Chapter 5: New and Evolving Forms of Interaction
Chapter 5: New and Evolving Forms of Interaction
A significant factor which places the Supernatural fan culture ahead of other currently active ones is the emerging dialogue between fans and creators, and specifically the interaction they have with the actors, especially Misha Collins. Its predecessors often maintained a distance between producer and reader of texts;
‘Media producers and stars have, thus, looked upon organized fandom less as a source of feedback than as, at best, an ancillary market for specialized spin-off goods.’ (Jenkins, 1992:48)
It’s true that there have been ‘specialized spin-off goods’ presented to the fandom in the form of tie-in novels, a bi-monthly magazine, three prequel comic series’ and a spin-off web series; The Ghostfacers, which centred on a group of characters initially introduced in the episode ‘Hell House’ (S1:Ep17, 30/3/2006), however the fandom has not been inundated by official merchandise courtesy of The CW.
The creative team behind Supernatural seemingly treat the dedicated fan base as a trusted source of feedback which has led to admitting narrative mistakes in past seasons; episodes Bugs (S1:Ep8, 8/11/2005) and Red Sky at Morning (S3:Ep6, 8/11/2007), and the character of Bela Talbot are ones which have been addressed - the latter generated fan dislike prior to the character even appearing on screen. In an interview prior to the season three premiere, with series creator Eric Kripke, he is adamant that the show is for the fans and any mistakes they may make will be fixed;
We are so conscious and aware of our fans. We're making the show for the fans; we're not making the show for the network. We would never do anything to betray them. I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm not saying we don't make mistakes. But we're very conscious and aware. And when we do make mistakes, we course-correct. (Ausiello, 2007)
The ‘course-correct’ came in the form of the character being killed off before the third season ended; this willingness to make changes to fit a popular fan opinion is rarely if ever seen in modern television. Notably, Kripke’s assurance that they are ‘aware’ of the fans seems to evidence Jenkins’ declaration that ‘Television producers are increasingly knowledgeable about their fan communities […]’ (Jenkins, 2006a:145) While Kripke alludes to an observational relationship between the writers and the fans, it is the active interaction of the stars of Supernatural which has made its fandom a seemingly unique example of correspondence between reader and those involved in the creation of the text; this is most clearly evidenced in the interactions between Misha Collins and the fans.
The "Misha Effect"
Collins joined the cast as a recurring guest star at the start of the fourth season in the opening episode ‘Lazarus Rising’ (S4:Ep1, 18/9/08) as the angel Castiel. The arrival of both the character and his public persona incited intrigue amongst the fans, quickly drawing in new fans with the angel mythology being introduced. By the fifth season he was promoted to series regular, a position which was previously only held by the leads Ackles and Padalecki. From Collins’ very first appearance at a dedicated Supernatural convention; Salute to Supernatural New Jersey, 6-9th March 2009, he was a hit with much of the fandom and continues to be as seen in the comments from fans attending the Asylum 5 convention in Chapter 2. However, the catalyst which has played an integral part in Collins becoming something more than an actor from a television program and opened up the dialogue between fan and those involved in the text of interest, is his Twitter account.
The account was set up on the 12th May 2009, after only three convention appearances, and made a unique impression with his ‘slightly maniacal’ Twitter persona; detailing conflicts with the Queen of England, living in an underground bunker or meeting with world leaders or political figures, most of the tweets are infused with his irreverent and ironic humour which has in part made Collins a particular favourite at conventions. His account was found and followed by fans within a matter of hours;
Hi everyone. This whole interweb thing is really something. 12 hrs and already 412 followers. Doesn't that word have a negative connotation? (@mishacollins, Thu 14th May, 2009)
To date, the number of Collins followers (or as he later renamed "minions") stands at 171,961 (as of 20/4/2011) fluctuating as and when he chooses to tweet - which is sporadically, having "tweeted" 739 times in an almost two year period, compared to other professional musicians, actors, writers, entertainers or celebrity personalities who regularly tweet throughout a single day. To have so many people following after so little being shared, must speak of the devotion of the Supernatural fandom reaching beyond support and dedication of the show and towards an interest and investment in Collins himself - this reflects Jenkins’ (1992) findings that ‘Fans often track favoured performer’s careers, adding to their video collections not simply series episodes but also other works featuring its stars’ (Jenkins, 1992:38). This is also evidenced in why some of the participants were drawn to Supernatural:
Participant 9: I recognized Jensen Ackles from Smallville...
