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I thought this to be relevant to this week’s lectures on fan labor. Basically the new game Beyond Good and Evil 2 announced at E3 that they would be accepting art and music submissions from fans to be put in their game. Obviously what I sourced above is the criticism of the program: Is this just a way to get around spending great sums of money on game design? Is this “spec model” (’speculative’; the buyer might want it) way of curating art fair to all parties? And especially in the current labor market of game developers *cough TellTale* is this fair to people who do this kind of work for a living? 

The actual submission website can be found here.

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a few weeks back i looked up the source of “we deserve a soft epilogue, my love” because it’s such a lovely, evocative line and i wanted to know the name of the poet who wrote it and it was. from captain america fanfiction.

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By dividing “affirmational” and “transformative” modes of fan engagement into defined categories we lose the ability to analyze modes of fan engagement that fall in a gray area between these terms, enforcing gender stereotypes that come with viewing these areas as a strict binary. Bob Rehak discusses some of these grey areas in his article “From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide”. Rehak’s article goes into how material fan production balances “complicated relationships between canonicity and creativity” (114) and he proposes the idea of “build code” as a way of understanding how both “textual and material forms” and “official and unofficial productions” interact with each other to create the Star Trek universe (121).

Early in his article, Rehak discusses other works in fan studies, including Matt Hill’s work on “mimetic” fandom and how it blurs the lines between “transformative” and “affirmational” categories (116). Modeling, blueprinting, and cosplay all use creative skill sets associated with “transformative” fan works, but the end products are prided for canonicity and how well they mimic what’s the original media. The focus on accuracy and canon could be argued to outweigh the “transformative” procedures and place these fan works in the “affirmational” category. However, this would erase the examples of “transformative” end products created in these material productions.

If we take cosplay as an example we have two different forms of cosplay that play with the expectations of both “transformative” and “affirmational” categories. On the one hand, cosplay can be hyper-accurate representations of a media character. Hours of research and effort goes into analyzing official text in order to draw up accurate sewing patterns and decide on the materials needed for such costumes. No matter what the cosplayer’s skill level with the creation of the costume they still enter a deep conversation with textual productions, a relationship that fits well into Rehak’s definition of his proposed “build code” (121).

On the other hand, we have cosplayers who take a canon aspect and transform it to create a new concept for their costume. Examples of this could be gender-bending a character (consider female Winter Soldiers), playing with alternate universe versions of characters (steampunk versions of superheroes), or even cosplays of characters from other transformational fan works. This kind of material production is similar to what Rehak observes in the “practice of modifying ship designs to produce spacecraft from non- or partially canonical sources,” that is prevalent in Star Trek modeling communities (120).

Some examples of cosplay represent both categories of fan engagement at once. How would you define a cosplay of Prince Gumball or Fionna from Adventure Time? The characters are from the original media so the cosplay are “affirmational”, but they’re also genderbent versions of the show’s main cast from episodes that explore the existence of in-universe fan fiction and “transformative” works.

I picked cosplay to examine rather than Rehak’s examples of modeling because of how it is “typically coded as feminine in relation to masculine build culture” due to its use of sewing (Rehak 120). The comparison of cosplay and build culture points to the gender stereotypes we have for certain modes of fan engagement, even between activities that use creative skill sets and feature examples of both “transformative” and “affirmational” end products. I feel we would get more out of analyzing fan engagement as a spectrum between these two categories and that it would help us fix the issues of gender stereotyping that comes from the use of a binary system.

Bob Rehak, “From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide” 114-122

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Considering fan culture as only affirmational or transformative traditionally implies a gendered difference between the two: affirmational fan practices are masculine and transformative fan practices are feminine, with a few studied outliers. By doing this, scholars ignore the modes of fan production that are a combination of both and the fans who eschew the gender/fan practice binary.

In “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture,” Elizabeth Affuso examines fan make-up as a feminine affirmational fan practice which further divides fan culture into gendered stereotypes. Studying feminine affirmational fan practices as an outlier both removes men and nonbinary fans from these outlier practices, but also disincentives female fans from participating in other affirmational fan practices. Studying only female make-up buyers erases fans who participate in other modes of affirmational fan practices such as  collecting or memorizing trivia. Using make-up and fan fashion as the feminine modes of affirmational fan engagement removes female fans who operate outside the more feminine structure these practices create. Female fans who do not wear make-up would barely be considered as affirmational fans by enforcing this binary.

