Blog Post #3
In this blog I will be covering the last third of the semester which includes chapters seven to chapter 10 and the corresponding reading assigned. The point of this paper is to pick out the main points discussed in all the readings and how they can be applied in a real life setting, also to explain how they have made an impact on our daily lives.
Starting with the terms and ideas covered in chapter 7 and Kim’s article titled the influences of sporting viewing conditions on enjoyment from watching televised sports: An analysis of the FIFA World Cup audiences in theater vs. home. In this chapter we focus on the reception context which refers to both a physical place and the web of interpersonal relationships and interactions that occur within that space (Sullivan p. 163) and the rituals in which people use media. A media ritual can consist of the time, place and atmosphere in which audiences consume media (Sullivan p. 178). An example that I have that relates to media rituals is that certain days of the week and at certain times, a television series I am interested in while premiere a new episode. I plan my day around watching the new episode. I make sure I am at home either comfy on the couch under a blanket or even in my room lying in bed with the television on. If for some reason I cannot be home during the time the show is playing, usually because I have class during that time I PVR the episode and watch it as soon as I get home. This example also relates to the idea of spatial or physical context as this is known as the concrete, physical dimensions of the location in which the audience consumes media (Sullivan p. 163). In the example given, for watching Television or movies my preferred physical context is somewhere I can be comfortable while consuming media, such as at home. In the case where not being able to watch the show as it is being aired relates to the term time-shifting, since the integration of new web based technologies there is the rise of the digital video recorder where one can record the show and watch it whenever they have time (Sullivan p. 165). Along with spatial context there is the idea of social contexts, the multifaceted space that includes people typically loved one and friends, relationships and memories of past experiences (Sullivan p. 163). An example of this could be when my mom and I get together on certain nights of the week to watch certain television shows. Currently it is a ritual that we get together on the couch on Wednesday nights and watch the new episode of Survivor.
According to the Kim’s article there is a certain impact on the physiological response made by the atmosphere in which an audience consumes their media. In their study they take an approach to see how different venues of watching sports, give the audience different viewing experiences (Kim, K., et al. p. 390). They consider the multiple factors involved in a viewing experience between watching sports in your home versus in a theatre, this considers not only technological factors but also the social factors that drive sports viewing. These factors include “the screen size, image quality, and audio quality […] also social factors such as cheering atmosphere” (Kim K., et al. p. 390).
In chapter 8 we discuss the idea of fans and fandoms and how the impact audiences. The fan by definition is often used to describe a religious member, belonging to the temple, a devotee (Sullivan p. 192). And often seen in media there are several genres that appeal to many different types of audiences. A way to increase a fans devotion to a franchise is to find ways to involve the fans, either from the franchise themselves or fans create ways themselves and get the idea out using social media. According to Sullivan, this can be referred to as social aspect of being a fan in which fans of the media come together in either a formal or informal structure to share their mutual interest (p. 195). An example from an informal structure of fans getting together is back in 2015 when Zayn decided to leave the band One Direction, the rest of the group continued with the tour and finished what they had started. Since the fans are connected via social media that most common one is Twitter we could easily share information and contact other fans. We had made a group for the Toronto tour date and agreed to make signs to hold up during a particular song that would be played during the concert. Some fans even made extras to make sure that everyone had one, once we entered the venue there was a sign placed on every seat. The band saw the signs and was very grateful that we stuck with them during this hard time. Another theme that follows fans and even applies to the example of One Direction is fan fiction, original stories about media texts written by fans that often include actual characters from the text. The two types of fan fiction is where the writer writes themselves into the story to interact with the original characters, and the second being where the writer explores sexual relationships among the characters (Sullivan p. 204). Any franchise has these types of fan fiction, looking at the TV show Supernatural Fans of the franchise are obsessed with a sexual relationship between one of the main characters Dean and an angel Castiel. Most of the fan fiction relating to the show is what the internet world often refers to as ‘smut’ in which the writing is very graphic between the characters. Others could be where the writer allows themselves and the readers to insert themselves in the lives of the characters. For example, there are short stories called Imagines where the writer gives the audience a potential scene that could happen to them involving their favourite characters.
