Global Fandom Jamboree: Clara Cisneros Hernandez (Mexico)
/In Mexico City, within the Center for Studies in Communication Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico a.k.a. UNAM), has been created a space for young researchers for academic discussion and the study of international creative industries, under the name “La Finisterra”, originated on May 14th, 2015. The research focuses are transmediation processes, the study of videogames focused on fandom from e-sports to serious games, geek culture, anime, manga, comics and Lucha Libre mexicana (Mexican wrestling).
The organization was founded by José Ángel Garfias Frías, David Cuenca Orozco, members of the National System of Researchers, and Roberto Carlos Rivera Mata, specialist in Serious games. Also the young academics members are: Clara Cisneros, specialist in anime and transmediation processes; Yisel Caballero, specialist in genre and video games; Emmanuel Galicia, specialist in advergames, Jetzaí Velazco, specialist in audiovisual products; Adolfo Gracia, specialist in communities of gamers; and Patricia Celis Banegas, specialist in Lucha Libre; among other collaborators; all with postgraduate studies and professors from UNAM.
So far, we have finalized five collective research books with double ruling from other formal academic institutions, being the case of the texts: “Creative industries, Imaginaries, values and ideology in animation and videogames”, (UNAM, 2021); “Creative industries and transmediation processes. Streaming videogames and audiovisual culture”, (UNAM, 2020); "Contributions for the construction of videogame theories volume 1 and 2" (UNAM 2018 - 2019); "Analysis of audiovisual languages in the digital age" (UNAM, 2018). And there are two more books to be published: "Electronic sports. Theoretical approaches to its origin and evolution ”, and “Manual of scripts for video games with a focus on communication ”.
Similarly, we have published in other collective texts such as: "Leisure and entertainment in the digital context", Gedisa, 2021; under the coordination of Roberto Alejandro López Novelo; “Critical digital literacies. From tools to communication management ”. UAM - Editorial Juan Pablos, 2019; among other publications and journals.
Our mission is to position the study of the creative industries and the reception of fandom on the agenda of Mexican academic research, in order to develop research from a multidisciplinary perspective and contribute to the development of national production with applied social sciences.
A broad United Nations definition of Creative Industries specifies that (Unctad, 2008) “they are cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs”. In addition, they constitute a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on, but not limited to, culture and the arts, generating income from trade and intellectual property rights. They also include tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives; they are a cross between artisan, service and industrial sectors.
Our research follows fandoms from the creative industry, since we are the Latin American country with the most specialized urban spaces dedicated to commerce and recreational activities in relation to cultural products such as videogames, comics, music industry, television series, animation and anime; among other sectors of international scope. Specifically, we monitor urban spaces that promote geek culture within Mexico City, such is the case of shopping and socializing places such as Frikiplaza, Fan Freak Center, Pikashop and Comic Rock Show, whose particularity is to provide a safe and comfortable environment for the constitution of communities according to hobbies, abilities or interests of various kinds, where individuals have direct exposure to a wide diversity of cultures and signatures to develop a sense of belonging. We also monitor online and offline communities, based on institutional research projects and thesis.
Conference at "La frikiplaza", a specialized shopping place in Mexico City.
Another line of studies predisposes the monitoring of transmediation processes, recognized as the construction of narrative experiences deployed through various media or platforms (Jenkins, 2003). The applied reception process focuses on video games, animation and lucha libre, which are the industries that we have detected, interweave expandable meaning webs within different information systems that surround a nucleus of meaning. Transmediation processes are essential for the study of creative industries since they assemble and design discursive and technical operational problems in order to open their meaning systems in a hypermedia environment, where the axis of action is Storytelling.
The transmediation processes allow us to define how the fan, the user, the player, reader and perceiver, access not only other platforms to complete the story, but also involve themselves in order to develop with their actions and decisions, the discursive core and meaning that allows immersion, interactivity and a technocultural engagement, which remains based on motivators and gratification formats.
Mexico needs to be up-to-date in video game research, primarily due to its status as the main consumer of such technologies in the Latin American region. The territory also remains the tenth largest market in the world in the consumption of videogames, being the majority in the region with estimated revenues of approximately 2.3 billion dollars for 2021 (Statista, 2021). The Mexican territory is a representative sample, because more and more independent videogame and digital animation productions are being created within our country. Mexico is already beginning to produce its own videogames.
Although we study various styles of animation, we mainly monitor anime and its direct relationship with gamified formats in their transmediation processes, since Mexico remains one of the ten countries with the highest global consumption by the industry (Google Trends, 2020).
