Childhood Favourites: A Series of Unfortunate Events- Lemony Snicket

These books were SO GREAT, and physically beautiful too. I got numbers 7 and 8 in Canada and the 'Unauthorised Autobiography" too, so they have different but equally beautiful covers to the UK editions. The signature humour and quirky writing style of Snicket felt so refreshing to read. The story of these three very unfortunate orphaned siblings spans 13 volumes, as they are shunted from one terrible or unsuitable foster carer to the next, slowing figuring out more about the mysterious secret organisation their parents belonged too, narrowly escaping the dreadful Count Olaf at every turn. It's an fantastic tale, with really great characters- even the baby is well developed- it never patronises, but teaches the reader words and theories along the way. The grim story made endlessly fascinating and readable with the use of quirk and humour in even the most unfortunate of events. 

Uncle Monty might just have been my favourite in The Reptile Room, he is exactly how I imagine Newt Scamander will be in Fantastic Beasts. I can remember reading The Vile Village and The Hostile Hospital on holiday in Canada- I was very excited to get them as they were not yet published in the UK. I think I read them them in 2 seconds flat in the RV we were travelling from Calgary to Vancouver in- that was a fun holiday! I also got the Canadian The Unauthorized Autobiography, which has a very different cover from the UK edition. The false cover (for keeping the book secret) reads "The Luckiest Kids in the World! Book 1! The Pony Party! by Loney M. Setnick." What more can I say:  I loved them!

The Unauthorized Autobiography/The Luckiet Kids in the World!

I've read only one of Daniel Handler's (Snicket's real name) books for adults, We Are Pirates, but the weird and wonderful quirky writing style is still there so I'll have to read some more. I also have one of his All The Wrong Questions series as Lemony Snicket, which have realllllly nice illustrations by Seth, I might have to collect a few more of that series. 

REVIEW!: Books I read in March: Station Eleven, We Are Pirates, The Sin Eater's Daughter.

Not much of a theme for this month's reads, just books that caught my eye or were in the to-be-read pile- they're gooduns though! So we've got Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler, and The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury.

Station Eleven

I do love a bit of post-apocalyptic fiction, so I was very much looking forward to reading this. The story follows a travelling Shakespearian acting troupe and orchestra across America, twenty years after a devastating global outbreak of avian flu. The story follows several character narratives pre and post flu, each linking up through shared objects or experiences. It beautifully links up past and present, showing connections only the omniscient author can share with us, leaving you hoping the characters will figure it all out too. It had a lot of what I like about post-apocalyptic stories, but no zombies or dystopian regimes, and less focus on loneliness and survival. Instead there was community and civilisation growing out of the remnants of the past. Death and violence were there, but love and relationships were too, and theatre and music. Mandel also added references to the rest of the world outside of America throughout, the lack of which annoys me in other stories as I want to know what happened EVERYWHERE. It was good! Read it!

We Are Pirates

This gem caught my eye in the book shop with its beautiful cover and dust cover, both with really nice designs. So I read it in real book form (I usually read on Kindle)! This is the first Daniel Handler book I've read, having of course read a lot of his work as Lemony Snicket. On the cover there is a quote from Neil Gaimen saying it is "the strangest, most brilliant offering yet" from Handler, and strange it truly is! It is dark, witty, weird, disturbing, charming all at once, which is fairly disconcerting, but it's an entertaining read throughout. Handler's quirks are ever present in his writing as they are when he's Lemony Snicket. It takes place in such a 'normal', mundane, modern setting that the story really takes you by surprise. I definitely recommend reading this, but be prepared for the weird with the wonderful. 

The Sin Eater's Daughter

A dark fairytale story set in a corrupt kingdom, with a mad Queen and bizarre traditions. Twylla is the daughter of the Sin Eater, and so it was her destiny to become a Sin Eater too, until the Queen plucked her out of the village and brought her to live in the castle under the belief that Twylla is in fact the embodiment of a Goddess. This position means she has to serve as the executioner of traitors, killing them with the touch of her skin, and also means no will touch or go near her for fear of death. I greatly enjoyed this book, and was very pleased to realise it would be a trilogy. There were points in the book that I grew tired of the romantic storyline, it felt unnecessary and a little out of sync with the tone of the rest of the book, but this all began to make sense as a I read on. This really did feel like the first act of a bigger story, so I'm looking forward to the next act, in which I hope there will be a bit more movement, in the form of travel, and also depth as more of the veil is lifted for Twylla and she discovers more about the world outside of her sheltered childhood. 

