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Bibliography

Selfie

Addiction. (2011). American Society of Addiction Medicine

Barry, C.T., Doucette, H., Loflin, D.C., Rivera-Hudson, N. and Herrington, L.L., 2017. “Let me take a selfie”: Associations between self-photography, narcissism, and self-esteem. Psychology of popular media culture, 6(1), p.48.

Frosh, P., 2015. Selfies| The gestural image: The selfie, photography theory, and kinesthetic sociability. International journal of communication, 9, p.22.

Marwick, A. E. (2015). ‘Instafame: Luxury selfies in the attention economy’. Public Culture 27.1, pp. 137-160

Senft, T.M. and Baym, N.K., 2015. What does the selfie say? Investigating a global phenomenon introduction.

Weiser, E.B., 2015. # Me: Narcissism and its facets as predictors of selfie-posting frequency. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, pp.477-481.

Fake News

Allcott, H. and Gentzkow, M., 2017. Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), pp.211-36.

Balmas, M., 2014. When fake news becomes real: Combined exposure to multiple news sources and political attitudes of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism. Communication Research, 41(3), pp.430-454.

BBC News – Accessed at www.bbc.co.uk

Borden, S.L. and Tew, C., 2007. The role of journalist and the performance of journalism: Ethical lessons from “fake” news (seriously). Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(4), pp.300-314.

 Shao, C., Ciampaglia, G.L., Varol, O., Flammini, A. and Menczer, F., 2017. The spread of fake news by social bots. arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.07592.

The Independent – Accessed at https://www.independent.co.uk

Twitter’s shares jump after fake story on company’s $31bn takeover offer  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/14/twitter-shares-fake-story-bloomberg

Male Fandom

Baym, N.K., 2007. The new shape of online community: The example of Swedish independent music fandom. First Monday, 12(8).

Gray, J., Sandvoss, C. and Harrington, C.L. eds., 2017. Fandom: Identities and communities in a mediated world. NYU Press.

Hills, M., 2003. Star Wars in Fandom, Film Theory, and the Museum’. Movie Blockbusters, New York: Routledge, pp.178-189.

Proctor, W., 2013. “Holy crap, more Star Wars! More Star Wars? What if they’re crap?”: Disney, Lucasfilm and Star Wars online fandom in the 21st century’. Participations, 10(1), pp.198-224.

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FANdom - A deeper look into the male fan.

In this final chapter of our blogging journey we look into one of digital media’s fore front aspects, an aspect that the digital media exists to serve, that is the fandom – a select group of a specific media content that is devoted just as equal if not better than the producers of the media. Not only we are looking at fandom but we are specifically focusing on the male side of the fandom – this means we’ll explore the notion of what it means to be a male within a fandom. Because fandoms are always centered around a media related phenomenon – this essay will select the Star Wars franchise as a subject of male fandom, we will look into what makes one a Star Wars fan, how they identify, their traits and most notably how they make their presence onto the digital world so we can apply our digital thought onto them.

Fandom, a hybrid term that is as a result of combing a fan + kingdom, it refers to a form of subculture that is formed under the celebration of a mutual bond between people over a media text or a spectacle – it can be a book, TV show series, a movie franchise, a band, a sports team or even a car model or brand that has become imbedded into popular culture, Gray et al. (2017). The larger Fandom is then broken into smaller factions, also called fandoms with a lower-case ‘f” – these smaller faction are ones often named or given special names that resemble or consequential to the subject of admiration. Examples of popular fandoms include Adele’s fans being called Daydreamers, while The Beatles’ are called Beatlemaniacs and The Hunger Game book series’ fans are Tributes – surprising enough the fans for our chosen fandom, the Star Wars do not a specific fandom title despite being one of the oldest existing and successful movie franchises that has managed to see itself in par with franchises like the Harry Potter and Star Trek, Byam (2007).

Star Wars was developed by George Lucas and the first film was in 1977 and it soon become a cultural lifestyle – the film is also credited to elevating the launch of science fiction in the late 1970s and early 1980s carving out science fiction films as a genre worth the title of a ‘blockbuster’. Since the film was also released its influence among the science fiction genre films and television can be evidently observed. What makes the fandom of Star Wars particularly of interest is their male fan base, Hills (2003).

