Week 5: Producer/Consumer Collapse

Course: Fan Labor 101

So, are fans producers or consumers?

We’ve looked at the way that fans both produce and consume media. In traditional understandings of media, there is a clear divide between those who produce and those who consume media. The producers are the original artists, directors, designers, writers and production teams that typically hold copy and distribution rights, while the consumers are those who read, watch, play and otherwise interact with the producer’s media products.

However, in fandom, there is overlap between the two. Fans do consume media according to this traditional model, but they also produce their own fanworks, building on and re-imagining worlds. They create and recreate. This is thought of as “producer/consumer collapse” or “prosumption”.

In other words, fandom challenges the idea that production and consumption are two totally separate actions.

Read

“Fandom-generated content: An approach to the concept of ‘fanadvertising’” by Javier Lozano Delmar, Víctor Hernández-Santaolalla, and Marina Ramos

“Authorizing authorship: Fan writers and resistance to public reading” by Cait Coker & Candace H. Benefiel

Listen

“The La Mancha Screw Job” (RadioLab)

Activity and Discussion

How does authenticity (how “real” or “true” we perceive something) play into prosumption? Think about the ways that fanfiction is distinguished from original fiction and how people in your fandom value (or don’t value) canon compliance.

How does the idea of prosumption complicate traditional media roles of consumption and production? Where do you see consumption and production intersect?

Next Week