Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers

Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers PDF

Author: Henry Jenkins

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9780814742853

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Henry Jenkins's pioneering work in the early 1990s promoted the idea that fans are among the most active and socially connected consumers of popular culture. This volume maps the core theoretical and methodological issues in Fan Studies, and also charts the growth of participatory culture on the web.

Textual Poachers

Textual Poachers PDF

Author: Henry Jenkins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1135964696

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An ethnographic study of communities of media fans, their interpretative strategies, its social institutions and cultural practices. Jenkins focuses on fans of popular TV programmes, including Star Trek and The Professionals.

Textual Poachers

Textual Poachers PDF

Author: Henry Jenkins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 0415533287

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The twentieth anniversary edition of Henry Jenkins's Textual Poachers brings this now-canonical text to a new generation of students interested in the intersections of fandom, participatory culture, popular consumption and media theory. This reissue of what's become a classic work includes an interview between Jenkins and Suzanne Scott and a supplemental study guide by Louisa Stein, encouraging students to consider fan cultures in relation to consumer capitalism, genre, gender, sexuality, interpretation and more.

Tools of Their Tools

Tools of Their Tools PDF

Author: Grzesiek Kosc

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2009-05-27

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1443811416

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The book explores the role of communication technologies in American cultural practice over the last 150 years. Communication technologies are here understood to include audio and visual reproduction technologies, analogue telecommunications such as traditional telephony, radio and television broadcasts, digital telecommunications, computer-mediated communications, telegraphy, and computer networks. The study of the impact of such technologies is a way to explore the various flows and tensions of American culture. How has American society molded communication technologies? How have they, in turn, shaped American history? Are Americans still, in the words of Thoreau, "tools of their tools"? More so or less than during the philosopher's Walden days? How do America's cultural, ethical, and economic assumptions determine and limit the ways in which telecommunications function in American society? Fascinating questions abound.

The Smallville Chronicles

The Smallville Chronicles PDF

Author: Lincoln Geraghty

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2011-11-16

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 0810881306

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In 2001, yet another adaptation of the Superman comic book came to television. Lasting 10 seasons, Smallville took the traditional Superman story and turned it into an American teen action drama about Clark Kent's life at high school—before he donned the famous blue tights and red cape. Instead of depicting Superman's clashes with criminals in Metropolis, the show focused on how Clark first developed his powers and learned to cope with girls, school, and teenage angst. Although largely overlooked bycritics and derided by Superman fans who regarded it as too far a departure from the comic book canon, Smallville nonetheless endeared a whole new generation of viewers. The setting, style, narrative, and cast of fresh-faced actors suggested that the Superman story was not only ready for a makeover but also still relevant for a post-9/11 American audience. In The Smallville Chronicles: Critical Essays on the Television Series, scholars examine the multiple narratives of the Smallville universe. Addressing issues related to gender, sexuality, national identity, myth, history, and politics, these essays explore how the series uses the Superman story to comment on contemporary social issues. Additional essays investigate the complexrelationship the show's audience has with the characters through blogging, fan fiction, visits to filming locations, and the creation of websites. As the first book-length study specifically focused on the Smallville television series, this collection is an excellent text for studies in science fiction, fandom, and teen television scholarship, and it will also have general appeal to fans of the show.

The Performance of Video Games

The Performance of Video Games PDF

Author: Kelly I. Aliano

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1476647909

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When viewed through the context of an interactive play, a video game player fulfills the roles of both actor and spectator, watching and influencing a game's story in real time. This book presents video gaming as a virtual medium for performance, scrutinizing the ways in which a player's interaction with the narrative informs personal, historical, social and cultural understanding. Centering the author's own experiences as both video game player and performance scholar, the book thoroughly applies concepts from theatre and performance studies. Chapters argue that the posthuman player position now challenges what can be contextualized as a lived experience, and how video games can change players' relationships with historical events and contemporary concerns, ultimately impacting how they develop a sense of self. Using the author's own gaming experiences as a framework, the book focuses on the intersection between player and narrative, exploring what engagement with a storyline reveals about identity and society.

Video Gamers

Video Gamers PDF

Author: Garry Crawford

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2011-08-04

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1135178860

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Video gaming is economically, educationally, culturally, socially and theoretically important, and has, in a relatively short period of time, firmly cemented its place within contemporary life. It is fair to say, however, that the majority of research to date has focused most specifically on either the video games themselves, or the direct engagement of gamers with a specific piece of game technology. In contrast, Video Gamers is the first book to explicitly and comprehensively address how digital games are engaged with and experienced in the everyday lives, social networks and consumer patterns of those who play them. In doing so, the book provides a key introduction to the study of gamers and the games they play, whilst also reflecting on the current debates and literatures surrounding gaming practices.

Reinventing Cinema

Reinventing Cinema PDF

Author: Chuck Tryon

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2009-06-29

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0813548543

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For over a century, movies have played an important role in our lives, entertaining us, often provoking conversation and debate. Now, with the rise of digital cinema, audiences often encounter movies outside the theater and even outside the home. Traditional distribution models are challenged by new media entrepreneurs and independent film makers, usergenerated video, film blogs, mashups, downloads, and other expanding networks. Reinventing Cinema examines film culture at the turn of this century, at the precise moment when digital media are altering our historical relationship with the movies. Spanning multiple disciplines, Chuck Tryon addresses the interaction between production, distribution, and reception of films, television, and other new and emerging media.Through close readings of trade publications, DVD extras, public lectures by new media leaders, movie blogs, and YouTube videos, Tryon navigates the shift to digital cinema and examines how it is altering film and popular culture.

The Republic of Games

The Republic of Games PDF

Author: Elyse Graham

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 0773554211

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Many of today’s digital platforms are designed according to the same model: they encourage users to create content for fun (a mode of production that some have termed playbour) and to earn points. On Facebook, for example, points are based on a user’s number of friends and how many likes and shares a comment receives. New cultural and literary formations have arisen out of these feedback and reward systems, with surprising effects on amateur literary production. Drawing on social-text analysis, platform studies, and game studies, Elyse Graham shows that embedding game structures in the operations of digital platforms – a practice known in corporate circles as “gamification” – can have large cumulative effects on textual ecosystems. Making the production of content feel like play helps to drive up the volume of text being written, and as a result, gamification has gained widespread popularity online, especially among social media platforms, fan forums, and other sites of user-generated content. The Republic of Games argues that a consequence of this profound increase in the volume of text being produced is a reliance on self-contained, user-based systems of information management to deal with the mass of new content. Opening up new avenues of analysis in contemporary media studies and the humanities, The Republic of Games sifts through the gamified patterns of writing, interacting, and meaning-making that define the digital revolution.