This thesis will analyse the ways in which fan participation and creation in online communities extends the film world beyond the film object, and the extent to which fandom influences identity within the fan group. The study will seek to determine the ways in which fans become part of the franchise through online engagement, as well as the manner in which they appropriate the franchise identity through their creations. The central hypothesis of the study is that online participation and creation amplifies fan connection with the film franchise, and increases the sense of identification with the world and characters of the films. By being or becoming fans, and engaging with other fans in online and real spaces, they are joining a larger community of people who seem to have blurred the lines between fiction and reality by engaging in a fictional, virtual space as a source of real personal entertainment, based on an anchor media product. This appropriation is enabled through digital communities which expand and extend the reach of fan interaction and further develop the identity of the individual as ‘fan’. Thus, the study will reflect on the implications of fan engagement with the film franchise in the digital space.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:27359 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Vermaak, Janelle Leigh, Moodley, Subeshini |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | 335 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela University |
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