We integrate Lucha Libre mexicana into our research agenda, since it is a creative industry of indigenous international scope. Likewise, in 2018, Lucha Libre was declared a cultural heritage of Mexico City, established as a sports activity that encompasses intellectual creation from the continuous generation of new shows, characters, masks, rivalries and fighting skills. The sector involves a formal and informal economic development of great importance for the country, Lucha Libre in Mexico is an activity that is between sport and ritual, where there is a mixture of all these genres, but there are a number of theatrical elements basic, such as the mask, the costumes and the characters who stage dramas (Möbius, 2007).
Conference at National Autonomous University of Mexico a.k.a. UNAM.
Our academic research is committed to the investigation of different media productions, where even the participation of users becomes decisive from its reception, appropriation of meanings, communicative practices and user-generated content. In this way, some companies see the fan as a creator and promoter of cultural products, a cultivator of a true transmedia culture, where the important thing is to generate value from the fact of spreading on the network of users or consumers, since a certain content "If it doesn't spread, it's dead" (Jenkins, 2015: 25).
In summary We study the phenomenon of the creative industries meticulously through three levels:
1. Review of who produces the content, delimiting the intertwined distribution and consumption formats.
2. Analysis of the changes in the narrative structure within hypermediation and transmediation processes.
3. Monitoring of consumers at their reception, studying the forms of appropriation, participation and derivative communication practices.
The three levels are applied to the mexican context from a multidisciplinary approach, taking into account theories and methodologies that range from political economy, to investigate the power relations between media, to the reception and consumption processes, where we investigate the way in which international creative industries are appropriated by consumers, and how they continue to redefine their value.
Our approach defends the cultural perspective, where creative industries are understood as symbolic constructions, which are consumed by users who are subject to their structure, within a media environment where symbolic products are materialized and where symbolic goods are culturalized in a common space (Lash and Lury, 2007).
The analysis of these industries are in relation to the context of production, where the central axis takes into analysis the themes and exchanges between fans. The research we carry out is predominantly from a participatory approach, supported by a process of interpretation with a qualitative and hermeneutical methodological basis in the explicit lines of research.
The analysis of these industries places emphasis on the context of production, where the central axis takes into account the themes and exchanges between fans. The research we carry out is predominantly from a participatory approach, supported by a process of interpretation with a qualitative and hermeneutical methodological basis in the explicit lines of research.
References
Jenkins, Henry (2006). Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York University Press.
Jenkins, H.; Ford, S. & Joshua Green (2013) Spreadable Media. New York University Press.
Lash, S., & C. Lury (2007). Global Culture Industry. The Mediation of Things. Polity. Cambridge.
López Novelo, R.A. (coordinador) 2021. Ocio y entretenimiento en el contexto digital. Aproximaciones desde la academia. México, Gedisa.
Möbius, J. (2007). Y detrás de la máscara...el pueblo: Lucha libre, un espectáculo popular mexicano entre la tradición y la modernidad. unam. México.
United Nations (2008). Creative Economy Report, 2008. UNCTAD.
Statista. (2021). Statista.com. Link: https://es.statista.com/grafico/25685/los-principales-mercados-de-los-videojuegos/
Clara Cisneros Hernández – Mexico City
PhD student in Communication from the Graduate Program in Political and Social Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Subject professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Science. Subjets of investigation: Videogames, Transmedia, fandom, creative industries, anime and manga.
Email: clara.cisneros@politicas.unam.mx
La Finisterra is a community of young researchers within the Center for Studies in Communication Sciences of the Campus for the Political and Social Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, originated since 2015 for academic discussion, the creation of their own theories and methodologies for the study of the mexican fandom, videogames, animation, comic and wrestling industries. So far, we have finalized five collective research books with double ruling from other formal academic institutions, being the case of the texts: “Creative industries, Imaginaries, values and ideology in animation and videogames”, (UNAM, 2021); “Creative industries and transmediation processes. Streaming videogames and audiovisual culture”, (UNAM, 2020); "Contributions for the construction of videogame theories volume 1 and 2" (UNAM 2018 - 2019); "Analysis of audiovisual languages in the digital age" (UNAM, 2018).
Clara Cisneros Hernández – México City: PhD student in Communication from the Graduate Program in Political and Social Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Subject professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Science. Subjets of investigation: Videogames, Transmedia, fandom, creative industries, anime and manga.
