Conflicting Desires and Prosumer Control: A Case Study of an Online Fansubbing Community

• In Event: 056 - Regular Session. Consumers and Consumption

Abstract

An online team of international fans of a Japanese boyband makes free English subtitles (called ‘fansubs’) of the band's copyrighted TV appearances and distributes them illegally to a closed community online, which holds exclusive right to watch the subtitled media. Through interviews and surveys, this research contributes to a lacking aspect of the prosumption literature by shifting the focus from the producer/prosumer relationship to the conflicts taking place internally within the prosumers themselves. The fansubbers are operating under three conflicting desires: a) to contribute a meaningful product to the community; b) to get credit for their hard labor; and c) to protect their fansubs from possible legal prosecution and exploitation. These desires work in conflict with one another and while they motivate the fansubbers to engage in prosumption, they also inhibit them. In the end, the very nature of the internet that enables them to be prosumers also disables them from claiming a real sense of ownership over their hard labor.

Author

• Penn Pantumsinchai, University of Hawaii at Manoa