Another form of fan practice similarly positioned against the affirmational-transformative binary is cosplay, especially gender bent cosplay. Cosplay as a concept is generally affirmational, creating the most accurate physical representation of the original character does nothing to question the source text. However, even non-gender bent cosplay can become transformational when the source text does not provide enough information to creators. For example, cosplays of characters from non-visual texts such as books or podcasts are often either representations of a fan’s idea of a character or based on popular fan art. These costumes act both as affirmational by keeping the original character to the best of the fan’s ability, and transformative by adding details not represented in the text. Cosplay moves even further into transformative fan practice when gender bent cosplay and other types of cosplay reinterpretation are considered. These costumes present a character as a different gender, in a different era, mixed with another character, or humanized from a non-human source. By reinterpreting characters, these cosplays change the source in a way similar to fan artists or vid creators. Both fan groups use their art form as a way to change a text to fit their own needs.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184-192.

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In Lincoln Geraghty’s “Masculine Pursuits?: Gender, Generation, and the Fan Collector”, the author discusses how collecting is gendered in some ways but that fan collecting ultimately unites all fans as it is based in nostalgia, whatever that may mean for the individual. Through both affirmational and transformative modes of fan engagement, I think we can use this commonality of nostalgia based fan expression to gain insight as we see similarities between fan expression, such as how and what fans collect. 

Geraghty discussed of how the Barbie doll is not only gendered towards females, but is also more and more frowned upon by feminists. The Barbie dolls are targeted towards young girls and over time many people have started to point out how the Barbie dolls line projects an attainable female ideal. From the way Barbie dresses to her physical fitness, people have grown to associate the dolls with being on the wrong side of the feminism movement for our current climate. Geraghty dives into how despite being gendered and ill thought of, all kinds of people are collectors of these dolls for the sake of nostalgia, but their deeper motivations all differ. Geraghty writes that “while the image of Barbie is seen as problematic by many we should look more closely at what collectors are doing with the dolls as new meanings and readings are inscribed once the toy becomes a collectible, an object of distinction and value” (Geraghty 69). 

We can use nostalgia motivated fan collecting to unite both genders, as well as show how nostalgia can bring about the expression of both affirmational and transformative fan works. The boundary between affirmational and transformative modes of fan engagement is always seen as hazy, but for fan collecting I would argue that it gets hazier. The notion that all fan collecting is rooted in nostalgia suggests that affirmation fan practices are already at play. Collecting certain dolls or action figures from the past shows these fans’ interest in the details and order of what they are looking for. After the the items are purchased by the individual, that is when how the piece fits into their collection or what the piece means to them starts to be able to be seen an transformational. Geraghty writes “I think that it is more instructive to look at the importance of nostalgia in collecting and the identities all collectors construct  through the preservation of objects from the past” (Geraghty 53). These constructed identities reprint how they transform canonical pieces into pieces with new meanings once they are added to their collections. The incorporation of these modes of fan expression, as well as the incorporation of all kinds of fans illustrates have nostalgia based collection is changed by each individual collector. 

Geraghty, Lincoln. Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom, and Collecting Popular Culture. New York: Routledge Books, 2014. 60, 61. 

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Elizabeth Affuso suggests a growing visibility of fan fashion and makeup in her article “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” Specifically focusing on the growth of feminist representation in contemporary marketing products. Traditionally female fans have been involved with “transformative” fan practices and males with “affirmational”, but recently females have been creating more and more “affirmational” works.

Part of the reason females tended to learn toward “transformative” works is because until recently they weren’t represented in media. The man was the hero while the woman was the damsel in distress. So women twisted and transformed the source material to have characters that they related to and believed in. Females have always been involved with fandoms but you can’t affirm something that doesn’t exist. Once strong female characters became mainstream the fan merchandise followed suit. For example the Star Wars dresses and Wonder Woman MAC cosmetics that Affuso mentions. These are items tailored to woman that allow you to choose your level of declaring your fandom. If you wear Wonder Woman lipstick, it’s not obvious to everyone but it may have personal meaning to you. “Makeup is seen as tool that can help women unleash their power.” (186) You can be powerful internally or externally just like you see on the screen. By using “affirmational” techniques women are gaining a voice and being these strong heroic characters they see on screen like Wonder Woman and Rey. However, a downside to affirmative works is you loose the creativity associated with “transformative” works. If we wear a makeup line that tells us exactly what makeup to put where to look like a character, we loose some of the expression that makeup was created to provided. Sure we have amazing female heroes on the big screen, but shouldn’t we still create our own heroes. We need to find a balance between embracing the current positives and continuing to push the boundaries for new characters and representation.

