Newsmaker: 'Star Wars' and the fracas over fan films

Henry Jenkins is perhaps the most prominent scholar in the country devoted to examining pastimes often deemed profoundly frivolous.

As director of the Comparative Media Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jenkins has played a leading role over the past two decades in studying manifestations of popular culture such as video games and fan communities. His conclusions have helped put them squarely into a historical context of artistic and creative activities.

Much of his latest work, including an upcoming book titled "Convergence Culture," deals with the shifting relationship between audiences and big content producers like Hollywood studios. Aided by new digital production technologies and the distribution power of the Web, fan communities are increasingly creating their own sophisticated works--fiction, films and games--based on the big content producers' original characters.

Historically, women have created fan fiction.

This is uncomfortable for some in the culture industries, which aren't accustomed to this two-way street. While the game business is adapting fast, Hollywood is still profoundly conflicted about how to deal with the creative fan armed with a digital video camera, a Web site and his or her own ideas for a new story, Jenkins says.

George Lucas and Lucasfilm, which is just weeks away from launching the latest installment in the "Star Wars" series, have naturally been at the center of the debate over fan productions. Fan films based on the "Star Wars" universe are now popping up online in advance of the release, some with Lucas' blessing and some without.

Lucas has had a complicated relationship with his fan base, one of the oldest and broadest communities in popular culture. He has allowed some fan creativity but also quashed it in some instances--sometimes in ways that had strong gender-biased implications, Jenkins argues.

News.com spoke to Jenkins about the evolving relationships between big media companies and their active online audiences, and focused particularly on the relationship between Lucas and his fans.

Q. Fan productions seem to be growing in sophistication, both in the game business and in the movie business. Is there a benefit to the corporations from this activity?
Jenkins: Let's look at the game industry. Will Wright, who created "The Sims," has a prediction that about 60 percent of content in the game will be created by consumers. When there is amateur-generated content, companies can monitor for the top talents, who can be pushed to the next generation, who are the amateurs who can go pro. And for companies like BioWare, the amateur games extend the shelf life of the commercial games, because in order to play those games you have to buy the commercial game as well.

So the game industry has a fully developed pipeline where amateur production plays a very central role in driving innovation, in driving professional development, driving market outreach and driving new content at a lower cost.

But it's different in Hollywood.
Jenkins: When you go to Hollywood, none of that is in place yet. Hollywood has been deeply suspicious of amateur productions, has largely read it through the Napster lens of saying all this stuff is piracy. If we don't control this it's bad for us. There has been real resistance to the emergence of a public culture around movie content. Many of the studio executives have had a hard time distinguishing between downloading movies and making your own movies, for example.

Historically, Lucas and Lucasfilms have been really undecided as to how to respond to the emergence of fan communities. In my new book, "Convergence Culture," I spend a lot of time tracing the history of Lucasfilms' relationship to its fans, continually trying to incorporate them, but at the same time being nervous about them and ultimately regulating them to control what can and can't be said.

In the case of "Star Wars," they formed an official partnership with AtomFilms to be this core distributor of "Star Wars" independent films. AtomFilms does an official contest, gives prizes, and

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[Earl Benser]

No Problem....

... Lucas did his thing, six times. I like the results. I don't want
some perhaps well intentioned but incompetent fan to start
screwing around with the stories. I don't even want competent fans
to try.

If someone is all that fired up, they should go find their own galaxy

No Fans, No Star Wars

Let's be perfectly clear. If we wouldn't embrace Star Wars the way we did for the last 28 years, Mr. Lucas and all his empire would be no more than just another movie in the belly of Hollywood's hungrier clan.
It's true that Mr. Lucas had the idea, he put it in motion, suffered the consecuences and created an attention he didn't intended in the first place.
We, the fans, like to argue on unreal conversation about the republic, the empire, the plots or the sexual desires of wookies. That's the way we are and nobody is going to stop that freedom, not even Mr. Lucas.
He created Star Wars, but we created meaning.