Participant 5: It was the actor Misha Collins. I saw a YouTube video of him on the show[...]
Participant 3: [...] I’d also really enjoyed Jensen Ackles in Dark Angel
Participant 7: Initially it was because of Jensen Ackles was playing one of the lead characters and I was familiar with him from Smallville [...]
It correlates that fans would also become invested in projects away from and after Supernatural, whether it be other roles or, as in Collins case, his Twitter account and any projects he may promote via it.
Of course, Collins’ position within the Twitter universe is not a singular occurrence in terms of actors who have appeared on the show; numerous fan favourites and recurring guest stars also maintain accounts and often reply to fan questions and well wishes - this is not a new occurrence within fan cultures as work by both Shefrin (2004) and Jenkins (2006b) detail two separate incidents in which those in control of the text have used the internet as a whole to garner fan opinions, preferences and in Shefrin’s work the support of a long established and enclosed fan base; ‘Lord of the Rings fans have been actively courted by Jackson and New Line Cinema throughout all aspects of authoring, casting, filming, and marketing the trilogy.’ (Shefrin, 2004:262)
While other stars from The CW stable also use Twitter; the actors Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols, both stars of the long running drama One Tree Hill (The CW, 2003-), have only recently begun to move beyond sharing links to news stories, alerting their followers to charities, causes and issues they have an interest in, and getting their followers properly involved in actively helping charities and causes. It is here where Collins has utilized the Supernatural fan culture and seems to dispel ‘a very old idea that fandom is a waste of time because it redirects energies that could be spent toward "serious things" like politics into more trivial pursuits’ (Jenkins, 2006b:29). He does this by getting the fans involved in these "serious things", the view that fans and their interests are trivial in the larger scale of things is disproved by what is occurring within the Supernatural fandom.
A Random Act
‘On December 3, 2009, Misha Collins, used Twitter to ask his followers (aka Misha's Minions) to come up with ideas for a "minionstimulus" project. The goal was to obtain U.S. government stimulus money (funding to aid endeavors to stop an economic recession) for non-profit "minion" initiatives.’ (http://www.supernaturalwiki.com) This simple request incited his followers to get involved with something away from their typical fan activities, and was met with prompt enthusiasm;
I expected a few lame ideas to trickle in, but... http://minionstimulus.webs.com/ !!! The Minions have restored my faith in totalitarianism. (@mishacollins, Fri 18th Dec, 2009)
This site was ‘started by minion Lisa Walker […] after visiting the fledgling website, Misha appointed Lisa his Director of Charitable Affairs’ (www.supernaturalwiki.com) The organization’s first foray into fundraising for worthy causes came in the wake of the Haiti Disaster - managing to collect a total of $30,000 in donations from "minions" to aid UNICEF’s work in the country. The organization was eventually renamed The Random Act Org and its mission statement is to conquer the world one random act of kindness at a time.
The site and charity was launched by Collins himself via a self made video, where he announced that on September 5th 2010 he would run as far as he could to raise money to help support aid efforts in both Haiti and the recently flood stricken Pakistan. The charity took both flat donations and per kilometre pledges - Collins himself doing both. The outcome; Collins ran for 52 miles raising $84,664.62, while also tweeting at intervals to inform "minions" of his progress. The current project has taken a further step in getting fans of Collins and Supernatural involved - the Random Act team, including Collins and Supernatural guest star Matt Cohen, will be returning to Haiti in June 2011 to build a community centre, and forty fans have the opportunity to join them. The places are determined via a project page at www.crowdrise.com, where fans sign up, fundraise to reach $5,000 and the first forty to reach the target will be going to Haiti.
At first glance this may seem like an example of ‘totalitarian projects involving the subordination of individuals to transcendent and fetishistic communities’ (Levy, 1997:16) due to the term "minions" - but the philanthropic nature of the charity and the community feel of the organisation negate this. It does however transcend the fan culture for Supernatural in a way in which other fan cultures have not.