Affuso also talks about a term by Sarah Banet-Weiser called “interactive subject” Which is about finding “a self and broadcasts that self, through those spaces that authorize and encourage user activity” (190). This formation of postfeminism and interactivity seen in vlogs and makeup tutorials. This idea of self-branding and seeking affirmation is highly feminized. These video tutorials provide a space for women to interact and share their fandoms. It also furthers the gender divide, because it’s another thing created with females in mind. A woman will search the male section and buy an item that she likes fairly often, Men will hardly ever go into the female section to shop, because they have more options and don’t need to. The female “interactive subject” is stepping into the spotlight and providing comfort and space to a previously neglected group. Beauty standards and makeup can be used to build someone up or tear them down. The same way “affirmational” and “transformative” fan practices can embrace and expand on a media or be very critical and point out its flaws.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184-192.

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In his article titled “Masculine Pursuits?: Gender, Generation, and the Fan Collector,” Lincoln Geraghty talks about how “affirmational” and “transformative” modes of fan engagement traditionally have been gendered terms in the fan community. Affirmational fan practices include things like obtaining extensive knowledge and trivia of any fandom they are a part of, collecting items like memorabilia or DVD box sets, and overall gaining a mastery over the content. This is typically seen as the more masculine form of fan engagement, things that align with the original meaning that the creators intended for the text. Transformative fan practices are typically held by females in this model, and they are practices that challenge or change the intended meaning of the text for the fan’s purpose, like writing fan-fiction, or vidding, things that change the original narrative. 

When you gender these terms however, you can lose a large part of the community that either breaks these gendered norms or can be categorized as both. Geraghty talks about how typically “masculine means aggressiveness, competitiveness, and a desire for mastery, and feminine preservationism, creativity, and nurturance,” (Geraghty 60) but then mentions how a male fan may take his Star Wars collectible to “Death Valley to recreate scenes from the film” (Geraghty 60). This would be considered a “creative” form of fan engagement, which is gendered towards females, but it was done by a male. It is almost impossible to correctly categorize a large group of people with simple binary distinctions since there will inevitably be an overlap. For example, cosplay is a common fan practice that is done by both males and females, both in which could be considered an affirmational or a transformative mode of engagement, depending on how it was carried out. 

In the article, Geraghty concludes his statements by saying that nostalgia is one of the largest driving factors when it comes to collecting and how nostalgia is a “genderless emotion” (Geraghty 70). If this is the case then it would be hypocritical to say that cult collecting is a gendered practice.

Geraghty, Lincoln. Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom, and Collecting Popular Culture. New York: Routledge Books, 2014. 60, 61.

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For many fans affirmational fandom is the most common form typically taken. For this type of fandom it usually involves recreation to the fullest detail of a certain object in the fandom. Fans most likely do this as a means to keep with the canonicity or accuracy of the fandom. In Bob Rehak’s article “From Model Building to 3D Printing” he explores this relationship and why such fan labor complicates the relationship between creativity and the fandom.

As a means to explore his argument he uses Star Trek which has a large fandom and has released a large amount of lore for its fans to explore. Rehak explains that “such objects could not exist without an underlying base” which he calls the “build code” (117). The build code that Rehak talks about is interesting because it offers specific details from the creators that are given to fans for them to create models and other objects.

Through affirmational it does not seem like stuff is lost by fans if anything it seems only the use of imagination. I would say that imagination and creativity are two different things because one involves creating things from scratch while the other involves the labor of actually creating the object. For fans, the process of creating the model is another form in being closer to fandom and while they may not be recognized for the labor it still doesn’t stop them.