Fans often have a collection of merchandise and memorabilia related to the franchise (Sullivan p. 208), they can collect action figures, comic books, and many more items. Every time I go to a concert before the concert starts I make sure to bring enough money with me to buy merchandise at the concert hall, whether it’s t-shirts or jewelry, it’s something to help remember the night later on, and where the shirt after the concert is a way of finding other fans.
Fans play a crucial role in the creation and continuation of a franchise, according to Booth “Fans’ engagement at multiple nodes within the production process portends a consequential role in the production of the media object” (p. 151). It’s because of fans that there is a financial gain to creating more material. For example Doctor Who originally aired in 1963 and continued into 1989, with only 2 episodes airing between then and the revival in 2005. Since the revival there has been a large demand for the show to continue, between the original fans from when the show first sired to new fans that started with the newer episodes and eventually watched all of them.
In chapter 9 we focus on interactive audiences and how digital media has changed the way in which fandoms work. Since the widespread digitization of media Sullivan discusses two major trends are shifting for audiences: audience fragmentation and audience autonomy. Audience fragmentation occurs because audiences are being separated into smaller and smaller groups due to the increase in media channels, and audience autonomy refers to contemporary characteristics of media, ranging from interactivity to mobility to on-demand functionality increased the capacity for user-generated content; all serve to enhance the affect that audiences have over media content (Sullivan p. 217). In audience autonomy we came across the term user-generated content which is where audience can interact with the media and create their own experience, often used in video games such as World of Warcraft. Even on other media platforms there is ways that user-generated content can be created. YouTube being one of the largest platforms where users can meld their own individual ideas of popular media by using small portions of existing media and creating new and interesting media, this is often referred to as remixing (Sullivan p. 221). It is also where users can upload vlogs (Sullivan p. 221), where the user talks directly into the Camera with little editing. They often include comments from previous videos or even other social media platforms or can even show video clips from previous video the user has posted.
Twitter according to Wasike is particularly worth studying because of its uniqueness for interaction and its prowess as an adept news breaking tools (Wasike, p. 7). While many social media platforms have the ability to reach large audiences, Twitter is best for interactional purposes. It also allows social media editors to post to multiple readers and have them respond with information in a short period of time (Wasike p. 7). An example of this would be the terrorist attacks in Paris November 13th 2014. I was sitting on the couch while my parents were out for dinner, when the news broke of the tragedy that had struck a concert in Paris. While I had the news playing to give me updates I also had Twitter up on my laptop because I was receiving updates a lot quicker from Twitter than I was from the news stations. There were people living tweeting as the attack was happening to let any family, friends or followers that were checking in on them, that they were safe. It was a fast and easy way to communicate with people all over the world to get access to the news as it was happening.
Finally chapter 10, we recover some of the major themes brought up in the textbook and how they will continue to change the way in which audiences use and interact with media. Transmedia production “refers to the coordinated use of multiple platforms to craft a narrative” (Sullivan p. 241). This opens ups the option for the audience to interact with the producers of a media text. For example, while watching the live broadcasting of a television season finale, living tweeting your reactions to the events that take place has become the norm. Seeing hundreds of people tweeting their reactions and watching as the hashtag associated with the shows starts trending so you can see in real time how people react and how many people are watching. Even in some cases, with media being as accessible as it is, it also allows people to avoid certain media content that they find offensive (Sullivan p. 243). The idea that on social media if someone is being disrespectful or just has an opinion that you cannot agree with you can easily block them.
Now the idea is trying to determine where exactly media goes from here. Does the audience become even more active? Do we stay at the level we have already attained? Or do we regress into being more of a passive audience? While Astigarraga argues that “active audience of traditional media has probably been pushed as far as it can go, […] interactive media [referring to the internet] put such activity at the center of both media design and media use” (p. 135), one must agree that as it stands it hard to see how audience could be any more active, we have the ability to see media content as it happens, how could we possibly improve on this? But then again, if we were able to go back in time and tell someone how audience would behave in today’s modern era, no one would think it was possible. Ultimately there is no way to definitively tell what the future hold for audiences with media content.
