Convergence Culture

I will start mentioning the fact that I did not read literature of specialty in the field of media before but Jenkins’ book was a very good start. The content of the book is clear, easy to follow and besides, informative. Even for a beginner in the field or somebody interested to read the book but has no previous background it is easy to follow the content and the explanations given are of great help. I have noticed too that media today is not something that we act passively towards it but instead, as consumers, we have became active, involving in the media content and changing it. However, as stated in the book sometimes the consumers have the impression of exerting influence over the media when the companies and producers are shaping everything but giving the impression we are the ones making the change. In some cases, I agree with this but until some extent. The examples provided in the book show clearly that at one point the audience has a big influence on the media although sometimes this influence is controlled (consciously or unconsciously) by the producers. But the main point is that what today has become an icon of popular culture was certainly brought up to the status of icon by the fans. Without fans there would be no idols.
Besides, convergence culture means much more than influencing the media but also the fact that fans are able to express themselves and most of the times the results can be astonishing like in the case of Star Wars or Harry Potter and the main point is social interaction. The fan networks in my view act pretty similar to social networks, even better, one gets to know people all over the world with the same interests. The case of American Idol or Survivor can be regarded as a safe subject (like weather) among family, friends but when it comes to spoiling the show I think participatory culture has gone too far. Keeping the mystery it is all what this kind of entertainment is about. But, of course trying to spoil the show is also an entertainment for some given the fact that the resources used in doing that are exhausting and sometimes with disappointing results. Here also intervenes the producers who like to play “catch me if you can” kind of game with the curious audiences (spoilers) deliberately, mainly for the popularity of the show.
Participatory culture is beneficial for companies as fan interaction help promoting their products and in this way they make sure that fans will become loyal and attract more people to their side, establishing a direct relation which ensures that fans will stick to a certain media product. “In the end, media producers need fans just as much as fans need them.”
I would like to focus my comments especially on Harry Potter case as it is the only media product that interested me directly from the ones mentioned in the book. I know the others like American Idol, Survivor, Star Wars or Matrix but besides knowing their main idea I have never watched them. First, I am not interested in entertainment shows of the kind and the two movies never appealed to me. But Harry Potter I find quite interesting even though I have not read the books but just watched the movies, followed the event closely and interacted with fans directly. There have been quite a lot of debates around Harry Potter books, some of which I find ridiculous, for example the religious issues that sprung up around this phenomenon. The accusations brought by church officials that Harry Potter is an initiation into dark arts and an occult book are made with no solid basis given the century we live in and the fact that the books are a product of entertainment and consumerism rather than manuals for the occult. In my opinion, Harry Potter is a fantasy book that stirs the imagination of children and help them create further stories and worlds that develop their writing and creative skills. Role-playing game and fan fiction are developing skills that children need so they can be full participants in their culture. Besides, the issues discussed in Harry Potter are not just pure fantasy but fantasy is more like an allegory to real world problems. In addition, I do not agree with studio restrictions of fan sites as it is discussed in chapter 5 because the fans created the celebrity of the book and they did not like to see all their efforts spoiled. By creating this fandom network they increase the popularity of the book and come up with new and improving ideas at the same time.