Marvelous Fantastic Experience
How do fans experience transmedia storytelling and magical realism in the Marvel Universe?
Shukun Xue 12765589 Master’s thesis Graduate School of Communication Science Master’s program Communication Science Entertainment Communication track Supervisor: Renske van Bronswijk 8028 Words 26-06-2020
Abstract
The company now known as Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios has fans following their works for generations. Popular franchises like Avengers, X-men, and Fantastic Four became a part of popular culture in our time. To answer the research question “how do fans experience transmedia storytelling and magical realism in the Marvel Universe?”, this study used sensitizing concepts like parasocial relationship and magical realism, etc. to guide in-depth qualitative interviews. We followed twelve interviewees on their journeys as Marvel fans. Amongst them, five are male and seven are female, age ranging from 22 to 53 years old. The participants’ cultural and social backgrounds are very diverse to ensure the best
representation of the fandom. Using thematic analysis, we are able to find out several
important elements of being a Marvel fan, therefore answering the research question: fans do not experience the Marvel transmedia storytelling as a coherent universe; however,
continuity in the Marvel Universe reinforce familiarity with the characters, which contribute in more emotional investment. What’s more, fans perceive magical realism in the Marvel Universe as realistic and relatable. Other interesting findings include Marvel legacy is passed down by fans for generations; fans established parasocial relationships with Stan Lee; there are stigma and bullying for being a superhero fan, but the change in media landscape (which Marvel played a part) is changing these stigmata. These findings suggest that future research should be done on how do fans perceive magical realism in Marvel vs. DC universes, stigma against female superhero fans, and how did media landscape change shift nerd culture, etc.
Key words: Marvel, MCU, fan study, superhero, transmedia, parasocial relationship, magical realism, media landscape change.
Introduction
Avengers: Endgame hit the theater last year and quickly surpassed Avatar to become the world’s most successful movie of all time, according to Guinness record (Glenday,
2019). It is an understatement to say Marvel is now a part of the world’s popular
culture (Lopes, 2006). However, back in 1940s when a young man called Stanley
working in the comics industry that he did not want people to know his real name, so
he gave himself a pen name: Stan Lee, who now became one of the best known
person in the superhero business (Thomas, 2018). Stan was editor in chief in Marvel
Comics, in his career he often tries to promote comics and superheroes, after his
retirement he cameoed in various superhero movies (Cullen, 2016). During his career,
stigma surrounding superhero stories or graphic novels has been stigmatized for
decades, but now these stories are steadily embedded in the American history (Lopes,
2006). Marvel has gone a long way from a part of geeky culture to popular culture.
Technological developments enabled transmedia storytelling through multiple
media platforms, so more producers seized the opportunity to develop their fictional
world (Freeman & Taylor-Ashfield, 2017). Creators are encouraged to do so because
transmedia leads to higher audience engagement (Jenkins, 2006). Since the beginning
until right now, Marvel has always been building an expansive world with complex
intertextuality (Taylor, 2014). Yet almost all of the transmedia studies about Marvel have been from the creator’s perspective -- demonstrating how other media could
learn from their successful transmedia case (Flanagan, Livingstone, & McKenny,
2016; Hadas, 2014; Mikos, 2017). There is a gap on how fans perceive and
experience Marvel’s transmedia storytelling. Using a very personal in-depth interview
approach could enable researchers to understand what motivates fans to pursue their
favorite content across platforms. Therefore, we could learn more about the fandom
migrating journey and fandom shifting trajectory to better study transmedia fan
and experiences. Through this, the future marketers and media creators could learn
what connects the most with fans, what drives fans to have invested so much into
media content, and how to keep audience interested. In the transmedia era, it is
important to create audience-oriented content by understanding their wants and needs
for media products, thus demonstrating the academic and societal relevance of this
study.
Magical realism refers to two conflicting yet coexisting perspectives between
heightened view of reality and the acceptance or supernatural in daily life kind of
reality (Luffin, 2018). In other words, magical realism refers to magic happening in a
real world, with real world logic to rationalize all the magic beings and stories. Indeed,
magical realism is always strongly linked to Marvel: creators like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stressed multiple times that realism is important in building a fantasy world
because it made their stories having a ground to stand on, therefore making their
customers relate that to their own lives (Knuston, 2014). Critics have also expressed
how real is the seemingly out of touch this magical world. However, there is barely
any research on understanding audience perception of magical realism, let along in
the Marvel Universe, therefore we conducted this research.
RQ: How does fans experience transmedia storytelling and magical realism in the Marvel Universe?
