On fandom's so-called "gift economy"

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Title:	On fandom's so-called "gift economy"
Creator:	probablyintraffic/Erica
Date(s):	July 30, 2018
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External Links:	On fandom's so-called "gift economy"
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On fandom's so-called "gift economy" is a 2018 essay by probablyintraffic. It was posted on Tumblr and had 33 notes as of October 2019.

At the end of the essay, the author writes that they are "low-key responding to this thing where AO3 doesn’t allow authors to post patreon and ko-fi links" and links to PSA: DON'T MENTION COMMISSIONS/PATREON ON AO3.

Some Topics Discussed in the Essay and Comments

• fandom and profit
• gift economy
• Archive of Our Own and its policy of banning links to Patreon
• the female-ness of fanworks and how fans offer up their labor for free

From the Essay

I’ve always been annoyed with the “gift economy” narrative of fandom. Yes, the gift economy describes some actual existing aspects of fandom, and it does make us feel good, but it blinds us all to the material facts of the real fandom economy because fandom is not a self-contained thing.

Let’s talk real money. As in, who is making money off of all of this free content? Tumblr is making money on advertising, as does everyone else except AO3. Media monoliths like Disney are also thriving on sweet free advertising of their products. Meanwhile writers and artists if they do make money make pennies on the hour and are berated by fellow fans for trying to not be exploited.

We all live in the physical world where we have to eke out a living. Our day job supplements the time we spent (wasted?) writing fics and drawing fanart. Fandom does not exist in a vacuum from all the corporations that make money off of it and all the lived realities of fans all over the world, who participate in their own national economies. Economies in which female labor and artistic labor is systematically devalued. Fandom actively participates in that devaluation.

Should there not be a place on the Internet where capitalism cannot touch? Look, there is no place that capitalism does not touch. To pretend that fandom is this beautiful walled garden is to lie to ourselves.

Fandom’s subversiveness lies not in its insistence on being non-profit, which was a stance adopted by necessity, but in its claim on the intellectual properties of corporations. These stories and these characters do not only belong to the people who originally created them, much less to corporate entities. They belong to an amorphous culture on which we all lay careless claim. We have appropriated them, in other words, but not only for ourselves. For everyone too.

I have come, like everyone else, for the free stuff. I have, like everyone else, written fanfic for free. I am complicit in this continued state of fandom, but I support writers and artists who are trying to get paid. Because art is always a gift, and art should be part of everyday life, but we cannot allow ourselves in our warm and fuzzy feelings about art and fandom to forget about the people creating it.

Fan Comments

[buskidsburgade]:

This makes some good points about the ubiquity of capitalism and I certainly don’t begrudge anyone for taking commissions for fan works. There are things I would pay to have if I had the extra money beause no one is making them voluntarilly. But AO3 is not the platform to be advertising for that sort of thing. The time writers and artists and other creators put into fanworks is volunteer work. It is a donation. And it should be something they find value in doing for themselves and enjoy. It’s a hobby. If you don’t have the energy or desire to put in the work with no monetary compensation then you certainly don’t have to. If you can find someone willing to pay you to do something THEY want that’s great. Advertise on tumblr. But AO3 is ad-free and readers don’t need to be guilt-tripped into thinking they need to pay for fanfiction or that it is their obligation to support writers.

Everyone’s day job augments their recreational activities, that’s… why we have them? That doesn’t mean fan writers or artists are entitled to payment. Fandom would collapse if this became the norm. More recreational activities should be free, not less.

Also… Marvel and Disney are definitely not getting any of my money just because I read fanfic. Fanfic isn’t advertisement, it’s the way I enjoy these comodities without having to give those corrupted organizations a cent. I get their characters, they get none of my money. Anyone in fandom is in too deep for ‘ads’ to make any difference whatsoever. If you have to actively seek something out, it isn’t an ad.

[probablyintraffic - OP]: You seem to have taken this post more personally than I have meant it. Look, I don’t care if you personally give money to writers or give money to corporations–it is the economy that happens in the aggregate that matters. I’m making a bigger argument about the lie of the gift economy, and how if female creative labor is ever going to be valued again, then the economy of fandom needs to change.

Also, funny isn’t it how unpaid “recreational activities” tend to be creative and/or female labor. The point is that this isn’t in a vacuum, it’s in the context in which creative and female labor is consistently and systematically devalued. Artists work construction jobs by day to “augment” their art internships, etc. If the argument against paying people is that you don’t want to feel “guilt-tripped” then have I got news for you about the Internet. The ecosystem of the Internet is built on trying to guilt-trip people.

Think about it this way. When you see a busker on the street, you can tip them some money for bringing a little joy into your life or you can move on. What you can’t do is chase them off of the street or demand that they don’t ask for money because you feel guilty. It is NOT your fault that buskers have to ask for money on the street and may not make a living anyway, but we ALL have to remedy the situation in which creative and female labor is so devalued, and that platforms like Tumblr or Facebook or Disney can take advantage.