Topic Mashup - Fandom Communities + Copyright

Two of my favourite media studies topics, fandom and intellectual property, do not often co-exist peacefully. The textual poaching so essential to fan empowerment is at odds with the rights asserted by producers over the works. This is illustrated in an article by E. Shefrin (2004) “Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Participatory Fandom: Mapping New Congruencies between the Internet and Media Entertainment Culture,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol.21, no.3, pp. 261-281.

This article seeks to explore emerging areas of media and cultural convergence using the specific examples of the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars film series. The two textual examples are used to illustrate the opposing modes of interaction between media producers and online fans – Lord of the Rings and its auteur, Peter Jackson, as collaborative, respectful and revolutionary; Star Wars and its auteur, George Lucas, as undemocratic, disrespectful and manipulative.
During the making of Lord of the Rings, Jackson engaged in online discussions with fans, requested their opinions through online questionnaires, was forthcoming with production details and welcomed their active participation in message boards and online communities. Shefrin asserts that he deliberately promoted the participatory culture surrounding his production as he recognized the sizeable knowledge and power this fan base wielded and sought to embrace and cultivate it. On the other hand, Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm, have often been accused of overt hostility to the online Star Wars fan communities. Lucasfilm has sought to control manipulation of the text through numerous law suits and attempts to control the intellectual property of all subsequent textual creations. Shefrin determines this mode as one of hegemonic control; Lucasfilm’s efforts and its recent release of a subscription based online “special zone” only serving to alienate fans and create a hierarchy within the fan base.
Shefrin argues that through examination of these two opposing styles of fan-producer interaction, the consequent effects on the cultural reception and consumption of the texts can be discerned, establishing two distinct models of the relationship between the media creators and Internet fan culture.