Theoretical Background Fan History
Fans are a group of people who share common interest in certain media texts
(Forcier, 2017). Sometimes fans feel a sense of belonging, for example, Marvel comic book fans were called “true believers”, so they would think they were an elite group
of fan club (Pustz, 1999). The outsiders’ point of view, however, is the opposite: most people consider reading comics an immature act (Pustz, 1999). It is interesting to see how being a comic book fan is shameful a few years before, and now because of the
success of superheroes movies, being a “nerd” is suddenly cool (Pedersen, Jarness, &
Flemmen, 2018). Indeed, the 2014 TV movie/documentary From Pulp to Pop
featuring Marvel creators sharing how it was shameful to read superhero comics
(Knutson, 2014). Whereas nowadays the top writers and artists in the world want to
work in the comic industry. Quite a few big names in the world have worked on
Marvel comics: Neil Gaiman, a renowned English author who has won numerous
awards and written a series of Marvel superhero stories happened in ancient times like
Marvel 1602 (Gaiman, 2003); J.J.Abrams, an award winning American filmmaker, has written a limited series of Spider-man since 2019 (Abrams, 2019), etc.
Modern audiences not only just consume media text as it is, rather, they integrate
text into their own lives: fan fiction, online discussion and reviews, collecting and
trading, etc. (Spanò, 2016). They do this because they care about the culture and the industry (Pustz, 1999). Their engagement is important to analyze the dynamic of fan practices since they engaged in transmedia storytelling (Spanò, 2016). On the other hand, fans from different time period engage with the media text differently, because the information technology they have are different (Price, & Robinson, 2017). From
comic book shop and newsstand then, to transmedia platforms now, fans’ enthusiasm
stays the same(Price & Robinson, 2017).One of the reasons why fans are so
enthusiastic about their media text could be the gratifications they gained. Indeed,
uses and gratification theory emphasis on the users’ conscious choice of media (Rui,
& Stefanone, 2016). It suggested that gratifications motivate the media users to
actively seek for media. Levy and Windahl argue that the gratifications that users gain
are defined by the users themselves (Levy & Windahl, 1985). Gratifications like
information-seeking, pleasure seeking, parasocial relationships, social comparison, etc.
are the main motives audiences consume media (Bartsch, 2012).
The journey of seeking for different media, or media migration is common in the new media era. The reason why the audience migrate to a different platform is that they actively seek meaningful outcomes of media platforms in order to fulfill certain needs (Rui, & Stefanone, 2016). Shade and Oliver indicate four key motivations which are entertainment, escape, enlightenment and content-congruent exposure (2015). Besides, content-congruent exposure is one of the reasons why Marvel fans would prefer to consume more Marvel related content, which lead to the next theme.
Transmedia
Marvel is known to be the most ambitious world building cinematic universe
(Jeffries, 2017). They can do this because of the continuity in the story--the characters went through changes in storylines, but their core value stays the same. Continuity is
what constructed the transmedia world (Hills, 2012). Just like the comic world, Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) does world building instead of simple storytelling
(Jeffries, 2017). Comics and movies are different yet complementary to the world building, and together they create a world with diversified contents rewarding fans’
knowledge (Jeffries, 2017). The relationship between Marvel Cinematic Universe and comic universe can be defined as transfictionality. Richard Saint-Gelais defines
transfictionality as “neither quotes nor acknowledges its sources, instead, it uses the source text’s setting and/or inhabitants as if they existed independently” (Richard Saint-Gelais, 2005, p.612). In other words: “Marvel Comics Universe is thereby positioned as both complementary to and diegetically separate from the films”
(Jeffries, 2017, p.288). Comic and MCU sometimes interact with each other, so does TV shows and cartoon series. For example, sometimes comics would mention plot
happened in the movie, or change its plot because of the movies: for example in
Marvel Comics 1000 (2019) Deadpool mentioned the movie Avengers: Endgame and commented that he know fans would like to see him kill Thanos (Thanos is the villain
in the movies Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame). And movies would also adapted
scenes from the comics, some loosely, some to an exact extend: for example Captain
America: Civil War has quite a few scene came straight from the comics, lines like “Who the hell is Bucky” in Captain America #14 (2005) and the fight scene between
Captain America and Iron Man in the end came directly from the comic Civil War #7
Fig 1. McNiven, S, 2007, Civil War #7, Mark Millar, Marvel Comics, 2007, front cover
Fig 2. Screenshot of the final battle of Captain America and Iron man from the movie Captain America: Civil War, 2016.
