This is a very intersting topic to write about solely because we have completley grown up surrounded by technology and the media around us. Everything we have done or been involved with in our years usually is tied with the media or technology of some sort. That isn’t a problem because that is the way the world is moving in modern day society. Everything is all about the media and technology and how to make it better, however, every generation before us had to grow up without technology and then watch it completley take over the world we live in today.

The screening we had to watch this week was Galaxy Quest, I have never heard of Galaxy Quest before this week but I really enjoyed watching it. I really got a Star Trek vibe from this which I assume was on purpose. Since we are talking about fandom and how Star Trek really started that off. It was along the same story line with Aliens on steady attack. The Star Trek world and fanbase took Galaxy Quest as on of their own as they welcomed it into their family with open arms. I really enjoyed this film and would definitley reccomend it to any Star Trek or Star Wars fans but a good watch for anybody in general.

Our parents grew up with very little technology, everyone had a telephone and a TV set but that is really it. Nobody had computers or other ways of communicating besides the phone. In the very late 90’s and early 2000’s is when the world turned to technology and the media. I really enjoyed this weeks TED talk as it grabbed me almost immediatley as her attention grabber was very well set up. Mary Franklin is a perfect example of someone that grew up with no sort of communication or social media or technology, she lived in an isolated beach so she was never able to see the outside world really. She went into depth about how she was a huge Star Wars fan and she thought she was the only femal Star Wars fan in the world. Until the world of technology came around and she realized there were hundreds and thousands of female Star Wars fans around the world. She then decided she would create a fan base or a fan page online with all Female Star Wars fans. This made her more confident and able to step out in the world and start making moves.

As a population, I think most people think that social media is very negative and bad. It does nothing for you because it’s just pointless scrolling all day, but it’s stories like this that make you realize the media can completley change somebody’s life. Mary Franklin was a shy girl thast seemed to be content with being bottled up in her little isolated village. After technology came out, she was able to see how the world really is and what it has to offer. The best thing to come from social media in my opinion is the connections you can get and the opprotunities that come from that. Jobs and lifestyles hapen over social media and technology. People fall in love and Soul Mates meet online with social media and technology. It is an extrememly pivotal part of our economy and the lifestyle that we live everyday. I think the positives definitley outweigh the negatives when it comes to social media. People don’t realize but we need social media and technology and online communication in order to keep moving forward in the direction that technology is taking us. Not in a bad way like Robots taking over, but the online world is crucial, and it will remain the same from here on out.

12 angry men was a strange yet interesting look into group think and just what a group as a whole can have on a person’s ideals and values. As people we don’t wish to stick out from the norm. It honestly scares most, if not all, of us in one way or another. In 12 Angry men they explore this idea and see just what one different opinion can do to change the tide of one’s mind and maybe even allow others to see that sometimes speaking up is the right thing to do. Despite the circumstances with the given legal surroundings and consequences.

I feel as though the look into this movie was a perfect sum up of this semester. Despite the subject matter, we’d always have a reference point within the lesson to look upon to show just what we were studying and how it works within the given space. Whether it be 12 Angry Men, The Twilight Zone, or whatever.

As a visual learner i found this crucial. It’s easy enough for a professor to just give a lesson or lecture and spew out information to the students, but it’s another to interact and give feedback with material that pertains to the lesson so it gives a good reference to the students. That’s one of the reasons why i enjoyed this class so much.

Despite my rough start and somewhat lackluster end to the semester due to lack of motivation and time management, the professor was always there to help me if i emailed ahead of time, even working with me on my essay when i needed the help. I honestly wish there were better circumstances in which i could have done better in the class, but all i can really do is say thank you to Nick for helping me when i needed it!

Have you ever been in a situation where your vote could mean life or death for someone else?  It is a crazy situation, but that is the place that twelve men are put into in the movie, 12 Angry Men.  The men are on a jury, and they need to decide whether to convict this boy to death for killing his father.  As they leave the courtroom, they are given the instructions that they must have a unanimous vote of either “guilty,” or “not guilty.”  Only one man has the courage to admit that he is not so sure the boy really did the crime, and as the movie goes on, slowly, he is able to pull more and more, and finally, all of the men to his side. 

               12 Angry Men is a great example of “Groupthink,” which is the idea of everyone in the group making bad decisions because they were pressured into giving up their morals to stick with the group (Comm Power Point).  The movie also showcases “herd mentality,” which has to do with the idea of being influenced by your peers to make certain decisions (Comm Power Point).

               It is hard to stand alone and fight groupthink or herd mentality, especially if people are vehemently against you.  That one man was not very popular at the beginning of the movie, but he stood firm.  It is easy to go with the crowd, but what is easy is not always right.  One of my favorite quotes pertaining to this idea is from the movie, Captain America: Civil War, when Sharon Carter says, “Compromise where you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say ‘No, you move’.”

