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Thread started 03/16/10 5:39am

kahr86

What makes a fan? Doing Research

In his book Fans, Bloggers and Gamers, Henry Jenkins, a well-known academic fan researcher, writes this:

"One becomes a 'fan' not by being a regular viewer of a particular program but by translating that viewing into some kind of cultural activity, by sharing feelings and thoughts about the program content with friends, by joining a 'community' of other fans... For fans,consumption naturally sparks production..." (p.41)


(If you want to see more of his thoughts and research you can check http://www.henryjenkins.org/)


I am a new member of this community (wave) and am currently working on my Bachelor at a University in Sweden, majoring in Cultural Studies. My paper is about fandom, and what a fan is. I have been lurking here for a while and found this site to be really interesting and I see you guys discuss fandom yourselves quite a lot.

To get more out of my research I also want to do a number of interviews by the end of this and next week so you're welcome to send me a message if you'd like to participate (interviews will be done preferably via skype) or just have questions. Send me a message here or email me at kahr86@gmail.com
Quotes from various threads will be anonymous unless I have been approved by the posters to use them in my paper.

Feel free to also discuss my Jenkins quote in this thread!


.....
[Edited 3/16/10 5:43am]
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Reply #1 posted 03/16/10 5:51am

NelsonR

I agree we are a cultural community...even a "community of practice,"

aka

reasoning about Prince's music

even the media refers to his "hardcore" fans

there are shared practices, rituals, etc.,

even though there is huge dissonance as well in our approach to Prince

and the community around him

great topic btw!
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Reply #2 posted 03/16/10 7:14am

Hatman

avatar

Naw! We're just a bunch of "short for fanatics"! We're all up in Prince's face, tryin' to get his picture with Michael Jackson! We're all up buying his records, lookin at his clothes! He's just tryin to buy his mum some tampons and we're all up in his website, tryin to crack the code, askin for our T-shirt, where's our opus, why didn't you release the live concert you filmed, where's the Million Days video, blah blah.

If only we'd just leave him alone to write music an stash it in the vault he could be happy.

Then he could truly call us "friend".

Yeah right.
Take it - like Clarence said:
"I got a million of them -
all different U know."
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Reply #3 posted 03/16/10 7:20am

TheVoid

All your answers can be found here:


http://prince.org/msg/7/317151



It's complete.
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Reply #4 posted 03/16/10 11:49am

NelsonR

Hatman said:

Naw! We're just a bunch of "short for fanatics"! We're all up in Prince's face, tryin' to get his picture with Michael Jackson! We're all up buying his records, lookin at his clothes! He's just tryin to buy his mum some tampons and we're all up in his website, tryin to crack the code, askin for our T-shirt, where's our opus, why didn't you release the live concert you filmed, where's the Million Days video, blah blah.

If only we'd just leave him alone to write music an stash it in the vault he could be happy.

Then he could truly call us "friend".

Yeah right.



y'all a bunch a freaks sho nuff tru 'tis so ain't lyin

i heard of a dude on campus in the 80's who used to kneel

before an alter of prince and burn incense and shit;

crazy ass mf's

what's even mo' sick is that prince would probably be

impressed in a vain kind of way;

don't hate me coz i say thangs y'all

lol
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Reply #5 posted 03/16/10 1:00pm

wildgoldenhone
y

TheVoid said:

All your answers can be found here:


http://prince.org/msg/7/317151



It's complete.

You're a better fan than me, that's for sure.

smile
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Reply #6 posted 03/16/10 1:48pm

Bohemian67

avatar

Good luck in your research. Maybe you find out why fans call fans who don't say bad things about Prince fams?
"Free URself, B the best that U can B, 3rd Apartment from the Sun, nothing left to fear" Prince Rogers Nelson - Forever in my Life -
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Reply #7 posted 03/17/10 4:44am

kahr86

Thank you!