The Rhino Hunt of 2011
Alongside the serious fundraising that Collins instigated, encouraged and took part in, he maintained his distinctive involvement with fandom interests and activities; the most recent being "The Rhino Hunt". This worldwide scavenger hunt with a twist was spawned by fans campaigning to vote Supernatural as the winner of American TV Guide Magazine’s "Fan Favourite" poll, the stars of the winning show would then appear on the cover of the issue prior to Christmas 2010. After minions regularly requesting that Collins tweet his support, the following tweets were posted;
Warner Bros. just called & they'll give me a live rhinoceros if the three guys wearing earth tones win this poll: http://tinyurl.com/2c6kr8e (@mishacollins, Mon 25th Oct, 2010)
I can't do this alone & I'm not one to hog winnings, so if we win, i'll carve the rhino up & mail little dried pieces of it to each of you. (@mishacollins, Mon 25th Oct, 2010)
Fans across the globe voted as many times as they could and Supernatural was announced as the winner on December 6th 2010 - Collins remained true to his word and requested that those who wanted a share to send self addressed envelopes to a PO Box in Vancouver, the location for filming. By January of 2011, the "rhino pieces" began to arrive, and the first part of an elaborate but unifying scavenger hunt began; each fan received a numbered puzzle piece from one of five identical Rhino jigsaw puzzles along with a letter from Collins detailing what they had to do;
Reassemble your puzzle. Once the puzzle is reconstructed, you will be able to read the email address that I have scrawled across the rhino puzzle. Once you have the email address, you will be able to contact me for the next clue. (Misha Collins, Personal Correspondence, 2011)
Within hours of the first letter and piece being received and then shared over the internet, communities were set up on LiveJournal for puzzle piece holders to find fellow team mates and reconstruct their puzzle. These communities allowed ‘geographically isolated fans [to] feel much more connected to the fandom community’ (Jenkins, 2006:142) than they had before.
This feeling of connectivity continued into the next stage of the scavenger hunt - each team member received a personal email from Collins listing 22 scavenger items which had to be found and then photographed or recorded with the puzzle piece visible. Each item awarded points to their team and the team with the most points would win. The items were in keeping with the unusual Twitter personality Collins promotes, for example;
6. A photo of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece, sitting next to a lime jello mold with a piece of the Berlin wall suspended in it - 19 points (Misha Collins, Personal Correspondence, 12/2/2011)
The teams rallied to attempt some if not all of the seemingly impossible tasks and embodied Levy’s (1997) human qualities in his utopia of ‘collective intelligence’:
[...] victory will be claimed by those groups whose members work for their enjoyment, learn quickly, live up to their commitments, respect themselves and others (Levy, 1997:32)
From my own involvement, this is an apt description of Team 3 - the eventual winners of the hunt - who traded ideas about how to accomplish each item, worked as a team to ensure that as many people were involved, to the point of making up entirely new items to entertain Collins. This seemingly enclosed fan activity found interest just outside the fan culture - an online article detailing the hunt after the winners were revealed, along with what their prize was;
[...]to choose either to redeem their puzzle piece via mail in exchange for $53.21 in Canadian cash or to redeem their puzzle piece in person anytime in the next seven years for a cup of tea with Collins himself (Schlereth, 2011)
A unique and priceless prize for those involved evidences Collins’ commitment to, and continued involvement with the Supernatural fan culture, both in relation to the show and The Random Acts Org. These activities instigated by Collins are ‘dynamic and participatory, continually testing and reaffirming the groups’ social ties.’ (Jenkins, 2006b:54) Whether these are ties made during the Rhino Hunt, completing their own Random Acts or participating in the Supernatural fan culture - Collins’ influence on the fans appears to be a realization of;
The ideal of collective intelligence implies the technical, economic, legal, and human enhancement of a universally distributed intelligence that will unleash a positive dynamic of recognition and skills mobilization. (Levy, 1997:15)
Fan participation has found a new outlet which ‘help mobilize and develop feelings of recognition that will facilitate the subjective implication of other individuals in collective projects.’ (Levy, 1997: 15) This is a new move for fan cultures, moving away from the assumption that fan interest is ‘alien to the realm of the "normal" cultural experience and whose mentality is dangerously out of touch with reality’ (Jenkins, 1992:15) and may lead to fan cultures and fans being accepted into mainstream culture.