Male fans of the Star Wars franchise have turned things up down on the current state of the once peaceful and happy fandom, their excuse being that they do not agree with the current steering of the film franchise. This was highlighted when a recent Star Wars movie (: The Last Jedi) that was released just last year – the release of the movie come with news report outlining that the star that who plays once of the key characters to the film Rose Tico (real name Kelly Marie Tran) had deleted all of the images on her Instagram account. This was as a result of her receiving online harassment and abuse for an extensive period from the fans of Star Wars, particularly those who hated The Last Jedi and her character. She was not the first however as it was also reported two years earlier that another female Star Wars’ star Daisy Ridley also deleted her Instagram account after constantly receiving harassment after she expressed her sentiments in favor of gun control policies.

The perpetrators of these harassments were identified to be mainly male – those whom their online profile were public and they did not only end on the stars of their beloved franchise but hate this current installment. They also went after Rian Johnson, the director of The Last Jedi – he was faced with enormous amounts of abuse on Twitter by those who could not get of their dislike for the film, they further even went after Chuck Wending whom has written several Star Wars novels. They blamed Chuck and claimed he is part of ‘ruining’ the franchise.

Even in the midst of what the Star Wars fandom is currently going through, it would be unfair and oversimplified to conclude that the fandom has a serious problem, mainly because fan entitlement is not a new thing, especially to male fans nor it is a problem that is exclusively facing Star Wars.

What is currently happening with the Star Wars fandom is a highlight of what the other side of being a fan looks like, being a fan can be a wonderful experience, one that brings people of different backgrounds together and explore their passion while meeting people can become lifelong friends. It can also bring out the less desirable sides of people – it can breed a sense of entitlement due to the long years of engagement which may lead to some to believe that they are always right and nobody can appreciate this craft better than them as with the case of the male fandom of Star Wars, Proctor (2013).

When coming to the main Fandom of Star Wars, one with a much better gender balance it has become difficult to document as all fandom efforts for Star Wars are currently dealing with this segment of the empire. Ultimately no good comes out of liming our definitions of ourselves exclusively to our pop culture preferences and hobbies – nothing is to be gained or learned from seeing ourselves as only consumers of goods regardless of how much they have to offer or worthy they are. However it is also important to be aware of the culture that is promoted through online behavior that is similar the male fans of Star Wars, the culture of harassment and abuse that has now become euphemized as ‘trolling’. Trolling has brought about a time in which male fans harassing female stars on social media has become an expected and it is not taken as a problem but rather labelled as things like ‘it happens’ or ‘that’s just how it is’. Making it harder to tackle this kind of behavior as it keeps of being slid under the carpet – there is a difference between giving a film a negative review and chasing an actress off Instagram because of her character and anyone who cannot distinguish between the two is mostly likely part of the problem.

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Ways to maximize the STAR WARS experience in real life!

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Its not just a fantasy, its a way of life.

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Most ‘out-dated’ Star Wars movies are considered to be collectables or classics and possessing any of them provides a rewarding experience

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A guy recently bought a new apartment and the most exciting thing about it was that...these now had enough space

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Here we have A dual committed man

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A 3D printed custom Commander Wolffe amour (by  a guy)

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Perceived ‘typical’ male reaction when watching their fandom movies

Honestly. If this isn’t me

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Characters from Star Wars

Star Wars Illustrations - Created by Justine Cruz

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Quotes from the current Star Wars Movies (from The Force Awakens)

Quotes By J.J. Abrams

“People have asked me if I think Kylo Ren was just playing with him [Han] the whole time, if he meant to kill him from the beginning. And the truth is, I think Kylo Ren in this moment is actually being convinced to walk away from this. Snoke is, as Han says, using him, and I think that somewhere Ben knows this. But I think that he can’t accept it. Deep down he has gone too far.[…] But I don’t think that in this moment this is a put on. I think that Ben is legitimately going to give up. But then, the idea was that in this moment, where he’s taking the lightsaber and offering it to him as a gesture, the sun finally is drained from the sky. And you see the light go away. And now they’re in this darkness. And darkness takes over. And as if this moment isn’t disturbing enough, he pushes the saber further in and says these terrifying two words. “Thank You.” In Kylo’s mind, what he has just done seals the deal. It’s the ultimate proof to Snoke that he is to be trusted, that he will not be seduced by the light. And I think, the instant that he’s done it, he regrets it.”

“You’re watching two parents grappling over an incredibly difficult child. And, I think, that’s a very relatable parental conversation. To see it between Han and Leia, I think, was particularly interesting. And you just see how what happened with their son, Ben, it really ripped them apart. When Leia mentions Supreme Leader Snoke, you realise that they are aware of this figure that is responsible for seducing their son over to the dark side. And you realise that Han has been on the run trying to get away from this this whole time. And in this moment, Leia implores Han not to give up. To do anything he can to save their son.”

