Convergence Culture: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of Jenkins’ novel deals primarily with the “Potter Wars” and the various beliefs and viewpoints of the proponents of each side.  It also deals with the overarching theme of the novel of the recent struggle between producers and consumers over individual rights in a time when it is easier than ever to both consume and create media.  The part of the chapter that intrigued me the most was the section titled “Rewriting School,” which argued that (if you couldn’t just say definitely) the potential is very high for young writers in fan fiction communities to both improve their skill more than they would have been capable of doing in a school setting and to genuinely enjoy writing (187). 

There are several different areas of the fan fiction sites that support Jenkins’ argument, the first of which has to be the fan community’s informal instruction of new writers (188).  The example given in the book is the Sugar Quill “beta reading,” a process which involves fans submitting rough drafts to the testers so they can “smooth out bugs” and “take them to the next level” (188).  They emphasize their offer of GENTLE constructive criticism and technical editing to give the authors more confidence.  The Sugar Quill also provides genre classifications of how different readers might want to engage with the text, like “what ifs” and postulations about what happens during the summer (190).  They do, however, hold writers to a “strict literal interpretation” of Rowling’s text (190).  Jenkins also argues that by building on media that already exists, kids are able to devote more attention to learning and mastering their writing and communication skills (191).  Writers on the fan fiction sites have also said that writing about someone else’s characters rather than drawing on their own experience allows them a certain critical distance to “reflect on what they were trying to express” (191). 

I have to say that I disagree with half of Jenkins’ argument in this section of the chapter.  I do not think that it is very likely that writers in fan fiction communities are improving more than they would in school.  It also does not seem very likely that school is actually detrimental to these fan fiction community kids because it is limiting their feedback and exposure to things they like (which in turn causes them to devote more attention).  While these communities are helpful in some ways, they are harmful in more important and significant ones.  Critical feedback is an integral part of becoming a better writer.  The processes described by these “beta readers” (188, 189) are too watered down to be of much help to someone who was already lost or not motivated enough to put forth the effort to figure out what they did wrong.  

Writing in fan fiction communities is also detrimental to a school environment because it detracts kids’ attention from what is going on in class.  This sentence at the top of page 193 really illustrates this point: “Some teens have confessed to smuggling drafts of stories to school…and editing them during class.”  The last sentence in the paragraph states that the fans can’t wait for school to get out so they can focus on their writing, but who’s to say they are even practicing the right things?  They may not even be trying to have their stories edited, so they may have no idea what they’re doing wrong. 

Chapter 1 of Convergence Culture

One of the things I found the most interesting was the spoilers’ attitude toward knowledge and information.  Before ChillOne, virtually all of the spoilers were sure they wanted to know all they could.  However, when ChillOne came along, spoilers were faced with a dilemma about whether having the knowledge was what they valued about the spoiling experience, or if it was more about something else.  Jenkins argues that, for most spoilers anyway, spoiling is not just about acquiring the knowledge.  It’s about the community and the process of finding things out individually and putting them together with what everyone else learned.  It is the process of acquiring information that holds these knowledge communities together (54). 

ChillOne’s process of just dumping his information onto the message boards “ruined” the season for many spoilers because he had already done a lot of the work of acquiring information that so many people in the spoiling community enjoy.  At one point in the chapter, one of the spoilers says ChillOne finding out so much before the season had even begun was like someone sneaking in and opening all your Christmas presents while you weren’t looking.  Before, spoiling had been a goal: something to work toward achieving.  After ChillOne, people could see that spoiling was more about the process: a community (with individuals boasting different and specialized skills) working together toward a common goal.  ChillOne ruined the season because he “won” the spoiling game (51).  He got all this information before the show eve started.  Because of ChillOne’s ultimate spoiling, the other spoilers were able to see that spoiling wasn’t about getting the answer but about getting to the answer. 

My question with the modern day implications of Jenkins’ argument lies in the quote given at the bottom of page 56 about how dead the message boards were before the 7^th season of Survivor.  It was clear there that the spoilers were tired of the game they had been playing.  I wonder whether spoilers of different shows are having similar problems now that reality shows are on the decline.  How long could it have taken for the boredom with Survivor, one of the most fun and interesting shows for spoilers, to have spread to other shows?

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