24
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
As Voigts notes, while these texts paratextually revel in their supposed
quirkiness and subversiveness, their practices of textually upholding both
the cult status of the texts they “sample,” as well as their adherence to
intellectual property laws, make them much less subversive than their
authors and their participatory aesthetic suggest.
Costas Constandinides discusses a form likewise peculiar to convergence
culture: YouTube cover songs. He conceptualizes these as new forms of
adaptation that have already developed their own generic patterns. Building
on his older concept of para-adaptation, 34 Constandinides describes these
videos as “user-generated creative contributions that, on the one hand,
are associated with a specific industry-created product and, on the other,
wish to feature creative talents or responses in a way that is not limited
to paratextual or fan video functions.” In order to highlight the stylistic
distinctiveness of YouTube cover songs as a form of convergence culture
adaptation (or para-adaptation), Constandinides explores the covers and
distinctiveness the videos of cover songs from a media studies perspective.
In doing so, he highlights their oscillation between a Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
aesthetic that resonates with other forms of online communication, such
as vlogs, and attempts to professionalize the recording and video quality.
Blurring the boundary between amateur consumers and professional
producers, his case studies show how the aesthetics of music videos by
both professionals and non-professionals range between appropriating the
style of fan-produced content on sharing platforms such as YouTube and
the aesthetics of commercial productions, such as aspects of the studio
setting popularized by professional music videos. Constandinides’ chapter
thus adds a different facet to Soller’s analysis of the “professionalization” of
fan-produced content via publishing works that try to erase fannish elements
(partly for legal reasons). Instead, cover song videos strategically highlight
aspects of their DIY status as a sign of the para-adaptation aesthetics he
identifies in YouTube cover songs. This fannish marker, in some ways, brings
these videos closer to those texts that Voigts examines, which likewise
depend on a fannish gesture to succeed commercially and comedically,
rather than to the polished novels deriving from Clare’s and James’ cleaned
up, stand-alone work.
Bringing in yet another critical perspective on the tensions between
official and non-official culture, Benjamin Poore examines how Mark
Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the co-creators and lead writers of BBC’s
34 Costas Constandinides, “Para-adaptation: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
Convergence Culture,” Adaptation 6, no. 2 (2013): 143–157.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
As Voigts notes, while these texts paratextually revel in their supposed
quirkiness and subversiveness, their practices of textually upholding both
the cult status of the texts they “sample,” as well as their adherence to
intellectual property laws, make them much less subversive than their
authors and their participatory aesthetic suggest.
Costas Constandinides discusses a form likewise peculiar to convergence
culture: YouTube cover songs. He conceptualizes these as new forms of
adaptation that have already developed their own generic patterns. Building
on his older concept of para-adaptation, 34 Constandinides describes these
videos as “user-generated creative contributions that, on the one hand,
are associated with a specific industry-created product and, on the other,
wish to feature creative talents or responses in a way that is not limited
to paratextual or fan video functions.” In order to highlight the stylistic
distinctiveness of YouTube cover songs as a form of convergence culture
adaptation (or para-adaptation), Constandinides explores the covers and
distinctiveness the videos of cover songs from a media studies perspective.
In doing so, he highlights their oscillation between a Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
aesthetic that resonates with other forms of online communication, such
as vlogs, and attempts to professionalize the recording and video quality.
Blurring the boundary between amateur consumers and professional
producers, his case studies show how the aesthetics of music videos by
both professionals and non-professionals range between appropriating the
style of fan-produced content on sharing platforms such as YouTube and
the aesthetics of commercial productions, such as aspects of the studio
setting popularized by professional music videos. Constandinides’ chapter
thus adds a different facet to Soller’s analysis of the “professionalization” of
fan-produced content via publishing works that try to erase fannish elements
(partly for legal reasons). Instead, cover song videos strategically highlight
aspects of their DIY status as a sign of the para-adaptation aesthetics he
identifies in YouTube cover songs. This fannish marker, in some ways, brings
these videos closer to those texts that Voigts examines, which likewise
depend on a fannish gesture to succeed commercially and comedically,
rather than to the polished novels deriving from Clare’s and James’ cleaned
up, stand-alone work.
Bringing in yet another critical perspective on the tensions between
official and non-official culture, Benjamin Poore examines how Mark
Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the co-creators and lead writers of BBC’s
34 Costas Constandinides, “Para-adaptation: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
Convergence Culture,” Adaptation 6, no. 2 (2013): 143–157.