[dmm]

I'm confused

CNET recently had a story about Star Wars fan films. My understanding from that story was that Lucas lets amateurs make whatever Star Wars films they want and write whatever stories they want, provided only that they do not charge for it. They must remain amateurs. They can make a web site and sell ads for the web site, but the film/story downloads must be free. In fact, I downloaded that new one "Star Wars: Revelations" just last week (which was a dramatic extension, NOT a parody), and the film ends with a long gushing thank you to Lucas for being so supportive of fan art.

So what is this guy's problem with Lucas? If you don't go after people who are violating your trademark then, by law, you lose it. By freely allowing amateurs to use terms like "Jedi" and "May the Force be with you," Lucas is already pushing the trademark law to its limits. Now this guy says Lucas isn't doing enough. He sounds like a Commie to me.

[airbns]

His problem is...

This guys problem is that he's an academic, and like most academics, he has a problem with capitalism and concepts like intellectual property. He thinks everything ought to be free. Unless it's something he made or wrote, of course, like the book he's pushing, in which case he's glad to take money for it.

Dumb article. Only had about one interesting paragraph. There's a lot more to talk about regarding property rights that is much more interesting than this stuff. But, then again, he wouldn't be able to get anyone to read his stuff unless he created a little controversy having to do with a popular franchise that, conveniently, is spending it's money to be in the media at the moment. Lucas is doing his advertising for him, because his own ideas wouldn't be compelling otherwise.

[katamari]

Shave your face.

You look like a rat.

[Earl Benser]

Darned if he doesn't !!!!!

Somebody toss him some cheese.........

On behalf...

On behalf of my several pet rats, they would like me to convey that they are, in fact, quite offended that you would compare them to this individual. They'd like me to point out that while they may not have the same capacity for higher abstract thinking as we humans, they'd never publish such an article with broad-sweeping, unchecked "fact".

Unless chocolate cookie bribery was involved, then they'd write just about anything.

;)

(For those who think I'm serious, relax and feel the satire! Im Memorium: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://members.cox.net/wpritchett/diomem.jpg" target="_newWindow">http://members.cox.net/wpritchett/diomem.jpg</a>)

Do your research

Mr. Jenkins, I think your findings and article was poorly stated and you have your facts all wrong. Perhaps you should do further research before you write your article. I for one resent the fact you state "By and large, most amateur parodies have been done by men. Most dramatic expansions have been done by women."
Reeeally?? as the director and executive producer for the Star Wars fan film "Revelations" a serious film, you come across as a sexist ass! Get your facts right. Anyone can write a book and 'claim' to be an expert... you sir are not

Media Scholer at MIT eh?

Well sir, I will avoid a personal attack, as that is not very professional. I only hope that you actually read these comments. I have an Internet radio show that reviews fanfilms, fanaudio, and sometimes talks about fanfiction. I seem to be a bit more experienced than you on the Star Wars aspect of this. With much personal experience, I would agree on some of your facts. Fanfic is typically female authored, and fanfilms are made predominately by males. Same as with the FanAudio realm. But where your research may have diverged from the truths I have seen, are firstly that Lucas is against serious filmmakers, or rather, those filmmakers that make movies meant to follow the universe that he created. Lucas doesn't discourage those. I can only assume you got that information from the fact that they are barred from the AtomFilms official contest. They were banned due to possible copyright infringement. You will see that all of the submitted entrants have original music, and due to legal reasons, parodies, documentaries, etc are the only allowed. The only time Lucas shuts fanfilms down, are if they use footage from his movies. Music is ok, sound effects are ok. But the footage is a no-no. Now, when it comes to fanfiction, the only ones that are sent cease and desist are what is commonly known as Slash. Slash is where the characters are engaging in things that are typically sexual in nature (often times homosexual, but sometimes hetero-). Those are what he refuses to allow. As per sexual bias, that would be a blind assumption based on facts. If I see a candle that is half burned, I could also assume that the dog in the corner ate it, rather than think that someone came in with a match and lit it. It seemed as if that was the preconceived notion that you went into your research with. And of course we all know that if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. I have shown you that Lucas only closes down things that either violate his moneymaking (the movies), or takes his universe into a direction that exceeds the ratings his movies have garnered (PG-13 to date). The only sexual bias I have seen, is what was crafted by the information you either sought out, or where given to you, assuming you had help in your research. My hope is that as an intelligent man, you would issue either a retraction or an addendum to your article, after more information was presented. If you require more assistance, I would be glad to help out, and I know there are many others that would gladly help out. Then again, if your intent was to bury those nasty fanboy geeks out there with your intellectual mumbo jumbo, I would be ashamed of myself.

