Henry Jenkins
| Name: | Henry Jenkins | |
| Also Known As: | ||
| Occupation: | academic, acafan | |
| Medium: | ||
| Works: | Textual Poachers (1992), his Christmas Carol fan fiction, other works | |
| Official Website(s): | Confessions of an Acafan Henry3 at MIT | |
| Fan Website(s): |  | |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages | |
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- "Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk." ~ Henry Jenkins (1997) [1]
Henry Jenkins, an professor and acafan, is the author of the massively influential Textual Poachers, as well as many other books about media fandom.
Jenkins was the go-to guy in the mid-1990s/early 2000s for mainstream media quotes about fandom. In 2002, one fan commented wryly about a Jenkin's quote in an article [2]: "And of course it won't surprise you to find Mr Rent A Quote himself Henry Jenkins in there. I'd love to know how much lecturing he gets to do in between his media appearances!" [3] In 2002, another fan referred to the professor's ubiquitous presence as a quotable commentator: "OK, now the Aussies are getting in on the act. And they still manage to track down Henry Jenkins for a quote. The day man lands on Mars, the good Dr J will be there with a quote for the bemused Martians, no doubt!" [4]
Jenkins, who self-identifies as a fan, is a frequent attendee at fan cons and has created fanworks of his own.
He wrote a slash Scrooge/Marley story in the zine, Not What You Expect [5], Blake's 7 meta for Shadow #5, was a member of the APA Strange Bedfellows, and wrote Letters of Comment to at least one Star Trek: TOS letterzine, Hellguard Social Register.
During Gaylaxicon 1992, Jenkins appeared on a panel with fellow acafan Camille Bacon-Smith, moderated by Shoshanna, to discuss, among other things, queer issues in fandom. [6]
During Escapade 1993, Jenkins appeared on a panel with Constance Penley, Shoshanna, and Meg G called "Academia and our Culture." [7] He is a regular Escapade attendee.
During the FanLib brouhaha, the CEO of fanlib.com, Chris Williams, chose Jenkin's blog [8] to respond to questions and criticisms about the site. The choice of Jenkins as a representative or authority figure of media fandom was criticised at the time [9], and persuaded some fen of the need to create Organization for Transformative Works.
In the summer of 2007, Jenkins hosted an academic debate on "Gender and Fan Culture"[10], which was mirrored on LJ at fandebate.
See Confessions of an Acafan for Jenkin's current going's on.
[really, really need some more current info here]
Textual Poachers
One of the books Jenkins is most known for is 1992's Textual Poachers. It features chapters about fanac like fanfic, fan art, vidding, and filk.
Though being pre-internet and somewhat outdated now in its focus on old-skool slash fandom, it remains a sympathetic and insightful book about media fans and our creative community.
One of the most common criticisms of Textual Poachers is that it characterises fans as straight white college-educated women and draws conclusions about their motivations from this characterisation, something that actually excludes a large percentage of fen.
For more, see Textual Poachers.
Notable Works
- Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. New York: Routledge. 1992.
- Foreword to Interacting with "Babylon 5": Fan performances in a media universe, by Kurt Lancaster. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press. 2001.
- Why Heather can write. Technology Review (February 6, 2004).
- Convergence culture. New York: New York Univ. Press. 2006
- Fans, bloggers, and gamers. New York: New York Univ. Press. 2006
- How to Watch a Fan-Vid. September 18, 2006
- Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking. Edited and introduced with Shoshanna and Cynthia Jenkins.
A Sample of Meta and Press Which Quotes or Mentions Jenkins
- Cold Fish and Stale Chips #13 (1993)
- Dream On (1993)
- Bringing Home the Bacon (1995)
- The Generic Slash Defense Letter (1995)
- Pass the Crisco, Spock (1995/1996)
- In Dull TV Days, Favorites Take Wing Online (1997)
- Fans take control of TV...On-Line (around 1998?)
- If Fans Wrote the X-Files ... (1998)
- Minding One's P's and Q's (1998)
- Copy Catfight (2000)
- Hey Spock, Lookin' Good ... (2000)
- Luke Skywalker Is Gay? (2000)
- The E-Files (2001)
- The plot thickens in fan fiction (2003)
- Devotees post their own twists, turns of favorite series (2002)
- The strange world of fan fiction (2002)
- What to Do About Harry Potter Porn (2002)
- Essential Multimedia: Go on, make 'em do it (2002)
- When Hamlet met the A-Team (2002)
- For the love of... (2002)
- Taking Liberties With Harry Potter (2003)
- Harry Potter and the Curse of Disability (2004)
References
- ↑ In TV's Dull Summer Days, Plots Take Wing on the Net by Amy Harmon, New York Times, August 18, 1997;WebCite (accessed April 29, 2013).
- ↑ When Hamlet met the A-Team
- ↑ from DIAL #23
- ↑ from DIAL #24
- ↑ "Golden Idol" (22 pages), excerpted with his comments here
- ↑ Henry Jenkins and Camille Bacon-Smith at Gaylaxicon 1992 (Part One), [Part Two, TBA]
- ↑ Transcript of Academia and Our Culture, Part 1, Part. 2, 6 February 1993
- ↑ Chris Williams Responds to Our Questions about FanLib 25th of May, 2007 (Accessed 8th of November, 2008)
- ↑ bethbethbeth: Henry Jenkins and FanLib 22nd of May, 2007, (Accessed 8th of November, 2008)'
- ↑ When Fan Girls and Fan Boys Meet (Accessed 8th of November, 2008)