One exception to this is how Franz Joseph Schnaubelt was able to sell his blueprints which were crafted from his own original ideas. Joseph participation and work actually disrupts the relationship because his work would become canon and appear in Star Trek films such as Wrath of Khan and others (119). Joseph is an interesting of how affirmational and transformational fandom come together to help the creator gain a status that ranks with the original content creators. While some critiques would say that fandom causes the original work to be lost through Rehak’s article we can see this isn’t true. Instead it seems that fans grow closer together to the work and even inspire other fans to create leading to further appreciation of the fandom.  

Bob Rehak, “From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide” 114-122

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Elizabeth Affuso explores the incredibly nuanced relationship between the commodification of feminized fandom and modern beauty culture through a postfeminist lens in her article titled Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture. Regarding the content of Affuso’s article, there is plenty to be gained more so than lost, when labelling fan engagement as either transformational or affirmational. Some of these gains are fairly academic, as the acknowledgment of these distinctions affords Affuso the ability to discuss relationship between transformative engagement and its predominantly female fan communities*.

Society has informed women on how they should behave and present themselves for centuries. It is interesting to note then, that the critical post-feminist society of present sees working relationships between large corporate media industries and the individual female fan influencer to collaborate on selling beauty culture to women. These fan influencers inform other female fans (under the trendy and commodified notion of girl power and feminism) on how to engage with fandom through feminized means, these are often themed and limited edition makeup products or collections such as Covergirl’s Star Wars (page 5). Youtube is a large platform for this type of media sharing economy, as well as Tumblr and Pinterest. What’s more nuanced is the way that these business savvy women are taking advantage of this synergy, using their media sharing economy to create makeup tutorials, unboxing and haul videos that profit themselves through sponsored advertising (page 7).

Female fan influencers benefit on multiple levels from this form of transformative engagement. They gain a social media following by commodifying their own performative female practices in a “transparent” and personal manner, often filming in their bedrooms. The social capital that is gained in this practice by far transcends that of hierarchical fan status within the fandom itself, but demonstrates a mainstream societal acceptance towards being a fan as opposed to the traditional “geeky” association one would have with being a fan (page 4). In this manner, transformative fan production and engagement is validated not only on a social level, but also by larger industries as they collaborate with their female fan communities, and to some extent even rely on their fan labor for advertising.

The questions I leave Affuso’s article with are wrought with tension: to what extent are these fan influencers at the mercy of large corporations such as Disney or Warner Bros? How transformational are their makeup videos in nature, considering that purchasing and distributing MAC’s Wonder Woman Collection, or Star Trek line can be considered quite affirmational engagement in itself.  Perhaps they are not mindless foot soldiers, or even puppets but it is interesting to consider that influencer’s collaborative tie in are to these businesses at the end of the day cheap, if not free advertising.

*While it can be said that Transformational fan engagement and and their Transformational fan communities are often dominated by a female populus, males of course, do partake in transformational forms of fan engagement as well. These include fan- fiction, machinima, fan film and to an extent cosplay to name a few

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184–192

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Lincoln Geraghty suggests the division of fanboys and fangirls, within “Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom and Collecting Popular Culture”, as the former being more affirmational and the latter participating in more of a transformational type of fan engagement. “Affirmational” fandom meaning closely following the original text and not straying from the author’s vision, while “transformational” fandom means re-interpreting the text to mold to the fans idea of how the text should be. Masculine ideals of fandom include reciprocating the text to an extent of mastery of content, such as collecting props and rare items, memorizing quotes or learning the lingo involved within the fandom, and are typically goal oriented and competitive amongst each other. Feminine fandom differs from masculine fandom in that it wishes to construct ideas and content that benefits the individual fan or fan community, such as creating specific narratives for characters, like a sexual partner or an alternate plot line.

The interaction between “masculine” fans is typically sharing facts or spoilers, content that will benefit each person’s individual knowledge of the fandom. For example, YouTube videos or Reddit threads that will discuss potential spoilers or newly released information. While this knowledge is shared through a larger community of fans, this information is used to benefit a fan individually and makes this fan feel they know “secret” or “rare” details. “Feminine” fandoms share and discuss information, generally ideas or “headcanons”, within their fan community. Fangirl interaction benefits the community as a whole and is not as competitive. McGillivary mentions that “people are as excited about meeting each other as they are about meeting our guests” (Geraghty 4), and that fangirls enjoy meeting other fangirls they met online.  

