participatory culture & true blood fandom

Growing technologies are always providing new ways for people to communicate and circulate information and ideas. There are also new opportunities for fans to connect and collaborate. As such, fans are no longer passively consuming; instead, they are avid media consumers but also contributors and producers of new content.

True Blood fans enjoy consuming the Southern Vampire Mysteries, HBO’s tv series, and the many other forms True Blood’s story has moved into. Many of these fans are also actively involved in the participatory fan culture online.

In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Henry Jenkins defines a participatory culture, as one with

• relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
• strong support for creating and sharing one's creations with others
• some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices
• members who believe that their contributions matter
• members who feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created).

Not everyone in a participatory culture must contribute, but “all must believe they are free to contribute when ready” (Jenkins). For example, in True Blood Roleplaying (RP) on Twitter, fans can follow RPers, and read the newly developed storylines. Later, fans can start a Twitter account themselves and RP with other characters (more on this next post).

In participatory cultures, “many will only dabble, some will dig deeper, and still others will master the skills that are most valued within the community. The community itself, however, provides strong incentives for creative expression and active participation” (Jenkins). In the True Blood Twitter RP community, RPers respond to and interact with their followers in character. When I joined Twitter and began following characters, I was thrilled to see the following messages in my inbox:

@EricNorthman I see you are following me. I will offer you but one warning -- I would not try anything rash if I were you. I'm still hungry.

@SookieBonTemps Thanks for followin' this waitress. Look forward to readin' your thoughts 140 characters at a time.

@PamVampTB You’re in my vault.

It’s hard to explain why these messages were exciting for me. I guess it’s because they’re in character, and it’s a new experience to be acknowledged by a character and have the opportunity for dialogue. It’s funny… because I know they’re RPers and fans like me… but messages like this welcome newbies to become participants in this part of the True Blood narrative.

There are many other participatory cultures beyond Twitter RP. Jenkins discusses four forms:

1. Affiliations: memberships in online communities centered around various forms of media.
2. Expressions: the production of new creative forms, such as fan fiction, fanart, and fanvids.
3. Collaborative Problem-solving: the collaborative completion of tasks and development of new knowledge (e.g. Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming, and spoiling).
4. Circulations: shaping the flow of media (e.g. podcasting, blogging).

Successful transmedia stories like True Blood have a fully developed fictional world, which invites fan participation in all of the above forms. With True Blood set in an alternate reality where vampires have come out of the coffin (and later weres and shifters), there are seemingly endless possibilities for new storylines, character development, and original characters. This world with supernatural beings has its own fictional history, traditions, beliefs, politics, geography, pop culture etc. There is so much to be written, creators (Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball) need fans to fill in the story.

Jenkins, Henry et al. (2005). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.

transmedia storytelling

Virtual fan communities are growing as the Internet and new technologies become increasingly dominant in our daily lives. Since the emergence of Web 2.0 applications, we’ve become a participatory culture. Rather than passively viewing and consuming, fans actively contribute to global fan bases through creation and participation. Media consumers are also producers.

With the rise of user-generated content, companies are finding success by creating new kinds of content as well. Most brands have extended their name to the web, but the narrative is traditionally found within one medium. Fans aren’t satisfied with one medium anymore. Our lives are multi-platform, and so our entertainment should be as well.


True Blood is a transmedia story. True Blood fans can engage with new content across different media platforms. The complete narrative is not confined to one medium (e.g. HBO tv series); instead, it continues across many platforms, and the fictional world becomes integrated with real life.

There are two main benefits to this new approach: transmedia content promotes the main platform (tv series), and it also provides fans with a more immersive experience in their fictional world of choice.

For transmedia n00bs, here’s an overview (mostly based off of an introductory handout called "Transmedia Storytelling 101" by Henry Jenkins):

• In transmedia storytelling,"integral elements of fiction are dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience”(Jenkins).

• Most brands are multi-platform, but not all use transmedia storytelling. The content shouldn’t be repurposed or adapted to a new platform; instead, it should expand the narrative and the fictional world with unique content. “Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story” (Jenkins). These narrative extensions can keep the interest of audiences (while they wait for season 4 of True Blood), provide insight into characters (Jessica Hamby’s blog), and elaborate on parts of the fictional world (Fellowship of the Sun website, American Vampire League website etc.).

• A successful transmedia narrative is planned to benefit from the strengths of each media platform. Content should be where fans “already are, with tools that they’re already using, and in ways they already understand” (Thompson) (e.g. Twitter can reach fans and share information quickly, but you have a 140 characters to work with). Transmedia storytelling expands fanbases “by creating different points of entry for different audience segments” (Jenkins). People who are familiar with one media platform are likely explore others to get more of the story. For example, the Dying for Daylight game is based on one of Charlaine Harris’ characters in the world of True Blood. Dahlia is on a quest to find a sun potion that allows vampires to walk with the living in daylight. Although True Blood fans may not normally be gamers, a True Blood-themed game will attract fans who enjoy True Blood in its other forms and want more of the story (…and to understand the new addition of sun potion to the True Blood mythology).

• Transmedia storytelling is closely linked to worldbuilding—the creation of “complex fictional worlds that can sustain multiple interrelated characters and their stories” (Jenkins). A fictional world provides opportunities for a complex transmedia story and encourages fan participation. Fans gather and organize information found in the different media forms for reference. The transmedia narrative provides a set of rules and mythology for the world, which fans use to guide their participation (e.g. fanfiction, role playing). For example, the Harry Potter Lexicon is an online encyclopaedia of the Harry Potter world (JK Rowling herself was known to use it for fact checking).
  

1. Jenkins, Henry. “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins, March 22, 2007.
2. Thompson, Brooke. “4 Easy Steps for an Accessible Transmedia Experience,” Giant Mice, April 29, 2010.

becoming truebie

Truebie—noun

1. A fan who consumes the True Blood narrative across all platforms, as well as actively engages in the fandom subculture by participating and expanding the media franchise through the creation and production of new content. Under the guise of research, I am becoming a truebie.

I am exploring True Blood in all forms available and immersing myself the fan culture. I will be discussing both “official” canon texts and fanon additions (unauthorized, fan-generated extensions of the True Blood narrative).