Some people grew up with the bible as their main form of ethics. The Ten Commandments, What would Jesus do and so on. But growing up I felt I was more influenced by Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon then anything else. I won’t go as far to say I was a subcultural ‘nerd’ but did love to watch all the Dragon Ball Z episodes on Cheese TV right after Pokémon. It was worth being late for school every day for the entirety of the 3rd grade to see Gohan beat Cell with the help of Goku.
Why make a reference to the Bible? I apologise now if I somehow offend anyone with the bible references being made but I make them in order to compare what was my greatest influences in any media text format, growing up. We all knew about right and wrong, not to steal, not to lie and so on, but shows like Dragon Ball Z definitely went further in terms of standing up for what was right. It all sounds cheesy, but at 9 years old, it was the most influential thing in my life. Every time the good guys defeated the bad guys, I felt like I was doing it myself. It related to the struggles faced by many and showed perseverance and patience were key to overcoming the odds which in my case were school and school. Was I a fan? Yes I was and still am. I love all anime from when I was growing up; it reminded me of a happy child hood and where I learned to be an all round good person. Am I a fanatic? Don’t think so? I don’t dress up (Not that it’s a bad thing) but I do understand why people do dress up or become fans of people, artists and musicians. It’s the feeling of being inspired. What does that mean for the business side of being an artist? Well that is to be debated. For bands like 1 Direction, all personal opinion aside, they have an extremely effective marketing team working around the clock to provide their fans with all forms of information in all formats, from print music and even the latest ‘twitter posts’. Is this ethical? Well not really, its target audience is young women under the age of 18 so a lot of this is not ethical. However, this is a form of Transmedia story telling which is extremely powerful in creating a world where fans and fanatics alike can escape into.
Henry Jenkins wrote about Transmedia Storytelling in one of his blogs that states : “We now live in a moment where every story, image, brand and relationship plays itself out across the maximum number of media platforms, shaped top down by decisions made in corporate boardrooms and bottom up by decisions made in teenager’s bedrooms”(Jenkins, 2013). I’ve previously written a blog highlighting the main features of Transmedia story telling but essentially, it is a powerful tool to involve fans in the building of this new ‘world’ whether it be fan made drawings and story lines and back stories of Dragon Ball Z fighters or the signing of 1 Direction fans, we all are somehow influenced by the things they represent no matter who we are, or where we maybe and want to share these influences with the world.
Here are some examples of fan made Manga of the once very popular TV Cartoon Series, “Dragon Ball”:
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_AF
http://zonepiecetv.weebly.com/dragon-ball-af-manga-ch1.html
References:
Jenkins, H (2013). Transmedia Storytelling and Entertainment: A New Syllabus. Confessions of an Aca-Fan. The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins. Accessed 10/09/2013
Jenkins, H (2013). Participatory Culture (Think Big Series).Accessed 10/09/13
Bowles, K & Turbull, S (2013). Audiences joining In and Joining Up. Communication and Media Studies 240. Week 6 Lecture Slides. Accessed 10/09/2013.
*insert pun here* 