I'm reading Sally Green's Half Bad at the moment, which is real great, then I've got a few others lined up, possibly Ice Cream Star and maybe Half Wild. Childhood favourites coming soon too!

Book Memories: Childhood Favourites

Almost Forgotten Childhood Favourites

Sometimes I forget that I actually read a few books which were NOT part of the Harry Potter series when I was growing up. There were whole other series that I adored, authors whose every book I had to own, stories I would revisit again and again. So, to honour these almost-forgotten-favourites, I will be taking a little trip down memory lane over a series of blog posts to share my favourite childhood books and probably a few teenage favourites too! A lot of them are still popular with children and teens today, which makes me very happy, and some may have been forgotten, but either way I'll be giving them all a little bit of attention here.

What were your childhood favourites? Let me know!

March reviews coming soon too! I read We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury. I'm almost finished Sally Green's Half Bad, so that may sneak into the March reviews too!

REVIEW!: Books I read in February: The Miniaturist, Burial Rites, Life After Life.

What ho! I've only gone and read some more books. February turned into some kind of historical fiction month starting off in 17th Century Amsterdam, visiting Iceland in 1829, before ending up in snowy England in 1910 through the wars and out the other side. What's more they were all BOOKS FOR ADULTS. And all written by women! Ideal.

The Miniaturist

Jessie Burton's story begins in 1686, with young bride Nella arriving in Amsterdam at her new husbands townhouse. He's a busy, thriving merchant type, and also pretty old, and doesn't give Nella much attention, apart from in his gift of a cabinet dolls house replica of their home. Nella orders a few items for the cabinet from a miniaturist found in the city's business listings and soon receives some startlingly accurate dolls and pieces of furniture. Events that follow seem to be connected to these mysterious miniatures and all is soon not as it seems. 

I really enjoyed reading this on dark February evenings. What was maybe most interesting for me was just how long ago 1686 was, and how Amsterdam was the centre of a massive trade empire. It wasn't until the 1800s that Glasgow, where I live, became an important merchant city. I went to the museum during the time I was reading this to learn some merchant trade history and everything! 

So as well as being fascinated about how old Amsterdam is, I also greatly enjoyed the dark winter city atmosphere, and the growing relationships between the characters, as Nella slowly learns more about their lives in both truth and gossip. I was left mostly confused at the end, with a lot of questions, but I think it was supposed to mysterious and I'm going to search out some other readers' theories online!

Burial Rites

Hannah Kent's Burial Rites brings us up to 1829 in Iceland where Agnes Magnusdottir has been sentenced to death, along with another man and woman, for the murder of two men. She is taken to live on the farm of District Officer Jon Jonsson and his family to await her execution. She lives and works there for several months as the story takes place, with much of Agnes's story being told through her confidences with her appointed spiritual guardian, Assistant Reverend Toti. 

What struck me, reading Burial Rites so soon after The Miniaturist, was that although the book is set 143 years later than the story in Amsterdam, it just seems so much older. I guess this is probably owing to the rural setting, and also Iceland's history of being owned by other countries. Again what was really interesting  for me was the history; the way of life on these small farms, travelling on foot for days, maids in even the poor farms, everyone sleeping in the same room. It helped humanise a lot of other historical sites I've seen, especially those of crofts and cleared villages in the highlands. 

The story was great, and its turns out, a true one, researched for 10 years by the author. The historical characters are very successfully rounded and I had become entirely invested in them by the end. Historical fiction sure is working on me!

Life After Life

Beginning in 1910, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is practically set yesterday as far as 'historical' goes. But I think it still counts in my historical fiction month because that's still ages ago. The book begins in England during a snowstorm in 1910, when Ursula Todd is born. She dies repeatedly, and lives again, but only ever with the smallest sense something has happened. She in fact goes to therapy for her Deja-vu. She lives and dies during two world wars. In some of her lives you're willing for her to die, in others you wish she could undo certain events, in others you're hoping this will be the one that sticks. Most of these things all end up happening. 