Although there are differences between the defined and gendered affirmational and transformational categories, many fans overlap and are share qualities of both. Geraghty mentions that “in focusing on trying to discern what is more of a female practice compared to a male practice we might lose sight of our broader remit to highlight what it means to be a fan in contemporary media culture and how this differs from a more general audience’s use of social media and different viewing platforms” (Geraghty 8). Affirmational practices are beneficial to having an expansive knowledge over the fandom, and can also give a fan a sense of belonging and allows a fan to feel accepted within their fan community.  Transformational practices also give fans a sense of belonging and includes a collaborationist aspect as well. Transformational practices are often created and shared based on an idea from another fan, can can be viewed as created by a community, not necessarily an individual. For example, a fan can create transformative art based off of a fanfiction, that was written by a different fan. Both affirmational and transformational practices can be collaborative, which is beneficial to fans of all fandoms. Moreover, gender can be used to help define these two types of fan practices, but should not be limited to one alone.  

Geraghty, Lincoln. Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom, and Collecting Popular Culture. New York: Routledge Books, 2014. 60, 61.

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Elizabeth Affuso highlights the growing feminization of contemporary nerd culture in mainstream marketplaces in her article titled “Everyday Costume; Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture”. The application of affirmational versus transformative categories on fan practices and culture is only useful for those studying fandom. Through focusing on the beauty community and industry, Affuso highlights both the exclusivity of men and the reinforcement of beauty standards. This new makeup branding which is tailored towards female fans can be argued to be both affirmational and transformative. If the makeup line includes only products or colors worn by the characters, and these items are then collected and used only in the way the characters used them, this particular practice can be deemed affirmational, as it affirms the characters appearance in the chosen franchise. If the products are used to create a new take on the characters look, then it can be deemed transformative, in that it expands the franchise. But is the product itself affirmational or transformative? There is a lot of grey area in certain fan practices. If it is strictly affirmational, you lose the creative aspect. If it is transformative, you are at jeopardy of losing fan value(s).

Marketing certain products to certain communities of fans allows for consumption and application into everyday life. This is known as neoliberalism. While these brands are targeting specific groups of people, they are relying on them to inadvertently promote and circulate their products. Through this, their products become incorporated through commodification (as it is now available in mainstream retail stores). Those with available economic capital will buy into this industry either to curate their collection or to utilize the products for their own personal fan identity in [everday] cosplay. While wearing this franchise branded makeup, you are participating in the fan practice known as “everday cosplay”. Everday cosplay can be thought of as wearing clothing and/or accessories similar to a character but doing so subtly enough that unless one is knowledgeable about the franchise, it goes unnoticed.

Through branding of makeup products, industries create a gendered divide between fans. It also reinforces certain beauty standards as well as, creating the narrative that makeup products are beauty are necessary for any woman taking on such powerful escapades like her fellow superhero, which is as Affuso so powerfully puts, “a tool of neoliberal feminine empowerment”. This alignment with neoliberal feminine empowerment is directly related to the idea of postfeminism as something that can be bought. The specific categorization of particular fan practices as either affirmational or transformative is limiting when it comes to practices that incorporate both. It divides the communities of fandom between genders as each category is thought to be more dominated by one or the other, while some practices are up for interpretation.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184–192

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When analyzing the differences and similarities in fan practices categorized as “affirmational” or “transformative,” I believe there begins to be unhelpful slippage and confusion that creates a divide within fan studies that mimics the divisions in the fan practices that are being studies. In Elizabeth Affuso’s piece on feminized fandom, many of the consumerist practices described begin to take on forms of both affirmational and transformative fan practices, creating a gray area of fan practices where these aspects of fandom meet. Through this lens, I think that the use of “affirmational” and “transformative” as a tool for categorizing fan practices has reached a stopping point and now limits ideas in a consumerist market with, what seems to be, infinite possibilities.

 In Affuso’s article, the consumption practices of fandoms, in particularly the make up and fashion industries that are categorized as feminine practices, has evolved into mass market appeal and has become interactive through different types of branding and commodification in order to find a space in which these objects and practices elevate from simply a piece of clothing or make up to a performative and collectable piece of both cultural capital and culture that can be capitalized on. While this particular article is not directly addressing the affirmational and transformative question, I see connections between the arguments to provide a sense that categorization isn’t enough anymore in a changing neoliberal market place. One of the ideas that Affuso’s places forward that has connects to the debate at hand is the concept of “performative consumption” as form of imitation and impersonation that removes the overtness of costume and places fannish practices into the everyday. In particular, be utilizing the Covergirl and Star Wars collaboration to align beauty with female empowerment and creating a fantasy narrative of choosing between being a “good girl versus bad girl” through specific products in everyday life, affirmational practices become transformative to the consumer. Not only is the text becoming a site of appreciation, it also becomes interactive and performs and fulfills different transformative aspects of fantasy for different consumers. 

