Also These Voices. Technology and Gender in the Practice of Fanvidding Cover Image

Also These Voices. Technology and Gender in the Practice of Fanvidding
Also These Voices. Technology and Gender in the Practice of Fanvidding

Author(s): Joanna Kucharska
Subject(s): Anthropology, Media studies, Communication studies, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Crowd Psychology: Mass phenomena and political interactions, Sociology of Culture, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej
Keywords: popular culture; fanvidding; fanwork; fandom; Star Trek; gender theory; contextualisation;

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to discuss and analyze the practice of fanvidding – a type of audiovisual fanwork juxtaposing footage of a source or sources with external audio, in order to reframe the original material and express a new meaning. In order to discuss the practice, the article looks at the fandom theories of cultural economy, struggle for control over messages, and the tactics of textual poaching introduced by Fiske, de Certeau and Jenkins. It also provides context for reading the practice through the lens of gender theory, pointing out the gender divide and contextualization of specific fannish practices according to the gender of their authors. The critical and analytical strategies of fanvidders are examined historically within the Star Trek fandom (where fanvidding has originated and ourished) and analyzed on examples from both the history of vidding and its modern incarnations. This is achieved by close reading of the most significant examples of vidding in terms of fandom history and the changes in the vidding practice, in terms of technology employed by the vidders, and in term of the gender perspectives.

  • Issue Year: 38/2013
  • Issue No: 04
  • Page Range: 14-29
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English