New Fan Convention Documentary – Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
Documentaries on geek culture in connection with fan conventions are a continued item of interest for TheoFantastique. In addition to those explored in previous posts we are pleased to add Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope to the list. The film synopsis from the official website: Have you ever imagined a place where Vulcans and [...]
Trek Nation: Documentary on a Fatherhood and Pop Culture Legacy
The documentary Trek Nation debuted on the Science Channel on November 30, presenting an interesting personal quest to understand the life and legacy of Gene Roddenberry. While many books and television programs have been done exploring Roddenberry and the Star Trek phenomenon he created, the unique aspect of Trek Nation comes in the form of [...]
Fantasy and Science Fiction Conventions as Transformational Festivals
I feel some level of justification as to my intuitions on aspects of science fiction and fantasy conventions and their subcultures. I recently came across a post at The Wild Hunt blog which referenced a lecture by Jeet-Kei Leung on transformational festivals like Burning Man. Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt mentioned that a similar [...]
Fan Culture Exploration – MTV’s True Life: “I’m a Fanboy”
Tags: True Life, MTV Shows In my ongoing research on fantastic fan cultures I came across this episode of MTV’s True Life that focuses on the phenomenon titled “I’m a Fanboy.” Although the program seems to include and reinforce some stereotypes of “fanboys,” no doubt basted upon MTV’s selection process in fan submissions rather [...]
Fan Culture Documentaries: Back to Space-Con, and Four Days at Dragon*Con
This weekend I had the opportunity to watch two documentaries, Back to Space-Con, produced and directed by Tom Wyrsch of Garfield Lane Productions, and Four Days at Dragon*Con, produced and directed by Jack Walsh of Public Broadcasting in Atlanta. Taken together, these films tell the story of the development of science fiction and fantasy conventions, [...]
PBS Documentary: Four Days at Dragon*Con
Thanks to the email list for the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts I learned about a documentary that will be broadcast courtesy of American Public Television. The documentary is titled Four Days at Dragon*Con. From The APT website: Every Labor Day weekend, tens of thousands descend upon Atlanta for the largest convention [...]
Field Study in Fan Culture at Comic-Con 2011
This is a great time for scholars, or scholars in training, to be involved in studies in various aspects of popular culture. Here’s a recent educational opportunity I came across that involves field study at Comic-Con. This is my kind of study program: Earn academic credit while studying the dynamics of marketing and fan culture at [...]
My Best Friend is a Wookie: One Boy’s Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy
Being a person on a lifelong journey with the fantastic I am always interested in the similar journeys of others. One day while following the book promotion of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf I was pleased to hear of another writer who chronicled a similar journey. Tony Pacitti describes his story in [...]
James Cameron Interview: Avatar Canon, Pandora Depression, and “Geek Cred”
There was an interview with James Cameron in August in Entertainment Weekly that just came to my attention. I found three items in the piece of interest. First, an interesting question is asked about what may be referred to as the “cinematic canon.” The interviewer, Benjamin Svetkey, asked about the new version of Avatar with [...]
Christopher Knowles: Gods and Geeks in American Pop Culture
Patheos is a website that presents information on a variety of religious traditions. Over the course of the summer months the site has been looking at what the future holds for these religions, and in a recent focus on Paganism an essay was included that dovetails with the focus of TheoFantastique. Christopher Knowles wrote a [...]