Through commodifying collection and fashion, the world of personal fantasy and narrative open up forms of fan wear and fan collection that once were considered politicized separate from other types of capital, now utilizing the ideas of transformative and affirmation to create a new, more cohesive categorization. While there is distinction between feminine and masculine practices in this article that has roots in cultural studies, transformational and affirmational become sort of sidelined and seen as traditional in a market place that is anything but traditional.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184–191.

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First and foremost the relationship between gender and fan culture as the demarcation between “affirmational” fan works and “transformative” fan works was written with the opinion that commonly affirmational work is mainly re-stated source material and the authors and creators tend to associate with these fans more. As “obsession_inc” stated these are the “sanctioned” fans and perceived as primarily male. Likewise, “transformational” works are fans that take the source and twist it to their own purposes to which creators have shown to be disgruntled with and as such these are “non-sanctioned” fans and are primarily female. Therefore, being non-sanctioned fans positions female fans in a lower status than the sanctioned. Essentially the social status of female fans within a fan community is the same as it is within normal society- beneath men. Within the reading “Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture by Elizabeth Affuso the main idea is that gendered, traditionally female products are being created within the fan markets which is both enforcing traditional gendered products and a form of “commodity feminism” while on the other hand allowing for new fan practices and opening more spaces within fan communities for female fans.

Where these works meet is that they both show that female fans in plenty of fan communities weren’t sanctioned fans and did not tend to congregate within popular and common fan spaces. Female fans created their own spaces using their transformative works.  With new products being created for female fans they are promoting them into fan spaces they hadn’t traditionally been in such as fan cons. With the article Affuso talked about how the make up lines had their own booths and entire set-ups to draw female or feminine fans. 

There is a slight argument that this is enforcing older gender roles on their fans by the products being make-up and therefore pushing a capitalistic and post-feminist fan. I would disagree with this and say that these products don’t cause the relationship between gender and fan culture to be lessened in anyway. Female fans like products of variety and if anything it’s more frustrating that any products created for fans are placed on the gender binary rather than just being for everyone, in whatever creative capacity they wish.

What questions that I begin to ask were as a result from when Affuso discusses the use of fan labor to promote the make-up products. By using common video’s online such as make-up tutorials, haul videos and more, it becomes clear that there is manipulation of female fans to use the products only as directed. What then must be asked is the question of if this is also a deterrent of female fans creating transformative works. If that is true, then this is a calculated way to push female fans into the “affirmational” works that are sanctioned. Whether or not this is all a diabolical plot remains to be seen, but it begs the question.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184–192.

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In the reading “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture” by Elizabeth Affuso, the main idea discussed is how affirmational fan practices differ between male and female fans, and how female affirmational practices blur the lines of what affirmational and transformative are generally defined as.Historically, transformative fan practices are seen as female dominated, while affirmational is seen as male dominated. This article attempts to dispute that idea by showing that female fans do partake in the collecting and consumption of mainstream media objects that defines affirmational fandom, even if the way they participate is different and more feminized than male fans.

A lot is lost when we separate and gender the ideas of affirmational and transformative fandom. Not only are these categories limiting when fan practices can cross the lines of these two categories (i.e. cosplay), but also, male and female fans don’t solely stick to their designated spheres. This is argued in the reading, where when discussing makeup lines marketed toward female fans, Affuso argues that “[female fan] practices are distinct from masculinized discourses of collecting that are used to categorize male fans’ consumption practices (Afusso 191).” Because affirmational practices are not performed the same way in female fandom as in male fandom (the collecting and use of makeup, clothing, etc as opposed the collecting of mint comics and action figures), female affirmational practices are often overlooked by scholars.

