The Case Study of Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Scholarly Commons ...

Creative component
Critiques
Regardless of the cultural or social status assigned to an object, a fan manages to see its
worth and find the wealth of knowledge within it. According to Jenkins (1992),
“fandom‟s very existence represents a critique of conventional forms of consumer
culture” (p. 283):
Organised fandom is, perhaps first and foremost, an institution of theory and
criticism, a semistructured space where competing interpretations and
evaluations of common texts are proposed, debated, and negotiated and where
readers speculate about the nature of the mass media and their own relationship
to it. (Jenkins, 1992, p. 86)
I will examine the findings of my cultivation analysis and use the patterns generated and
the sources relied upon to direct a critique of Sherlock Holmes (2009) to exemplify the
particular fan status I have achieved, while utilising my understanding of fandom. Hills
(2002) states “fans are often highly articulate. Fans interpret media texts in a variety of
interesting and perhaps unexpected ways” (p. ix). Therefore, I have chosen to apply my
findings and my model outcome towards forming of a critique, written from the
perspective of an educated fan. The choice of an educated position for this critique is
not to promote any particular kind of fan over another, this position simply reveals the
extent to which I was cultivated and the critical nature fans possess towards their
“object of consumption” (Gray et al., 2007, p. 11). Jenkins (1992) finds that “fans
would be the first to acknowledge their flaws and shortcomings” (p. 53). With
hindsight, this position coincides with my development as a fan and academic, as
Holmes fandom develops into a playful academic exercise, and answers the question:
When does a consumer become a fan, and what happens next?
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