In ten pages fans as cultural producers are examined in terms of how this production should be interpreted and understood differently from media industry figures. Eleven sources are cited in the bibliography.
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and ritualistic transference of "folktales, myths and ballads" (Jenkins, 2001). What has enabled these stories to become reflective of peoples cultural beliefs is the way in which they can
be adapted to specific historical contexts (Jenkins, 2001). The Industrial Revolution not only pioneered mass production in capitalist societies, but also, according to media studies expert Henry Jenkins "resulted
in the privatization of culture and the emergence of a concept of intellectual property that assumes that cultural value originates from the original contributions of individual authors" (Jenkins, 2001).
In other words, culture was not simply a hodgepodge of anonymous tales carried down from one generation to another. It was, instead, acknowledged as a human construct, the artistic
vision of authors whose creativity was embellishing the old and transforming it into something new and progressive. Once upon a time, it was believed that culture was manufactured by
the creative minds that were influencing it. They were in effect, producing culture for mass consumption and its audiences were being "overpowered" by the ideas to which they were
being exposed (Kozinets, 2001). Soon, however, with the passage of time, the culture producers were no longer simply limited to literary authors, but also came to include all
aspects of media industry, including artists (i.e., painters, sculptors, architects, cartoonists), filmmakers (who were often referred to as auteurs because of their easily identifiable cinematic style), and photographers (who emphasized
popular trends that would characterize a specific era) and musicians (whose music represented the collective tastes of consumers, particularly teenagers). Following World War II, culture, which had always been
associated with tradition, was transformed by the media into something more contemporary. Popular culture, or "pop culture," or whatever was the latest media trend or fashion, dictated tastes and