hehe!!! Fan-fawning as anthropology!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_labor
LOVE it!
some samples below. *feels awesome because this is so like something i'd have done as an independent study project or thesis in college*
Gift economy
The most common formal economic model associated with fan labor practices is a gift economy[11]. In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards (i.e. no formal quid pro quo exists).[12] Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community.
The gift economy manifests in fan labor practices through the writing and posting of a story (the gift given/exchanged), followed by the reading of the story (gift acceptance, completing the initial exchange), and finally, feedback to the original author and potentially passing the work along or linking to it for others to see (the reciprocal gift given).
The gift can also be surplus labor made in excess of the labor necessary from the worker, created not for other fans but rather to compel the original media property to notice their indebtedness and do something for the fans in return.[13]. These gifts are like offerings made to show the original producers that there is a lively fandom for their product, and possibly encourage the producers to make more. This was the case with the fans of the Firefly TV series, who engaged in very visible fan activities, such as charity events, “guerrilla marketing” activities, creation of fan videos, and filk in order to successfully convince a studio to green light a movie sequel to the canceled TV series.[14]
The organization of a gift economy stands in contrast to a barter economy or a market economy. The gift economy of fandom is seen by many fans as a central tenet of “what makes fandom different.”
Relationships between fans
Instead of monetary reward, one of the major rewards of fan labor is the formation of relationships between fan creators and other fans. The relationships created through fan exchanges are often as important, if not more so, than the products exchanged. The focus on relationships separates fandom economic practices from the capitalistic practices of everyday life.
From an economic anthropology viewpoint, the products of fan labor are a form of cultural wealth, valuable also for their ability to interrelate the fan works, the fan-creators, and the original media property itself through conversation and fan work exchanges. Fans, in other words, are “affines” of media property and of other fans.
Deification of media property owner
From another economic anthropology perspective, fan creative practices are labor that is done in a relatively routine way and that helps to maintain a connection to the media property itself (the "cultural ancestor" or "deity"). Through their fan labor, fans are able to replicate "the original creative acts of first-principle deities, ancestors or cultural heroes."
Ritual anthropology
Fans engage in skilled crafting, “routine acts” within a ritual economy. The types of material that fans produce and consume continually reproduce the structures and worldview of the fandom subset of the authors and readers, for instance, in terms of which ships are popular. These choices also reflect the relationships fans construct of their view of their place within fandom, including how they relate to the media property and the corporate structures and products surrounding it. Fans are therefore engaged in "the individual and collective construction of overlapping and even conflicting practices, identities, meanings, and also alternate texts, images, and objects."
The goods that fans produce as a result of these rituals are imbued with social value by other fans. Fan works are valued as fandom products, and they also support the fan creator's desire to be valued by peers.
that is sooo sweeet!!!
*loves being a fangirl*
PS: miss everybody! And Lexi...I'm sending you your thingie...i just have to be not broke. been like cushion-diving for gas money, so i'll send it on the eighth when i get paid. my apologies for the wait, luv! Hope y'all are doing ok!
LOVE it!
some samples below. *feels awesome because this is so like something i'd have done as an independent study project or thesis in college*
Gift economy
The most common formal economic model associated with fan labor practices is a gift economy[11]. In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards (i.e. no formal quid pro quo exists).[12] Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community.
The gift economy manifests in fan labor practices through the writing and posting of a story (the gift given/exchanged), followed by the reading of the story (gift acceptance, completing the initial exchange), and finally, feedback to the original author and potentially passing the work along or linking to it for others to see (the reciprocal gift given).
The gift can also be surplus labor made in excess of the labor necessary from the worker, created not for other fans but rather to compel the original media property to notice their indebtedness and do something for the fans in return.[13]. These gifts are like offerings made to show the original producers that there is a lively fandom for their product, and possibly encourage the producers to make more. This was the case with the fans of the Firefly TV series, who engaged in very visible fan activities, such as charity events, “guerrilla marketing” activities, creation of fan videos, and filk in order to successfully convince a studio to green light a movie sequel to the canceled TV series.[14]
The organization of a gift economy stands in contrast to a barter economy or a market economy. The gift economy of fandom is seen by many fans as a central tenet of “what makes fandom different.”
Relationships between fans
Instead of monetary reward, one of the major rewards of fan labor is the formation of relationships between fan creators and other fans. The relationships created through fan exchanges are often as important, if not more so, than the products exchanged. The focus on relationships separates fandom economic practices from the capitalistic practices of everyday life.
From an economic anthropology viewpoint, the products of fan labor are a form of cultural wealth, valuable also for their ability to interrelate the fan works, the fan-creators, and the original media property itself through conversation and fan work exchanges. Fans, in other words, are “affines” of media property and of other fans.
Deification of media property owner
From another economic anthropology perspective, fan creative practices are labor that is done in a relatively routine way and that helps to maintain a connection to the media property itself (the "cultural ancestor" or "deity"). Through their fan labor, fans are able to replicate "the original creative acts of first-principle deities, ancestors or cultural heroes."
Ritual anthropology
Fans engage in skilled crafting, “routine acts” within a ritual economy. The types of material that fans produce and consume continually reproduce the structures and worldview of the fandom subset of the authors and readers, for instance, in terms of which ships are popular. These choices also reflect the relationships fans construct of their view of their place within fandom, including how they relate to the media property and the corporate structures and products surrounding it. Fans are therefore engaged in "the individual and collective construction of overlapping and even conflicting practices, identities, meanings, and also alternate texts, images, and objects."
The goods that fans produce as a result of these rituals are imbued with social value by other fans. Fan works are valued as fandom products, and they also support the fan creator's desire to be valued by peers.
that is sooo sweeet!!!
*loves being a fangirl*
PS: miss everybody! And Lexi...I'm sending you your thingie...i just have to be not broke. been like cushion-diving for gas money, so i'll send it on the eighth when i get paid. my apologies for the wait, luv! Hope y'all are doing ok!