#postbymolly

“Star texts layer together popular representation of actors and of the characters they play into a cultural text, mobilized in part by media industry and in part by audience construction,” (410).

  In “#BowDown to Your New God: Misha Collins and Decentered Authorship in the Digital Age” Louisa Ellen Stein discusses the tensions between official and unofficial media authorships in the digital age, the prevalence of fan-authored texts and an antiquated perception of remix culture as threatening, and most substantially, the construction of Misha Collins as an element of the Supernatural fandom. Stein focuses on Collins’ Twitter as a source that builds his star text, and the satirical elements that Collins employs about Twitter as a medium to cull together his “minions” and be perceived as an active role in the creative construction of Cas. Stein argues that the relative equality that celebrity tweets have among regular-people tweets, appearing side by side in the feed, promotes a level of interaction that is more intimate and direct that fans enjoy. Collins navigates a feeling of authenticity through fan engagement on Twitter that circumvents “The Powers That Be” notion that the showrunners control all aspects of the Supernatural text. By giving his fans calls to action and interacting with them directly, Misha Collins bridges the gap between character and actor as an overall cultural figure.

  By the same token, the Twitters of both Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) and Retta (@unfoRETTAble) serve to bridge the gaps between character and celebrity figure in two distinct ways:

The character of Donna on Parks and Recreation seems to be hyperbolically based on Retta’s life, where she will actively live-tweet shows as she watches them IRL, and her character will live-tweet, Vine, and Snapchat as she walks from coffee to the parking lot to her office. Donna often uses the phrase “He can get it” in reference to celebrities she finds attractive, which Retta mirrors on her Twitter feed (I can’t tell who started saying it first). The ambiguity between Retta’s real life and her character on Parks and Rec (similar to that of another Parks star Aubrey Plaza) presents Pawnee as almost real, and that Donna and Retta alike are among us fangirling over Scandal. This makes the celebrities accessible to fans and morphs Donna and Retta alike into its own cultural text. 

Aaron Paul, however, is distinct from his character Jesse on Breaking Bad in many ways, yet will take to Twitter to promote the show, offer scavenger hunts for tickets to a screening of the Breaking Bad finale, and use the word “Bitch” with frequency, made famous by his character’s overuse of it. He constructs his Twitter presence similarly to that of Misha Collins, which seems authentic and audience engaging, and is appreciative of fan-made content. AMC’s notoriety for being behind the times in terms of social media integration encouraged fans to follow Aaron Paul during a promo for Season 5B, where Paul’s Twitter handle was shown on the screen, advertising that Paul would be live tweeting the episode. Though fans rely on the voice of Vince Gilligan as the official “Power That Be” for the show, the industry has Aaron Paul to extend the Jesse Pinkman character beyond Gilligan’s authorial vision.