#fan representation

This is literally my genuine live reaction.

Henry Jenkins “Get a Life!: Fans, Poachers, Nomads” describes the way fans go from passively enjoying a show to actively participating in their fandoms as poaching. In Jenkins terms poaching is when fans take what they enjoy and find useful from the show and in turn create goods and works for others to enjoy (Jenkins, 23-27).

In Associated Press (AP) “Fans Trek to New York to Experience Sci-Fi Show” fans are represented as enthusiasts willing to create and engage with the show of their affection. The forms of poaching displayed in the clip constitute a myriad of ways fans engage with Star Trek as a property. By building sets and props as well as paying to walk around and engage with the replica sets of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, as well as showing up in hand-made costumes, fans are no longer passively enjoying Star Trek, but actively participating with the show (AP, 0:20- 0:22).

The video represents fans as being from all walks of life and all different ages, as well as showcasing older fans sharing their love of the show with their children (AP, 1:05- 1:17). The tourists who visit these sets have different goals for doing so, such as attempting to relive their childhood (AP, 1:28- 1:35), getting to feel they are part of the show (AP, 0:25- 0:34), or even just to research and take notes to build props for cosplay (AP, 1:45- 1:55). The video presents these fans in an interesting light; it does not attempt to ostracize fans for enjoying Star Trek and attempts to rely upon information to the public about ways they may enjoy the attraction as well.

The fascination and frustration that comes with participating in fandom are also demonstrated in the video (Jenkins, 23-24). The sets built by James Cawley were initially made for fan movies based on Star Trek (AP, 0:17 - 0:19). However, he stopped using the sets for this purpose when Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios sued another studio in California (AP, 0:46 - 0:53). By participating in fan films, Trekkies showcase an ownership for the text they feel they have as consumers, while by suing fan studios both Paramount and CBS display the ownership they believe they have as producers (Jenkins, 30).

This further employs the struggle both fans and studios have for their properties and as Jenkins has stated the studio rewards fans who passively enjoy the property and punishes those who actively engage and create works based on the property (Jenkins, 25). Both fans and producers have different ways they interpret the text, with fans wanting to participate further with the text and poaching what they enjoy from the material and producers wanting fans to interpret the text at face value so they may contain full ownership of the property.

Work Cited

Jenkins, Henry. "Get a Life!: Fans, Poachers, Nomads." Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge, 1992. N. pag. Print.