Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age (Paperback)

by Henry Jenkins (Author)
Key Phrases: pop cosmopolitanism, men bonking, normal female interest, Star Trek, Twin Peaks, Textual Poachers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jenkins is one of us: a geek, a fan, a popcult packrat. He's also an incisive and unflinching critic. His affection for the subject and sharp eye for 'what it all means' are an unbeatable combination. This is fascinating, engrossing and enlightening reading."

- Cory Doctorow, author of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town and co-editor of Boing Boing

“Jenkins persuasively argues in favor of taking the fan’s perspective in analyzing television-- and this is the cornerstone of the new turn in Cultural Studies.” - Claremont Review of Books

Product Description

Henry Jenkins at Authors@Google (video)

Henry Jenkins's pioneering work in the early 1990s promoted the idea that fans are among the most active, creative, critically engaged, and socially connected consumers of popular culture and that they represent the vanguard of a new relationship with mass media. Though marginal and largely invisible to the general public at the time, today, media producers and advertisers, not to mention researchers and fans, take for granted the idea that the success of a media franchise depends on fan investments and participation.

Bringing together the highlights of a decade and a half of groundbreaking research into the cultural life of media consumers, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers takes readers from Jenkins's progressive early work defending fan culture against those who would marginalize or stigmatize it, through to his more recent work, combating moral panic and defending Goths and gamers in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Starting with an interview on the current state of fan studies, this volume maps the core theoretical and methodological issues in Fan Studies. It goes on to chart the growth of participatory culture on the web, take up blogging as perhaps the most powerful illustration of how consumer participation impacts mainstream media, and debate the public policy implications surrounding participation and intellectual property.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 279 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814742858
• ISBN-13: 978-0814742853
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #128,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All together now, January 9, 2008

By	Antony "B." (NYC) - See all my reviews

Henry Jenkins provides an excellent step away from our normal expectations of media philosophers. Coming in between the doom-and-gloom media affect tradition and the corporate schlock Jenkins writes (and speaks!) for the fans.

The book is a collection of articles set in three chapters: In the first, Jenkins lets us into the world of fandom (if you aren't there already) and more specifically his early focus- that of science fan-fiction. The second chapter, Going Digital, co-incides with his other 2006 book "Convergence Culture" in its mapping the flow of information and analyis of everyday Americans' change in their day-to-day. Finally, Columbine and Beyond (my favorite) looks at, esentially, the fear our elders have of new media and youth culture.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whoops, May 25, 2008

By	Mathew A. Shember (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This was a case of looking at the title rather then the book. I picked it up thinking it would be about games and blogging. It does talk about it but more in a study of participatory culture.

The book is a compendium of Professor Jenkins articles through the years.

It's not bad if you are studying this topic.

The first chapter I didn't care about and in fact skipped it. But I should say that is me as I really don't care to read excerpts of an interview. In this case it was Matt Hill interviewing Jenkins.

There were articles about the culture of Star Trek and the efforts of the Gay community to get a gay character on the show. Interesting if you hadn't heard about it but I had known about the effort and even remember some of the shows mentioned.

There are articles about violence and video games especially after the Columbine affair. Jenkins made some rather valid points about the perception of violence and the fact that often overlooked is the amount of teenagers that play video games versus those that actually commit violence. The fact that the violence in Saving Private Ryan is ok but the fantasy sequence in Basketball Diaries is not. The notorious Grand Theft Auto 3 is mentioned as well. I found it interesting that he was ambushed by Phil Donahue in the manner of Fox News. As Jenkins mentioned Phil turned to the Dark Side of broadcasting.

The final chapter involved and analysis of Buffy the Vampire Slayer between Jenkins and his son. It bored me but that is because this was not something I was expecting to read.

Overall, it's not a bad book if you are into this type of study. It really didn't interest me overall. But, as I mentioned I was not expecting to read this type of topic.