<
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/44676/23_01_10125-44676.pdf>
(PDF)
"This article reports on fan practices, in English, among an
international community of bronies—adult fans of the animated cartoon My
Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (MLP). Originally directed at a target
audience of young girls, MLP has become popular among men. These older
male fans have been extremely active in producing multimodal and
plurilingual fan practices. We explore how two different groups of
bronies—one in Russia and the other in Spain—carry out fan practices in
English. Applying digital ethnography, we describe six different cases
of adult MLP fans. They both consume and create products such as
fanfiction, translations, and fandubbing in different contexts with the
use of sophisticated technologies. Not only do fandom practices allow
these fans to develop digital identities and reach new audiences, they
also help them to improve their English language skills—a task at which
they reveal themselves to be both autonomous and self-critical.
Regarding translation practices, we note several instances of bronies
receiving mentoring from fellow fans who have a higher level of English.
Finally, this article points out how, in the process of adapting their
written output for global readerships, bronies can acquire some
important transcultural skills."
Interesting scholarly article on language learning in fan communities
and how they work at learning and representing cultures to each other
(both localising global culture and presenting local culture for a
global audience). The article uses
My Little Pony as an example due to
the current highly active community, but references previous work with
other fandoms such as anime fandom.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
