Global Fandom Jamboree Conversation Series: Libertad Borda and Thessa Jensen (Part Two)

Libertad Borda: Before tackling the subject of our role as researchers, I would like to comment on some very interesting points in your reply. I definitely agree with you on most. Social media platforms like the ones you mentioned really did make a big impact on fan universe, but not always with desirable results. For instance, together with another colleague, Carla Trovarelli, I tried to delve into the Wattpad phenomenon a few years ago, and we were really shocked to find how many of the things we thought were a given in fandoms, or at least in fanfiction writing communities (such as implicit reciprocity rules, gift economy and the like), were completely out of the picture in this new environment. This can be read in

Borda, L. and C. Trovarelli (2021). “Relatos en Wattpad: ¿es posible una fanfiction sin fanatismo?” [Wattpad Stories: is fanfiction outside fandoms possible?” in Borda, L. and F. A. Gandolfi (eds.), Fanatismos. promoteo libros.https://prometeoeditorial.com/libro/1260/Fanatismos.

And much of this new panorama derived from the fact that the link between the old fans and new fans was broken in a way. You hit the nail on the head in two respects: mentorship and ownership. “Mentorship falls away”, you said. We found a whole new trend of fanfic writers who landed on Wattpad without any knowledge of the old fandom traditions, so many things that were so often discussed over the years like Mary Sue, or respecting the fanon, were completely dismissed, not even actively, but just because they ignored them. Real Person Fiction, which was often marginal within fanfiction writing communities, started to emerge as a potent force within Wattpad. Maybe there is another good explanation for that emergence, but we concluded that it might be due to the fact that “filing off the serial numbers” is much easier when it comes to RPF. The nice boy with the face of Harry Styles simply becomes Billy or similar, and there is no “author” sending you cease and desist letters if you publish the story with a major publishing house. And with this growth of RPF we get to a point where a very peculiar thing happens; fanfics are revamped leaving no trace of the original connection to fandoms (that is the reason for the title of our article).

And then there is the second question, ownership. Wattpad is a for-profit company, and indeed now a very profitable one, so the only traditions encouraged are those that lead to profit. Whereas “real” publishing for the world outside fandoms was very rarely considered in the old communities, Wattpad as a platform motivates users to think that their fic can be printed and that they can be the next Anna Todd. These cases are exceptional, that is true. But the expectation is created, and even industry players have their Wattpad profiles. Down goes the fourth wall…

If we stick to the question of the site architecture, another problem comes up. Wattpad is a site for stories, any story, so even if fanfiction is often characterized as the third genre in the platform as regards the quantity of stories posted, it is not the only type of fiction there. On the other hand, tagging stories in Wattpad is not very orderly, mainly because (back to your lucid comments) there is little or no mentorship. So, users get an explosive combo of corporate ownership, lack of mentorship and poor tagging, which can make Wattpad into a confusing universe for those who were used to the old traditions which prepared the reader about what to expect from fics. And at this point I would like to return to one question I raised in my opening statement and that is the new role of corporations/industry in relation to fandoms and fanification. In a context where this is happening, we cannot expect corporate-owned platforms to lean towards memory and content safety, because that is not important for these players. Of course, I really think that moves such as OTW/AO3 are extremely important to resist profit drive, and maybe one of our roles as researchers is to call attention to this asymmetric situation.

As you can see, I am trying to link this with your question about our role as researchers and your legitimate worry about bringing some practices into the limelight, I wonder if in these which we might call “new ways of being a fan”, this is really seen as an issue or, on the contrary, visibility can become a goal for many. But if the fandom or even the individual fan in question is not ready to “come out of the closet”, we must find ways of referring to those practices without revealing data that they do not want to expose. You know this is an old problem for field research.  But I did not stumble on this kind of issue during my work. Instead, it was fun to read in one telenovela forum I researched in the past a comment as to “Why researching on this? It is like researching on a coke lid, no use”. That is, they were not really worried about it, indifference was more the attitude. On the other hand, when a boy wrote me once telling me that he had created a Facebook group to post Betty la fea (the Colombian soap opera) fanfiction, I was thrilled because Betty writers had never used the term fanfiction before. They spoke about “Betty stories”, “imagined stories”, etc. So I asked him when they had started to use it, and to my dismay he said that it was after reading one of my papers. I had not participated in the forums I studied because they were too many and they stretched over a 15-year long period. But still, the fan’s answer proved that sometimes you intervene in the field even if you do not intend to.

I have one last question for you. I would like to know your position about this corporate advance on fan traditions, or if you coincide about this diagnosis. Maybe you are more optimistic.

 Thessa Jensen: So, the corporations and commercialisation of fandom. I really like your paper on Wattpad! We need more of that kind of research! And it also shows how important it is to keep “our” kind of fandom safe. Not just because it is special–which it is–but because it shows how things can be done online. How you can create spaces where people feel safe, recognised, and belonging to a community, which they help build and maintain. All things, which you won’t find on Wattpad or other platforms that use user-created content to earn money. And sorry to say, I am not optimistic. Look at AO3, every time they make a donation drive, we get the usual discussions on why they need money and how it can be so expensive to just run a few servers. Again, it shows the lack of history, lack of knowledge about how AO3 works. It is fan created, fan maintained, voluntary work–and anybody can become part of it and get their ideas tested and discussed, maybe even implemented. But you must do something, must invest time and work in this–instead, people seem to dismiss it, complain about it, and have lots of ideas on how to change it, without taking steps to make those ideas workable. So, sorry, I’m very pessimistic about this.

One of the things which worries me is the growing use of Patreon and sites like it, where fans earn money by writing fanfiction. It blurs lines between hobby and work, copyright and fair use. Also, between being a fan, a follower, just a reader–creating expectations, demands, and probably lots of other stuff, which will further erode the community-based culture of fanfiction.

And maybe, maybe, that should be our prerogative as a researcher? Fighting to keep the good things of fandom alive, by showing what is possible today? And showing the new side of fandom, entangled in money and possible fame (with all the bad things this entails)?

Libertad Borda: We both seem to agree on the importance of highlighting these tendencies to fandom commercialization as researchers. Anyway, in my view, we should not forget two aspects of this situation: 1) many fan practices have been disseminated into much bigger audiences/communities as compared to previous small and protected groups, which is not necessarily a problem. I made a point of researching on these fan practices that transcended small groups. As is often the case in an expansion process, some traditions change and are likely to continue changing over time. On the other hand, 2) fandoms themselves, as you and I already pointed out in our opening statements, are not free from the issues that affect society at large, and this drive to profit is one of them, operating at the expense of neglecting or directly abandoning other practices based on reciprocity. Some fans claim that the urge to monetize fan labour is legitimate, and they may be right, but the problem is the power asymmetry that I pointed out before. Selling your work to corporations may imply following the path those companies have already marked for you, no matter how good your intentions are. This phenomenon is not likely to change if society itself does not, but I think that we must keep on reflecting on these matters and even trying to engage into dialogue with fields of studies which approach these problems in other areas.

Thessa Jensen: YES! To all of the above. And thank you, Dr Borda, for this interesting and eye-opening discussion!