I'm curious whether you think it's necessary to engage in certain activities to be able to call yourself a fan?
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Reply #8 posted 03/17/10 4:47am

booty

LOL
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Reply #9 posted 03/18/10 5:56am

LittleNicci

kahr86 said:

In his book Fans, Bloggers and Gamers, Henry Jenkins, a well-known academic fan researcher, writes this:

"One becomes a 'fan' not by being a regular viewer of a particular program but by translating that viewing into some kind of cultural activity, by sharing feelings and thoughts about the program content with friends, by joining a 'community' of other fans... For fans,consumption naturally sparks production..." (p.41)


(If you want to see more of his thoughts and research you can check http://www.henryjenkins.org/)


I am a new member of this community (wave) and am currently working on my Bachelor at a University in Sweden, majoring in Cultural Studies. My paper is about fandom, and what a fan is. I have been lurking here for a while and found this site to be really interesting and I see you guys discuss fandom yourselves quite a lot.

To get more out of my research I also want to do a number of interviews by the end of this and next week so you're welcome to send me a message if you'd like to participate (interviews will be done preferably via skype) or just have questions. Send me a message here or email me at kahr86@gmail.com
Quotes from various threads will be anonymous unless I have been approved by the posters to use them in my paper.

Feel free to also discuss my Jenkins quote in this thread!


.....
[Edited 3/16/10 5:43am]


I think Prince fans are different from many other fan's. We are more spiritual in our understanding of music - because the music is deeper than most throw away pop these days. The concerts are a way for people to meet and find they have more than just Prince's music in common. Most of the people I have met through P have been mostly creative types, deep thinkers and interesting people some might calls us misfits, but I think thats more to do with people not really understanding P - I am forever trying to make non P fans understand that he is not a faggot and we are not stalkers.

Basically we love his music and through his music he has touched all our lives in some way - so no we are not your usual fans - we are in a different category to most usual fans. Just look at the way a lot of people on here diss P - we don't love or agree with everything he does - why is that - whats it got to do with us ? there is a connection, however tenuous.
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Reply #10 posted 03/18/10 12:46pm

Bohemian67

avatar

kahr86 said:

Thank you!

I'm curious whether you think it's necessary to engage in certain activities to be able to call yourself a fan?


Not necessary to engage in activities with members of the board to be a fan no.
To be up to date on what activities Prince is up to. yes.
"Free URself, B the best that U can B, 3rd Apartment from the Sun, nothing left to fear" Prince Rogers Nelson - Forever in my Life -
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Reply #11 posted 03/24/10 6:49am

thedance

avatar

Hey Kahr86,

are you still around here???

Please: I wanna know if you had success with this project.

biggrin
Prince 4Ever. heart
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Reply #12 posted 03/24/10 7:50am

kahr86

thedance said:

Hey Kahr86,

are you still around here???

Please: I wanna know if you had success with this project.

biggrin


I am still around and I am still working on the project. It will take until June so it will take a while before I'm done.

Thanks to those of you who have responded!

Now, I see several academics comparing fandom to religion with fans being like religious devotees. What do you guys think about that comparison?
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Reply #13 posted 03/24/10 7:59am

thedance

avatar

^ in the good old 1980's Prince was a religion to me, but that was before he (Larry Graham) turned his head into the Jehovah Witnesses.

Also the quality of the music has gone down hill since the Gold Experience.

I'm a "critical" fan now. wink
Prince 4Ever. heart
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Reply #14 posted 03/24/10 9:46am

erik319

avatar

kahr86 said:

thedance said:

Hey Kahr86,

are you still around here???

Please: I wanna know if you had success with this project.

biggrin


I am still around and I am still working on the project. It will take until June so it will take a while before I'm done.

Thanks to those of you who have responded!

Now, I see several academics comparing fandom to religion with fans being like religious devotees. What do you guys think about that comparison?


For some, religious devotees is a very good description.
blah blah blah
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Reply #15 posted 03/24/10 12:05pm

torah3121

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i think u become a fan by what type of genres you lik say for instance people who like rock and roll usually will like artists or tv programs about it. most people can't call themselves fans. look at mj fans they say they love hm but they ended up backstabbing him at every turn. so i guess its just up to ur opinion in some cases
Why does there have to be a soundcheck? I don't have a songcheck. You don't have a clothescheck.
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Reply #16 posted 03/30/10 12:23pm

torah3121

avatar

kahr86 said:

Thank you!

I'm curious whether you think it's necessary to engage in certain activities to be able to call yourself a fan?

i dont think its necessary because ive never been to a oncert and ive been a fan since forever but i guess its just ur preference
Why does there have to be a soundcheck? I don't have a songcheck. You don't have a clothescheck.
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