COURSE – COMS3406 Media Audiences and Users
Assignment – Audiences & Power Research Essay (8-10 Pages) (35%)
Assignment Description
In Desperately Seeking the Audience (1991) Ien Ang claims the audience is like a “fugitive”: global media corporations constantly seek to control and monitor them. But if audiences are fugitives they are also armed and dangerous. That is, they may consume media in affirmational and sanctioned ways on industrial terms. Or they may transform media by engaging with it in critical and unsanctioned ways.
Write an 8-10-page research essay that studies power relations between a fandom of your choice and the industry or agent that produces the media they consume. The fandom should be one that is accessible to you (hint: online fandoms on social media sites like Reddit are usually accessible). Observe the members of your chosen fandom. Consider:
• Who do you think is included in this group? To what extent do their identities overlap with the
industry’s implied audience?
• What norms or values do they exhibit? Do they have rules (either overt or unwritten) that set out who may participate and how? Do you see any economic, social, or other hierarchies at work?
• How do these fans engage their chosen media? What cultural forms (e.g., conventions, fanfiction, fanvids) do they produce or consume? Would you characterize their engagement as affirmational or transformational?
• Do they carry out other political, personal, or social dialogue, or is their focus solely on the media?
• Do you see any evidence of industry engaging the fandom? Are there any points of tension
between fans and industry? How do you characterize this relationship?
Reflect on what your fandom reveals about audiences and their agency more broadly. Consider what, if any, implications this fandom may have for media industries. Support your argument with appropriate evidence.
Include a works cited that have a minimum of 7 relevant sources. These sources should be used in your paper. At least 4 of the sources must be academic. You are not required to use course readings in this paper, but if you do, they will count as academic sources.
Format and Style 1. Assignment should be double-spaced and typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman with 1” margins.
2. Include a title page with the assignment title. Your assignment’s title should be concise and descriptive.
3. Cite all sources according to the APA style guide.
4. Number all pages.
5. Proofread your assignment to catch any spelling or grammar mistakes before submitting.
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