Transmedia platform building not only allows official stories from the media
company, but also enabled media entities to expand new fans, and reward dedicated
old fans (Jenkins, 2010). The definition of transmedia entails the ability to expand, this gives fans their creative freedom to do so by operating in participatory fan
practice (Delwiche & Henderson, 2012). Transmedia stories engage audiences to
explore, some put down rewards for fandom knowledge to grant them satisfaction
(Delwiche & Henderson, 2012). Some fans might integrate their interests across
different media platforms, while others enrich the world with their own creative input
such as fanfictions (Jenkins, 2010). Indeed, in the new media era, it is increasingly easy to publish fan made content and communicate with other fans (Delwiche &
Henderson, 2012). Besides, it is argued that fan engagement is an important part of
convergence culture (Hill, 2012; Perryman, 2008).
Convergence refers to “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the
audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want” (Jenkins 2006, p.2). Convergence is not only about the
emergence of transmedia platforms, but also about building a world and making
everything a coherent whole. Within one franchise, sometimes across different
movies, there are numerous attempts to building a world of convergence. For example,
in the movie Thor, Thor tries to explain the Marvel world by saying magic and
science are the same, later Dr. Foster confirms it in Thor: The Dark World by
identifying a magic procedure soul forge the same as a scientific one: quantum field
generator (Jeffries, 2017). By doing so, they explained the magic, therefore built magical realism inside of the Marvel world.
Magical Realism
Originated from Latin American literature, the definition of magical realism has
always been difficult to settle, some see magic realism as another word for fantasy,
others think it as a perspective of realism (Chanady, 2019). For this paper Stoehr’s
definition is adopted, which says it is a form of realism in a fictional world (Stoehr,
1969, P.1287). It is commonly present in the Marvel universe since the stories are
normally set in familiar circumstances even though they are about superheroes. For
example, most of the cities inside of the Marvel Universe are based on real cities in
the world: New York is home for many heroes like Iron Man, Spiderman and
Fantastic Four, etc. (Weaver, 2013). Only a few made-up places existed in the Marvel
Universe—such as the mysterious African country Wakanda and the often time
the world is unfamiliar with them. Magical realism is used to ground the story so that
the audience gain some sense of realism instead of farfetched tale.
The details in the work, and the consistency in world-building as well as
down-to-earth struggles of the characters are what makes a fictional world seems
realistic to the audiences. Indeed, in a well-constructed fictional world, magical elements can be implemented seamlessly, like “the picture painted by the mind's eye”
(Crawford, 2009, p. 58). The audiences rely on familiarity as they slip into the
magical world, if done well, the characterization could be authentic and believable
(Lauer, 2017). Vice versa, a poorly integrated magical realism can make the world
seem less realistic to the audience (Crawford, 2009). In any sense, magical realism is
the sense of realism audiences perceive in a well-constructed magical world
(Crawford, 2009).
Parasocial Relationship
Horton and Wohl first introduced the term parasocial interactions in 1956, it has
been developing until this day. It used to be described as a passive one-way
relationship with TV personas, but nowadays, more scholars tend to find its
interactive nature (Cohen, 2004). Cohen argued that adult emotional attachment is one of the reasons why audiences would develop a parasocial relationship. Adult
attachment offers a sense of security and intimacy that social relationships normally don’t (Cohen, 2004). In order to create such an attachment to media personas, one of the motives is identification (Boon & Lomore, 2001). Indeed, having a similar value
into parasocial relationship. On the other hand, some underaged audiences might
develop wishful identification, which is the desire to be like or behave like the
fictional character (Hoffner, 1996). Although Hoffner’s study is not the most recent
one, but it is one of the most cited studies concerning wishful identification. Although
the fictional characters with which children establish wishful identification might
have changed, the process and mentality of wishful identification remain the same.
Stan Lee insisted on managing direct communication with the fans. Although he
didn't use the word parasocial relationship, in many comics he did try to make the
connection with fans--addressing fans with special messages, making them feel like it
was personal and caring (Cullen, 2016). He always appeared to have a charismatic
and cheerful tone in his editorial words. For example, in Captain America #122, he
explained about a new villain Scorpion came from an experiment which first appears
in Spider-man #20, “Just so you don’t think we plucked him out of a hat! --Stan” (Lee,
1970). Stan Lee has always been looking for the best ways to engage and encourage
fans to participate in the Marvel experience (Cullen, 2016).
