Leftist Constructs
by Diana Pho
Upcoming article for Overland Magazine
"Diana M Pho on steampunk and progressive politics" "Diana M Pho on steampunk and progressive politics"
Cosplay: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
Published in The Guardian's Comment Is Free in 2010.
Explores the ways in which cosplay is subversive and reacts against the dominant values of the media and/or fan... more Explores the ways in which cosplay is subversive and reacts against the dominant values of the media and/or fan communities.
Gender-Swapped Doctors Are Our New Favorite Form of Doctor Who Cosplay
An interview of me by Charlie Jane Anders, published at i09 in 2012.
Discusses the ways in which femme Doctor cosplay in the Doctor Who fan community is both a response to a lack of... more Discusses the ways in which femme Doctor cosplay in the Doctor Who fan community is both a response to a lack of female protagonists/heroines in the show and a way to destabilize gender within the fan community.
"I Am Not A Sidekick": Femme and Crossplay Doctor Cosplay
Still drafting. Will be published in Queers Dig Time Lords, edited by Sigrid Ellis. Will be published by Mad Norwegian Press in March 2013.
Discusses the trend of femme and crossplay Doctors in the Doctor Who cosplay community, and suggests that these... more Discusses the trend of femme and crossplay Doctors in the Doctor Who cosplay community, and suggests that these cosplays make several rhetorical moves, including resisting a narrative in which men are heroes and women are sidekicks, destabilizing gender by visually marking femininity and masculinity as performative, and subverting a hierarchy in which things coded as "feminine" are devalued.
The Mighty Boosh: Femininity, Female Fan Practices and the figure of the 'Fangirl'
by Sarah Harman
The Mighty Boosh (dir. Paul King 2007 - present), once an underground cult text, has increasingly become rejected as... more
The Mighty Boosh (dir. Paul King 2007 - present), once an underground cult text, has increasingly become rejected as 'feminine mainstream'. This gendering occurs through a number of processes: an association with consumerism and rabid consumption; an increasingly visible female fandom; and through an assimilation of these into the text itself. This paper argues that the rejection of The Mighty Boosh and its affiliation with the feminine typifies the gendering of television dialectics, as well as the gendered dichotomy of Cult verses Mainstream.
By examining female fan behaviour this paper explores the hierarchical structure of female Boosh fandom, problematising pre-existing fandom studies and their theoretical assumptions. This is primarily through what I term the Illegitimate and Legitimate fan, exploring how fans compete for dominance through their relationship to and with the text. In addition this paper takes as crucial the current phenomenon of the comedy 'fangirl' – the lowest position within this hierarchy – concluded as central to feminist discourses of consumption, sexuality and identity whilst standing at odds with the traditional masculine position of the 'serious fan'.
Fandom as industrial response: Producing identity in an independent Web series
I frame the development, production, and distribution of a Web series, "The Real Girl's Guide to Everything... more I frame the development, production, and distribution of a Web series, "The Real Girl's Guide to Everything Else," as a fan-driven response to an industrial product, "Sex and the City." As intermittent participants in the Hollywood industry, the series creators, a diverse group of lesbian, bisexual, and straight women of various ethnicities, positioned their series as a market-oriented product intended to reform the industry from its margins and participate in a growing new media economy. Expanded notions of fan production and industry are needed, as are fresh frameworks for analyzing the effects of digital distribution, especially for communities of color, of women, and of sexual minorities.
Cult Yet? The 'Miracle' of Internationalization?
in Williams, R. (ed.) (forthcoming, 2013) Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television, London: I.B. Tauris.
The sci-fi series Torchwood started on BBC3 as a small spin-off from an immensely successful programme, Doctor Who.... more The sci-fi series Torchwood started on BBC3 as a small spin-off from an immensely successful programme, Doctor Who. After discussing Torchwood's prior positioning in relation to the cult and mainstream labels, this chapter analyses the unexpectedly violent reaction of Torchwood's fans with regards to the use of American cult Television writers on the programme's latest series, and how the latter impacted on Torchwood's cult and mainstream status. By addressing the viewers' negative response towards Miracle Day, this paper exposes the opposite consequences which resulted from the latter. It finally outlines the impermanency of this situation, and the long term repercussions which may arise from it.
