Girls who like Boys who like Boys – Ethnography of ... - Yuuyami.com

consumers: Consumers only passively read/watch/passively partake of a
series, whereas fans are productive. Productivity in this case is any activity in
a spectrum of multiple possibilities: writing analyses/fanfiction or simply
fantasizing about the characters. Kira liked this theory as it spoke to her in the
way she personally defines the difference of what she is a fan of versus what
she simply reads or enjoys. Giving a specific example, she mentioned that she
“might watch X-Files whenever its on, but that's about it,” whereas on the
other hand Kira has produced quite distinctive fanfiction for various manga
(Japanese comic) fandoms, as well as essays.
These theories of fandom and production may very well stem
indirectly from the various fandom studies texts written by Henry Jenkins.
Following De Certeau’s motif of a poached, nomadic culture, Jenkins
underlines the level of productivity within fandom, perhaps, as mentioned, in
order to emphasize positive aspects of fandom to his (unconvinced) academic
audience. In Textual Poachers, he argues that:
Fandom recognizes no clear-cut line between artists and
consumers; all fans are potential writers whose talents need
to be discovered, nurtured, and promoted and who may be
able to make a contribution, however modest, to the
cultural wealth of the larger community. In researching this
book, I spoke to women who had discovered skills and
abilities that they had not recognized before entering
fandom; they received there the encouragement they had
found lacking from their interactions with other institutions.
(Jenkins 1992:280)
Ultimately, he concludes for his academic audience that fandom does not
prove that all media audiences are active, but does prove that that not all
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