Fandoms. Everyone has at some point in their lives been a part of one. Whether you were like me and hung a billion and two posters on your bedroom wall for the bands you loved as a teenager, or you saw every Star Wars film on opening night, we have felt an obsession or gratification from being a part of these fandoms. Our screening in class this week was of the film, Galaxy Quest which was a movie inspired by the Star Trek original television series and its’ iconic fan base. 

The film follows a group of actors that play main roles on a television series very similar to Star Trek. The crew of actors ends up in outer space, where they discover that a whole alien race has religiously followed their television show. The alien race known as the Thermians believes that the episodes from the show are factual, historical documents that display events that actually took place. 

The actors must embody their characters from the show in order to complete their mission in outer space. However, when problems arise that they cannot solve they turn to the shows’ biggest fans on their home planet, Earth. The films’ most significant theme is this: large fan bases are the sole reason why franchises like Star Trek exist and are significant in modern culture. They create a platform to build friendships, communicate with the creators, and simply entertain and pass the time. 

Fandoms tie into the Uses and Gratification Theory, and why we choose to consume media in the first place. This theory discusses how the audience and creators engage with each other when consuming media. It suggests that audiences are active participants in exchanges of media. Contrary to the Effects Model which suggested that audiences are passive, and will listen to whatever the media tells them. 

The Uses and Gratifications Theory actually plays into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Media can satisfy our need for social connection and self-esteem. Media has four main uses: seeking information, creating a sense of personal identity, building personal relationships, and creating a diversion from the real world. Anyone who consumes media does so for these reasons. Most of the media I tend to consume is either meant to pass the time or for research and information. As a busy college student, media platforms such as news broadcasts allow me to easily access information about what the hell is happening in the world. To be completely honest, I have stopped watching the news because networks tend to put political spins on stories and only seem to report about the worst possible events.  I am sick of hearing about the Earth dying in the next fifty years and how our president is a complete buffoon. What will always grasp my attention is comic relief. Whether it is old episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus or new comedy specials from John Mulaney,  I can always count on ridiculousness and satire to relieve me from our gilded reality. 

This week in Mass Media, we discussed the U and G theory, or the Uses and Gratification theory. This theory is an approach to understand the reasons of how people seek out specific media for their consumption, satisfaction of their needs and why they do it. So basically, it is how we as people control media to our own advantage so we can integrate it into our everyday lives. We have all had a part in this one way or another. We come home from class or work and the house is empty, nothing going on. No noise, no people. Turn on the tv just because we need that extra background noise just to keep a ‘sane’ feeling. With that ‘sane’ feeling, we as consumers are satisfied with what’s happening. We all go through stressful days in some way. Hard days at school, work or just a hard day in general. So, we do the little things that will take away that feeling. Most people I know, as well as myself, binge watch certain tv shows whether we have seen it a million times or not at all. Consumers find the little things to achieve that satisfied feeling.

One of the examples that satisfies this theory was a movie we watched in class called, Galaxy Quest. If you have ever seen Star Trek or anything close to it, this movie falls into the same category, with a little bit of a twist. For starters, it is like a movie inside of movie since the actors in the movie are all actors on the show, Galaxy Quest, which is the tv series depicted in the movie. What starts as actors not enjoying the television series and getting sick of it, ultimately brings them to the real-life version of the show. As well, fans become part of the reality too.

Most fans and consumers who watch television shows, understand that it is show based on fiction of the universe. However, there are fans that search for the reality of the show on their own. In the movie, there were ‘superfans’ who basically study the show in their free time along with watching it. Why do they do that? Simply, for satisfaction as mentioned before. When the actors get caught in a bad situation when things get taken more serious outside of their show, they call upon the superfans, who pay attention to a little more detail than the actors themselves. With their knowledge, they can get the actors out of their problem to find success. Consumers focus strictly on their own satisfaction, for their gratification needs. Whether you’re a superfan or a casual binge-watcher, we all search for specific satisfaction through specific uses.

Jason Berardicurti

This week we watched a movie called Galaxy Quest, a movie about a TV show that has a huge fan base, and the actors have to experience the show in real life with the help of some fans. we watched this because it was a good example of the Uses and Gratification Theory, the idea that fans and audiences have consuming power in media, and the entertainers have to appeal, rather than just present to the audience. You would think movies or shows from big studios are guaranteed to be generally enjoyed, but the people have the power to collectively determine what deserves recognition and what doesn’t. Audiences consume media to attain some form of gratification and desire. If they can’t achieve their desired feeling, this leads to negative feedback. The theory divides these gratifications and needs into five categories, cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative, and tension-free.

Cognitive needs are the need for something intellectually stimulating, to get a person’s mind thinking or learning something new. People achieve this through documentaries, the news, and how-to or educational videos that provide useful information for other times in life.

