Popular Discrimination (Fans and Productivity) - John Fiske

January 29, 1998

1) Subjects:

Fan of, Reading, Bricolage

2) Review:

Popular Discrimination (Fans and Productivity), John Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture, 1989.

3) Summary:

Fans of an artist, sport or media event are the centre of Fiske's illustration of information consumers reading in a constructive way. Fans engage with the text actively, personally, enthusiastically, politically, participatory and with unbridled passion. Fiske presents some notions about bourgeois that there are bourgeois fans.

Fans have very sharp intolerant preferences and have various methods of active engagement. Some examples are:

soap opera gossip
Madonna imitation in video, dress and Karaoke
Star Trek has Trekkies who write romances detailing events of episodes (Jenkins 1988).

Fiske introduces the concept of Bricolage which is a tribal practice of combining resources and material at hand to make objects, rituals and signs for their immediate needs. This is a typical practice of youth subcultures. (Hebdige(1979)). Examples:

Madonna look
punk combing of Nazis and British insignia
tape assemblage of songs from various albums
cooking and quilting

4) Comments:

I think that Fiske was holding back in this area of exploration. I was expecting more on the semiotics, and chain reactions.

Some good ideas were presented. I've engaged in Bricolage as a fan and active producer/consumer of information. The concept of fan is an audit point to juxtapose against a possible 'sub culture'.

The ideas of power and active consumption bother me since they don't explain the model viewer Develop. What do you mean? (the consumer who appears to comply and even thrive on the direct message).

Doesn't exist for Fiske? Why?

5) References:

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Page Created January 29, 1998

Page Last Updated February 8, 1998

Updated By Wilson Harron, Andrew Shih And William Brown. July 13, 2000