What happens when someone engages with and appropriates, or poaches, a cultural product for one’s own? Is this an act of resistance, a tactical maneuver against the overall ideology of the source material? Or is it a reproduction of that ideology? These are some of the questions that arise when examining the proliferation of fan/viewer-produced My Little Pony material online. As examples of this, we looked at the three video below.
The first video could be viewed as a reproduction of the ideology of My Little Pony. Indeed, in many ways, it is literally a reproduction, but the producer has made it his/her own through recreating the animation in his/her own style. To unfamiliar viewers, it appears to be indiscernible whether or not this is the original, containing what one would expect to find in children's programming. It could be that the producer is sharing an enjoyment in these aspects and promoting the intended message of the both the song and the show.
The second video is a remix with a scene from the original show reworked with a rap song containing a multitude of swear words, something not seen on a children's show. In contrast to the first video, this one is more subversive, creating a cognitive dissonance for those who would expect to see sweet ponies and, instead, get a string of obscenities. Of the three videos, this one is the most tactical, using the space created by the dominant ideology to create cracks in it.
The third video is far more ambiguous. It appears to be self reflexive, an exploration of what it means to be a My Little Pony fan. In this breakdown, it is both tactical and strategic. It makes visible the machinations of both the show and fan movement. It draws attention to the tension between genders. And it lauds the creative work done by poachers of the show. It also celebrates the original show.
There are as many different functions of these productions as there are readers to create their own meanings, some of which move into the cracks trying to break apart the dominant ideology, some of which find comfort and enjoyment in that dominance. Barker (2012) writes, “audiences are always active, but whether this results in a challenge to ideologies has to be empirically determined case by case and not taken for granted” (p. 345).
References:
Barker, C. (2012)
Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Sage Publishing.
BTW: This is far from a complete picture of what is happening in the poaching of material in fan communities. A couple of other issues that could have been addressed regarding My Little Pony include copy right infringement versus cultural production or the ultimate outcome of merchandising success for Hasbro and the implicit presence of capitalism and commodification even amongst the resistance.
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