Toward an ecology of vidding
by Tisha Turk
Co-authored with Joshua Johnson.
Despite the fan studies emphasis on participatory culture, much of the current work on vids (and in fan studies... more Despite the fan studies emphasis on participatory culture, much of the current work on vids (and in fan studies broadly) treats fans more as readers than as producers. To help us examine the relationships between fannish reading practices and fannish creative processes, we turn to composition studies and Marilyn Cooper's concept of an ecology of writing. We argue for an ecological model of vidding, an approach that enables us to explore the collaborative nature of vidding without erasing individual authorship; to investigate the relationships not only between vids and media texts but also between vidders and their audiences; and to treat fan conversations both as responses to mass media and as sites for the generation and circulation of interpretive conventions that guide both the creation and reception of vids.
Refracting media characters through the prism of ethnic identity formation and gender
by David Oh
Revise & resubmit at Popular Communication; This is the final essay adapted from my dissertation.
Second-generation Korean Americans’ identification practices with media characters and celebrities in transnational... more Second-generation Korean Americans’ identification practices with media characters and celebrities in transnational media from Korea intersect with their constructions of ethnic identity. Intragroup differences in identification around ethnic involvement and gender, in particular, lead to reading positions. Their identification practices are constructed within taste hierarchies that define ethnic authenticity and boundaries of ethnic membership.
Sites of participation: Wiki fandom and the case of Lostpedia
This essay explores the award-winning fan site Lostpedia to examine how the wiki platform enables fan engagement,... more This essay explores the award-winning fan site Lostpedia to examine how the wiki platform enables fan engagement, structures participation, and distinguishes between various forms of content, including canon, fanon, and parody. I write as a participant-observer, with extensive experience as a Lostpedia reader and editor. The article uses the "digital breadcrumbs" of wikis to trace the history of fan creativity, participation, game play, and debates within a shared site of community fan engagement. Using the Lostpedia site as a case study of fan praxis, the article highlights how issues like competing fandoms, copyright, and modes of discourse become manifest via the user-generated content of a fan wiki.
Steampunk: Stylish Subversion and Colonial Chic.
by Diana Pho
Co-authored with Jaymee Goh. Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style Ed. Shira Tarrant & Marjorie Jolles. SUNY Press. 2012. (forthcoming)
Shimmies and Sprockets: Analyzing the Use of Belly Dance in Steampunk.
by Diana Pho
Steampunk Magazine Anthology, Issues #1 – 7. Ed. Margaret Killjoy. AK Press. 2011.
Objectified and Politicized: The Dynamics of Ideology and Consumerism in Steampunk Subculture
by Diana Pho
Steaming into a Victorian Future. Ed. Julie Anne Taddeo, Cynthia Miller, and Ken Dvorak. Scarecrow Press. 2012.
Steampunk subculture, somewhat paradoxically given its admiration for pre-Industrial technologies, exists both as a... more
Steampunk subculture, somewhat paradoxically given its admiration for pre-Industrial technologies, exists both as a physical and as a virtual community. Thus, the steampunk subcultural identity is also a mediatized identity, emphasizing the fluidity between a fan's physically-present body and her online, disembodied self. Indeed, in a move that is literal, metaphorical, and virtual, “steampunk'd” objects are also incorporated to create a cyborg self; in creating character personas (or steamsonas), steampunks establish their fictional identities in a variety of ways, from wearing mechanical props into their outfits to establishing their fictional identity through virtual handles, blogs or websites.
