BAZINGA! (Peng)

Introduction
 Literature in the Wired World, this course has made us analyze and examine the inter action and dynamics between the authors, the readers and the texts. The advancement of the technology has made so me significant differences over the years. It has brought the relationships closer and made communication possible. Instead of reading from a physical book, we can now access the stories through varies form such as electronic devices like Kindle, or iPad. This development also opens the possibility for electronic literat ure. Blog fiction, digital poetry, and hypertext fiction are all examples differ from traditional presentation of literature. It combines video, animation, music and variety of virtual experiences for the readers to understand and communicate with the auth or. UCLA professor, N. Katherine Hayles explains that electronic literature has utilize t he capability of the “Wired World”, and combined literature with the transformed media for a new presentation of the text to the audience, readers are no longer just readers, they are now interactors.



 About fifty years ago when our parents were just teenagers like us, technology has jus t begin to surface into their lives. Unlike them, today, we have significant development providing us opportunities to utilize much more resources such as the Internet. Traditionally when people want to share or discuss a novel, book club is the first thing that comes to mind but there was rarely to no chace for the readers community to get in touch with the authorm besides book signings. As the technology advances over the years, online communities have replaced book club. Literature, TV shows, and movies now can be discussed and debated throughout the world because of the convenience of the Internet communities. It has provided a space for individual minds to come together for a common topic that they are passio nate and interested or disapproves about. The main advantages of the Internet community are that it is an effective form of communication offering access to a diverse audience on various subjects and the understanding of the power of collective knowledge. For example, Spoiling Survivor  demonstrates people's ability when it comes to gathering informationfor acommon interest, and exchanging knowledge through these communities.

 The online communities have gathered the viewers and authors in a common space for a shared interest. For my project, The Big Bang Theory, I examine several Internet forums involving the interactions between the viewers and the production writers. The concept of the online community is not new, what is new is that the communication is now brought to the virtual world instead of having to be face to face. The Big Bang Theory is an award winning and extremely popular sitcom that has millions of fans across the world. The main characters are intellectual scientist lacking social abilities, it puts the audience in perspective in many ways. Therefore, the existence of the online communities provides the opportunity for the viewers to debate and discuss the show providing personal experiences and opion. These communities have shown evidence of significant shifts of the dynamic between the author, reader, and the text, in this case, the presentation. These communitues can be categorize as interpretative communities, knowledge communities and remediation. Furthermore, the interpretation of each individual analyzing the show implicates the influences of collective knowledge.

Interpretative Disputes (Community)
The Big Bang Theory producers and writers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady have made it clear since the first episode of the show that this show is about humor and science geeks with the addition of relationships between the characters. The one relationship that has been developing throughout the seasons is the one between the characters Leonard and Penny, which is the one that the fans are most obsessed and interested about. When Penny first moves into the apartment right across from Leonard, he sets his eye on her, and throughout the seasons, they get involved but then fall part several times. The viewers are arguing: have they been in love with each other? Where is this going? Is it ever going to end?

On The Big Bang Theory fan site, there is a discussion thread of the show started by a fan named “africayellowcat” titled Leonard and Penny? This thread starts off with his confusion of why is Leonard and Penny’s relationship falling apart again? As well as where is the future for them? Many fans then respond with their opinions.

Moonbase: “The dynamic needs a change. People are tired of their relationship staying in limbo.”

Rickfromillinois: “I think that in season 6 we will see Penny telling Leonard that she loves him"

 Carl1970: “I disagree, I think they are perfect together, I wish they would show more personal moments such as cuddling together on the couch, playing games together and going to dinner with just the two of them ”

 Convict13: “I see no growth of the relationship at all, let’s put out the misery”

 The fans get defensive about their argument each time someone else disagrees with their opinions. Not only do they devote their time to watch the show, they take the effort to go on the forums to discuss and debate for what they have seen. Some of the fan’s argument lack reasoning, because they are simply watching the show for entertainment. Some serious fans get into details and present evidence to their claims. For example Carl1970’s statement reveals his view on relationship, wanting the couple to spend more personal time and Rickfromillinois is looking forward to the new season and believes the girl should make the move in the relationship sometimes. This community provides the space for the fans to express and debate their ideas regarding the show. This is an evidence of Interpretative dispute because the fans discuss a specific relationship using what they see from the episodes in their own understanding reflecting some of their personalities in their comments. The Big Bang Theory wiki page also has a poll regarding the relationship of Leonard and Penny asking :

“Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship has been the main plot driving force for most of the series. The show may be on for several more years, how far should the writers take their relationship”

A poll questionnaire could reveal the viewer’s interest and concerns, which is also a clear evidence of opinions. We could see the percentage of people’s voting and discover the agreements and disputes.

Knowledge Community
It is our natural instinct to want to know everything. Oscar Wilde once said, “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.” We like to explore and experience, but most important out of all, we are always curious. Curiosity makes our mind active, observant, and keeps us questioning infinite possibility to what is happening around us. Gathering information and pursuing answers are our abilities to fulfill our curiosity. The Big Bang Theory is no different. The audience watches the episodes and absorbs the scenes then starts wondering what will happen in the next episode? Are the science facts presented correctly? This is where the discussion forums come in. Viewers all over the world are excited to share what they know, and eager to find out what others don’t know for spoiling purposes. In the course reading Spoiling Survivor, we see how extreme and dedicated the fans are to collect information with any connection they have to the show in order to find out what happens before it airs. The article writes , “The fan community turned spoiling into a game to find out what they could before the episode even aired” . These online communities provide a space for the fans to share knowledge demonstrating the power of collective knowledge. 