Methods
This research concerns open-ended questions; therefore, a qualitative method is
chosen (Bryman, 2016). In addition, since this research is focused on individual
in-depth personal journey, where the participants’ personal unique experience is
analyzed, therefore qualitative interviews are more appropriate (Bryman, 2016).
in their community so that their answers can naturally emerge during the interview.
It should also be noted that the researcher is a Marvel fan, therefore, the interview is
very much like the communication within the fan community. Besides, being a fellow
fan allows the researcher to reflect on her own personal journey, therefore is
beneficial in designing and conducting this research. Moreover, qualitative interviews give the opportunity to fully understand the fans’ experience and emotions (Bryman,
2016).
The goal of recruiting was to gain access to international participants with diverse
background and age difference in order for the experience to be representative of the
actual fandom population. The best place to recruit is from the twitter community
because the users there are from different countries. Besides, online interviews are the
obvious data collection method considering time restrictions and financial limitations
when participants are from different continents. Not to mention the covid-19
pandemic prohibited any other possible methods: the government officials in almost
every country suggest their citizens to stay at home, study and work from home as
much as possible during the data collection phrase. Worth noting, since the interviews
are conducted from mid-April until the beginning of May, almost all of the
participants even mentioned the Covid-19 and how it has affected the comic industry.
Namely, the American comic book distributor Diamond shut down its printing and
distribution from the end of March until the end of May (Beaty, 2020). In addition,
online interview is easier for the participants because they do not have to travel, they
lasted from 65 to 180 minutes, due to people having different pace of talking, and
different ways of sharing information. The interview guide can be found in the
Appendix A.
There were twelve semi-structured in-depth individual interviews, all of them
conducted online. The interviews were held in English and Chinese, the quotes from
the Chinese interview were translated in order to be used in the results section (though
original quote in Chinese are provided in the Appendix B to provide full
transparency). Because of the individual differences of the participants’ journey, there
were follow-up questions based on the answers. Nevertheless, during the interview,
the researcher always kept in mind of the overall research question, the aim of the
research as well as the sensitizing concepts to guide the conversation. Two of the
twelve participants chose to use text-based interviews because they felt like their
spoken English is bad or feel more comfortable with text-based interview. It is
important to let all of the participants feel at ease, so that they could provide
meaningful and natural response. This is why they were interviewed by the method
they chose: text based. Since the text-based interview is slower, both of these
interviews were with more than one and half hours to ensure quality and quantity of
content. They were conducted on twitter direct message panel and Whatsapp. The
other ten interviews were conducted within a month, most of them on skype, the rest
Before the interviews, the participants were informed with clarity of the purpose
of the research, and the researcher’s identity. All of the participants were informed of
the anonymity of their information so they would discuss freely and openly. They
were asked to sign and send back the consent form (a blank version of this can be
found in the appendix C). All of the participants signed the form and saved one copy,
so did the researcher. The interviews were recorded, after asking for oral permission
to do so. During the interview, the participants were asked for clarity to ensure their
perceptions and opinions are not misunderstood. For example, answering the question “is disliking some Marvel stories going to change your perceptions towards Marvel as
a whole?”, Steve [all names are alias] answered “I won’t let it affect me to a point
where, like, I won’t give anything a chance.” Which, although vaguely pointed to the direction of “no, it won’t”, but to be certain, he was asked for clarification “So even if
you didn't like some stories, it won’t affect your feelings towards Marvel, is that fair
to say?” Then he replied “Oh no, not at all. I love Marvel. I will always love Marvel. I
will find something they release to enjoy.” After all, it is important to understand their
real intention instead of assuming.
After conducting the interviews, Otter and Xunfei software were used for a rough
transcription, and then the researcher edited the interviews for corrections. After all of
the transcripts were proofread, the coding of the transcripts was done by looking for
useful themes. There are codes like: become a fan, bullied, change in nerd culture,
identification with character, Marvel character building is better, Marvel continuity is
book). All of the codes were gathered and categorized into themes, for example
bullied and change in nerd culture is all categorized into stigma and bully, since they
talked about their own experience of being bullied and how that has changed because
of the change of nerd culture. All of the sensitizing concepts are the guiding topics
which prompted the participants to share their journeys.