An exceptionally clever and witty book, with Ursula and her family playing out a series of 'what ifs'. I've had this waiting on my Kindle for ages, and I'm glad I finally read it. Seeing the same character grow and change in different ways was fascinating. It must feel quite self-indulgent for a writer getting to give your characters all these different lives. There was still plenty of historical intrigue for me, with maids and housekeepers, young marriages, secretarial college, bombs and wardens. But this time of course I have living relatives who were there for some it. Loads of great character names too, especially Ursula, Sylvie and Teddy. 

I'm currently reading Station Eleven, so I might just make March a post apocalypse month. Enjoying it so far! I have my eye on The Country of Ice Cream Star which is also post apocalypsey, so that might have to be the next one. Then I might try and find a non American dystopian to read, as I spend a considerable amount of time when I'm reading American-dystopias wondering what's happening in the rest of the world. 

REVIEW!: Books I read in January: We Were Liars, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Fangirl.

I read some more books hooray! I managed to read four and start one more in January which is real good for a slow reader like me. Up for "review" today are: E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (2014), Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (2013), and Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (2013). Let's go!

Fangirl

So I enjoyed reading this, got right into the Simon Snow fanfic, I REALLY want the Simon Snow series to be real (there's room in this world for Harry and Simon), and I loved that it was about fandom, but I didn't really like the main character Cath or main love interest Levi. I don't know what happened, I connected with her at the beginning when she was too scared to find the dining room and hiding in her dorm and eating tacos with her dad. I think I found her relationship with Levi a little off putting, he seemed sort of fatherly towards her... it was kind of icky. But that didn't stop me enjoying the book amazingly!

All that aside, I enjoyed reading it and I am kinda thrilled that the world of fandom has been so sensitively explored in the capable hands of Rainbow Rowell. I am also now very happy I can join in on the excitement about Rainbow Rowell's next book being Cath's fanfic 'Carry On'!

I've read Eleanor and Park, which I enjoyed- any other Rainbow Rowell books I should be picking up?




We Were Liars 

I highly recommend reading this book. I felt completely drained after reading it, which has to be a sign of a well written book. Most reviews and recommendations I've seen on We Were Liars give absolutely nothing away, so I may follow suit on that. What I will say is that from the beginning  there is some great... experimentation with the creative writing. There are metaphors that you don't realise are metaphors until you're half way through them and figure the character's heart hasn't actually fallen out her body and rolled down the lawn. It turns to poetry at points, to great effect. It's really great to see this kind of clever writing in a young adult book, young adults definitely deserve to be seen as clever readers.

The reader follows with Cady as she slowly regains her memory, the story slowly revealing itself to the reader through the same fog the character is experiencing. There's romance, friendship, family, tragedy, heartbreak, memory loss, the works.

Go read it now! ...And then make sure you have somewhere to have a lie down when you finish it.


We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Hey look! An adult book! Like a real adult I read this book for real adult people, finishing it on the train on my 25th birthday. A really unique story, told from the perspective of a character whose experiences would never have crossed my mind otherwise. The 'twist' happens fairly early on, but still far enough into the book for it to have full twisty effect. Rosemary is a trustworthy and amiable narrator, who guides the reader with humour though a story of family heartbreak and moral questions under less than usual circumstances.












I'm having a bit of a historical fiction February, having read The Miniaturist and now Burial Rites, I might try and round off the month with another historical type thing because having a theme is nice and I've had Kate Atkinson's Life After Life sitting on my kindle for a while now. However I do have something a little more witchy- Half Bad- and something a little more dystopian- Station Eleven- so I'll have to see what takes my fancy.
Most of my book recommendations are coming from book vloggers at the moment- Carrie Hope Fletcher, Lex Croucher, booksandquills, lucythereader
   

REVIEW! Books I read over Christmas: Let it Snow, Only Ever Yours, Looking For Alaska.

Helloo! Happy New Year!

One of my resolution type things this year is to do more blogging, in the form of book reviews, little essays, general musings etc. So I thought I'd start with a write up/ review type thing of the YA books I read over the Christmas hols!

