Spoilers & Sequels; Bifurcated Fandoms in the Age of Adaptation

Presenter Information

Joseph Young
Paul Tankard
Lana Whited

Document Type

Panel Discussion

Event Website

http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm

Start Date

31-7-2021 4:30 PM

End Date

31-7-2021 5:15 PM

Description

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies launched a new era of adaptations of fantasy. The resulting adaptations—of the works of J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, George R.R. Martin, the Marvel superhero tradition and much else besides—now have fan bases often wholly separate 23 from those of their literary source texts. Rather than dwelling on what any given example gets ‘wrong’ or ‘right,’ this panel discussion will consider this bifurcation of the audience of a popular literary genre. If, as Tom Shippey suggests, fantasy deserves to be taken seriously because of its popularity, what are the ramifications of atomising the popular followings of these texts into “book-readers” and “show-watchers”? How has this division altered the experience of being a fan, scholar or teacher of such texts? And do the adaptations offer the same Tolkienian Recovery that make the source texts as resonant as they are?"

Moderator: Joe Young
Panelist: Paul Tankard
Panelist: Lana Whited
Tech Mod: Joan Marie Verba.

Comments

Recorded Session

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