The embrace of this hybrid fan identity can be connected to the subculture's philosophy, a reactive stance against the omnipresent, slightly menacing and mostly incomprehensible role of technology in the average person’s life today. It's not surprising, then, that in discussions about the purpose and meaning of technology in human lives, questions concerning steampunk subculture's political possibilities also arise. Furthermore, since the style is widely described as being “Neo-Victorian,” both subcultural participants and observers have questioned whether the use of the Victorian aesthetic is a form of political appropriation by progressives, a form of socially conservative nostalgia for a problematic sociopolitical era or something else in between. Thus, in order to examine the political dimensions of this community, I will focus on how one hotly-debated issue is addressed among steampunks: the commodification of steampunk objects.
Steampunk objects have great importance in the community, of course, acting as subcultural markers and sources of enjoyment for both in-group participants and outside observers. Indeed, steampunk objects as signifiers have often been conflated with the community's definition of steampunk itself. In previous scholarship, academics have discussed steampunk style as an applied aesthetic, with multiple definitions of steampunk proposed by various scholars and writers. A current consensus, however, is explained aptly by academic Stefania Folini: that steampunk is “about things – especially technological things – and our relationship to them.”
In examining individual responses over this relationship, I will expound on how the steampunk aesthetic acts as a performative promise according to Deborah Kapchan's concept of “lived aesthetics.” Hence, through new media cultural production, steampunk objects become more than just clever exercises in anachronism, but to some, promises the progressive mobilization of ideas, a prime example of Stephen Duncombe's “ethical spectacle”; contrastingly, to others the political potential of steampunk is deferred in favor of fulfilling artistic commercial aspirations. Various steampunk objects examined in this article include the virtual – blogs and websites – along with steampunk mediatic images, texts such as Steampunk Magazine and Steampunk Palin, and real-life rallies that have been virtually organized via Facebook. This chapter, then, will address how various ideologies concerning the treatment of steampunk objects are embraced, rejected, and proliferated in a post-industrial, information economy and how steampunk's postmodern, mediatized identity serves both in conjunction with and in reaction against anti-consumerist stances.
Veni, Vidi, Vids! Fan video editors and the strategic remix of popular culture
Presented at the 2009 Popular Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, LA.
This research describes the online fan community of “vidders”, a group of (mostly female) editors who appropriate... more This research describes the online fan community of “vidders”, a group of (mostly female) editors who appropriate television and film content and edit it to music. These “vids” are a unique new media form that combine pre-existing audio and visual content in creative ways and often convey meanings not intended by their original creators and dynamically demonstrate the gendered reading practices of this audience. This paper will use examples of vids relating to the WB’s series Supernatural (2005-present) to suggest that these female editors actively comment on, criticize, highlight, compliment, shift, and completely restructure mainstream media texts in a variety of ways through musical choice and the juxtaposition of clips from the source text. Drawing on semiotic theories of structure, this paper will argue that the editors extract the thematic/paradigmatic elements of the text and tie it to the syntax and emotion of their musical choice in order to create a new narrative which suits their interests as female fans more than the original source text.
I'm glad we got burned, think of all the things we learned": Fandom conflict and context in Counteragent's" Still Alive
Published in the Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures.
This paper examines the how fan-made music videos (known as
vids) can be used as critical commentary not just on... more
This paper examines the how fan-made music videos (known as
vids) can be used as critical commentary not just on the television shows they are based on, but also on the practices and communities of the fans themselves. It undertakes a deep reading of Counteragent's vid "Still Alive", which chronicles the conflict surrounding fan responses to Supernatural season 3.
Pielgrzymki fanów. Podróże w przestrzeni geograficznej czy podróże symboliczne
by Piotr Siuda
Pielgrzymki fanów. Podróże w przestrzeni geograficznej czy podróże symboliczne?, "Studia Medioznawcze" 2011, nr 4 (47): 105-113.
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“YouTube: Transnational Fandom and Mexican Divas”
Transnational Cinemas Volume 1 Issue 1 (2010)
An examination of the YouTube presence of the transnational film stars Maria Félix and Dolores del Río. An examination of the YouTube presence of the transnational film stars Maria Félix and Dolores del Río.
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