               As for an overview of the semester, this class was awesome.  I really liked how each week we focused on one specific thing.  I think it is hard when you try to fit so many different topics in one week.  I really enjoyed the week that we did on radio and music.  I also really enjoyed the week we talked about Old Hollywood.  Old movies are my favorite things, so I thought it was awesome to talk about how old movie studios were run.  I especially loved the MGM documentary.  I do think it would have been really fun to talk about comics and video games, but I understand that it was not possible with the short semester. 

               The other thing that I really enjoyed was the Media Journal.  It felt relevant to do, considering this is a mass media class.  I had never logged my media intake like that before, and I thought the results were interesting.  I especially liked that it was easy to do and it actually taught me something.  I also enjoyed doing the weekly blogs instead of doing lots of quizzes like some of my other classes.  I felt like with the blogs, they made me think through all we had watched and talked about in class.

               The BEST thing about the class though, was Dr. Schlegel.  He is a very cool person and very knowledgeable about so many different topics.  It was a joy to take this class from him, and I am looking forward to taking more classes from him the future.  He made me excited that my major is communications! Thanks, Dr. S!

This week we took a close look into the movies; Galaxy Quest and Jaws, two films that made history in their unconventional plot lines and twists. The film Galaxy Quest (1999) labeled as a Sci-fi/Comedy took audiences by storm with enhanced special-effects, realistic costumes and an unusual tone for sci-fi movies. This movie gained a massive fanbase and inspired fan conventions where people came together to dress up as their favorite characters and bond over their formed knowledge of the show. In San Diego there is an international non-profit comic-con held every single year. This event usually hosts around 167,000 attendees at the San Diego Convention Center, who come from all over to meet the creators of their favorite books and movies as well as interact with other fans. There are parties held at these conventions as well as discussions and the opportunity to dress up. In my home city of Chicago we have an annual comic-con as well and I know people go and have a lot of fun. I never knew much about it but from what we have talked about in class and I see from my film research, it seems like it could be really fun. This years’ conventions were cancelled in San Diego and other major cities because of the pandemic however, are scheduled to reopen on July 21, 2022 at the downtown San Diego location.

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, US actress Tessa Thompson and Director Taika Waititi spoke about their roles in the Marvel movie during the 2019 San Diego convention.

The movie Jaws celebrated the 45 anniversary of it’s release this past summer. When Jaws came to theaters on June 20th, 1975 it became groundbreaking in the way that it was unlike any other movie. Jaws gained national attention for its thrilling components and unexpectedly intense, gory plot twists. This film notably launched Steven Spielberg’s career as a director and screenwriter, paving the way for his later award winning films such as E.T (1982), Jurassic Park (1993) and Schindler’s List (1993). Jaws also shaped many people’s perceptions of sharks, people didn’t see them like fish anymore, but deadly oceanic creatures that attacked humans.

I still remember watching this movie for the first time and being thrown off by the boat scene, wondering when the shark would appear again out of nowhere.

The gratification theory helps us understand why we look to certain media outlets to fulfill specific needs. Did you wake up today feeling particularly scholarly? Maybe thats why you chose to open the News app before Facebook or Instagram. This theory presents users as the one’s being in control of their media wants and needs. For me personally, I like to go on Facebook when I want to check in with family and go on Instagram or TikTok when I feel more creative or inspired. I found this media contextualization for the gratification theory to be really interesting because we often times hear that our technology controls us not the other way around. We are so connected to our phones, televisions and computers that it can be easy to believe that we are just a byproduct of our time spent on these devices and feel out of control when using them.

Thinking about this takes me back to last semester in ‘Social Media and Society’ where we went about 15-20 minutes daily without looking at our phones. This brief disconnection was difficult at first and gave me, and a lot of others anxiety. I remember wondering if anyone was texting me or if I missing anything important that made it hard for me to focus on the task at hand- even if it was just walking from my dorm to class. It did however get easier and I believe that I regained some of that control over my screen time.

Are/were you apart of any Fandoms at any point in time? Did you lose interest if you are no longer apart of them?

Fandom, like a lot of the things we talked about this year, brings people together. However obscure you think something is, I am sure there is a group of fans who bond over their love for whatever obscure thing is. One of the reasons for this widespread fandom for endless things is the unlimited access to these things. You can’t be an avid Star Wars fan without seeing or at least hearing of Star Wars. For example, Mary Franklin was fairly removed from the rest of the world in her small fishing town in Alaska, somehow the Star Wars movies found their way to her even in the early 90s. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Star-Wars-film-series

Now, if we think about the access to movies, TV shows, books, stories passed along by word of mouth or by word of podcast, imagine how easily and quickly the fandom world grew. The media has an influence on what it throws in front of us which also plays a role in what we become a fan of. However, it does not have complete control. We do still have some free will about what we consume. Then, we can actually use the internet and media to connect with others about what we care about. 

