Convergence Culture (Henry Jenkins)

"We are entering an era where media will be everywhere, and we will use all kinds of media in relation to one another..." - Henry Jenkins

Cultural Convergence describes the way audience members use and react to original media texts. Viewers can form strong, slightly bizarre connections with certain aspects within the media, particularly with films and film characters. One genre of film which has acquired a huge fan base is science fiction. There are massive conventions in fancy dress held annually and huge blog groups dedicated to films such as Avatar and Star Trek. 'Klingon', the language spoken by the fictional warrior race the Klingons in Star Trek, is now a credited language in today's society. It is even possible to take a degree in the fictional language. People can form strong connections to what they see in movies and in order to prolong the experience they create ways to access it outside of the cinema. Fifty Shades of Grey is a prime example of the outcome of convergence culture in today's society. The novel, written by E.L. James, was originally a fan fiction story in response to the Twilight Saga movies. The character of Christian Grey was based on vampire Edward Cullen and protagonist Ana Steele on Bella Swan. James was so affected by her experience viewing the movie franchise that she took it upon herself to create a story herself, prolonging the lives of the characters. It was just by chance that her story was scouted and became a huge success in itself. User-generated content is available all over the internet - especially on YouTube. Fan-made amateur movie responses and movie spoofs are huge on the video-sharing website.