Thoughts to the (Eric Faden, A Fair(y) Use Tale, Media Education Foundation videos & Henry Jenkins, ‘Quentin Tarantino's Star wars? : grassroots creativity meets the media industry’ in Convergence culture : where old and new media collide (New York New York University Press,2006): 131 – 168) reading:
We talked about “Cosplay” in the class tonight; I was quite surprised that this Asian culture has been spread out all over the world and become so strong enough that even westerns are so fascinated with it. Actually, I feel like it’s a shame to say that I used to be pissed of this kind of “culture” when I was in high school while my classmates tried to showing off her character of being the dead with her body bleeding from head to toe in front of me!!!!(gross!!!) After that, I guess I was quite scared by her, but it’s been almost ten years passed by, I could gradually see and tell the meaning behind this idea of being someone else. I found that “cosplay” have something in common between real world and virtual world on Internet, but they present in different ways. For example, when we disguise ourselves to suit for the “idea me” in our mind and try to being like that in the so called “on line world” to communicate with other “idea me”, similarly, they are doing the same thing but distinguished themselves as a reproduction representing in real world with virtual sprits. They plugged themselves into the characters which they played and totally act like an actress/actor. It seems like for some of them may actually feel the existence of themselves and confident when being someone else. In fact, I found the thread from reading that the current moment of media change encourages broad participation, grassroots creativity, and a bartering or gift economy. Within convergence culture, everyone’s a participant. Also, the popular culture is what happened to materials of mass culture when they involved with consumers.
Therefore, I think of that Henry Jenkins wrote about “The distinction between Interactivity and Participation” in ‘Quentin Tarantino's Star wars? : grassroots creativity meets the media industry’ in Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. So, I guess the interactivity is more concerned with the designers whereas participation is more related to the consumers. For example, remember the electronic interactive media involved in the exhibition which we have discussed it few weeks ago? It came up with some different arguments like the necessary of using it to enhance the spectators (consumers) comprehension and interests and the some commercial benefits may have been brought. I mean, some people may think it’s really good that many people may be attracted by these high technology, but meanwhile, it somehow distracts the focus of the topic of exhibitions. So, what I am trying to explain is, when spectators (consumers) do the actions of using the interactive media technology, they have already chosen to being designed passively to the events instead of participating it actively. That is almost the purpose of designers who attempt to set up the traps as lure to the consumers who are engaged their full attention. However, participation is the reflection and feedbacks of consumers which is more positive to the events. Taking one of the Jenkins’ examples in the reading, the movie theatre is just a facility provided as well as the contents of movies that consumers may suit themselves in as interactivity yet the way and the opinions which have been inspired by movies are more participial and evocable.
So far as be concerned, I reckon that the controversiality of old media and new media is another important issue to address here. I remember in the previous reading, The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich shows that digital media is characterised by variability, which in practice often means its customisation by and for individual users for commercial purposes. Thus, I agree that the “culture industry” also has its own reasons for encouraging active, rather than passive, modes of consumption. Furthermore, participation in the digital media imaginary is increasingly becoming an obligation. Thus, while new participatory modes of media engagement are almost always considered in enabling terms, complicit with the production of new media subjectivity–which means a performative mode ideally suited to the “flexible personality” demanded by contemporary capitalism.
The “new participatory modes of media engagement” and “culture industry” has changed the media environment a lot; I prefer to say the “grassroots culture”, like fan fiction, parody of movies and free improvisational music…etc. actually, I quite dislike the period whenever I turn on the TV, most of the TV shows perform the singing competitions from”American Idols”, “Australian Idols” and even in Taiwan we have “Super Idols,” after few seasons, it seems like everyone on the street may possibly attend to the show for over 80 %. I mean, it’s getting no big deal if you won the competition and become a singer when there’s too massive on TV. So, who cares? Who would know you anyway? I would say I don’t hate this kind of phenomenon which seems that everyone could make dreams come true, but isn’t it too massive? I quite yearn for the old time (maybe two decades ago) which people are surprised and excited when one of their friends or relatives shown on TV for some purposes which nowadays people may take it as granted.
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