Affective needs are the need for emotional stimulation, getting us to feel and enhance emotions based on what we’re consuming. People watch love movies when they’re lacking or flourished in love, and the same for the need for laughter in comedies. Affective needs allow ourselves to emotionally connect and reflect with the media or the characters within.

Personal integrative needs allow us to compare and seek out traits within media to solidify our own beliefs and values, looking for reflections of one’s self. This is especially present in movies and TV shows, people fall in love with characters because they appreciate their actions and relate it to their own.

Social integrative refers to people connecting with each other through media. With the surge of the internet and wireless technology, this need has been especially prevalent as people feel more need to connect with others no matter where they are on the planet or time. Social media has become the main canvas to consume this gratification, as it’s built entirely around this concept.

Tension free is like a break from society, an escape from everyday duties where people are indulged in their own fantasy worlds while consuming media. This often comes in the form of fiction/science fiction movies, shows, and novels.

In the movie Galaxy Quest, many of these needs were on full display for the fans. The aliens that worshiped the “historical documents” (the TV episodes) used it for cognitive consumption, basing the entirety of their society on the principals of the show. The fans that helped the commander at the end of the movie experienced cognitive as well as personal integration, idolizing the actors for their heroic acts and complex ship systems. They also displayed strong tension free needs, as the kid was trying to enjoy what he loved but his mom kept nagging him with chores and responsibilities.

This week our main focus in class was on fandom. Many of us become fans of certain things in our lifetime. Sometimes that may be over a TV show or over a movie. I know I have been a fan of certain movies and television series growing up. I think that you may find to like certain things based of your personality or what interests you. You can then find other shows and movies that relate to the ones you love. Fandom is something that many people may take more seriously than others. There are many events and other things people can attend to show their love and support for certain movies and shows. These things can help show their love and support to the people who make the shows and movies they love possible.

We also talked about uses and gratifications theory. This theory can tell why people seek out the things they love for a certain reason on certain forms of media. Some people have certain types of social media and media that they love to use. I personally love twitter. Twitter is my most used app behind snapchat but Twitter is a place I can be more active and find information I want, not just sending pictures. It is nice because I can figure out anything with just a simple search and scroll through my feed to find news and things I may find funny. We use media to help our needs. I think many people use social media as a way not to feel lonely in a sense. We use media almost everyday in our lives and many people can’t even go a day without using it. The media has been able to wrap people up in what they love and let them find the things they like by a certain search or touch of a button.

Lastly, we watched Galaxy Quest. This movie talked about a group of actors who were on a tv show called Galaxy Quest. Many of the cast members were getting tired and sick of the show. Then they meet a real group of aliens who need their help. They get blasted into space and are set on an actual mission. With the help of some fans at the end they make it back to earth after helping the people with their mission. This movie showed how many people participate in fandom.They had the convention in the film which showed everyone who was obsessed with their show. This is one of the ultimate ways they could participate in fandom. Another way fandom was shown was through the group of kids who helped them live at the end. They knew so much about the show and did so much research that they could help them with whatever they needed. Overall the movie showed how much some people participate in fandom and choose what they love to see on their screens.

In Mass Media this week, we learned about Uses and Gratification Theory which shifts the focus to the viewer and how we chose what kind of media we consume. Many of the other theories we have studied up to this point focused on the effect the media has on the consumer.

Personally, I found this theory and the “needs” that we feel are necessary in order to fulfill this theory. The different needs are cognitive, effective, social integrative, and tension free. While discussing each of these aspects, I found it quite interesting in how they could be used. Such as just turning on a TV show because it is part of your routine. Also, how in order to make yourself less lonely you turn it on for the background noise. Everyone is guilty of this. If you are completely by yourself, it is often “too quiet”. So, having the conversations or music in the background strangely makes you feel like you have company. The idea of “tension free” is also really relatable. Everyone I know, especially at high school/college level has taken a break from their homework to relax and watch a show they enjoy. Not feeling that stress can often be lifted by things you enjoy. Not only is it tension relieving by blowing of homework, but also after a long day. I enjoy watching and episode or two of one of my favorite shows before bed while I’m winding down.

In order to portray the U&G theory, we watched a movie called Galaxy Quest. For starters, I really enjoyed this movie, between the spoof off of Star Trek, the cast, and the overall humor of the film. Not only does this movie have flashes of U&G, but also the topic of “fandom”. Fandom simply means that an individual thoroughly enjoys something. In class, Prof mentioned that “fandom” is actually a word used to describe a lunatic. Which instantly makes my mind shift towards crazy sports fans, such as the Bills Mafia. In Galaxy Quest, it shows how just how much a tv show has on an individual. Also, the movie had quite the touching end when the young boy and his friends were able to help the protagonists become victorious because of their deep rooted knowledge of the space ship that they had to navigate through. I also really liked seeing Rainn Wilson in a role other than Dwight Schrute.

