The essay “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Grassroots creativity meets the Media industry“ by Henry Jenkins, focuses on Star Wars and the effect it has on its fans as they come up with better and advanced ways of appreciation. From dressing up as Darth Vader for Halloween, sleeping on Princess Leia sheets, battling with plastic light sabers, and playing with Boba Fett action figures. Star Wars has become their ‘legend,’ and now they are determined to remake it on their own terms, as Henri claims.
Amateur home movies are surfacing online, publicly with the technology advancement. Some of the videos will be great in terms of creating engagement with the public. While others may be bad, but that is the entire concept of convergence culture. The fact that anyone can participate, share, and highlight their work which will result in unpredictable ways, both for the media producer and the consumer.
In some cases, it may do wonders for the Star Wars team by building a strong brand loyalty, and benefiting the team in monetary terms but letting the fans control it all is a risky business. Precisely, the reason Lucas film Ltd created an online space for fans to make and distribute what they wanted but only on His terms. They wanted to gain back control.
At this moment in time, it may not be feasible to pass a judgement on what is right or wrong, as for every company that reaches out to its fans to engage in fandom, there are others who in a similar position are sending out cease-and-desist letters for fan actions not appreciated. This could be because what fans are producing could be considered as breaking rules i.e. a violation of copyright law. But who would know the answer to this?
We shouldn’t be surprised that neither the brand, nor the fan knows if their actions are beneficial for the brand or not. It is only a game of trial and error that you can learn.
References
Jenkins H. 2012. “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Grassroots creativity meets the media industry” In ed. M. Mandiberg., Social Media Reader, NY: New York University Press, Chapter 15.
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