Let it Snow 

I started with Let it Snow, three interconnecting stories by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle. I read this one by the fire on Boxing Day and it was a lovely cosy place to be whilst reading about romantic adventures through a storm storm. I enjoyed Maureen Johnson's opening story the most, something about the "chance encounter" storyline really appealed to me. Nothing huge was tackled issue wise; just never judge a cheerleader by the cover, or maybe do judge a cheerleader by the cover, and teacup pigs make good gifts, and maybe you fancy your best friend, you should have a think about that. It also made me want to eat all the food at that Waffle House. Cheese. So much mention of cheese. I spent a lot of the time reading it being easily impressed every time the stories connected and characters popped up. I also spent a lot of time wondering how they went about writing it. Did they make it up together and then choose a bit, and did they choose when the other characters would be in each story and who went first and just how??

Read it while it's still cold outside. Good, harmless, snowy romance fun. 

Only Ever Yours

In quite a stark contrast, the next book I read was Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill. I felt pretty drained after reading this one. Dystopian futures are my bag, so I was very excited to read this, having enjoyed Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogy and Scott Westerfield's Uglies series, and I was not disappointed.  I was willing to brush over the not very sciencey "future where no girls are born" thing to fully invest in the idea of a future where girls are manufactured 'eves' for men, and to breed more men, and grow up competing with each other, in an isolated school, to be ranked in order of their beauty. With mirrors covering every surface, a 'vomitorium' next to the cafeteria, and target weights, it all felt almost too close to reality. Every thought I had about my body or clothes or face over the days I was reading made me double take and realise my thoughts weren't that far off those of the girls in the book. I highly recommend reading this book. It felt like a cut above the rest to me.

::::::SPOILERS::::::

What really impressed me and set this book apart from other female led dystopian fictions I've read, was that there was no male accomplice and escape partner. There was no real love interest. And there was no escape. In other fictional dystopian worlds, most of the population is oppressed, so there is a possibility for an uprising, for a spark to ignite, and for a romance to drive a couple to escape together or lead a rebellion. But in Only Ever Yours, the men are not really oppressed, or not in the same way as the women. The patriarchy is so immensely strong and seems to be unbreakable. Darwin seems to be beaten by his father, but as he says to freida, there is no way to escape. There is no "other side" that can be escaped to. And so the real love that could have sparked a rebellion, the love between isabel and freida, never has a chance to ignite as there would just be nowhere to go. When you continue the the comparison between the setting of the book and the reality for girls in our world, this is a reeeealllly depressing thought. Read the book! It honestly feels like a cut above the rest and the 'no happy endings' ending felt so true to the story and not at all a token attempt to be taken seriously. It commands so much respect. Louise O'Neill, thank you.

Looking For Alaska

Swinging right back into reality with a rather harsh bump, I read John Green's Looking For Alaska next. It took me a little while to get into, probably as I'd just read Only Ever Yours and wanted stupid Miles to quit talking about the curve of Alaska's hips or whatever and leave her alone because she wasn't created just for Miles to ogle at, unlike the poor freida and isabel who were created to be ogled at and had no choice, but does Alaska really have a choice? Waaaah. Alaska's rants on the patriarchy and calling out the boys in their objectification of girls eased this a little. Although the book is essentially about the whole girl on a pedestal thing. I think it explored this and the 'mystery girl' narrative pretty well, which I imagine is the intention. In true John Green style there is a literary quirk, Miles reads biographies of authors and historical figures and memorises their last words, which I actually enjoyed as far a literary quirks go. I think Miles needed this quirk, otherwise he's just guy who puts girl on pedestal. (I should have read more YA when I was an actual young adult in high school. Maybe I would have been more pretentious and quoted the classics and stuff. I think I mostly read Harry Potter and the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. I quoted them A LOT.) Favourite scene is probably the awkward teenage sexual encounter scene, toothpaste tube, we're often sheltered from that kind of honesty in YA, I have found. 

I found it to be very much like Paper Towns, maybe that's why The Fault in Our Stars was such a success, it really stands out from the guy-from-Florida-puts-more-popular-mysterious-damaged-girl-on-pedestal trope. Teenagers, boarding school, class divides, pranks!

Wooh! I hope that was enjoyable. I'm currently reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, and I have E. Lockhart's We Were Liars, which I've heard is great, and Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, to read next!

