Videogames 9 - fandom and active audience theory

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Key Theory 18 - Henry Jenkins - Fandom Theory

An active theory of audience response, that simply implies that an audience member is able to do whatever they please with what they have been provided in a media product.

A 'fandom' refers to a greatly organized, motivated audience of a particular media producer franchise that in many cases help in the construction with a media product due to their active role of engagement with it. Jenkins argues that audiences appropriate the producer's texts in ways of which were unintended or expected. (This is called 'Textual poaching - Where the audience 'takes' what they want from a media product.' 

Fans in many cases construct their social and cultural identities through these media products as opposed to just playing their game or watching the tv show. This could be in a number of ways, utilising imagery from said product, creating 'subcultural capitals' to form communal social bonds with online forums like Reddit or 4chan. 

These are all examples of what Jenkins would call 'Participatory culture'  which refers to when audiences 'get involved' with a media product via their own organisation and efforts, albeit in a way which doesn't financially benefit the owner of the media product. (In the case of Assassin's Creed it would be Ubisoft) yet in many cases is still indirectly providing promotion and awareness for the media product regardless as a byproduct of participatory culture. Though this isn't necessarily always positive awareness, naturally fans of a product are the ones most likely to voice when they are displeased with something they love.

Manifestations of fandom:

As you're about to witness a media text, in this case, Assasin's Creed holds the possibility to many different kinds of audience interaction, negotiations and repurposing of the product...

'Lets plays' - The common trend on sites like video sharing sites like Youtube for players to record their playthrough of any given game alongside external narration from them, with many garnering celebrity status from their consistency in videos of this genre.

Cosplay - Dressing up as characters from or inspired by the media text, as you can see, some are so invested in this that they have professional photoshoots and so forth to better amplify the outfit and add an additional atmosphere to them.
Collector's Editions of Assassin's Creed Saga by trivto on DeviantArtIncredible Assassin's Creed Cosplay From Around the World

Fanart - Drawings or artistic depictions revolving around the property to some degree.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Fan Art Reveals the Powerful Lady EivorAssassins creed fan art - Album on Imgur
Assassin's creed Syndicate - Gamer Hobby a place to check for ...


Fanfiction: Taking characters from the narrative of property and reappropriating them to the writer's liking for whichever scenario they would like to cover. (Yes. this is usually very arbitrary romance.) 


Other honourable mentions of beautiful weirdness from the fandom:


assassins creed memes | Tumblr

Truly, a masterpiece of 21st-century comedy.
Corona Virus Meme | Assassins Creed Rogue Version – kenwaykills


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