NBC’s “Heroes” has all the hallmarks of participatory culture

The NBC series Heroes which was renewed recently re-launched its Web site going full bore with interactive features that include an on-line novel that extends the characters and story lines, games, downloads, message boards, a Wiki, and a message board. The idea behind the Web site is to deepen fan experience which will extend beyond the airing of the program to the Internet and potentially onto mobile phone applications. In my last post I wrote about American Idol as an example of participatory culture. It seems to me, Heroes takes the notion of participatory culture a step further in this multi-platform approach. The Web site has something for just about any level of fan engagement: casual fans to those fans engaged in deep imaginary relationships with the characters. This is a new model of how traditional television networks attempt to extend their reach into the everyday lives of consumers of TV programming and to develop webs that link programs and characters to other aspects of everyday life. Technology provides the means to maintain a connection throughout the day, and technology provides the means to connect wherever the consumer may be. The potential here for interactivity and enriched viewer/fan experience is great, and the approach accommodates different kinds of fans and varying levels of fandom. It will be interesting to see how the program itself attempts to drive viewers to the Web and beyond.

American Idol: The great American transformation from humiliation to stardom

American Idol began its sixth season last night and based on last year's average of 30 million viewers per episode, it is again bound to be a big hit. Jennifer Hudson, an American Idol “also-ran” Monday evening won a Gold Globe for her role in the movie version of “Dreamgirls.” This can only help boost ratings. This year’s program will have additional features, like a songwriting contest to ensure viewer interest as the contest makes its way from the initial humiliation of contestants to longer-term humiliation as those with “talent” make their way to the finals. Humiliation has been a major part of this program and it has been an important aspect of pop culture in general for at least ten years. I have written elsewhere about the ways in which advertisers humiliate men when they depict them as cavemen, wolves, and caught in public without their pants. Americans, it appears, have not lost their taste for seeing bad things happen to other people; referred to as schadenfreude. But more to the theme of our course: American Idol is a great example of media convergence, primarily because of its interactive qualities. In other words, viewers participate--20 million or more votes are cast by viewers--in order to determine those that will move on to the next round and ultimately who will win the contest. Advertisers are integrally involved in this process as Cingular utilized the opportunity to encourage text messaging of viewers’ votes in order to increase the use of this service in America. Obviously, there is interconnectedness between the program itself and the other media properties it spawns that range from touring shows, individual CDs from winners and losers, movies, and books, among others. It is the interconnectedness of all these media that compels individual viewers to become fans and to find in various media modalities ways in which to satisfy their emotional cravings to be close to this viewer created phenomenon.

A way to enter the study of popular culture in America

Convergence culture is a term I learned from Henry Jenkins' book by that name. By convergence Jenkins means “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, among other things. He goes on to say that “convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content. Jenkins also uses the term participatory culture to refer to the interaction between producers and consumers of popular culture who are more likely within the culture of convergence to interact with one another. Voting for your favorite contestant on American Idol, participating in a fan-oriented web site for a popular TV program, producing your own commercials to appear on YouTube.com, and the social networking that takes place on Facebook.com and Myspace.com might qualify as examples. Finally, Jenkins refers to collective intelligence, a term he gleaned from French cybertheorist Pierre Levy, as the pooling of resources and combined skills of consumers as an alternative to a powerful centralized media. Blogging might serve as an example. These terms will be our guiding light this semester as we begin our exploration of popular culture in America.