“They had this kid who was born equal parts good and evil. He is someone who is broken….But it’s more than just having a bad seed as a kid. Snoke had targeted this kid, knew that this kid was gonna be incredibly powerful in the force and wanted him as an ally. So this mother and father had a target for a son. Someone was watching their boy. And these parents aren’t there enough to guide him. ”

“One of the more interesting for me was, Kylo Ren, especially his notion of moving forward and cutting off his past.But if you think that’s progressing you’re probably fooling yourself. The past is there and it’s always going to be. That’s the lesson.”

“So, here’s the moment, where Supreme Leader Snoke doubts that Kylo Ren is strong enough to resist the overture of love from his father. And it’s the first time you see that Kylo Ren might even have some self-doubt. He’s trying to defend himself, but Snoke is not convinced.”

“And because of Vader, I think you expect him to need the mask. That, like Vader, it’s some kind of breathing apparatus, some sort of necessity. But when his mask comes off, you see Adam Driver, and he just looks like a sort of prince.”

“One of the new relationships that we were focusing on was between Kylo Ren and Rey. They’ve never met but he’s heard of this girl. And so, now comes a moment when their meeting is inevitable. […] And now we’re back to our heroine. And this moment where she is about to, for the first time, be confronted by Kylo Ren, a character who she’s going to have a very interesting relationship with moving forward.”

“So the idea here is that Kylo Ren’s gotten inside of Rey’s head, sees that she has seen the map and is now letting go of the droid as his goal, and focusing just on her. And clearly you think, well he must be able to just extract the information he wants now. But because he’s taken her, you get a sense that there might be something else going on here.”

“And now, these two disparate pieces [refers to Kylo and Rey] come together.”

“REY’S PARENTS ARE NOT IN EPISODE VII”

“I don’t like going to the movies to feel depressed and diminished. The reason you go to the movie is to feel bigger and stronger and happier. They [characters] are in a universe that is spiritual  and that is optimistic”

"All that matters to me is the love story. Sometimes, it’s obvious, sometimes a bit more complicated. It’s the thing I had to find first. Without doubt, but I already know I want to approach this project in a different way because Star Wars, it’s a special world.”

“What makes this story have a beating heart? What makes it romantic or fun or surprising… We simply approached this narrative from the point of view that this is a story about a young man and a young woman, not with the idea that we can do anything we want.”

“When Rian who I admire enormously and adore, came on board… He as a spectacular writer and director has taken those things and has written an amazing script that I think will be an incredible next chapter.”

Asked if fan outcry would at all impact his vision for the upcoming film, Abrams was clear: “Not in the least.There’s a lot that I would like to say about it, but I feel like it’s a little early to be having the ‘Episode IX’ conversation”

Bonus:

Rian Johnson: “So I think he [J.J.] set up this very interesting dynamic [between Kylo and Rey]. And now, to get to hand it back to J.J. and see how it gets resolved, I’m really, really excited to see what happens.”

Rian Johnson: “Well I’ll say the two characters and how they [interact], like in The Force Awakens, the interrogation scene, that was one of the most intriguing scenes to me both on the page and when I saw the scene that J.J. created.”

Rian Johnson: “He was into it. And I remember that I pitched him the story at the very beginning, and he had notes, but he wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, what the hell are you doing?’ [Laughs] No, he was into it because I think he was into the storytelling. He’s a great storyteller himself and he saw the potential of each one of these beats. I think he saw it for what we were going for, which is not… we weren’t going for, 'Let’s subvert a Star Wars movie.’ We were going for 'Let’s make a great Star Wars movie that has things in it that will push the limits of what we can do.”

Greg Grunberg (who plays X-Wing pilot Snap Wexley in “The Force Awakens”):

“He read it [TLJ script] and said something he never, ever says. He said, ‘It’s so good, I wish I were making it.’ He may have said something one time on ‘Lost’ with Damon [Lindelof], but I never hear him express regret like that.”

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In this final chapter of our blogging journey we take a look a fan domination, particularly the male side

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But my advice is...

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Here is a tool.

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NOTE - This is the educational post for our POLITICAL LIFE themes, I could not post the actual blog due to the last *screenshot* .

I promise to UPDATE IT ASAP, my apologies for the inconvenience.

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Lets get educational first...its not over

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What have you done?