Harry Potter News and Commentary
Lev Grossman writes a blog post about Azkatraz. I met Mr. Grossman briefly. He’s right about the book readings.
And that karaoke he mentions where Chris Rankin sings “Summer Lovin’” – Here ya go:
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t think the con “skewed heavily” toward women (or however he worded it), although it was probably majority women. There seemed to be quite a lot of men there, esp. younger guys with their girlfriends. The audience for the Monday roundtable “Sirius-ly celibate?” (which was definitely not about celibacy) was entirely women except for one man, however. I suspect the other slash/shipping panels, which he seems to have attended, had similarly skewed audiences.
A lot of the book readings were not well advertised. But in any event, I’d sooner go to one of the panels than a book reading since if I’ve bought the book I can read it myself.
Lev’s post was interesting.
Though I personally have never been into it myself, I think I understand the phenomenon of slash fiction in general, as sometimes tensions between characters in stories spark a vivid imaginative response in a reader who relates to the dynamic between the characters in a sexual way, but I just don’t get it with the Harry Potter books. I’m not easily offended but some of it I’ve been exposed to borders on being offensive to me. At the very least, I find it ridiculous. Of all the potential avenues for sexual fantasy, and of all the porn on the Internet, people dream of bondage scenes between students and professors in Harry Potter?
Whatever sets your wand off, I suppose…
I thought there were more women than men at the con. Maybe I didn’t notice the men as much, but I didn’t feel that there was a dearth of men either. There were a fair few, including older geeks like myself.
I didn’t go to any of the panels with Melissa but I did go to one with Steve Vander Ark & wanted to go to his other one but didn’t. Make of that what you will.
Actually it had nothing to do with any bias either for or against Melissa or Steve, I just didn’t have any interest in the topics or panels that Melissa was on. In the quote that Grossman gives, she is probably accurate in her analysis of fandom. There was fandom in quite a few forms before HP came along but it’s been the Internet that has added a whole new dimension to the whole HP phenomenon.
Other thoughts, I don’t know what he’s talking about with staying up too late & drinking too much.
Loved the continuous playing of the HP movies 1-5 on one of the hotel channels. Loved it except for seeing repeatedly a certain butchering of a main character in movies 3-5. I won’t mention which one except to say the initials are Albus Dumbledore…
I don’t necessarily get slash fiction, although I suppose it could be well done. I find it grating in that it doesn’t feel right to pair up characters who wouldn’t have anything to do with each other in real life & by real life I mean a story! Interesting that fanfic is stories about stories. Anyway, I don’t really care for much fanfic that deviates all that much from canon to begin with or that writes characters totally different than they have been written in their first incarnation. So, Snarry fic in particular has always baffled me.
I hope the panel on copyright enlightened a lot of people as to intricacies of the law & the vagueness of much of it.
Chris Rankin lost me as soon as I heard him say he liked Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore. Of course, he’s probably contractually obligated to say that, so maybe I should give him a break.
revgeorge, I think you’re getting to the point where a self-help group might be of assistance regarding the deplorable Gambon. I might tag along. Or perhaps we could all have an intervention.
Slash fiction–the idea just eludes me, but then my mind doesn’t think that way. I can see it with sexually edgy fare, but Harry Potter? Sick.
Did anyone read the comments below Grossman’s article? One person takes serious issue with Anelli’s claim that HP played a big role in defining internet fandom, arguing that almost everything in HP fandom was first found in Star Trek fandom. (The original “slash,” for example, was Kirk/Spock.)
Yeah, I saw that.
Arabella, I thought this was the self help group for that.
I did read down the comments beneath Grossman’s article. I thought the guy made a good point in that lots of things in fandom have been done before, especially Star Trek. But I do think Melissa’s right in that the Internet did things for Harry Potter in way perhaps not done before.
I don’t think Grossman’s wrong in asserting, “She made an interesting point, which is that because Harry and the Internet both became massive mainstream phenomena at around the same time, and because Harry fans are kind of amazingly determined and resourceful, they wound up establishing a lot of the rules and social forms of online fandom in general.”
Anybody know how the Star Trek fandom used the Internet & when they started to use it? Was it similar to what happened with HP? I don’t remember anything about if it did so.