When people are true fans of something, hopefully at a healthy level, lead to people creating some pretty great things. As Henry Jenkins explains, people spend the most time and exert the most energy and even learn the most on things they care about outside of school rather than what they are forced to learn in school. School is important for a baseline, yes. But I think most acts of genius are inspired by fandom.

Every action has a reaction, just how everything we see affects us in the ways we might not realize. Media leaves its mark on us, see how the current generation can’t even live without media. It’s basically an instinct for people to check social media platforms first thing in the morning when they wake up.

Social media has corrupted our minds, it has a way of controlling how we think and feel. There are people out there who can legit not live without social media because it became a way of life. Social media allows people to project the way they want people to see them even if it’s not they way they actually live there lives. It’s more like an illusion, if you don’t know the truth behind it what is displayed on social media platform would what people think is the reality of one’s life.

If this can be done with people displaying their personal life, this is also happens when it comes to news. There are tons of news outlets that’s on social media that is click bait. Click bait meaning that it may project a real news senecio but giving wrong information or just being used for other purposes. This makes it more complicated for the people to know what’s true and what’s not.

This weeks screening included documentary on the 45th anniversary of Jaws the movie. This happening just this past summer. Also there was a Jaws WeMake 45th anniversary tribute to celebrate. This was a very cool way to get the public and the Jaws fans their opinion out there on the already great movie. They recreated parts of the movie and was very interesting to see how they wanted parts of the movie to look like and it was a amazing to see. Getting the public involved in my opinion is always a great idea not only for your current movie or business but for the future of your company. Building on an already huge fanbase will help them for their future movies.

Another topic we covered this week in class is the topic of Fandoms. Fandoms are a really huge aspect of pretty much anything. There is a fan group for almost everything nowadays. Weather it be a fan group for a movie such as Jaws or a fan group for a video game like Call of Duty. There are huge fanbases and these fanbases can sometimes get out of hand but that’s what makes them special. These fan group will most likely not only buy that product but will always buy that product. Xbox fans will always buy an Xbox and PlayStation fans will always buy a PlayStation and never consider the other. They have a loyalty to these brands and will always keep that loyalty to them unless the company does something negative to lose that loyalty. Companies acknowledge this fandom and will sometimes look to their fans and see what they want to see in upcoming products. As a business student this is always an amazing opportunity for businesses to grow and better develop their products because they always have a test group to go to and confirm products with.

A huge example of a fandom that can get very crazy is sports teams. Sporting teams can have very intense fan bases that will be loyal to them to the end. Growing up some kids grow up into families that sports are crazy important to them and they are somewhat forced to be fans of that team. Others find a team they like or a player and they will go all out to show their support for their team. In the photo show is a group of college basketball fans at a Duke basketball game. They are known as the Cameron Crazies because of how hard they go to show their support for the Duke Blue Devils.

My questions to the audience

Are you part of a fandom if so which one?

Do you have a loyalty to any one brand or product?

Fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and passion with others who share a common interest. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions. Everything today has fans. Famous authors, directors, certain movies, tv shows, athletes etc. From my own exitance, some of the most loyal, die hard fans are fans of the Yankees, Red Sox, Star Trek, Star Wars, the Grateful Dead, Dallas Cowboys, and Alabama fans. Radical fans form from a strong love for the thing they are admiring. Fans for tv shows or movies often gather for conventions and they get together to celebrate their love for said group.

When it comes to weather or not media uses us or we use it, I think we use each other. Media uses humans to thrive and make money. They use advertisements on all the media nowadays, websites, social medias etc. Humans use media to fill a void of boredom or self oppression. People like to go to media platforms for entertainment as well. Media is so broad now that you can find anything you like somewhere to put a smile on your face a fulfill your fix. Media also now uses AI to draw you in and keep you there with more things they (AI) know you like.

Fandom coming from fanatic and and the first fans being baseball fans intrigued me. I have been a baseball fan ever since a was a young child. Felt a connect to when I read it. Also hard to believe those were the first “fans”. I am surprised it took that long to create that term for admiring something or someone. Fans are just like social groups in a way. It the being a part of something that connects them. They “fit in” together and feed off each other. When I am out and about and I see someone wearing a Yankees hat or a Grateful Dead shirt I feel a connect to that person. I was at the gas station the other day when I saw an older man wearing a mask with the dead skull on it and I had to say something to him about it. Especially at my age there aren’t that many fans of the dead but just to see someone who has the an equal appreciation for the same thing I do puts a smile on my face, and I am sure it was the same for that man so that is why I felt like I had to say something to him.

