Fan Communities

One of the characteristics that define fictional production in the 21st century is its tendency to distribute itself among numerous media of expression: television, cinema, literature, comic-books, theater, video games, role-playing games, etc. Far from leading to dispersion or to the proliferation of watertight compartments, such inclination – also present in other communicative practices – has led to the convergence of all these areas. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult, even inappropriate, to limit the focus of attention to a single medium and ignore the rest: stories expand to two, three or more of these environments, aspiring to preserve the unity of sense in heterogeneity. Thus, to get to a thorough and complete understanding of the message, the recipient – and, therefore, the critic – has to consider different creative domains and apply several reading codes. This agent is simultaneously endowed, in contemporary creation, with a much more active and decisive role than he/she used to possess. Expected to interact with fictional products, as a member of a participatory and empowered culture, his/her intervention – often essential – oscillates between the interpellation and analysis from various discussion forums – especially the Internet and social networks – and direct participation in the imaginary universes, either expanding them in media different from than the one where they originated, or immersing themselves effectively in those worlds and influencing – either as an avatar, or playing a character – the course of the action.

These two complementary trends point to the terms on which the proposed monograph is based: transmedia(lity) and interactivity. Its goal: to trace the importance of these realities in the fantastic genre or mode, both in theoretical formulations and practical realizations.

Widely addressed in akin modalities such as science fiction or medieval fantasy (think, for example, of successful franchises, and recurring objects of analysis, such as Star Wars, A Song of Ice and Fire or Lord of the Rings, which transcended their original medium long ago, and where the interference of fans has become the norm), the concept of transmedial, or transmedia, has not had, to date, much repercussion in studies on the fantastic, at least as Brumal conceives it (that is, as the irruption of the impossible into a world in appearance similar to ours, in tune with Caillois’s and Roas’s theories). As for interactivity, it also has not received the due attention yet, despite the interest raised in recent years by expressions rarely considered artistic in the past, like video games, haunted attractions, fan fiction, “choose your own adventure” novels, etc. That is why it is urgent to undertake a project like the current one, in which we analyze, among other things, how speeches and stories have migrated from one medium to another – if that was not designed like that from the beginning –, to what extent inter-dependence between the different media has been promoted, and how, in this process, the community of readers, spectators, players or, in general, fans has played an increasingly active and crucial role. It is at this junction, or convergence, between the transmedia(l) and the interactive towards which we want the participants of the issue to look.

Croy, W. G., Reichenberger, I., & Benjamin, S. (2021). Film tourism tribes. In C. Pforr, R. Dowling, & M. Volgger (eds) Consumer tribes in tourism: Contemporary perspectives on special interest tourism (pp.53-67). Singapore: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-7150-3_5 : : Geographic film locations have received much attention in tourism as toured, managed and experienced sites. The emerging societal element however demonstrates that film tourists are not solely geographically bound. Importantly, film tourist tribes have an extended temporal engagement, there is greater involvement (demonstrated by film value and identity), and they are socially interactive (with other tribal members). Definitionally, social interaction and film involvement are central to the film tourist tribe, and consequently level of tribal membership. That is, geographic film locations are simply the physical realisation of the tribe, yet not the full representation of it. Importantly, touring is still crucial, distinguishing film tourist tribes from fan-tribes. Film tourist tribes are populated by the continuum of film tourists. At the core is a small yet highly interactive and intense group, surrounded by the periphery that have a continuing, though more tenuous, bond to the tribe off-site. The tribe is surrounded by a larger territorial community, with no societal connection beyond the film location, which is surrounded by an even larger non-film tourist group. This chapter contributes societal interaction and film involvement dimensions to characterise film tourists, enabling a greater understanding of film tourists and film tourism.