Sample
Purposeful sampling is used because certain criteria need to be met -- the
participants have to be Marvel fans. The participants were recruited by convenience
sampling where the researcher reached out to fans who post Marvel-related content on
Twitter, also asked close friends who are Marvel fans. Then snowball sampling was
carried out because four participants did not reply after initial agreement: the
researcher asked some of the participants to ask their friends, and also posted a
request on twitter. Finally, there are twelve participants from very diverse
backgrounds. Their nationalities include British, Chinese, French, French-Canadian,
Mexican, and the United States. Most of the participants were from the United States
because Marvel is an American based company. Their ages range from 21 to 53, but
most participants are either in their 20s or in their 30s. The gender of the participants
is: seven females and five males. Although there might be differences on media
consumption of different gender and age, this study is mainly focused on in-depth
individual journey. In addition, since there are already quite a few studies on gender
they were not purposely chosen when recruiting. However, after some participants
dropped out (they were male and female fans in their 30s), and the majority of the
participants were female fans in their 20s, so the twitter post asked for male
participants over the age of 35. Please note all of the names used in this paper is
pseudonymous to protect the participants’ identity.
Results
With the help of 12 participants and close to 300 pages of transcripts, we
followed the journey of Marvel fans. The longest journey depicts 50 years of fan
experience, the shortest is more than six. Where the participants shared their fan
experience in several themes. These will be discussed in the following sections.
Family Legacy
Marvel has existed for over several decades, earning some of the most loyal fans
since they were just a small comic magazine publishing company, for some of them
being a Marvel fan runs in the family.
Many participants from the United States or the United Kingdom had family
members who were also Marvel fans. These fans passed down their legacies of
Marvel fans onto their children. In some cases, fathers introduced the participants to
comics with their old collections. Other participants lived at their grandparents where
their grandmother (in)directly introduced Marvel into their lives. Steve's grandmother
showed him his father's collections, and soon it became a tradition where his father
would read with him. Similarly, Larry's grandmother introduced him to the flea
from the "Marvel corner". Larry also mentioned his first piece of Marvel taste was a
poster passed down by his father. James pulled out his first comic during the
interview that he collected 30 years ago. They remembered vividly their first
encounter with Marvel, even though the oldest participant James is already 53. He
recalled his first encounter with Marvel when his father was stationed in Germany and
can still tell which book it was. He remarked:
I have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast yesterday. I can remember a comic book 30 years ago. That's how much it meant to me when I was a kid.
Besides, some participants passed down the tradition to their children, creating a
three-generation legacy of Marvel fans. Some fan experiences became family
experiences -- by always catching premieres together on the opening weekend as a
family, or having Marvel movies on replay as background noise regularly. Some of
them shared their comics books with their children, others introduced their children to
the magic of MCU. Johan made MCU their family tradition, as people were with
"Monday night news anchor", he said Marvel people are common people in his
household. Moreover, James exclaimed:
It's a great thing to be part of the MCU thing to share with my kids…I got an 18-year-old and 13-year-old and to share this whole universe that I've grown up with, it's been this part of my life, with my kids is just like sharing a family recipe.
Parasocial Relationship
Many participants admitted that their lives have been changing: different jobs,
schools, and residents. However, Marvel has always been a constant in their lives.
This is called companionship with a media text, and it is one of the most important
parts of the parasocial relationship, in addition to identification. Identifying with a
character is an indicator of the parasocial relationship. Indeed, all of the participants
experienced identification: from seeing themselves in the characters they like, to
aspiring to be a better person like their favorite character. The later, however, is called
wishful identification, in which (often children) desire to be like some character they
identify with. Steve thinks the character Nova is very relatable because he is an Earth
kid who got drafted to space and became a superhero. Therefore, as a child, he
thought he could be Nova someday. Because Nova was relatable, unlike most
superheroes: who are either rich, or a genius, or got bitten by a radioactive spider -- he
experienced wishful identification and identification. When talking about Nova, Steve
became very excited in his voice, and in the way he talks, he used "badass" a lot to
illustrate the inner child. What's more, James even reflects on his decision to be a
soldier, and wondered if part of it was because he was inspired by Captain America.
At the beginning, I feel bad maybe I angry with them. But now, knowing Steve rogers…They just want have a better quality of life. That changed my perspective. A lot.
Other participants also shared stories of how a character is so relatable, that it
inspired them to be a better person. Larry has a learning disability, so he always
identified with X-men-who are a team of misfits born with powers -- some powers are
very different and inconvenient which other people judge them for. Larry compared
his insecurities, social awkwardness, and shyness to the misfits of the X-men team.
But despite the differences, X-men were able to have a normal life and were even able
to protect people. This gave Larry hope:
Rogue cannot touch another living thing without drain its life force…I myself identify with…because I have terrible social anxiety…Rogue, however, persists to have a full a life as she can, regardless of this ability. That's something I myself try to emulate.