In the reading Fandom the writer talks about if a fan is qualified to produce media on a topic. I think if you are a super fan of one topic or genre then yes you are qualified. Say you love Star Wars, you have seen every movie and know all the ins and outs. You have dedicated a lot of time informing yourself about Star Wars, then yes you are qualified to produce media on such topic if you know enough. The author of that reading seemed like a smart-ass and wanted to exclude “non intellectual’s” from being able to produce something meant to inform. Anyone who is informed on a topic to the level that would make them an expert would be a reputable source of information.

In this week’s discussion, we spoke on the stances fandom communities have on our society. Fandom communities within media becomes a central place where a similar mind can connect and cultivate stories, jokes, media, content, and culture of what a community finds attractive. As stated in, Fandom, “on the hand, studies of ‘we’ (intellectuals) consume culture – the disciplines of English literature and art history- have worked on the assumption that readers actively make interpretations, drawing on a detailed set of already held knowledges about similar texts, previous great works and other forms of cultural capital..” This community’s central idea is what makes ComicCon, DragCon, NYC Makeup experience, BlackGirls Rock, and so much more. The central idea and teaching of a group of individuals create a community of like-minded thoughts and concerns.

Fandom communities have always been apart of my life. Growing up, I have been within the serval communities spanning around television shows, music bands, celebrities, black girls in media, pottery, etc. Growing up, I found a group of people who thought similar thoughts, which allowed me to express my creativity and concerns in these spaces. These spaces welcome open conversation and new information. Finding out about new pieces of music, techniques, meet-ups, etc., through their fandom communities, also became a plus. The specification of these communities makes for more open conversation, which was also mentioned in our screening with scholar Henry Jenkins.

“Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture” spoke on the political changes fandom communities had on society. With his desire to fill the gate between political concerns and students’ leisure activities, Henry Jenkins wanted to recreate similar energy within conversations about anime or Harry Pottery into the political atmosphere. How can these Fandoms communities make a change within their organizations? He stated a Harry Potter community that has already created global initiatives such as supply food and water in Haiti. While these fandom communities may have started in the small and local area, these ideas can surface in the world and develop in other organizations.
Fandom’s initiative to make a change is a massive way of preparing our students and adolescence to be active citizens. Creating these global changes adds value not only to an individual but to the world. If we are willing to open our minds to others’ likes and dislikes, we as a society can build a future that educates and helps one another create a better place.

My question to the reader: what are some fandom communities you have been apart? How has this increased your knowledge?

If you’ve been on the internet for a while, you’ve likely run into fandoms or even been a part of a few yourself. For me, I grew up on the internet and all that came with it. I became heavily invested in the shows I enjoyed, finding communities online who shared my interest, and finding even more media to consume made by that community. That’s the thing about fandoms, they don’t just enjoy and consume the content produced, but as the reading this week states, they’re producers in their own way. This means fan fiction, fan art, fan merchandise, etc.

I’ve also found that fandoms have a weird way of interacting with the sources of their interest like the actors and writers. It can become obsessive, like learning all about the actors and writers, or not seeing them as their own people an only see their connection to the show. While that has definitely been scary at times I’m sure, fandoms also have their own unique way of affecting the show. Most people watch something, react, then move on with their lives. Some people in fandoms, I mostly noticed when I was younger, is that when they want something changed in a show, whether it be a critique on plot, character writing, etc. they make sure it is heard by those who have the power to take that criticism.

I feel like if your media has a fandom, there’s some major pros and cons. On one hand, you have a massive following absolutely dedicated to what you create. Not only will they consume the show, but they’re also extremely likely to buy the products you sell based off the show and attend events if you hold them. Fandoms also have a tendency to become relatively well known. The fact that the fans are well known would likely lead to exposure to the original content, basically free advertising. I do feel like there are downsides though. Fandoms do like to create media using your characters and world, and even sell their own media based off that. At what point is that ok and not stealing, when does that line get drawn. I know Nintendo has shown issue with this kind of thing at some points. To many people’s disagreement, Nintendo is very strict and heavy with their copyright and it can tend to become a dangerous game if you wish to sell things with their material in it. There’s also a con to a fandom becoming well known, even though that still has pros. Sometimes these communities get toxic and they start turning on themselves and others for any number of reasons. I’ve known people who refuse to even watch a show because of fans they’ve run into of that show. Imagine having this amazing show, but no one will watch because the fans of it are so horrible.

My question for the class is, if you were to have a show, or series of movies, would you want a fandom or not. Why? Do you see them as a valuable benefit, is it just a nice sentiment?