Free writing 5 mins
Super fan the idea of becoming a super fan is something that can not be put down to a methodology too precisely so I should not try to. Instead I should create my own methodology from what I can see and reference as to what a super fan is. There is be an element of precision about this but the formula will be made up of me.
In my context report I will look at what it means to be a super fan, why people are ones, the extremes of ones. I will introduce the topic by looking at why we have connections to fictional characters, ranging from Oatley looking at the semi permeable membrane to then explore how we take these personas into our world, how we adapt to them. I can link this to my own work by looking at a persona in a film- the voyage to the bottom of the sea. Although I am focusing on the connections between the two-male/ female roles I can then look why we adapt to certain characters. So the film is about sexism but it is also how and why they are portrayed in that way. The characters are portrayed to have the same characteristics as people in real life so we can connect to them as onlookers.
Contextual report/ Studio project
My studio project looks at sexism in films focusing on voyage to the bottom of the sea by turning myself into the two main characters and exploring/ presenting their differences. My contextual report looking at why we have connections to fictional characters- focusing on superfans- why we are connected to fictional characters looking at the obsession side of things. The work I can include in my contextual report is looking at how
Writing to a friend- why I am interested in my topic
[I could use this method of writing a letter to a friend in my context report]
Dear Katie,
In my contextual report I am looking at why we have connections to fictional characters. I want to explore the amount of social reality a fictional person has by looking at the extreme of this topic- a super fan. Growing up I was always attached to characters from books/ films and would watch the same film over and over again everynight, imagining myself as one of the characters or creating my own role in it. I would then draw myself as that person and take the characters into my own life. Having conversations with them and allowing them to influence my decision making. For me they had just as much social reality as you do. Although I have never seen myself as a super fan I want to explore how these people are portrayed in the media, what it is like to have an obsession with something, not just privately but allowing people to see me as being obsessed with that character. In my studio project I am looking at turning myself into a persona from a film and through looking at the characters as a superfan would, to create an obsession with one it will help me to become that character. In my contextual report I should also look at LARPing because that is a form of turning yourself into a character
Best
A
Links for my own references:
Homer, Hagrid and the Incredible Hulk- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bvm5w
E Goffman- two psychological studies
Super fans- 2 books
Oatley- semi permeable membrane (why we have connections to fictional characters
Psychological study on people hearing voices from book
Media portrayle of superfans
Still to look at:
Larp- why people larp
Sexism in characters
My topic theme: why we have connections to fictional characters
Why we have connections to fictional characters: Social reality of characters: why they seem real/
Character stereotypes: what characters we connect to e.g. Voyage to the bottom of the sea. – identification
Obsessions (Super fan): the extremes of being connected to a character
Media portrayal of super fans
Goldsmiths Design 