Okay — HP, fandom, the ‘Net, Star Trek, yada yada yada…
Now, this is something I know a bit about. I’ve mentioned this term here before, but they are all examples of “participatory culture”. From Henry Jenkins’s text, Convergence Culture (2006):
A participatory culture is that which springs up around a cultural artifact so that fans/consumers can utilize their skills, interests, and joys to further enhance their experiences with that cultural artifact. Think of Wrock, Potter Puppet Pals, fanfic, etc. as examples of fans engaging with HP in order to further pull meaning from it, or to give shape to their intellectual and affective responses. Participation also allows fans a means of exploring elements of the world they find compelling for some reason in some form radically different from the analytical discourse we typically engage in here. Participatory cultures foster not only analysis, but creative re-imaginings and exploration that can feed both the Potterverse itself, as well as some fans’ identities.
By way of example, Jenkins describes the online community engaging with Survivor. Multiple websites conjure wide ranging sets of users that bring to bear different skills, specialties, and resources to predict who wins, or even where exactly unannounced seasons have been filmed.
We do much the same thing here. Our discussions on the HBP film and the HBP read-through brought together literary analysis, working experience in the film industry, a bit of psychology, and theology (just to name a few… sorry if I missed you…). But the most interesting element of it all is that, in our case, these working and academic specialties meld rather seamlessly with more personal reactions, like those of parents, family, entertainment-seekers, etc. Participatory cultures on the web have worked wonders in bringing together these different perspectives and communities that would otherwise never cross paths.
One of Jenkins’s major points about participation is that, as a practice that involves a negotiation between fans and media corporations over the creative “rights” of an artifact, participation skews the playing field toward the fan. The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has made it far harder for corporations to control, and much easier for fans to play, within an established realm. In his terms, media consumption has become more “democratic” and “bottom up.” Web 2.0 includes blogs, YouTube, wikis, social-networking sites (called SNS), or any web-based technology that allows average internet users to add to the Web’s content without “owning” space or having specialized knowledge. You don’t need a blog or know HTML to put stuff on the ‘Net anymore.
I think Jenkins is a little idealistic on this, especially as media corporations move to own Web 2.0 technologies, like YouTube. Companies have, to a relatively moderate degree, pushed back to retain their copyrighted cash cows.
As for Melissa Anelli, in some sense both she and her critic at Grossman’s blog are right. The core structure of HP fan communities owes a lot to the fan communities pioneered around Star Trek, D&D, and comics (as well as a whole slew of others I’m leaving out). However, Anelli’s point, more narrowly construed, posits that HP fan communities helped participatory cultures and fan practices develop on the Internet — more correctly, develop in Web 2.0. These prior communities had, and have, massive online communities through Usenet, Compuserv, and AOL, initially — and now Web 2.0.
But, in a sense, HP has become a model set of Web 2.0 communities because of widespread use of wiki, blogging, and video sharing technologies. It’s perhaps the largest participatory culture on the Web, and one of the most heavily networked. The Hog’s Head, as an example, has its own solid base that expands with every public engagement Travis works. We’re also networked into other HP-centered communities, like HogPro and HP Progs. Some of the best HP-centered analysis and scholarship available we find through these connections. Penny and Greg are always thoughtful, and John Granger is largely considered a cornerstone in our community. And their connections always bring fresh ideas from new faces, and provide paths through which many of us venture out of the pub and through the winding virtual streets of Hogsmeade!
Of course, it’s also something that Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, and Warner Bros. recognize as a ready-made, ever present, self-perpetuating market for their goods. Rowling et. al. are very smart in recognizing this potential, and allowing these participatory cultures to thrive nearly unfettered. As long as you’re not trying to make money with copyrighted material, they allow fans to do as they please. My understanding is that Star Trek has done much the same thing — taking a very laissez-faire approach to fans and their cultures.
George Lucas, on the other hand, has taken a more mixed approach. At times, Star Wars has seemed wide open to fans, allowing them all kinds of freedom. At other times, they try to maintain an illusion of freedom, but are really implementing all kinds of rules that restrict their fan communities’ participatory freedom. They’ll sponsor a contest for fans to create videos and short films, but they’ll force fans to use a prepackaged set of tools and effects Lucas Arts has deemed acceptable.
Haven’t read Dave’s whole post yet, but Dave – you should have come to Azkatraz. I met Henry Jenkins. I think revgeorge got his book signed.
Travis and revgeorge, you have now met one of my heroes. There is no animation that can truly demonstrate the sad, droopy face I have right now.
Especially because my dream job is to work for him in MIT’s comparative media lab… Oh, the missed opportunity!
Dave <———
But, that's so cool you guys got to meet him! I'm really jealous now!
Actually, I didn’t get to meet Jenkins or have him sign my book. I only bought the book from the Barnes & Noble table. So, you don’t have to feel so bad, Dave. Well, you probably do, since you missed out on meeting Jenkins.