#saveferris23

In Lincoln Geraghty’s “Masculine Pursuits?: Gender, Generation, and the Fan Collector”, the author discusses how collecting is gendered in some ways but that fan collecting ultimately unites all fans as it is based in nostalgia, whatever that may mean for the individual. Through both affirmational and transformative modes of fan engagement, I think we can use this commonality of nostalgia based fan expression to gain insight as we see similarities between fan expression, such as how and what fans collect. 

Geraghty discussed of how the Barbie doll is not only gendered towards females, but is also more and more frowned upon by feminists. The Barbie dolls are targeted towards young girls and over time many people have started to point out how the Barbie dolls line projects an attainable female ideal. From the way Barbie dresses to her physical fitness, people have grown to associate the dolls with being on the wrong side of the feminism movement for our current climate. Geraghty dives into how despite being gendered and ill thought of, all kinds of people are collectors of these dolls for the sake of nostalgia, but their deeper motivations all differ. Geraghty writes that “while the image of Barbie is seen as problematic by many we should look more closely at what collectors are doing with the dolls as new meanings and readings are inscribed once the toy becomes a collectible, an object of distinction and value” (Geraghty 69). 

We can use nostalgia motivated fan collecting to unite both genders, as well as show how nostalgia can bring about the expression of both affirmational and transformative fan works. The boundary between affirmational and transformative modes of fan engagement is always seen as hazy, but for fan collecting I would argue that it gets hazier. The notion that all fan collecting is rooted in nostalgia suggests that affirmation fan practices are already at play. Collecting certain dolls or action figures from the past shows these fans’ interest in the details and order of what they are looking for. After the the items are purchased by the individual, that is when how the piece fits into their collection or what the piece means to them starts to be able to be seen an transformational. Geraghty writes “I think that it is more instructive to look at the importance of nostalgia in collecting and the identities all collectors construct  through the preservation of objects from the past” (Geraghty 53). These constructed identities reprint how they transform canonical pieces into pieces with new meanings once they are added to their collections. The incorporation of these modes of fan expression, as well as the incorporation of all kinds of fans illustrates have nostalgia based collection is changed by each individual collector. 

In Jensen’s “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization”, the author discusses the concept of the pathology of two types of fans, the obsessed and the hysterical crowd. The author also addresses the idea of fans being seen as “others” by people who consider themselves to have “normal” interests. This clip from the animated adult series Bob’s Burgers highlights how media portrays the hysterical crowd as well as the individual.

The beginning of the clip shows how the hysterical crowd is commonly perceived. As it opens with the boy band singing on stage, the camera pans to an audience of only girls who are gazing in awe at the boys as they perform. This moment solidifies the popular notion the hysterical crowds of composed of girls following boys. The clip builds on this notion as begins to focus in on our main characters, two sisters. The older sister, Tina, shows to be a part of this fandom as she matches the girls around her. They are mouthing the words to songs and some girls are even so emotionally overwhelmed that they are crying. The younger sister, Louise, begins to start asking to know more about the band as she finds herself becoming captivated by the lead singer. Louise finds herself wanting to know everything about this boy, Booboo, and wanting to give him presents and change herself to like whatever he likes. She equates her captivation to a sickness. The fall of Louise’s immunity to the fandom highlights the contrast between “normal” people and “otherness”. This episode leans into the way popular culture has perpetuated the pathology of fandom. This episode aired in 2013, so it is amazing to see how these notions that Jensen tried to combat are still appearing in media today.

Although, Louise eventually being able to see why the fans appreciate the band supports Jensen’s closing argument in that she suggests that we all have interests and none of which are greater or lesser than another person’s. Jensen states this as they write, “what I am suggesting is that we respect and value other people as if they were us, because they always are. I ask that we avoid, assiduously, the seduction of separateness that underlies the description of fans as pathological” (Jensen 26). It is this separateness that gets erased toward the end of the episode as Louise realizes that she is now a part of the fandom herself. This changes the episode as it is somewhat redeeming to the way the episode explored the pathology of the fans throughout the beginning of the episode. I think the episode is purposeful in Louise’s realization and that this shows that the stereotypes they enforced were not blind, but rather stereotypes that we can all identify with in some way.

