OUR analysis

So Monday night I watched South Park.  I’m sure you all had similar encounters with convergence, so I won’t really delve too much into that.  I found the most interesting part the ability for the viewers to blog and leave comments (even suggestions and comments).  The comments were surprisingly constructive (“GOD DAMMIT STOP DOING FREAKIN MOVIE PARODIES!” –SLBPanda). 

 

The forum is an obvious example of Anderson’s notion of an imagined community (as is the site as a whole).  Everyone’s voice is heard.  Discover tidbits that went unnoticed as other fans dig into the subtleties of the episode.  Share those that you found that maybe others missed.  The forum guarantees that everyone is on the same page.  Yes, the episode of Obama’s election was a parody of the Ocean’s series.  Did everyone catch that?  Well, in case you didn’t, you now know.  On one hand this weakens intra- and interefferentiality (may have made up that word) as it is no longer a personal boon to discover these “treasures.”  Certainly personal pleasure still exists, but when it is plastered on the forum walls then it seems to lessen the excitement either because you were TOLD about it, or because so many people now know. 

 

This opens up another exciting level, though, which relates to Levy’s idea of collective intelligence.  Because all opinions are input into the forum, the entire episode can be picked apart.  Together we can understand as much as possible about this episode.  The set of fans that partakes in this (mass) ceremony now becomes expert in the eyes of those who may just be casual or passive viewers.  We crave to suck up all this in order to get the most out of our viewing experience, even if it doesn’t fully tie together until post-episode…

 

I guess I will give a nod now to the HBO voyeur website.  Whereas the Comedy Central website was very unsubtle (play games!  Read reviews!  BUY STUFF!), HBO’s site was subtle.  To me it seemed that its hook was not in games or forums (the fake forum was allegedly “frozen”) but in the investment into something just odd.  One may just sit there and ask, “What is this?”  After one gets sucked in, the creators may just be hoping for one to click on the little HBO link at the bottom of the screen.  It seems to be effective because it tries to avoid the splattering effect of other websites of convergence…because it’s so different.  Ultimately the viewers will acknowledge that HBO has provided this interesting experience, and that will hopefully, for the company, be enough to attract the voyeur to other experiences (shows) that it has to offer.