#Zina Hutton

[fanhackers]

Platforms and Fan Experiences

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about platforms and the way in which they influence fan experiences. As a consistent lurker, I have been on Tumblr for more than a decade, and more recently on Twitter for the past few months, and have been reflecting on my experiences of fandom on both platforms.

In a roundtable discussion published in a tumblr book: platform and cultures, speakers Flourish Klink, Rukmini Pande, Zina Hutton, Lori Morimoto and Allison McCracken discuss the ways in which Tumblr is a very visual platform:

Klink: Tumblr fandoms tend to be much more visual than other fandoms. I often find that this  is the most difficult part of Tumblr for people who are not familiar with it. The visual languages in play on Tumblr are as meaningful and complex as any slang or textual interactions on Twitter… Klink, Flourish, Rukmini Pande, Zina Hutton, Lori Morimoto, and Allison McCracken. “A Roundtable Discussion about the Cultures of Fandom on Tumblr.” In A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures, edited by Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch, 167–80. University of Michigan Press, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11537055.23.

I find this particularly interesting—and also ironic, in some ways—given that to me, as both a lurker, and a Fandom Old, the draw of Tumblr is that, while it may be a visual platform, it is not necessarily a visible platform, particularly in comparison to Twitter. There’s little chance of the celebrity you’re writing RPF about coming across your racy post or interacting with you directly.

In the same discussion, they go on to talk about the ways in which Tumblr’s visual culture has often led to progressive politics and practices, like race/genderbending.

Hutton: …One of my favorite things about being on Tumblr is seeing the way that members of the fandoms I’ve been in— primarily the DC and Marvel fandoms—reimagine their favorite characters as characters of color and give them queer and gender identities that match theirs. You can see photosets reimagining the Batman family group as more visibly diverse, and fancasts ( fans re-casting roles with actors of their choosing) of Marvel superheroes where they’re portrayed as women of color. And these fancasts generally push back against the idea of whiteness as a perpetual default. Klink, Flourish, Rukmini Pande, Zina Hutton, Lori Morimoto, and Allison McCracken. “A Roundtable Discussion about the Cultures of Fandom on Tumblr.” In A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures, edited by Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch, 167–80. University of Michigan Press, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11537055.23.

While Hutton also points out the ways in which a lot of it can turn into clickbait activism, later on in the discussion, without truly engaging with what it means to racebend a character beyond simply making a visual edit, it’s Pande’s comment about interacting with white fans that echoes my own experience:

Pande: When I first came on Tumblr for instance, I mainly followed people I knew from LiveJournal and “Big Name Fans” whose writing I had followed in previous fandoms. This resulted in my Dashboard being filled with almost exclusively white-dude content. In retrospect this is not surprising, but the visual-ness of Tumblr made it particularly apparent, especially post-Racefail at a moment in fandom in 2009–10, when POC fans had started becoming more vocal about this whiteness. Klink, Flourish, Rukmini Pande, Zina Hutton, Lori Morimoto, and Allison McCracken. “A Roundtable Discussion about the Cultures of Fandom on Tumblr.” In A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures, edited by Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch, 167–80. University of Michigan Press, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11537055.23.

As a PoC fan myself from the Global South, particularly one that does more lurking than posting, I often find that Tumblr does not always have the kind of linguistic inclusivity or even fandom inclusivity I am looking for. Perhaps it’s that I am a lurker, or perhaps I am not looking in the right spaces. Whatever the reason, I find Twitter has more of that inclusivity; whether I am looking for a fellow Hindi-soap opera fan, or a Supernatural fan, I can find both. And depending on which platform I choose, the content I make/consume differs—not just in form, but also in language and meaning.

What do you think? How has your platform shaped your fandom experience?

[rosethyme]

tumblr is on jstor

CHAPTER 16 A Roundtable Discussion about the Cultures of Fandom on Tumblr

Flourish Klink, Rukmini Pande, Zina Hutton, Lori Morimoto, Allison McCrackena tumblr book: platform and cultures, 2020, pp. 167-180 (14 pages)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11537055.23

[ventureadlaxre]

Review: Not So Stories, edited by David Thomas Moore

Review: Not So Stories, edited by David Thomas Moore

Published by: Rebellion ISBN 13: 9781781087800 Published: Jan 2020 (first published April 2018) Pages: 320 Format reviewed: eVersion from NetGalley Site: Publisher Site Goodreads: Book Page Stars: Four out of Five

One of my favourite books growing up was Just So Storiesby Rudyard Kipling. I especially liked How the Elephant got His Trunk, How the Camel Got His Hump, and How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin.…

[griseldagimpel]

The Tyrant, the Fairy, & the Au Pair is now available for sale in both paperback and Kindle ebook.

