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owlmoose's review
3.0
Interesting cross-section of articles on fan communities and fan culture. Some of these were dense academic papers while others were written for a more popular audience; all were interesting, but I had a definite preference for the shorter, more accessible pieces. Most were written before the explosion of fandom on the Web, but the scenarios and behaviors he describes will still seem familiar -- technology may change, but people don't. My favorite pieces were those on the relationship between video games and culture, with lots of thoughtful perspectives on Columbine and its aftermath. Recommended to anyone with an interest in media and society.
redbecca's review
3.0
If you haven't read Henry Jenkins, this book provides a good overview, including essays that were later developed into his most influential books, Textual Poachers and Convergence Culture. The section on video-gaming documents his participation in national debates about video-game violence following the Columbine shootings in 1999. At that point, I began to notice fallacies and misrepresentations in his depiction of his ideological opponents. The representation of the Columbine shooters does not benefit from research done by those who studied the shootings and shooters in depth only to find that they were not victims of school bullying, but especially in Harris's case, bullies. The concluding essays include some really speculative comments that associate Klebold and Harris with a kind of "revenge of the nerds" narrative that has since been debunked.
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