YouTube Celebrity Culture

YouTube Celebrity Culture- Community and Mainstream Media

This paper was originally written for the Fan Studies Network 2014 conference, for a panel on Producer/Audience relationships, which took place at Regent's University 27-28th September. I have since expanded the paper for a lecture at The Glasgow School of Art. 

 

(amityfest.com)

The world of YouTube has caught the eye of mainstream media recently as its stars have become harder and harder to ignore. The videobloggers or vloggers who create content on the site have become not just YouTube Celebrities, but celebrities outright. Some begun vlogging in their bedrooms as teenagers and have built up a loyal following over time, others have started out in the last couple of years jumping on the bandwagon of promised YouTube fame and YouTube money. The vlogs themselves contain makeup tutorials, direct to camera diary style entries, advice on how to get a boy or girlfriend, hand held travel diaries, funny challenges, collaborations with other vloggers; all mostly aimed at teenagers. These vloggers have millions of subscribers, and through the YouTube partnership program, they are earning money from advertisements and views, enough money to quit their jobs or drop out of uni. These celebrities are adored by their teenage fans, but the divide between the two parties is comparatively small compared to the celebrity crushes of the past, with the possibility of contact through social media. Participation with the medium is easy. If you’re a fan of Alfie Deyes, and his channel PointlessBlog, you can comment on his videos, post a video response, tweet him, message him on Facebook, and he can do the same back. However, there is now a very visible hierarchy between creators and viewers in the YouTube community. In the oft talked about “good old days” YouTube fitted into Jenkins’ framework of participatory culture perfectly. In a post on “How YouTube Became OurTube” on his blog, Henry Jenkins discusses this:

“All of this is a vivid illustration of what I’ve described elsewhere as “participatory culture.” In a participatory culture, there are relatively low barriers for engagement and participation, there is strong support for sharing your creations with others, there is a system of informal mentorship where experienced participants help train newbies, and there is a sense that others care about what you say and create.”

(Continue reading after the jump:)

Stuff I like in August

This is a bit of a different blog post. Instead of a big long essay... Here are some things I've enjoyed this month! A nice light and airy post while I finish my dissertation! 

YouTube celebrities and their viewers.

This is an abstract I wrote for a recent CFP. It's something I've wanted to write about for a while so I'll write it up soon, even though I'm pretty sure I haven't been selected!

The wonderful collaborative community of YouTube is losing its shine after recent revelations have surfaced about several male Vloggers and their relationships with young female viewers. This has sparked much discussion with both high and low profile YouTubers sharing their thoughts of unease in the nature of their community. Vlogging has become a lucrative career for many young people, who have now amassed thousands or even millions of viewers. The ‘meet ups’ of days past have now been replaced with thousands strong conventions where barriers literally divide the (often screaming, young and female) viewers from the creators. The balance of power has clearly shifted in the YouTube world and this could be causing serious damage to the community bringing what Lawrence Lessig calls the “commercial” economy into their “sharing” economy.

What used to be a relationship between ‘creator and viewer’ has now become ‘celebrity and fan’. As YouTubers sign contracts with ‘social talent management’ companies and endorse products, they find themselves suddenly in positions of wealth, power and influence over their vast young audiences, who in turn can now no longer easily relate to their jet-setting lifestyles.

The nature of YouTube has allowed a very open discussion. The phrase “imagine complexly” has been used by both sides of this with viewers asking to been seen as more than a screaming mob and creators asking to be taken down from pedestals. This ‘us’ and ‘them’ relationship could be problematic. I will explore this growing tension drawing on Lessig’s theories as well as referring to Jenkins, Ford and Green’s work in Spreadable Media to understand how damage to the ‘moral economy’ can be repaired.  Examining whether the community has truly lost its ‘grassroots’ position I will also ask what lessons can be learned from recent scandals in keeping the community safe and regaining the balance of power in interactions between creators and their audiences.

ESSAY: The Successful Coming of Age for Child Star Daniel Radcliffe

This essay was written as part of my MLitt Film & Television Studies.

Consider the narrative surrounding the press and audience reception of Daniel Radcliffe’s adult performances in the light of his reputation as a child star.

