Fan Films: Troops vs The 212th

Everyone is a fan of something, whether that be a film or a genre of music, everyone is a fan of something. Sometimes, just sitting back and watching what you are a fan of is not enough. You want more or it, but there are no official licenced media from the creators. So, what do you do? You make your own.

In 1988, Henry Jenkins wrote a book about specifically Star Trek fans where he used the term 'textual poachers' to describe them. In those days, devoted fans of a franchise such as Star Trek were not painted in a flattering light; they were seen as unsociable, deranged, 'social misfits' (as Jenkins puts it) who obsess over fictional characters. However, to Jenkins fans were more than that they were creatives who can take a pre-existing media source (such as Star Trek in Jenkins case), take the fragments of the text that they personally aligned with and make something of their own from it.

An example of this that comes to mind is fan films. A fan film partly is exactly what it sounds like an unlicensed film made by a fan of a text based on the text they're a fan of but in reality, it is slightly more complex than that. John Fiske calls fandom a 'shadow culture economy' and explains that the difference between licenced products and fan products 'is economic [...] for fans do not write or produce their texts for money'. That is the key difference between the two as fans put their hard work and money into making a product that they can enjoy with other fans rather than for any monetary gain.

Shot from 'Troops' by Kevin Rubio

One of the earliest examples of a fan film is 'Troops' from 1997 which was a parody of the TV series 'Cops' but with stormtroopers rather police officers. For a supposed fan film Troops looks incredibly well made. That is because Kevin Rubio, the creator of Troops, had connections in the film industry and managed to convince them to work on this fan film. I, personally, still consider 'Troops' a fan film because it's not the quality of a fan film that dictates whether it is or isn't a fan film, it is the love for the media it's based on.

Poster of 'The 212th' by Hoplite Studio

This is why I believe is that something like 'The 212th' by Hoplite Studio extremely blurs the line between what is and what isn't a fan film. 'The 212th' was similarly to troops made by a professional VFX studio so it is very well made. However, the purpose of 'The 212th' is different as Hoplite Studio made it specifically to market themselves in order to get more work and in turn more money. By Fiske's definition this automatically takes them out of the fan film territory. However, I do not know the individual creators personally, therefore, I cannot argue if they are or are not "true" fans. For Hoplite Studio as its own entity, 'The 212th' was not a fan film, it was a marketing scheme, but for the individual creators behind it, I would argue that 'The 212th' is a fan film if they weren't paid anything extra to work on the film.

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Biography

• ALurkingGrue. Troops (1997). [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHt5_s_84GQ&t=2s.

• Fiske, John "The Cultural Economy of Fandom", in L. A. Lewis, (1992). The Adoring Audience. 1st ed. Routledge.

• H. Jenkins, (1992). Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. 2nd ed. Routledge.

• Hoplite VFX. STAR WARS The 212th Fan Film. [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9q_HDiQSTM.