Whilst Brian skipped over the fan culture part of the Lectorial on Monday, I decided to revisit it because it’s an interesting topic and it relates strongly to my group’s PB4 topic. In the post-broadcast era, ‘fandoms’ are no longer relegated to socially isolated groups of Star Trek geeks. This is due to the rise of ‘participatory culture,’ which has been enabled through the development of new technologies and thus new forms of communication. The Internet has given fans spaces to create communities, and connect with other fans around the world. One of these spaces that springs to mind is Tumblr, which can almost be considered the ‘home’ of modern day fandoms. Thanks to the interconnected nature of fan culture in the post-broadcast era, fans have been given a voice, and thus a power as an audience, that they previously did not have.

Audiences are now able to engage with media texts in different, increasingly interactive ways. A fan might produce ‘fan art’, post it online, and have it shared hundreds or thousands of times with other fans. This culture of sharing amplifies the voice of fans, thus decreasing the distance between producers (knowledge culture) and fan culture. Sometimes, these fandoms are able to influence producers through their responses to texts.

I believe the saturation of fan culture, especially in social media, has normalised these ‘fannish modes of engagement.’ It’s no longer considered a social faux-pas to be a fan of something, and to actively share and discuss pop culture texts.

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In Australia, copyright is automatic and applies from the moment a work is created. Similar laws apply overseas, providing protection to content creators from having their work stolen or used without their consent.

However, this does not deter those known as ‘pirates’, from uploading copyrighted content, notable films, TV, and music, to the Internet for others to download. Time and time again, efforts have been made to suppress file sharing websites like The Pirate Bay, which is in now in its umpteenth domain name to prevent authorities in different countries from taking down the site. The Pirate Bay has become almost invincible, due to peer to peer sharing.

Plenty of arguments have been made that this rampant sharing of copyrighted content is hurting creators, like film studios, who claim loss of ticket sales because of films being shared online. So if the effects of piracy are so negative on content creators and copyright holders, why are people so reluctant to give up on piracy? There has been an overwhelmingly negative response to corporations and governments censoring torrent sites.

It is because modern audiences demand to access content at their convenience? If someone in Australia wants to watch the latest offering of Game of Thrones, they have two options: buy an expensive Foxtel package, thus paying a premium for a lot of extra content they don’t desire or need, or wait until the DVD release of the season a year later. Waiting a year to watch a show is an unpleasant option in today’s Internet world where online discussions are an integral part of the media experience and dreaded spoilers lurk around everywhere corner.

Some creators do support piracy, like Brazilian author Paulo Coelho offered his opinion on file sharing: “a person who does not share is not only selfish, but bitter and alone.”

In today’s Lectorial regarding audiences, Brian mentioned the rise of long form narrative, and how this has affected audience consumption. The first example that springs to mind is, of course, HBO, the American cable channel. It’s hard to find a person that hasn’t watched or heard of Game of Thrones, a testament to the show’s popularity. Fun fact: Australians are the world #1 for illegally downloading the show. There are plenty of reasons for this, including archaic Foxtel models, but that’s a rant I’ll save for another blog post.

HBO, as a cable channel, has more freedom with the content it produces compared to free to air channels. They have built a brand that audiences associate with quality TV productions, also known in some circles as ‘prestige’ TV, and also attract big name actors for their flagship shows. When my parents walked in on me watching the opening credits of True Detective they thought I was watching a film – season 2 stars Colin Farrel, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch.

However, despite cable TV’s success, there has been an increase in the amount of people cancelling their subscription service.  Netflix, a relative newcomer on the TV scene has provided real competition by providing a service that allows audience to watch whatever they want, whenever they want, for a low (compared to cable TV) monthly price. They are unrestrained by broadcast time slots or the restraints of broadcast TV, allowing them to produce original content, and releasing whole seasons of shows at once, enabling viewers more control. Audiences are able to ‘binge watch’ their favourite shows at 2am if they so desire, something that was not possible 10 years ago waiting for shows to be released on DVD, and then making a trip to the local video store.

Modern consumers are unsatisfied with the restrictions of cable TV, and the convenience of streaming services is a more than tempting alternative than being locked into expensive cable packages that don’t provide follow traditional broadcast models.

Netflix isn’t the only service that uses streaming to provide content to audiences. In Australia, most commercial channels now provide catch-up services, where audience can watch episodes of shows they have missed when they aired. The post-broadcast era is for large part about convenience and accessibility, giving audiences power to access content the way they want, not the way media institutions are telling them to consume.