In this paper, I have tried analyze the relationship that I see being built through the new media between JMS and the fans of Babylon 5 who make their home on the Net.
I have found their models of author/reader interaction to be relatively simple, despite the intelligence and sophistication of the fan community. I have found that JMS' actions and reactions all work (overtly or covertly) toward reinforcing an auteur model of one meaning for all fans, I have found that this relationship and the underlying models provide a strong challenge to certain formulations of new media and their effect on discourse and authority structures.
As one whose sympathies lie much more closely with Bakhtin and the school of activist reader construction of meaning, I have expressed my surprise and disappointment at some of these findings. However, that same allegiance also compels me to acknowledge that this is the fan community the readers have constructed for themselves and readers of this paper should not take my comments as being prescriptive; rather, I have simply tried to describe what I have seen in the theoretical terms I have available to me.
Readers are invited to respond. I hope that someone will undertake some of the analyses I have mentioned, but did not myself undertake. I intend to publicize this document on the newsgroups and of course people may comment there. If you would like to send your reactions directly to me, you are invited to click on the link below:
Copyright © Alan Wexelblat