Masterpost | Chapter 1: Introduction | Chapter 2: Asylum 5 a Fan Convention | Chapter 3: Fan Fiction: a Prolific Practice | Chapter 4: Postmodernism and Catering to the Fans | Chapter 5: New and Evolving Forms of Interaction | Chapter 6: Conclusion: Supernatural fan culture ahead of the game? | Filmography and Bibliography | Acknowledgments
A significant factor which places the Supernatural fan culture ahead of other currently active ones is the emerging dialogue between fans and creators, and specifically the interaction they have with the actors, especially Misha Collins. Its predecessors often maintained a distance between producer and reader of texts;
‘Media producers and stars have, thus, looked upon organized fandom less as a source of feedback than as, at best, an ancillary market for specialized spin-off goods.’ (Jenkins, 1992:48)
It’s true that there have been ‘specialized spin-off goods’ presented to the fandom in the form of tie-in novels, a bi-monthly magazine, three prequel comic series’ and a spin-off web series; The Ghostfacers, which centred on a group of characters initially introduced in the episode ‘Hell House’ (S1:Ep17, 30/3/2006), however the fandom has not been inundated by official merchandise courtesy of The CW.
The creative team behind Supernatural seemingly treat the dedicated fan base as a trusted source of feedback which has led to admitting narrative mistakes in past seasons; episodes Bugs (S1:Ep8, 8/11/2005) and Red Sky at Morning (S3:Ep6, 8/11/2007), and the character of Bela Talbot are ones which have been addressed - the latter generated fan dislike prior to the character even appearing on screen. In an interview prior to the season three premiere, with series creator Eric Kripke, he is adamant that the show is for the fans and any mistakes they may make will be fixed;
We are so conscious and aware of our fans. We're making the show for the fans; we're not making the show for the network. We would never do anything to betray them. I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm not saying we don't make mistakes. But we're very conscious and aware. And when we do make mistakes, we course-correct. (Ausiello, 2007)
The ‘course-correct’ came in the form of the character being killed off before the third season ended; this willingness to make changes to fit a popular fan opinion is rarely if ever seen in modern television. Notably, Kripke’s assurance that they are ‘aware’ of the fans seems to evidence Jenkins’ declaration that ‘Television producers are increasingly knowledgeable about their fan communities […]’ (Jenkins, 2006a:145) While Kripke alludes to an observational relationship between the writers and the fans, it is the active interaction of the stars of Supernatural which has made its fandom a seemingly unique example of correspondence between reader and those involved in the creation of the text; this is most clearly evidenced in the interactions between Misha Collins and the fans.
The "Misha Effect"
Collins joined the cast as a recurring guest star at the start of the fourth season in the opening episode ‘Lazarus Rising’ (S4:Ep1, 18/9/08) as the angel Castiel. The arrival of both the character and his public persona incited intrigue amongst the fans, quickly drawing in new fans with the angel mythology being introduced. By the fifth season he was promoted to series regular, a position which was previously only held by the leads Ackles and Padalecki. From Collins’ very first appearance at a dedicated Supernatural convention; Salute to Supernatural New Jersey, 6-9th March 2009, he was a hit with much of the fandom and continues to be as seen in the comments from fans attending the Asylum 5 convention in Chapter 2. However, the catalyst which has played an integral part in Collins becoming something more than an actor from a television program and opened up the dialogue between fan and those involved in the text of interest, is his Twitter account.
The account was set up on the 12th May 2009, after only three convention appearances, and made a unique impression with his ‘slightly maniacal’ Twitter persona; detailing conflicts with the Queen of England, living in an underground bunker or meeting with world leaders or political figures, most of the tweets are infused with his irreverent and ironic humour which has in part made Collins a particular favourite at conventions. His account was found and followed by fans within a matter of hours;
Hi everyone. This whole interweb thing is really something. 12 hrs and already 412 followers. Doesn't that word have a negative connotation? (@mishacollins, Thu 14th May, 2009)
To date, the number of Collins followers (or as he later renamed "minions") stands at 171,961 (as of 20/4/2011) fluctuating as and when he chooses to tweet - which is sporadically, having "tweeted" 739 times in an almost two year period, compared to other professional musicians, actors, writers, entertainers or celebrity personalities who regularly tweet throughout a single day. To have so many people following after so little being shared, must speak of the devotion of the Supernatural fandom reaching beyond support and dedication of the show and towards an interest and investment in Collins himself - this reflects Jenkins’ (1992) findings that ‘Fans often track favoured performer’s careers, adding to their video collections not simply series episodes but also other works featuring its stars’ (Jenkins, 1992:38). This is also evidenced in why some of the participants were drawn to Supernatural:
Participant 9: I recognized Jensen Ackles from Smallville...