It is f/f urban fantasy set all across Florida. My portion of the proceeds will be donated to the charity RIP Medical Debt. 

[downthetubes]

In Review: Action 2020 Special

Review by Moose Harris

When Rebellion announced their forthcoming slew of vintage comic specials, including a new take on Action, I’ll admit to taking a dim view almost immediately. I should state upfront that my lifelong obsession with Actionprobably stems from the ‘specialist interest’ traits associated with my recent diagnosis of Asperger’s, but to me it’s always seemed more than just some…

[talesfromablackuniverse]

No one ever notices the spiders, until one day a girl does and she starts to notice little changes in her life. You can read the story originally published in Fireside Magazine. If you would like to know more about Zina Hutton visit her website stitchmediamix.com. Music: Fireheart by J1*

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[dirtybirdspress]

After receiving a hand-delivered invitation to host a booth at The-Carnival-That-Comes-After (an otherworldly gathering of supernatural beings that take over St. Thomas' Carnival Village after dark) chocolatier Talia Bachaan is worried that she'll be just another human lost amidst the chaos of the festival. When a golden-eyed selkie named Samira decides to take Talia underneath her metaphorical wing after saving her from an embarrassing fright, Talia doesn't even imagine saying no to the help. 

Zina Hutton is a first year Masters student of Literature at Florida International University (FIU). She currently works as a freelance editor and writer with publication credits in Fireside Fiction, The Mary Sue, ComicsAlliance and Women Write About Comics. 

Much of her writing centers on the need for the increased visibility of women of color in fiction, raising awareness of the media’s lack of meaningful diversity. In her fiction, she works at giving representation to marginalized people that lack it, centering queer characters of color in narratives and genres that they are largely held at a distance. “The Carnival That Comes After” draws from and reinterprets mythology across the Caribbean, especially her home island of St. Thomas. The setting, one rarely seen in fiction outside of historical works or an exotic stop in a piece of contemporary fiction, was chosen as as a way to remind people that Urban Fantasy as a genre should be more aware of the fact that there are other cities aside from New York and New Orleans and more to the supernatural than werewolves and French vampires.

Zina can be found on Twitter at @stichomancery.

Back the UNDERCITIES Kickstarter here!

[queerstarter]

Ending Wed, February 15 2017

UNDERCITIES is magic in the subway station. It’s monsters on top of skyscrapers. It’s adventure right at your front door. It’s an urban fantasy anthology that features short story fiction from eleven talented LGBTQ+ authors and authors of color.

More than anything, UNDERCITIES looks for stories that weave the magic of urban fantasy together with positive interpretations of race and queer sexuality. Fantasy is not homogenous; it is as diverse and imaginative and real as the LGBTQ+ authors and authors of color who create it. It is a place where anything can happen—and why not make it a space where everyone and anyone can overcome obstacles, win battles, and experience happenings beyond their wildest dreams?

Literature has always been a place where reality meets the fantastical. UNDERCITIES intends to reflect that. The stories presented in UNDERCITIES are reflections of our world as they could and should be; they combine the impossible daring of magic with the experiences of the people with whom we share the world and put the voices of LGBTQ+ creators and creators of color at the forefront of these narratives. Each short story presented in UNDERCITIES presents a different point of view and a different experience—and each of these stories is as diverse and incredible as the authors who created them.

[...]

UNDERCITIES will feature the following talented creators and their stories:

Ilinca Barbacuta

Magdalena Clark

Morgan DeBroe

Lara Eckener

Zina Hutton

Dante L.

Xian Mao

Laura J. Moody

Jordan Nicol

Roan O'Connor

Pryce Scott

[downthetubes]

In Three Short Weeks, Action comic is back!

In Three Short Weeks, Action comic is back!

It horrified prudes and censors alike – but the ground-breaking British comic Action is back, in just three short weeks!

Celebrate the legacy of the comic the establishment tried to ban (as detailed on our “Sevenpenny Nightmare” micro site compiled by Moose Harris) with the new Action 2020 special.

The special comes packed with the same blend of unbeatable characters and no-holds-barred action…