Not only did participants experience parasocial relationships with Marvel
characters, some even developed a parasocial relationship with the creators. More
than half of the participants mentioned Stan Lee and a few mentioned Jack Kirby.
They are broadly considered as two persons who contributed the most to Marvel
call him "Stan". The participants seem to think they know Stan Lee personally, so that
they could think for him, or stand up for him, or wish him a happy birthday and honor
him upon his death. For example, one participant casually mentioned it was him, as
opposed to the Marvel company, who is trying to push the Marvel brand by
incorporating superhero imagery on 711 Slurpee. He insisted on buying a book which
he read when he was younger -- although he doesn't buy physical books anymore --
just to read the foreword section written by Stan Lee. Larry wore a Spiderman band to
his dojo to honor "the Great man" on the day of his death. And he felt defensive when
a talk-show host said unrespectful words about Stan after he had died.
Even though some of them have different opinions, they all believed that they
know Stan Lee enough to make assumptions. Two participants happen to talk about
Stan Lee's perception of diversity in comics. One of them thinks that Stan Lee made
comics for everybody, and he would be happy to see Marvel content being as diverse
as it is now. Whereas the other participant does not like the fact that the Black Panther
movie is about racial issues, and he thinks this proves to him that Stan Lee had less
control over his legacy later in his life: meaning he wouldn't have liked the diversity
in modern Marvel movies. They used words like "proves to me" "I'm pretty sure" to
illustrate their firm belief. This is called “projection” in psychology terms, in which
people project their own world view on the person they admire (Ahmed, 2020).
Besides, the participants are not shy when expressing their love and respect for
Stan. It is clearly demonstrated by the tone of voice and the words. Some participants
reason why Marvel characters are so realistic is Stan Lee's legacy: "That goes all the
way back to Stan Lee." One participant said with passionate tone:
Stan Lee is a legend, he's icon, he's created so many things for so many generations. He will live forever, he definitely one of the great men that's contributed to what we consider our cultural attaches that have led us to where we're at now and… opened up the door for other franchises…They has now grown into this giant Empire, allowed it to be socially acceptable to enjoy these things without ridicule.
Use of Multiple Media
Marvel is known to have different media outlets. The interview participants
mentioned that they have consumed, used, watched or owned the following: movies,
comics, Disney plus, sketchbooks, Marvel books, T-shirts, slippers, plastic cup,
Funko pop, action figures, socks, trading cards, twitter, Facebook, YouTube analysis
videos, Pinterest fan-made content, Archive or our own fanfiction, fanfiction.net fan
fiction, podcast, Marvel Unlimited, Comixology, Saturday morning cartoons, and
Reddit discussion boards.
Amongst those media outlets, comics and movies are the main attractions. The
participants watch Marvel movies regularly. Most participants are comics readers.
The youngest two participants read very little comic and are the only ones who knew
Marvel though the movies. Generally, the participants showed it is easier to switch
comics are now also very invested in movies, and they always wanted to explore
Marvel content since they were little. In contrast, for people who knew Marvel
through movies, they express very little interest in reading comics, or older content in
general. Instead, they are more interested in fan-made content from YouTube, AO3
(archive of our own), and other social media platforms. Lisa cannot focus on the
comics, she said "I told you I'm a bad student, I don't finish comics, I don't finish the books, I'm a horrible person…I know I would love it. I just don't get to it." (She is not
the only one expressed guilt about not being a good enough Marvel fan, many
participants said they wish they would spend more time on Marvel, even though they
already dedicated the majority of their free time.) Sofia consumed a lot of fan-made
content; she thinks this can help her understand things from the comics which she
doesn't want to read. She said there are quite a lot of crash course videos online to
help her remember movie plots or gain knowledge on Marvel insights.
On the other hand, most of the comic fans became fans two to three decades ago,
they have consumed many different media outlets ever since they were children. Most
of them did not even have a decision process: they would just watch everything from
Marvel that they know of. Almost all the other participants shares similar attitudes,
stating they saw a trailer of X-Men movies, and anxious to see what they are going to
do on the big screen, or a friend told them about a character from the cartoons are in
comics now, so they just had their mom bring them to the store. James has known
Marvel for more than 50 years, he said that he would consume anything from Marvel
Not only consuming, but some fans also create Marvel related content. Paula and Jack
operate a X-men related podcast and twitter account, Xin is in one of the Marvel
comics translation group, and Sofia writes fanfictions featuring Marvel characters.