My last thought was just how insane it is that fans of a specific thing can play such a major role in its success, and even the outcomes. In class the example was Family Guy, it was cancelled many times, but do to an uproar from the fans, it has been revived just as many times. That is insane to think about. All of the power and control is really in the hands of the viewers. The producers/directors are at the mercy of their audience because that is how they base their success: VIEWS. In many shows, you can predict what is going to happen, especially if it involves a favorite character which often makes the end of the show kinda blah. But in other cases, like Game of Thrones, the writers were so eager to get their product out because the fans were so excited that there was a new season. Instead, they rushed it, and many people were left severely disappointed. In my opinion, only the fans have themselves to blame. You can not have the best of both worlds all the time.

During class we discussed the uses and gratifications theory. This theory aims to explain why people seek out media. Many people seek seek out media as a way to fulfill their desires. Audiences will watch media to achieve gratification. Media can be used to fulfill many needs, not only entertainment, it can also fulfill affective needs.

Fandoms are a great example supporting the U&G theory. The word fan derives from “fanatic,” because the fans who make up fandoms are typically very passionate. Mary Franklin talks about the power of audience and fandoms in her Ted Talk. She talks about how with the rise of the internet there was a rise with fandoms. She was able to discover hundreds of other female star wars fans she never knew existed. She helped found the online Stars Wars fan club, and was so passionate about it that George Lucas’ company reached out to her asking about what fans thought. She was even offered a job at his company. Other fans have been featured by Star Wars and at conventions. Star Wars celebrations have been hosted with the slogan “for the fans, by the fans.”

It is also emphasized how important it is for fans to meet face to face. Conventions or “cons” have been created where fans can meet and connect with other fans who share the same interests. There are conventions for all sorts of media including video games, comics, as well as TV shows and movies. Some of the biggest conventions include PAX, Comic Con, and Comiket. These conventions have became internal phenomenons and they give the audiences an outlet to express their feelings with the media they are enjoying.

The movie Galaxy Quest shows how obsessed fans can become. A huge convention was thrown to honor the show Galaxy Quest, and the commander from the show believed he was entertaining some fans, but found out he was in deeper than he thought. The plot of the movie revolved around how the characters from a fictional show ended up taking part in a real life mission and ended up succeeding by using the knowledge they learned while producing the show. The fans ended up becoming the heroes of the movie to a degree because of how much time they spent obsessing over the TV series Galaxy Quest. Once again this demonstrates the power that fans can have.

In the movie the fans saved the day. In real life fans can be helpful too. They can provide helpful feedback to producers. Often the fan’s opinions will be taken into consideration, this in return can help the media thrive. When films make their audiences happy they are more likely to get viewers and more loyal fans. It’s a take and give. Although a line needs to be drawn with how much influence a fan can have, it can always be helpful for companies to hear what the audience thinks.

In class this week, we learned about the Uses and the Gratification Theory, which is this theory that takes a different approach than most other theories that we have talked about and learned in our class. The theory focuses on how the viewers take an active role in choosing the media that we see, where we see other theories focus on the affect media has on the viewer. We learnt the needs of the viewers as to why they choose the media that we have. The needs are affective, the social integrative and tension free. Out of those needs, i can definitely relate to the tension free one. This is when you need to escape reality and release some tension in something that you want to watch. Whenever i am feeling overwhelmed in my life, i turn to my favorite shows so i can unwind and relax. This can be helpful because it restarts my mind and gives me a more fresher look on what i was doing before. It can also be dangerous because i can get unfocused on my work and start to be focused on the show that i am watching.

Next, we watched this screening called Galaxy Quest that supports the U and G theory and the fandom theory. Fandom is when the fans support a specific media that they are fans of. There are a lot of different type of fans, you have the mild fans, very active ones and the pro active fans. Fans are very powerful in all areas of media and in the production of media. It was the fans that brought back Family Guy on Fox. Without the fans, media would lose it’s importance and it is the viewers that make the shows and movies way more successful. Fans have this strong attachment to a character than an actor plays or an music artist. For example, John Lennon was shot and killed by a big fan and then the music sensation Selena was killed by a woman who was in charged of her fan club. Finally, Galaxy Quest is a movie that shows a lot of fandom due to the fact that the aliens that come to earth are big fans of this show which they believe are actual events that happened so they build their civilization like the show. The movie showed a lot of fandom and it presented and supported the U&G theory.

When it comes TV or anything with a fan base really. Some people may have to deal with fans who have a strong attachment to the character the actor plays and not the actor themselves. This may cause a discrepancy for the fan because if they ever meet their favorite character, their view of that person might be crushed when they find out they may be nothing like the actor within the show. Some of these people may develop a very deep connection to an actor and because of this they might act out in some way. Like when John Lennon was shot by a fan. This isn’t just the only instance, there are other cases in which fans fall in love with this person whether they are a singer or an actor it is all the same. People fall in love with the idea of that person and act very irrationally.