The narrative surrounding child stars in Hollywood has been incredibly rich, beginning in the 1920s and 30s with young actors such as Shirley Temple and Jackie Coogan. Often accompanied by a fascination with failure, the child star’s story plays out in the press for audiences as the stars grow up in the limelight. This narrative continues to this century with audiences having eagerly anticipated the rise and fall of young actors such as Macaulay Culkin, Drew Barrymore, Dakota Fanning and so on. With press focussing on the ‘curse’ of the child star, clearly acting from a young age can bring about many issues leading to frequent falls from grace for the young stars. However, this can be seen as a ‘myth’ with many young actors transitioning into adult roles without being involved in financial lawsuits, substance abuse, criminal records and family estrangement. A Google search for “child stars” yields a list of “Where are they now?” pieces, feeding this apparent curiosity in the tumultuous aging process from child to adult.

In recent years the young cast of the Harry Potter film franchise have found themselves under a great deal of scrutiny as the series ended and they moved on to pursue adult careers. The film series began in 2001 with Emma Watson aged 11, Daniel Radcliffe aged 12 and Rupert Grint aged 13 ending 10 years later in 2011 in their early twenties having spent their whole adolescences on the big screen. With Harry Potter as such a major, worldwide phenomenon their characters in the series will inevitably follow them wherever they go. Radcliffe and Watson, having both maintained success in acting roles, are surrounded by the same language in the press for every new role they take. References to Harry Potter, Hermione, magic, wizards and growing up always feature in reviews, interviews and promotion for their adult roles.

Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have experienced a similar level of success and respect in their career choices with Watson making links in the fashion world, modelling and designing collections, whilst attending Brown University in America and continuing to impress in her acting roles. As the title character for the Harry Potter series I will focus my investigation on Radcliffe, whose stage performances and quirky film roles have all garnered respect and attention, whilst still enduring the “Harry Potter grows up” narrative. This narrative is shaped by a plethora of reviews, interviews and opinion pieces across press both in the UK and abroad, and further enforced in the discussion from audiences and fans on fan message boards and social networking sites. By finding a range of pieces from the time of Radcliffe’s first post-Potter film role in The Woman in Black (2012) I will investigate how the narrative surrounding this child star’s transition into adult acting roles is formed by the press and continued in the opinions of fans in their “intertextual” viewing of his work. The sources have all been found online and vary from newspapers to magazines and for audience reception from forums and comments on social media sites. This does not provide a conclusive survey of all comment on Radcliffe and his adult roles but instead aims to highlight evidence of the former-child-star narrative in the discourse surrounding this period of his career.

ESSAY:The Betrayed Fan Feeling Optimistic; Disney’s Buyout of Lucasfilm.

This essay was written as a piece of reception studies for my MLitt Film & Television Studies.

The Betrayed Fan Feeling Optimistic; Disney’s Buyout of Lucasfilm.

The Star Wars film franchise has a strong and committed fan base, who has followed the stories of the Jedi universe since the first film release in 1977. This has not been an easy relationship for George Lucas, its creator, and the vast fan base, who hold Star Wars very close to their hearts. Many grew up with the original trilogy, shaping their lives and holding an extremely important place in work, play and love. These fans feel a true ownership over the text and so the importance of George Lucas’ creative decisions has often come into question.

The fan reaction to the prospect of a prequel trilogy was met with much excitement, however on the release of The Phantom Menace (1999), much hyped for its use of digital special effects, filming and projection, there was a great sense of disappointment. The fan reaction to the subsequent prequel trilogy created a new discourse surrounding Star Wars, vilifying George Lucas for ‘ruining’ their beloved text, with the extreme phrase “George Lucas raped my childhood” becoming a common lament. Fan reaction shaped this discourse into popular opinion. It is now a common opinion to ‘hate’ the prequel trilogy, but to hold the original in high regard. 

At the end of 2012 it was announced that Lucasfilm had been bought by Disney, along with the rights to Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Disney announced a plan to release a sequel trilogy from 2015 and to release subsequent films every few year for the foreseeable future, with spin off origin stories for existing characters and further sequels, at a pace likened to the James Bond franchise.