Marvel has so many mediums, so everybody has different preferences, and not all
of them consume the exact same content. Marvel pushes the idea that different
platforms together create the whole Marvel Universe. However, participants didn't
perceive it that way. Some of them think comic books are the source material, and all
the other mediums are alliterations of comics. The rest of them think those platforms
do not have any connections at all, even though the characters are the same. Yet the
core value of characters is missing in a lot of the channels for some participants. Xue
said so about a game called Marvel Tsum tsum, because all of the characters look
similar and don't have different functions to distinguish from each other. Two
participants expressed criticism about MCU ignoring Netflix shows, Larry said
angrily:
…you sold them, you let Netflix make these shows. With these shows are connected to your universe, they reference the first Avengers movie…but you decided that you don't like them. So, you're going to get completely ignore them.
One of the very important aspects of transmedia storytelling is consistency
running in every platform. Almost all of the fans think Marvel products have a good
enjoy a story about Spider-man that is 400 issues long. Or because of the consistency
in over ten years of movies, which was “never seen before”. Some participants think
these consistencies can create familiarity since they know characters for over the
years who eventually became like old friends. It creates a feeling like they are insiders
to the universe. Moreover, it is good for character building and world-building. Last
but not least, it is more narratively interesting.
Uses & Gratification
Media audiences have different motives concerning consuming media text. The
participants mentioned several different gratifications they gained from
Marvel-related media. This research found gratifications like pleasure-seeking,
information seeking, educational value, confirming fan identity, and killing time.
Some participants mentioned pleasure-seeking in movies and fan-made content.
They are mainly movie fans and they would be more active when there is an
upcoming movie release. They mentioned that before or after a movie, there is an
increase in fan-made and official content. Xin thinks movies in itself bring a "very
direct visual pleasure". The reason why she becomes more active is that she wants to
extent that pleasure since there is a huge time gap in between movies:
But when you get out of the theater it stopped… (consuming multiple media outlets) is for extending happiness, or even produce new happiness. (The original Chinese transcript is in appendix B, translation 1)
Two participants mentioned consuming Marvel content for information seeking.
Sofia consumes fan-made content to "fill blanks" or "gain extra information" or
"in-depth understanding" of the information she forgot or never got. Xin would follow
Marvel influencers to get first-hand news translated from English to Chinese, so she
doesn't need to search them herself.
Other participants mentioned helping learning disabilities, killing time, and
confirming fan identity. First, Xin mentioned owning physical comics and
merchandise is for fan identity confirmation. She thinks if she just saw a movie once
in the theater or read some comics online doesn't give her the feeling that she really
loves Marvel. She compares this with a soldier getting an honor badge. Second, Xue
admits she spent a great amount of time playing a Marvel game called Marvel
Tsumtsum on the subway to kill time, because she thinks the game is entertaining and
easy. Last but not least, Larry says comic books helped him greatly on his dyslexia
because he could use the imagery to understand the plot instead of having to only read
the words. In addition, comics are the only thing he could focus on. Before long, he
could read normal books. He explained:
One of the reasons I went to comics, which I've kind of skipped over that but really is with my dyslexia…I'm forcing myself to kind of understand what's being said in the speech bubbles or dialog boxes. And it's kind of kind of image, text, image, text image text that I think is really important for kids learning and it certainly was for me…I went from comics to books fairly quickly.
Stigma & Bullying
All of the participants encountered some form of bullying, from casual teasing
from friends to actual vocal abuse because of their love for "nerd stuff". The ones who
received mild criticism or teasing did not take it personally. Others admitted that the
bully left a mark on them, even resulted in changed behavior -- three of them gave up
on comics for several years. Mindy gave up on comics because she kept getting
criticized for being childish. This made her think she shouldn't be enjoying what she
enjoyed. Similarly, Larry mentioned he "learned not to" bring comics to school,
because he got bullied there. Most of them received bullying or criticism when they
were in school. Although one participant noted that he was teased recently, the
majority of the participants did not get any criticism for their love for "nerd stuff"
anymore. All but one participant thinks this is because of the rise of Marvel movies.
Generally, the participants think Marvel movies, especially Marvel Cinematic
Universe changed the media landscape, making superheroes a part of popular culture.
Since the reason why people bully the participants is for loving an unpopular genre,
now superheroes are popular, there is no need to bully them anymore. Johan remarks:
It's awakened to the majority of what has made it socially acceptable to have a fandom at this level to be this involved…MCU…starts with that cultural impact, it becomes socially acceptable, it's the hot thing that everybody's doing…it's grown and baked into our culture now.