Fans can be vastly important to a company, and this could go for shows, movies, games, and singers, and they can have pretty good incite on what consumers might want from the company. Consumers know what they want and this is why it might be important for a company to take their advice on future content that might increase sales. It is important to note that fan advice might be important but at the end of the day the content being created is under someone else’s view of how it should be. What’s being created should be what the owner intended it to be and not what the fans want it to be. It is important to take the criticisms of the fan base and run with it but it is also important to know that not everyone is going to be satisfied with the content the creator puts out, and that’s ok. What isn’t ok is to let the fan base run the show of the content you’re creating because then it wouldn’t be the piece of art you intended it to be.

In class this week we studied uses and gratification theory and how that is shown in fandom. Uses and gratification theory focuses on how we take an active role in choosing and using the media we consume. We typically use it to satisfy a need of some sort, such as cognitive needs, affective needs, personal integrative needs, social integrative needs, and tension free needs. Cognitive needs focus on the want to acquire knowledge of some sort. Affective needs focus on satisfying our emotional needs, and do so through things like music, books, film, television, comic books and many more. Personal integrative needs focus on our self-esteem needs. This states that people will use media to measure their social status. Social integrative needs focus on our need to socialize with family and friends and develop or retain relationships in society. This leads to people forming clubs and groups online or in real life to share what they have in common. Tension free needs focus on people using media as a way to escape reality and ease the tensions of their lives. These all play a large role in people joining into some sort of fandom, because they are so strongly attached to a program that they want to enjoy it with others and try to impact the way that it goes in some way.

In class we watched the movie Galaxy Quest, which focuses on fandom and how uses and gratification theory can come into play. It shows how fans are really involved in what the television show is about and how it can be the center of their life. The aliens that come to Earth to are such big fans of the show, which they believe are real events, that they build their civilization on the events that happen in the show, down to having the ship built with the exact specifications as the one in the show.

At the end of the movie, the crew needs to find a way to stop the ship from exploding, so Nesmith enlists the help of the biggest fans that he can contact, who know everything about the ship and how to stop it from exploding. When he contacts the fan, Nesmith apologizes to him for being mean to him before, and tells him it is all real, and the fan excitedly says that he knew it was real. This may seem funny to some people, but there are people who things like this are real to, and it is what they enjoy the most in life. The fan actually ends up saving the lives of the crew because he knows so much about the show. This shows that sometimes knowing everything to know about a show can sometimes be a good thing. Although it is shown in a fictional movie, it can still show some importance of fandom.

In this week of class, we focused on the Uses and Gratification Theory and Fandom. The U&G Theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. This theory is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. It assumes that audience members are not passive consumers of media. Rather, the audience has power over their media consumption and assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. Unlike other theoretical perspectives, the Uses and Gratification Theory assumes that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers’ gratification. There are five distinct categories of needs fulfilled by media: cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative, and tension-free needs.

When talking about cognitive needs, people use media sources both analog and digital to learn about news and to stay updated with current issues. They also watch media to educate themselves about specific topics. For example, my parents may watch the news on TV to stay updated, but I may check out Twitter to read the most recent trending articles to do the same.

The affective category the aspect of watching media that aids us in connecting emotionally with content and helps us form an emotional response from the media. Our affective needs can also simply be for entertainment. For example, soap operas and series television like Game Of Thrones really draw in their viewers emotionally and become a source of entertainment for people.

Personal Integrative states that consuming media assists humans in creating and solidifying identity traits believe it or not. We view characters with traits that appeal to us as role models and our behaviors start to mimic theirs. For example, if someone loves Superman and watching him do good deeds, then that person will want to do the same.

Social Integrative is really different since the advent of digital media. When media was entirely analog on TV, there wasn’t a way to connect with other people who were also watching TV at the same time. Digital media has changed this in that our generation is constantly connected all the time with other people via our devices and various social medias. Our human need to feel socially connected pushes us to want to use media more and more.

Tension-free can also be called escapism, and means that humans need to escape from the tensions of everyday life sometimes, and turning to media to assist them is a good way to do so. When we consume these types of media, we feel as though we’ve escaped into a new place and this helps us recharge before going back to our normal lives.

For the remainder of the week, we watched a film called Galaxy Quest. This film focuses on the alumni cast of a space opera television series whom have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord. This film was very popular to the people, which led to it becoming a well recognized film. This is due to the power that the fans had because they cared a lot about this show and were connected to it. This film allowed the fans to really feel like they were in the center of the action when watching this film. Personally, I really enjoyed the film and took away some of the feelings that all of these fans felt from this film.

-Tyler Tanevski