Participant 5: It was the actor Misha Collins. I saw a YouTube video of him on the show[...]
Participant 3: [...] I’d also really enjoyed Jensen Ackles in Dark Angel
Participant 7: Initially it was because of Jensen Ackles was playing one of the lead characters and I was familiar with him from Smallville [...]
It correlates that fans would also become invested in projects away from and after Supernatural, whether it be other roles or, as in Collins case, his Twitter account and any projects he may promote via it.
Of course, Collins’ position within the Twitter universe is not a singular occurrence in terms of actors who have appeared on the show; numerous fan favourites and recurring guest stars also maintain accounts and often reply to fan questions and well wishes - this is not a new occurrence within fan cultures as work by both Shefrin (2004) and Jenkins (2006b) detail two separate incidents in which those in control of the text have used the internet as a whole to garner fan opinions, preferences and in Shefrin’s work the support of a long established and enclosed fan base; ‘Lord of the Rings fans have been actively courted by Jackson and New Line Cinema throughout all aspects of authoring, casting, filming, and marketing the trilogy.’ (Shefrin, 2004:262)
While other stars from The CW stable also use Twitter; the actors Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols, both stars of the long running drama One Tree Hill (The CW, 2003-), have only recently begun to move beyond sharing links to news stories, alerting their followers to charities, causes and issues they have an interest in, and getting their followers properly involved in actively helping charities and causes. It is here where Collins has utilized the Supernatural fan culture and seems to dispel ‘a very old idea that fandom is a waste of time because it redirects energies that could be spent toward "serious things" like politics into more trivial pursuits’ (Jenkins, 2006b:29). He does this by getting the fans involved in these "serious things", the view that fans and their interests are trivial in the larger scale of things is disproved by what is occurring within the Supernatural fandom.
A Random Act
‘On December 3, 2009, Misha Collins, used Twitter to ask his followers (aka Misha's Minions) to come up with ideas for a "minionstimulus" project. The goal was to obtain U.S. government stimulus money (funding to aid endeavors to stop an economic recession) for non-profit "minion" initiatives.’ (http://www.supernaturalwiki.com) This simple request incited his followers to get involved with something away from their typical fan activities, and was met with prompt enthusiasm;
I expected a few lame ideas to trickle in, but... http://minionstimulus.webs.com/ !!! The Minions have restored my faith in totalitarianism. (@mishacollins, Fri 18th Dec, 2009)
This site was ‘started by minion Lisa Walker […] after visiting the fledgling website, Misha appointed Lisa his Director of Charitable Affairs’ (www.supernaturalwiki.com) The organization’s first foray into fundraising for worthy causes came in the wake of the Haiti Disaster - managing to collect a total of $30,000 in donations from "minions" to aid UNICEF’s work in the country. The organization was eventually renamed The Random Act Org and its mission statement is to conquer the world one random act of kindness at a time.
The site and charity was launched by Collins himself via a self made video, where he announced that on September 5th 2010 he would run as far as he could to raise money to help support aid efforts in both Haiti and the recently flood stricken Pakistan. The charity took both flat donations and per kilometre pledges - Collins himself doing both. The outcome; Collins ran for 52 miles raising $84,664.62, while also tweeting at intervals to inform "minions" of his progress. The current project has taken a further step in getting fans of Collins and Supernatural involved - the Random Act team, including Collins and Supernatural guest star Matt Cohen, will be returning to Haiti in June 2011 to build a community centre, and forty fans have the opportunity to join them. The places are determined via a project page at www.crowdrise.com, where fans sign up, fundraise to reach $5,000 and the first forty to reach the target will be going to Haiti.
At first glance this may seem like an example of ‘totalitarian projects involving the subordination of individuals to transcendent and fetishistic communities’ (Levy, 1997:16) due to the term "minions" - but the philanthropic nature of the charity and the community feel of the organisation negate this. It does however transcend the fan culture for Supernatural in a way in which other fan cultures have not.
