Abstract
The first step towards a wider consideration of popular media cultures surrounding music, comics, film, television and the Internet, and the relationship between fans and their object of fandom, is to acknowledge the prominent position of what Jonathan Gray (2010) calls media “paratexts” as opposed to the centrality of specific films or television series as the “text”. Indeed, we are now accustomed in fan studies to stating that the productivity of fans and their related fan practices represents an appropriate and worthy text to study just as much as the media text to which they are related or inspired by. So, rather than studying Star Trek as cult text, we might study fan-produced videos on YouTube as important texts of fan activity that carry inherent meaning and significance in and of themselves. Or, for example, Star Wars carries with it meaning within and outside the narrative — from an analysis of its mythic story structure using the work of Joseph Campbell, to studies of its fans who actively engage in their own meaning-making by dressing up, making videos and writing fan fiction. However, the peripheral texts — those associated with the commercialisation of the franchise, such as the lunchboxes, toys, video games and websites — are so much a part of the meaning-making process that they become texts to study in their own right.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Cross, G. (1997), Kid’s Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Fleming, D. (1996), Powerplay: Toys as Popular Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Garde-Hansen, J. (2011), Media and Memory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Gelder, K. (2007), Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice. London: Routledge.
Gray, J. (2010), Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts. New York: New York University Press.
Gwenllian-Jones, S. and Pearson, R.E. (2004), “Introduction.” In S. Gwenllian-Jones and R.E. Pearson, eds., Cult Television. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, pp. ix–xx.
Hills, M. (2002), Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.
Jenkins, H. (2006), Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Kline, S. (1993), Out of the Garden: Toys and Children’s Culture in the Age of TV Marketing. London: Verso.
Klinger, B. (2011), “Re-enactment: Fans Performing Movie Scenes from the Stage to YouTube.” In P. Grainge, ed., Ephemeral Media: Transitory Screen Culture from Television to YouTube. London: BFI, pp. 195–213.
van Dijck, J. (2007), Mediated Memories in the Digital Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Wilson, S. (2009), “Remixing Memory in Digital Media.” In J. Garde-Hansen, A. Hoskins, and A. Reading, eds., Save As... Digital Memories. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 184–197.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Lincoln Geraghty
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Geraghty, L. (2015). Introduction: Fans and Paratexts. In: Geraghty, L. (eds) Popular Media Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350374_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350374_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46834-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-35037-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)