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