The Big Bang Theory has been extremely successful over the first five seasons, so this summer, they have returned and started filming for the upcoming new season. Many fans are dedicated to figure out what is happening next. With all the research with the journalist and reports, The Big Bang Theory wiki page has organized a list of spoiling facts happening in the new season. For example, “For upcoming season, the gang will have to deal with some very adult themes as one of them”, as Bill Prady the writer tweets

A website called Carter, organized by a former reality star, now just a man who understands the audience’s interest in spoiling TV shows, posted, “Howard will at least spend the first few episodes of the season in space, and everyone is going to have to deal with a new life without him around ”. Several fans responded: Harriett Champagne: “This twist is going to lead to us having all sorts of great opportunities for comedy in the near future” Daniel: “Would be a good twist if Sheldon missed Howard the most. Not sure how or why he would, but would be ironic” Surprisingly the fans don’t mind the season getting spoiled before airing the show, which begs the question, now where is the excitement and amazement? These fans seem to be so fixated on the details of the season before it is presented to the world. It is a guilty pleasure. However, how are the episodes going to successfully engage a large audience if many already have known what is happening? The act of collective knowledge could have a positive outcome if put to good use, but in this case, it has made the production job a lot more difficult. Creating suspense and impressing the audience signifies the accomplishment of the show, spoiling takes away the thrill of watching the show.

The two main characters, Leonard and Sheldon are roommates. We learn that Sheldon has written a roommate agreement and Leonard does sign it. So, throughout the episodes, Sheldon reveals the details of the agreement as Leonard violates them. On the Big Bang Theory fan site, the fans created a discussion thread to gather information and each other's knowledge to constuct the full agreement.

SydNC: "A girlfriend shall be deemed "living with" Leonard when she has stayed over for A: ten consecutive nights or B: for more than nine nights in a three-week period..."

ElegantChaos: "Roommates agree that Friday nights shall be reserved for watching Joss Whedon's brilliant new series Firefly."

 These fans show significant effort in collecting these information by practically watching every episode. It also reveals their obsession with the two characters. This is a clear example of knowledge community where it is more about the understanding and collection than interpretation.

Remediation
Remediation is considered as the “New Media” that the elements from the original presentation of the text or show are incorporated in a new form. As David Bolter and Richard Grusin claim, “Again we call the representation of one medium in another remediation, and we will argue that remediation is a defining characteristic of the new digital media”. Also, remediation examines the possibility of emerging all kinds of media like webpages, blogs, videos and music providing people a new perspective. Bolter and Grusin explain, “our culture conceives of each medium or constellation of media as it responds to, redeploys, competes with, and reform other media”. The Big Bang Theory is one of the top hit sitcom for the past few years. Many viewers have accumulated to become faithful fans over the years as well. In this case, The Big Bang Theory fans reflect their interest and interpretation using their creativity onto fan videos, art or animations.



There are some fans that use the materials from the episodes and created their own video on YouTube such asparodies. For example, a YouTube user who is also a Big Bang Theory fan “EmeraldGreenEngine” integrated the lines from an episode of Big Bang Theory to a clip of the Thomas and Friends cartoon. The facial expressions on the Thomas and Friends are portrayed perfectly with the script lines, suggesting that the fan took the effort to edit the video and how she is so familiar with both of the show. In addition, this creation reveals the fan’s strong interest in the dynamics between the characters as they engage in an argument as well as the connection with our daily lives. These arguments exist between our friends and us in reality. There are many other fan videos made using the scenes from episodes that reflect their personal life and experiences. For instance, The Big Bang Theory's main theme is basically the four science geeks that lack social skill struggling to understand human interactions, none of us are perfect, there are certain things each and every one of us have difficulty gasping.

Another example is that “RingtonesforiPhone” created a ringtone based on the theme song of the Big Bang Theory and changed the lyrics, then published it for all the fans to use, showing evidence the large population’s attraction to this show with marketing opportunity .Also, this indicates that the fans can relate to the sound of the show. People don't realize how much their ringtone reveals about them. It is usually a tone that they feel connected the most. So in this case, people around the fans that hears the tone, could immediately identify them as The Big Bang Theory fans.

Several fans commented on the ringtone with appreciation and surprise.



Xfileslzzy: “Really wish I got an iPhone instead of a Samsung galaxy now…”

Justthedrop: “Awesome ringtone!”

Fan art is another component of remediation. It offers the opportunity for fans to reflect what they see a character or storyline onto illustration. It could be a painting, or a comic column. DeviantART is an Internet community consists of all kinds of art created by fans, with comments and reviews of the art included. They defined themselves as “the world’s largest online art community, proudly showing 230 millionpiece of art from over 23 million registered artist and art appreciators”.



A fan drew a picture of all the characters dressed in superhero costumes. Not only does this indicates the knowledge of the fan knowing that the characters in The Big Bang Theory are all obsessed with comic book superheroes, he also views the science geeks as powerful. The drawing shows admiration towards the characters and the science world. There is another festinating drawing, a fan named BantamArt portrays the four main character with just their general facial features without eyes, and with a word that identifies them the most. It is interesting because the eyes are usually the feature that distinguish them from others, but in this drawing, the fan designed the characters perfectly and relatable, clearly concluding the main character's personalities and appearances with just colors and lines.

Addtional Links
The Big Bang Theory Production Interview

The Big Bang Theory Fan site

The Big Bang Theory Wikia

The Big Bang Theory Facebook