The Rhino Hunt of 2011
Alongside the serious fundraising that Collins instigated, encouraged and took part in, he maintained his distinctive involvement with fandom interests and activities; the most recent being "The Rhino Hunt". This worldwide scavenger hunt with a twist was spawned by fans campaigning to vote Supernatural as the winner of American TV Guide Magazine’s "Fan Favourite" poll, the stars of the winning show would then appear on the cover of the issue prior to Christmas 2010. After minions regularly requesting that Collins tweet his support, the following tweets were posted;
Warner Bros. just called & they'll give me a live rhinoceros if the three guys wearing earth tones win this poll: http://tinyurl.com/2c6kr8e (@mishacollins, Mon 25th Oct, 2010)
I can't do this alone & I'm not one to hog winnings, so if we win, i'll carve the rhino up & mail little dried pieces of it to each of you. (@mishacollins, Mon 25th Oct, 2010)
Fans across the globe voted as many times as they could and Supernatural was announced as the winner on December 6th 2010 - Collins remained true to his word and requested that those who wanted a share to send self addressed envelopes to a PO Box in Vancouver, the location for filming. By January of 2011, the "rhino pieces" began to arrive, and the first part of an elaborate but unifying scavenger hunt began; each fan received a numbered puzzle piece from one of five identical Rhino jigsaw puzzles along with a letter from Collins detailing what they had to do;
Reassemble your puzzle. Once the puzzle is reconstructed, you will be able to read the email address that I have scrawled across the rhino puzzle. Once you have the email address, you will be able to contact me for the next clue. (Misha Collins, Personal Correspondence, 2011)
Within hours of the first letter and piece being received and then shared over the internet, communities were set up on LiveJournal for puzzle piece holders to find fellow team mates and reconstruct their puzzle. These communities allowed ‘geographically isolated fans [to] feel much more connected to the fandom community’ (Jenkins, 2006:142) than they had before.
This feeling of connectivity continued into the next stage of the scavenger hunt - each team member received a personal email from Collins listing 22 scavenger items which had to be found and then photographed or recorded with the puzzle piece visible. Each item awarded points to their team and the team with the most points would win. The items were in keeping with the unusual Twitter personality Collins promotes, for example;
6. A photo of a person holding an authentic rhino puzzle piece, sitting next to a lime jello mold with a piece of the Berlin wall suspended in it - 19 points (Misha Collins, Personal Correspondence, 12/2/2011)
The teams rallied to attempt some if not all of the seemingly impossible tasks and embodied Levy’s (1997) human qualities in his utopia of ‘collective intelligence’:
[...] victory will be claimed by those groups whose members work for their enjoyment, learn quickly, live up to their commitments, respect themselves and others (Levy, 1997:32)
From my own involvement, this is an apt description of Team 3 - the eventual winners of the hunt - who traded ideas about how to accomplish each item, worked as a team to ensure that as many people were involved, to the point of making up entirely new items to entertain Collins. This seemingly enclosed fan activity found interest just outside the fan culture - an online article detailing the hunt after the winners were revealed, along with what their prize was;
[...]to choose either to redeem their puzzle piece via mail in exchange for $53.21 in Canadian cash or to redeem their puzzle piece in person anytime in the next seven years for a cup of tea with Collins himself (Schlereth, 2011)
A unique and priceless prize for those involved evidences Collins’ commitment to, and continued involvement with the Supernatural fan culture, both in relation to the show and The Random Acts Org. These activities instigated by Collins are ‘dynamic and participatory, continually testing and reaffirming the groups’ social ties.’ (Jenkins, 2006b:54) Whether these are ties made during the Rhino Hunt, completing their own Random Acts or participating in the Supernatural fan culture - Collins’ influence on the fans appears to be a realization of;
The ideal of collective intelligence implies the technical, economic, legal, and human enhancement of a universally distributed intelligence that will unleash a positive dynamic of recognition and skills mobilization. (Levy, 1997:15)
Fan participation has found a new outlet which ‘help mobilize and develop feelings of recognition that will facilitate the subjective implication of other individuals in collective projects.’ (Levy, 1997: 15) This is a new move for fan cultures, moving away from the assumption that fan interest is ‘alien to the realm of the "normal" cultural experience and whose mentality is dangerously out of touch with reality’ (Jenkins, 1992:15) and may lead to fan cultures and fans being accepted into mainstream culture.
Masterpost | Chapter 1: Introduction | Chapter 2: Asylum 5 a Fan Convention | Chapter 3: Fan Fiction: a Prolific Practice | Chapter 4: Postmodernism and Catering to the Fans | Chapter 5: New and Evolving Forms of Interaction | Chapter 6: Conclusion: Supernatural fan culture ahead of the game? | Filmography and Bibliography | Acknowledgments