Henry Jenkins' theory of fandom essay

Define Jenkins’ theory of 'fandom', How do converging platforms and distribution methods help “Minecraft” fans become textual poachers?

Henry Jenkins is an influential theorist, who has a specific influence in Media in the online world, or media 2.0. Ever since the use of the internet started to massively increase as a participatory, interactive medium where the audience can voice their opinions, the theorist started to write about how this transformed audiences, institutions and nature of the product. Henry Jenkins ideally explored a range of aspects which pinpoint how the audience perceive certain things, the internet, and how the audience participate with the media overall. In 1992, Henry Jenkins produced a book which is called ‘Textual poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture’. The book is ideally significant forming part of his theory as, it is considered as the foundational work on fan culture. Specifically in the book, Jenkins talks about how media fans ideally construct their own culture by remixing, ‘poaching’ content from the mass culture which makes the content unique and tailored to them. For example in a Minecraft game, users could produce mods and alter the storyline, characters, and settings etc. Jenkins also mentions fandom in his theory, which is active, engaged consumers of the media producing poached media content to seal in the gaps in the media world. This could be achieved through YouTube videos, forums, and blogs designed by consumers which is called ‘collective intelligence’, as the audience is actively resolving the solution and posting it through social media so other users could identity where they went wrong. Fans who are active supporters of the same game share a degree of social connection with one another and feel that their involvement matters in the media world. The fact that the audience are actively engaging through the online world could mirror what Jenkins mentioned about ‘participatory culture’, this is where the audience are creative participants rather than passive consumers which then goes against the effect theory. The effects theory says how the media are powerful, negative forces where the audience are brainwashed and naive in what the media showcases to the audience.

Cross platform gaming can be a highly beneficial and utilised well by the audience as, gamers have the accessibility to become textual poachers and construct their own culture by making modifications to the game. Cross platforming enables consumers to access one game from all gaming devices e.g. Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation etc. Players can play one type of game simultaneously with their friends without having to own a particular gaming device. The ‘better together’ update by Microsoft, has made cross platform gaming an improved, easier aspect of the gaming world especially for the wider mass audience who admire the Minecraft game this is because, gamers can easily enjoy the game and hopefully increase its Minecraft fan base. With the Minecraft game, fans could ideally be textual poachers and construct their own game which gives them a sense of ownership. Minecraft fans could do this by creating mods, changing the storyline, settings, characters, and episodes; this could then be public to the online world. By the audience doing this, this could show how the audience are active and shape the flow of media as, they change the original version of the Minecraft game and adapt to their own individual style.

 To define converging platforms, this is the coming together of different media platforms such as film, and the internet, games and the internet, gaming consoles, handheld devices etc. Ideally a Minecraft film is going to be produced which is specifically inspired by the game of Minecraft. Microsoft is working in alongside with Warner Bros which is establishing a brand partnership. Many more brand partnerships will be made in order to create a Minecraft Lego toy and Minecraft magazine. The audience could be seen as textual poachers as; they could help the brands by commenting and tweeting on what they want to anticipate by being a Minecraft fan. The Minecraft fans can do this by their social media pages. The Minecraft game also had to take permission from gaming device companies like Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo in order to make their games available on a wider range of gaming platforms. The role of synergies could be seen as a great approach in saving the production cost of the game as, fewer master copies of the video game are actually required and these can then be ported across a number of convergent platforms e.g. Windows, Xbox, Android, and smart phones etc.  

Media 2.0 which forms part of Henry Jenkins theory could also display the Minecraft fan as textual poachers as; media 2.0 became a platform which is commonly identified as the internet.  The internet is seen as a powerful tool to empower the fans and break down the traditional restrictions they might face e.g. race and social class. Therefore media 2.0 is significant to fandom as, they can interact with other Minecraft fans on a wider scale and be seen as active participants of the media.  Minecraft fans can do this by creating their own fan pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so other Minecraft fans are able to see it and bond over the same interest. Youtubers could also do this through live streaming or simply creating videos which shows their experience on how they play the Minecraft game.  Media 2.0 could be seen as an important part of Jenkins study on the audience as, the audience could be seen to have an active voice in the media by producing contents which other users could see.