This chapter explores how involved fans become with a product, be it a film or a book, and the different ways in which they grow the mythology of those films and books. Many do it by creating fictional online universes where they role play as their favorite characters; some go so far as to film their own versions of their favorite movies; and still others, perhaps dissatisfied with a book's ending, rewrite it to suit their views of what should have happened.
Jenkins writes of how these fans can be both a blessing and a curse to the companies marketing these products: "...the media industry is increasingly dependent on active and committed consumers to spread the word about valued properties...", yet, "at the same time, they are terrified of what happens if this consumer power gets out of control." George Lucas worries that because of the glut of amateur works floating about on the Web, future projects (I can't find the section to quote it) may be subject to legal action for usurping someone else's idea. While I see his point, it's sort of ludicrous,because the mythology of the story is nothing new, and no matter how original 'Star Wars' was and is, it's specialness lay in it's special effects, not because it was a story that had never before been told.
The next chapter deals with fan fiction - specifically, Harry Potter - and the struggle for fan fiction writers to have the right to express themselves on the Web.
Jenkins says that the "current notion of fair use is an artifact of an era when few people had access to the marketplace of ideas." It's impossible to put the genie back in the bottle once it's been let loose.
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