In this way, having these two supposedly strictly gendered ways of being a fan is counterproductive and inaccurate. Male fans can write transformative headcanons, and female fans can affirmationally collect merchandising for their various fandoms, even if this merchandise is more female-targeted by brands. For example, there are a decent amount of fandom makeup palettes available at Hot Topic that are targeted at female fans. One example of this is the Supernatural Monsters palette. The palette’s description online is, “Take your look from day job to hunter with colors like the punchy red Abaddon, sparkly purple Phoenix and silvery glittery Ghouls (Hot Topic Website).” This is clearly an example of affirmational fandom, with the palette both being advertised as a way to everyday cosplay but also as a collector’s item aimed at fans who are deeply familiar with the show.

When we try so hard to keep everything within fan studies deeply black and white, we lose more than we gain. The ideas of transformative and affirmational fan practices can differ greatly based on what gender is participating in the practice. While the traditional idea of affirmational fandom mainly applies to male fans, who’s to say that the collecting of jewelry, makeup, and clothing lines isn’t just as valuable and worth studying as the collecting of Lego sets? Affuso addresses this in the reading, stating that there is “a distinction of female fans from male fans, where collecting is not viewed as a way to hold onto childish objects… but rather a sense that fandom… can co-exist with the desire to be sophisticated, adult, and fashion-forward (Affuso 191)”.

Affuso, Elizabeth. “Everyday Costume: Feminized Fandom, Retail, and Beauty Culture.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 184–192.

Hot Topic. “Supernatural Monster Guide Eyeshadow Palette.” HotTopic, 31 Aug. 2018, www.hottopic.com/product/supernatural-monster-guide-eyeshadow-palette/11118069.html.

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There are many things that are lost when someone examines fan culture and gender through affirmational (everything is set in stone and the creator holds all the power within the fandom they have created) and transformational (twisting the core text to the fan’s own machinations for either their own creative purposes or to comment upon an issue) modes. In the opening pages of his work “Cult Collectors”, Lincoln Geraghty lays out the gender divide in affirmational and transformative; males stick more to affirmational whereas females generally stay with transformative fan works. Additionally, Geraghty makes note that female collectors are seen as collecting for the sake of “preservationism, creativity, and nurturance” while male collectors embody a “desire for mastery and competitiveness” (Geraghty, 60). Relating Geraghty’s descriptions of past gendered collections and his own hypothesis on this process to myself, I personally collect challenge coins (formal coins depicting a unit or organization’s insignia, predominantly used in the military and law enforcement field - a picture is included above) and have been doing so for a long time and have a sizable collection. I myself curate my collection with extreme care; I allow very few people to handle the coins and I clean them if they are in need of it. These play into the preservationism and nurture (more female characteristics) of my collection. On the other hand, however, I also exhibit the more male oriented aspects of collections, particularly the desire for mastery and competitiveness. I frequently visit with other potential coin carriers (often military or law enforcement) when I am in a town or area of significance (Los Angeles, Fort Hood) and attempt to trade a coin of my own for a coin of theirs. Additionally, my collection is displayed proudly atop my bookcase, being the first thing one notices upon entering my room. Both of these are examples of the desire for mastery and competitiveness that are inherent in male collectors. As Geraghty mentions too, both male and female collectors have a combination of these general patterns, regardless of their actual gender as they are  “to help define their identities and enhance their status within a social community of collectors” (Geraghty, 61). Personally, I absolutely agree with this. My collection defines a great deal about me; an aspiration to go into either the military or law enforcement field and, because most of the units are among the most physically demanding of their kind, to become the best version of my physical and mental self. Additionally, the enhancement of status within the community of other collectors fits for myself as a decent deal of my collection consists of foreign or prestigious police/military units and certainly attracts attention from other collectors (for example, a detective at the City of London police - and another avid collector - was highly impressed by my acquisition of a coin from a German counter-terror unit). By looking at the affirmational/transformational mode through a gendered lens, however, we lose a great deal of what these collections say about the person collecting them as well as how the people collecting them could be saying something about themselves through their collections. We severely limit ourselves as scholars and our interpretations of collections by looking at them through these gendered binaries.

Geraghty, Lincoln. Cult Collectors: Nostalgia, Fandom, and Collecting Popular Culture. New York: Routledge Books, 2014. 60, 61. 