I will be using Jenkins’ “‘Layers of Meaning’: Fan Music Video and the Poetics of Poaching” to dive deeper into the notion of fan music videos and what they are usually trying to accomplish as far as argument or commentary. I have chosen a fan video made for the television show Pretty Little Liars. The video pairs the song “Power” by Little Mix with clips of one of the lead characters, Alison Dilaurentis. Alison plays a high school “mean girl” that is the leader of a friend group made up of four other girls. Alison goes missing at the beginning of the series, and it is up to her friends to figure out what happened to her while they are being black mailed by an anonymous antagonist, “A”. 

Since Alison is missing at the beginning of the series, most of what the audience learns about her is through flashbacks. The audience is quickly exposed to Alison’s nastiest moments as she spent most of her time blackmailing and bulling people before her disappearance. The song, “Power”, intensifies the clips that illustrate the darker parts of Alison’s character as the creator chose to show moments of her threatening others, raising her voice and showing an intense, flirtatious confidence, while leaving out her more vulnerable moments of the show from the video. Jenkins discusses these important roles of both the music and images as he quotes a creator with the initials M. V. D. as they explained that “images pull out the words, emphasize the words, just as the words emphasize the pictures” (Jenkins 225). For instance, for the lyrics “you’re the man, but I got the power” the creator chose to pair that with clips of Alison speaking to multiple different men with intensity and then with her walking away confidently. These clips were taken out of many different contexts. Some of the clips were her talking to guys that she was in relationships with, but one was even of her blackmailing one of her friend’s dad. Although none of these scenes hold the same meaning when put into context, the creator strung them together in order for them to make sense with her theme. 

M. V. D. elaborated on building a theme as they stated, “If I’ve done a good job with a video, I can portray an emotion and I can hold that emotion throughout the song. I can bring a new level of depth to that emotion through my images and I can make you think about the program in a different way” (Jenkins 225). The notion of her character embracing this intensely confident song with these clips changes how you would view this character as a whole. None of her vulnerable moments are shown, none of her back story is discussed, and there is no context as to the previous events before each clip. Fan music videos try to play on an emotion or illustration of a character just as this video did with Alison Dilaurentis.

In Jensen’s “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization”, the author discusses the concept of the pathology of two types of fans, the obsessed and the hysterical crowd. The author also addresses the idea of fans being seen as “others” by people who consider themselves to have “normal” interests. This clip from the animated adult series Bob’s Burgers highlights how media portrays the hysterical crowd as well as the individual. 

The beginning of the clip shows how the hysterical crowd is commonly perceived. As it opens with the boy band singing on stage, the camera pans to an audience of only girls who are gazing in awe at the boys as they perform. This moment solidifies the popular notion the hysterical crowds of composed of girls following boys. The clip builds on this notion as begins to focus in on our main characters, two sisters. The older sister, Tina, shows to be a part of this fandom as she matches the girls around her. They are mouthing the words to songs and some girls are even so emotionally overwhelmed that they are crying. The younger sister, Louise, begins to start asking to know more about the band as she finds herself becoming captivated by the lead singer. Louise finds herself wanting to know everything about this boy, Booboo, and wanting to give him presents and change herself to like whatever he likes. She equates her captivation to a sickness. The fall of Louise’s immunity to the fandom highlights the contrast between “normal” people and “otherness”. This episode leans into the way popular culture has perpetuated the pathology of fandom. This episode aired in 2013, so it is amazing to see how these notions that Jensen tried to combat are still appearing in media today. 

Although, Louise eventually being able to see why the fans appreciate the band supports Jensen’s closing argument in that she suggests that we all have interests and none of which are greater or lesser than another person’s. Jensen states this as they write, “what I am suggesting is that we respect and value other people as if they were us, because they always are. I ask that we avoid, assiduously, the seduction of separateness that underlies the description of fans as pathological” (Jensen 26). It is this separateness that gets erased toward the end of the episode as Louise realizes that she is now a part of the fandom herself. This changes the episode as it is somewhat redeeming to the way the episode explored the pathology of the fans throughout the beginning of the episode. I think the episode is purposeful in Louise’s realization and that this shows that the stereotypes they enforced were not blind, but rather stereotypes that we can all identify with in some way.