is no different from the benders. It could also be that he is someone that is actually a bender but managed to use his power in a very negative, dark sense. This would also be a very promising way to go.

d) The show really adresses its fan base. In the previous series, the writers already played with this and for instance wrote an ep about a theatre play in which the entire show is reproduced from the fans point of view (including popular romantic pairings and jokes). Now, jokes as ‘whatever happened to Zuko’s mom?’ are asked by the grandchildren of Aang. There’s a lot of nods towards the audience but also much more teasing. Because there’s a gap of seventy years between the series a lot of events are left unrecounted and especially what happened to Aang and Zuko is a mystery. On purpose, obviously, and that makes the show spicy. A lot of the viewer’s experience depends on the previous show, expectations of it, and speculation. We want to assemble the plot and theorize about what happened and sometimes, we see Korra retrieving a few memories, but because she isn’t very spiritual, it will probably take her a long time to get into Avatar mode and have a real conversation with Aang.

Personally, I see problems with all of this because the show taps into the previous one and a more mature, reflexive audience so much that it may be difficult to draw new and younger viewers. This may not be problematic per se, because the show does not disappoint the fans and caters to them well, but it may not be the right angle for a commercial show. It’s a fine line to walk, that between adressing and a big audience and rewarding your invested audience, that you want to engage more by intertextual, nudges and by elaborating your story world in a very refined, multimedial way.

I think the romantic The Spirit of Competition (episode 5), in which the characters of Korra were already paired up in various ways and in which writers already seemed to pre-create a kind of ‘shipping’ fan base was not a very correct move. We do not know these characters well yet and especially Mako and Bolin are still somewhat flat and only developped as partners of the female characters. They have been through a lot but we don’t know what yet and here they are already dating away. Where does that leave the rest of the episodes and building up towards love conflicts? The slow love and the confusion that shippers tend to invest in.

In this episode I see very clearly that writers still experience troubles when adressing the fan base and sometimes, try to do this so clearly, that fans are not interested anymore. Another show that has these tendencies at the moment is Glee, which taps into its fan base so much and tries to create so many ’wants’ that it leaves its fans feeling empty or betrayed quite often. Part of being a fan means investing in alternative story lines or pairings that the writers may not have written, but if shows suddenly start writing it all, being a shipper becomes less fun. Personally, as someone that loves swooning over media pairings, I recognize some of the anger that I see when I browse through responses over Korra episode 5. Overall though, I think this show will try to do good and seems to have a story line worth watching. Let’s hope they play it out well!

Review: What soapies and shippers have in common

Review

What soapies and shippers have in common

Soap Fans: Pursuing Pleasure and Making Meaning in Everyday Life. Harrington, C.L. & Bielby, D.D. (1995). Philadelphia: Template University Press.

Ever since I read Ien Aang’s book on Dallas, I have had an interest in literature on soaps and romance novels. Certain structures that we tend to neglect when doing research on cult texts (e.g., science fiction, anime) become vital components here and soap analytics often try to reveal structures of fandom by reading the texts closely. This often stands in great contrast with scholars of cult (fans) who assume that meaning is derived from oppositional reading/subversion. The soap fan follows the structure of the narrative, often engages with celebrity culture and is less productive, which often makes for very different fan analyses.

This week I bridged my train travels to Utrecht with a golden oldie. Some pre-internet works on fan cultures tend to be a bit worn out these days but many points in this book are still very valid. Unlike Baym’s book, the focuss here is less on mail lists/discussion boards and more on speaking to individual fans and attending fan club meetings. This data gives a nice personal touch which is also what the authors emphasize. They favour a view of ‘fanship’ (the individual fan acts and making of meaning) as opposed to fandom (the community-driven and organized engagement with a text). Particularly in soap fandom, where creative activities are less visible in favour of speculation/discussion, this is interesting and they make some nice points about the narrative structures of soaps. Obviously, part of the fan activities thriving around them and their diversity stems from a bigger cooperation with the industry, different fan clubs where close relations to actors are possible, and the open-ended story of the soap.

What I like is that this book reminds me that some things that we try to put on the agenda in fan studies now are most apparent in older writing (I also think of The Adoring Audiene now). That is, things as affect and how we invest in fiction as individual viewers, the continuum between fans and viewers and how different narrative structures that facilitate different types of fandom. Much of fan studies today relies on speculative fiction (e.g., science fiction and fantasy series) and mainstream success series but its connections to celebrity culture and other types of fiction have gone a bit lost. And obviously, since the late nineties when internet became a common medium, the emphasis has been even more on participatory culture and the idea that everyone wants to show their fandom rather than the different personal relations and the idea that we do not expose our fan-alliances to everyone.

Another thing that the authors put on the agenda is affect. They mainly use Grossberg’s account and Schowalter’s idea of a ‘wild zone’ (not necessarily a term I would pick or deploy). Though I still don’t think their ideas suffice to show the complex interplay of fans with fiction, they raise a lot of good points as to how we project ourselves on couples. For my discussions on shipping, I will definitely pick parts of this up.

Empirically I was most convinced by the discussions of fan club meetings. I wish they had done a bit more with those interviews and their ethnography but other than that, I had great time reading.