Tag Archives: fan cultures

Avatar’s Pandora Depresses Some Viewers: Utopia, Escape and the Realized Ideal

January 13th, 2010 | Posted in Avatar, fan cultures, fantasy, geek cultures, habitus, science fiction, utopia

A recent article at CNN Entertainment presents some disturbing viewer reactions to James Cameron’s Avatar. In a piece titled “Audiences experience ‘Avatar’ blues,” Jo Piazza reports that some audience members have become seriously depressed and even suicidal after watching the film when contrasting the real-world situation of Earth with the beauty of the science fiction/fantasy […]

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And the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, or at Least Lead Pop Culture

April 29th, 2009 | Posted in fan cultures, geek cultures, science fiction, Star Trek

When I grew up in the 1970s I had to work hard to nurture my love for the fantastic, my ever-present “inner geek,” if you will. In those days I was too young early on to be able to see the few films of the fantastic in the theaters, and like everyone else my family only had […]

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Darkon: Documentary on Fantasy Role Playing Game

July 3rd, 2007 | Posted in Darkon, fan cultures, fantasy, fantasy role playing games, geek cultures

At the recent Cornerstone Festival I had the opportunity to facilitate a film discussion in the Flickerings area surrounding a documentary Darkon that is based upon the fantasy role playing (FRP) game of the same name. It wasn’t until I viewed this film that I realized that FRP gaming goes beyond board games and the […]

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Star Trek Conventions as Sacred Pilgrimage

January 31st, 2007 | Posted in fan cultures, geek cultures, pilgrimage, Star Trek

I have been doing some reading on anthroplogy of pilgrimage. One particularly helpful book has been Intersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism, Ellen Badone and Sharon R. Roseman, eds. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004). One of the more interesting chapters in the book is “Pilgrimage and the IDIC Ethic: Exploring […]

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