Table of Contents

Introduction

1. "Get a Life!": Fans, Poachers, Nomads

2. How Texts become Real

3. Fan Critics

4. "It's Not a Fairy Tale Anymore": Gender, Genre, Beauty and the Beast

5. Scribbling in the Margins: Fan Readers/Fan Writers

6. "Welcome to Bisexuality, Captain Kirk": Slash and the Fan-Writing Community

7. "Layers of Meaning": Fan Music Video and the Poetics of Poaching

8. "Strangers No More, We Sing": Filk Music, Folk Culture, and the Fan Community

Conclusion: "In My Weekend-Only World...": Reconsidering Fandom

Appendix: Fan Texts (Prepared by Meg Garrett)

Sources

Index

About the Author

Henry Jenkins is Assistant Professor of Literature at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Reviews

"Drawing on a rich theoretical background with sources ranging from feminist literary criticism to cultural anthropology, [Jenkins] applies and adapts Michel de Certeau's model of "poaching," in which an audience appropriates a text for itself. Taking a stand against the stereotypical portrayal of fans as obsessive nerds who are out of touch with reality, he demonstrates that fans are pro-active constructiors of an alternative culture using elements "poached" and reworked from the popular media."
-"Journal of Popular Culture
"Drawing on a rich theoretical background with sources ranging from feminist literary criticism to cultural anthropology, [Jerkins] applies and adapts Michel de Certeau's model of "poaching," in which an audience appropriates a text for itself. Taking a stand against the stereotypical portrayal of fans as obsessive nerds who are out of touch with reality, he demonstrates that fans are pro-active constructors of an alternative culture using elements "poached" and reworked from the popular media."
-"Journal of Popular Culture