Big Dork

You, my friend, are possibly the biggest dork in existence
today. is this how you spend your life? I'm sure your
parents are proud. You probably won't read this reply for
awhile because you are most likely in line waiting to see the
new Star Wars movie. LOO ZER!

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Jenkins

He knows what slash is; he's the author of "Textual Poachers: Television Fans &#38; Participatory Culture", which is probably still the best extant academic work on fanfiction. He's definitely not out to "bury those nasty fanboy geeks".

[DVeditor]

Most Interesting...

I personally do not understand how this article was even
conceived (much less published) claiming to be backed by fact.
There are so many fallacies and pieces of incorrect information I
don't know where to begin.

In the creation of such an article, I believe a good place to start
would be to contact companies like LucasFilm, TheForce.Net,
AtomFilms, and any other company involved in this topic to
verify any possibly questionable or incorrect information. Since
this was obviously not even attempted, it only shows a complete
lack of understanding and respect for the entire Star Wars
Universe.

This article has done nothing but discourage my interest in any
publications regarding Star Wars coming from this source.

Hardcore fans are still small money

Why should Lucas kiss anyone's butt? Especially a bunch of goons waiting in line for a month in a Jedi outfit? When it comes down to it, the hardcore fans don't account for much revenue in the grand scheme of things. There simply aren't enough of them to generate the hundreds of millions of dollars that Star Wars commands. So Lucas certainly has no obligation to allow parasites to feed off of his creation. It would survive without them.

On the other hand, the hardcore fan can generate buzz. They are certainly fun to watch on the news on opening night, standing out there lightsabering and whatnot. And casual sci-fi watchers will listen to early revues by hardcore fans. So it's smart not to completely ignore them.

Like stories and want to encourage more

I am probably one of the surplus fans - too bad because I have a lot of disposable imcome. At 50 and female, in a technology position, I can spend more on books, films, and other trivia/collectibles than can those half my age. I have frequented sites like TFN for years to find more 'stories'. I agree I like fan fiction better than fan films, but that's me.

Lucas is a sexist!

Why don't you gather up these Star Wars women, shave their legs and shake Lucas down. Jenkins looks like a fat, pinko, piece of ****. DIAMOND DAVE ROCKS!!!

[Earl Benser]

Now, here's someone with REAL problems...

On which side of the looney bin walls is his cave?

shifting economics

I think the release of video and even more, DVDs, as well as the speed of the web in spreading word of mouth, may also be also shifting the economics of fandom for Hollywood.

When the primary money to be made on a film was from the initial theatrical run -- mostly advertising and top-down media driven -- or TV reruns and overseas sales, there wasn't much benefit to be had on a mainstream, already heavily promoted film from fanac, since neither were likely to be directly influenced by word of mouth in time to make a difference.

Especially for non-series films, with no audience to be preserved for the sequel, fans were profitable in themselves, but they weren't terribly likely to make new viewers in significant enough numbers fast enough to be useful.

But now, with the web networking word of mouth to more people faster, and the long tail of video and DVD sales dragging out almost indefinitely, that's no longer true -- much as with gaming, extending the audience attention span with new fan-generated content makes economic sense.

Out of context

I thought the interview seemed odd, especially given the meticulous work he's demonstrated in the past in his books, so I emailed Jenkins.

He responded quickly, and from what I gather, a lot of what he told the reporter who took down the transcript is actually missing from what is available from News.com. Most importantly, the sources of his information, the qualifications of where his claims are applicable and not applicable, and so on.

Also, the reporter initially called him just for background research, so Jenkins assumed that his statements would be paired with the appropriate numbers and references, not reprinted as-is (with important deletions) as a transcript.

Jenkins has done a _lot_ of work with fan communities, so don't be quick to dismiss his statements. He's an advocate for consumer rights, even at Senate levels, and it's a good idea to read "Textual Poachers" before you criticise him further. I'd write this entire article off as a botched interview.