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Kleefeld's Fanthropology #22: Capitalization!

Kleefeld's Fanthropology!

If you visited YouTube this week, you may have noticed that they've changed their logo a bit. They've added a "Geek Week" tag on the end of it. Between August 4-10, they're spotlighting a number of geek themed channels, with each day focusing a little more narrowly on a more particular theme. Monday was "Global Geekery" looking at international videos, "Braniac Tuesday" highlighted science related pieces, and so on. Further, YouTube went out of their way to film a series of three-ish minute videos introducing each day's motif, using a variety of hosts who have their own fairly popular YouTube channels.

18 DaysThe overall intent of YouTube's Geek Week is to expose viewers to other channels they might not have stumbled across on their own. Did you know Stan Lee has his own YouTube channel? Or that Graphic India has an animated series called "18 Days" written by Grant Morrison? Some of the channel's creators even developed special Geek Week episodes to further encourage viewers to subscribe.

You may have also heard this week about SyFy's upcoming reality show, "Heroes of Cosplay," set to debut next week. There was a minor uproar after an  initial New York Post review that focused on how weird and crazy the cosplayers must be instead of actually reviewing the content of the show; the reviewer seemed to dismiss the show's very concept out of hand. From what I've seen, however, the show treats the cosplayers with respect and looks to do more than a fair job explaining and passing on an understanding of cosplayers and the cosplay community.

It would seem that companies like SyFy are really beginning to understand and cater to the various fandom niches, even beyond the genre-based programming they've historically had.

Or are they?

The interesting thing about both Geek Week and "Heroes of Cosplay" is how little about fandom really needs to be understood by the producers. In YouTube's case, they can simply look at their own metrics to see which channels are popular and what the basic subject matter is. There doesn't have to be any real comprehension of why one channel has larger devoted fanbase over any other to pick out the consistently popular ones, and then they can let the hosts of those channels select other reasonable popular channels in the same vein for their daily highlights.

For SyFy, they also don't need to go in with an understanding of cosplay. Their interest, as with all reality shows, is really in the human drama and by simply following around the titular heroes with cameras, they will inevitably figure out what are the critical moments -- the ones where people express the most emotion. They will naturally pick out those pieces to edit into the show, as part of an overall narrative, and they'll almost incidentally be able to display what it's like to be a cosplayer.

Heroes of Cosplay

Now, there may well be some very devout fans among those working on putting together Geek Week and "Heroes of Cosplay"; I don't want to dismiss them or their contributions to these campaigns by any means. I'm just saying that there doesn't need to be fans among those working on these pieces. There doesn't need to be someone in YouTube's executive offices that understands "geekdom" any more than what shows up in some charts about which channels have high viewership.

Admittedly, this is a cynical way of looking at these things. Someone with an interest, or at least appreciation, of fandom would have needed to at least suggest the idea, wouldn't they? Even with some numbers to support it, these notions just didn't leap off the page at some nameless bean-counter!

I'm reminded of an interview with Frank Zappa in which he talked about how executives in the 1960s encouraged and released some of the inspired, experimental music of the time:

Look at who the executives were in those companies. Not hip, young guys; they were cigar-chomping old guys who looked at the product that came in and said, "I don't know! Who knows what it is? Record it; stick it out; if it sells, alright!"

My point being that Geek Week and "Heroes of Cosplay" may well not be hard, calculated moves to get you watching but just part of a "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach. After all, "HoC" is coming from the same people who gave use "Sharknado" and "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" and "Overthunk" and "One Mile Straight Down." Those decisions could come from a spirit of entrepreneurship, trying as much as they can to find out what works, or it can come from a sort of directionless chaos, where fear of irrelevance forces such experimentation.

But, interestingly, whether we're talking about a fear of obsolescence or a cynical attempt to grab your attention or something else entirely, the basic goal remains the same: to make money by securing time with you, the fans. These outreaches to the geek community are simply ways large corporations are trying to connect with what they're now recognizing as unique demographics. The key for you is to be able to recognize that, and approach their material with a grain or two of salt. They're not concerned about delivering content you, as an individual, enjoy except in that they can sell advertising space while they have your attention. And while that distinction may be subtle, it's an important one to keep in mind while you're looking at the programming content they're making available.

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