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In From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide, Bob Rehak uses Star Trek as a case study to discuss material fan labor and its various “relationships between canonicity and creativity” (114). Various websites host fan-made models of ships and props, which can be 3D printed for display purposes (115). As Rehak discusses in the chapter, these models have had quite an upbringing. In the early 1970s, a man named Franz Joseph Schnaubelt attended a Star Trek fan meetup and was underwhelmed by the props people had made (117). Franz Joseph then went on to study clips of spacecrafts and various props, which led to the development of completely accurate blueprints of Star Trek memorabilia (118). The blueprints made by Franz Joseph were eventually deemed as worthy by the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry (118). Models, like the ones online or made by fans are often affirmative pieces, but as Rehak puts it, “nothing stops a modeler from recombining pieces of Star Trek ships to make their own mashups” (120). At the end of it all, Rehak essentially says that fans of Star Trek (and any other piece of media) can bring props and ships from the show to life in whatever way they want, whether it be by textual or physical practices (121-122).

When I think of homemade props and objects that are inspired by a series, I think of admiration, or more specifically, affirmational fandom. I thought of them like how I think of Christmas ornaments; they are objects to hang up that are modeled after or depict things from certain pieces of media. Objects and posters of blueprints are oftentimes visually impressive and suitable for display. It is quite interesting, however, to think about transformative fandom when building and blueprints are involved. For example, fans of Star Trek who create and design their own ships are free to create elaborate blueprints for modeling purposes. I imagine it would feel pretty good to see a physical version of my own creation. My short-sightedness, regarding thinking about props and objects, shows me that I have missed quite a big chunk of the realm of transformational fandom. There absolutely is something lost when I only pay attention to affirmational forms of fandom and ignore transformative forms of fandom. Something in my life somehow largely turned me away from the idea of transformational fandom. I hate to say this, but unfortunately, I do not think I was ever as open to transformational forms of fan engagement due to the gendered stigma surrounding it. I have always enjoyed speculation and art but have never been interested in things like fan fiction, fan films, or machinima. I feel like my “disapproval” of transformative fan engagement is most likely a result from my upbringing. As I grew up, I was influenced by media and certain ways of thought that depicted affirmational fandom as masculine and transformative fandom as feminine; I have missed out on a lot.

Rehak, Bob. “From Model Building to 3D Printing: Star Trek and Build Code Across the Analog/Digital Divide.” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, edited by Melissa Click and Suzanne Scott, Routledge, 2018, pp. 114-112.

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There is most definitely a hierarchy between affirmational and transformative fan work. The work done in an affirmational sense is held in a higher regard by the studios and companies that own the original media. While transformative work is seen as a rebellion against the original pieces. This could be due to how affirmational works tend to stick to the details of the given media. Whereas, transformative works may change and/or expand upon the given media. Thus, making it a bit more threatening to the overall franchise to look a way the studio or writer may not have originally intended. Looking at the reading by Bob Rehak, we see how Joseph, “made a one-time deal with Paramount to sell the ‘general plans’ (the Enterprise blueprints) at the upcoming convention…” and how, “Paramount, which received Joseph’s royalty check shortly thereafter, sensed it was onto something, and began negotiating for a mass-market release of both the General Plans and the still-growing Technical Manual” (Rehak, 119). The studio realized the profit that could be made off of detailed work representing the movie as well as the amazing marketing technique it could turn into. However, why would a studio not sell fan fiction made by someone else, or any other form of transformative work? My guess is that studios don’t want their story to suffer. They want their original piece to be the one that people love the most. If a talented writer happened to make a story that was greater than the original piece then it would leave the original media open for judgement and rejection. Thus this also brings up the fact that, because studios tend to lean toward more affirmational work, it creates a popularity contest between affirmational and transformative works. Transformative work is looked down upon by others, simply because the studios don’t favor it compared to works that are more closely related to their source of media. Affirmational work allows for fans to feel like they are on the inside and are able to immerse themselves in the work that has been provided by the studio. All of that being said, it’s still the fans who build the media up. They are the ones that create hype around one central work making it into the large franchise it is capable of being. Making either affirmational or transformative work into an advantage for the studio, even if one is favored over the other. “Build code, then, is a way of reminding us that our most detailed and extensive fictional universes—at least before they became a term of art and a preplanned part of media creation—did not spring forth from a privileged realm of official authorship but arose instead from the distributed, largely ad hoc labor of fans who, through handicraft, mapped and materialized their media into shared subcultural worlds” (Rehak, 122).