Can we control the spin the media might put on fandom and vidding, and prevent vids from becoming commercial entities to be used by The Man? Can we prevent them from being hijacked and used in a way that has no meaning for our fannish communities?
Seeing how the BSG video mash-up promotion was set up in that article, The Man is already trying to hijack the process--not just for vidding but for fandom creativity as a whole. Using only Man-approved scenes and music, for example, is just not in the spirit of fannish vidding as I see it.
I think the one commenter in that BSG vid article is right in that we're seeing the rise of "brandom" as a quasi-hybrid entity of fandom and corporate participation. Beneath the surface it's still about profiting off the work--profiting from the very people who provide the free content. This is how I see the corporate-run fan sites now after reading your post. I don't think we should consider the corporate-run sites as part of "fandom" in the traditional sense now. The idea of "brandom" worries me too, because it could actually end up dividing fans further. Sort of like domestic and wild fen species.
And thank you for linking to that article! Fascinating stuff.
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Can we control the spin the media might put on fandom and vidding, and prevent vids from becoming commercial entities to be used by The Man? Can we prevent them from being hijacked and used in a way that has no meaning for our fannish communities?
Seeing how the BSG video mash-up promotion was set up in that article, The Man is already trying to hijack the process--not just for vidding but for fandom creativity as a whole. Using only Man-approved scenes and music, for example, is just not in the spirit of fannish vidding as I see it.
I think the one commenter in that BSG vid article is right in that we're seeing the rise of "brandom" as a quasi-hybrid entity of fandom and corporate participation. Beneath the surface it's still about profiting off the work--profiting from the very people who provide the free content. This is how I see the corporate-run fan sites now after reading your post. I don't think we should consider the corporate-run sites as part of "fandom" in the traditional sense now. The idea of "brandom" worries me too, because it could actually end up dividing fans further. Sort of like domestic and wild fen species.
And thank you for linking to that article! Fascinating stuff.