"I think it's a way of just making us feel like a part of the thing that we love" The evolving relationship between fan filmmakers and media owners
Open Access
- Author:
- Cikovic, Matthew
- Graduate Program:
- Mass Communications
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 17, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Anthony Olorunnisola, Program Head/Chair
Matt McAllister, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Anthony Olorunnisola, Major Field Member
Ekaterina Haskins, Outside Unit & Field Member
Stephanie Madden, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- fandom
fanfilms
fan films
fan filmmaking
Henry Jenkins
media studies
media culture
media
film - Abstract:
- This dissertation examines the relationship between fan filmmakers and media intellectual property owners in the contemporary digital age. In the previous decades, fan film, the act of fans making their own video or film with the semiotic raw materials of an intellectual property which does not belong to them, was a largely underground act meant for private viewing. Via the contemporary internet, online distribution of video content has allowed fan filmmaking to flourish. In-depth interviews explore the motivations of fan filmmakers, examine how the contemporary internet has changed their work, provide insights into their relationship with the IP, and examine how money changes the nature of what they produce. Four research questions discuss the following findings. First, how media fandom is intrinsic to who they are and what they do, stemming from formative experiences in their past and the nostalgia they carry for that past into the present. Second, this contemporary digital age is both disruptive and enhancing to fan filmmakers. They have far more capability than in previous decades to produce high quality work that can be spread far wider than ever before. But with these possibilities comes more responsibility to appease their fandom communities and does not further toxicity back towards the IP. Third, fan filmmakers find themselves in a complex, interactive relationship with IP owners that has become much more nuanced in the contemporary digital age. Finally, some fans explicitly seek monetization of their work while some reject monetization but understand that they have little agency in these matters as the IP and the video distribution platform can and do commodify their labor whether they wish it or not.