This news was met with a mixed reception. There is a sense of excitement but a muted one. By looking at opinions from fans, I want to see how reaction to the news differs from the events surrounding the prequel, and if any lessons have been learned. As there is a large worldwide discourse around Star Wars my focus will be on opinion pieces from David Mitchell, a prominent comedian and writer, and Simon Brew of DenofGeek.com. Star Wars is such a mass appreciated text that I felt finding opinion in general public spaces online, as opposed to specific Star Wars fansites, would show a broad and universal result. By looking at pieces written by prominent contributors to the Guardian and on general fan website Den of Geek, I would find a range of ‘official’ opinions as well as those in the comments, agreeing or disagreeing with sentiments shared. This worked as a good place to collect fan reception of the news, in reaction to a piece of writing. Simon Brew’s piece is obviously from the point of view of an online fan space, speaking to already engaged and interested fans or “geeks” visiting the Den of Geek site. David Mitchell’s piece written found on the Guardian online widened the audience to newspaper readership and further to Mitchell’s audience as a comedian and frequent TV panel show personality. These examples do not intend to cast the net over all available opinions, but give interesting case studies of some of the reception to the news.

ESSAY: Monetising Fan Labour

The following essay was written as part of my MLitt Film & Television Studies. I also gave a talk based on this essay at Glasgow School of Art for a symposium alongside Dr David Sweeney.

Should fan labour be paid and if so, how?

Fan creativity plays a central role in every fan community. Before they found their home online, fans would swap handmade fanzines at conventions and perform ‘filk’ songs together. Now these can be expressed in places like Tumblr and YouTube, where they are all the more accessible to those outside of the community. Within online fan culture remix plays a central role in fan creation. Fan fiction, gif sets, vlogs, art and songs all take the characters or subject of an original text and express them in new ways. As Lawrence Lessig says: “If the twentieth century made culture generally accessible, the twenty-first will make it universally accessible” (Lessig, 2008, 42).

In the age of Web 2.0 where collective intelligence plays a vital role in the spread of information, there has become an imbalance between grassroots production and mass media corporations. Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford and Joshua Green describe this in Spreadable Media (2013) where they discuss the differing value systems each faction has. On one side we have the large mass media corporations who consider monetary value the driving force and on the other the grass roots collective intelligence who see the worth of creations in non-monetary terms (Jenkins, Ford, Green, 2013, 55). There becomes a problem here as in order for Web 2.0 to be a wonderful collaborative space these two factions need to be able to work together. How do media corporations approach controlling fan creations and how do they attempt to harness their success through monetisation and fan labour? Should they be attempting to make money from fans or is there another way to make this difficult relationship work?

This essay will focus on three key areas of mass media interaction with fan creation. The first being attempts to monetise existing fan content, through staking claims to copyrighted material in fan remixes and issuing ‘cease and desist’ letters. The second is taking steps to encourage fans to create through official avenues, by establishing sites that direct revenue straight back into the corporation pocket. And thirdly the most direct way, of actually employing individual skilled fans to become part of the creation process of the media object be it films, TV shows or games. The question needs to be asked, should fan labour be paid and how?

The Legacy of Buffy Summers: Katniss vs. Bella.

This blog post was originally given as a talk at Ms. Biddles Presents: Buffy The Vampire Slayer in Glasgow at The Old Hairdressers in March 2014. The many pictures/gifs were part of my presentation on the night... and they were just too good to leave out.

With ten years since the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the legacy of this ‘strong female character’ can still be felt. Joss Whedon wrote a character who was not only strong, feisty, and beautiful, but flawed, reluctant and real. Fans saw Buffy grow up to come to terms with her role as the slayer, and she was potentially ahead of her time in modern media, where in 2014 the representation of women is still problematic.

Buffy has left behind a legacy that can be seen manifested in the female characters of more recent young adult media. With Twilight’s Bella Swan arguably as a polar opposite, and The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen carrying the torch, it is clear to see where Buffy has set the bar. By exploring Buffy’s legacy in the characters of Katniss and Bella, I hope to see how the ‘strong female character’, as a positive role model for young audiences, has progressed in the last ten years.

Looking at online fan opinions from all sides of the argument, it is clear there are positive and negative views of each character. What makes Buffy a better role model than Bella? Why is Katniss given more respect as a female character than Bella? What is it about Bella’s ‘weakness’ and Katniss’s ‘strength’ that can be related back to Buffy’s influence?