In addition, Xue thinks that being a female fan attracts even more stereotyping
and teasing, she shared a story where a comic bookstore employee asked her if she
knows these people on the comic book she purchased. She thinks they assume
because she is a female comic reader, she is a fake fan, or she is only here because she
thinks the MCU actors are hot. She believes that girls receive added stigma because
superheroes are considered to be for boys. Mindy supported her argument by saying:
As a woman also there is this added judgment because you are expected to not think of such foolish things as well, and comics are always talked about as being
something for boys more than girls, even though that is untrue.
What's more, four participants expressed that those who bullied them might like
Marvel movies now since it is so popular. Some of them suggested they might look
back and see the participants were right all along. Most of them said so with a very
sarcastic, ironic tone to point out they were treated unfairly. Paula even said "fuck
you" to the irony. Johan shared the story of how people how made fun of him is his
best friend now who would watch Marvel movies with him. James tried very hard not
to sound like he cared, but he did mention he got payback because he collected child
So, for me, these people have probably seen the Marvel movie. And oh, yeah, and obviously if do or don't, I do not care. "Oh, maybe James was onto something back then." Or not. It doesn't matter to me. And not hearing what other people say, is a great way to get through life.
Magical Realism
Generally speaking, the participants believed that magical realism is deeply
embedded in the Marvel world. Many of them mentioned Tony Stark's technology is
very much linked to our world's real technology, and the Marvel universe predicted
this before the real world came up with it. Lisa argued the artificial intelligence in
Tony Stark's house, Jarvis, is an upgraded version of Siri. Xue shared another
example with a well embedded magical realism in the movies: in the Spider-man
movie starring Andrew Garfield, Gwen Stacy died. She said this is very scientific
because if someone jumped from a high building, and was caught in a high speed, that
person's neck is going to be broken. James shared examples of how Marvel used
realism in their universe to make stories more grounded: Spider-man, being a
superhero, but still has to struggle with money, and in Marvel's Avengers when New
York got attacked, real buildings get destroyed and innocent bystanders are
everywhere. James also mentioned his struggle on money, so it is very reasonable that
he finds this relatable, He summarizes: "I think magical realism is showing something
fantastic, but in a realistic setting." Moreover, Johan remarks that realism and fantasy
whereas the fantasy kept the story exciting-because people don't want to see other
people just "taking out the trash on a Tuesday morning". Furthermore, Xue thinks it is
essential to have magical realism even in the most outlandish fictional worlds:
I think that human is that we cannot imagine a world that's not based on what we know. So, you had to make some things to the real world. And that should be, like, making sense.
It is interesting to find that Marvel's main competitor was mentioned a few times
during the interviews. Some participants seem to think that Marvel's characters are far
more compelling than DC's because they seem very human, therefore more relatable
and realistic. James argued that Marvel characters are with real human personalities,
and they act like real people. Paula also thinks Marvel character building is superior
because they went through a lot and have deep flaws which are relatable. In addition,
Jack thinks Marvel's magical realism is better established than DC, because the
X-men character design is relatable since they are not billionaires or scientist or
genius -- these features are very far from his life, instead, they are born special, and
changed into a special powerful being automatically after puberty. In his childhood,
he can imagine himself changing into these young heroes when he grows up. Second,
the Marvel world has very grounded recognizable elements he can pick from his own
places that he knew. He thinks " it makes it more real for me and I can feel more
immersed in that story."
Conclusion & Discussion
In this study, we looked at the Marvel fan journeys and shared experiences across
different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, trying to answer the question how fans
experience transmedia and magical realism in the Marvel Universe. We have learned
that fans gained parasocial relationships with Marvel’s transmedia storytelling, and
fans appreciate that they can easily identify magical realism in the Marvel Universe,
and they think it is very important for the narrative, in fact could be one of the great
strengths of Marvel compared to its competitors.
Indeed, Marvel fans complimented on Marvel characters being relatable and
more human-like, reinforcing parasocial relationships. They think magical realism
helped them comprehend the fantasy world because of the realistic elements: same
personal struggle, similar personal traits or even same city names. Moreover, they
think they can identify more with Marvel characters. Identification, just as Boon &
Lomore (2001) argued, is one of the defining elements of a parasocial relationship.
Wishful identification is also found when participants talk about childhood memories
of superheroes, confirming what Hoffner said in his study in 1996 that wishful
identification often occur in childhood when they admire virtuous characters and
aspire to be them. However, the fact that they relate more to marvel heroes could be
biased, since most of those fans prefer Marvel than DC. Future researchers could
Interesting to note, many fans experienced Marvel as a family tradition, and kept
the tradition going for future generations, which strengthen the parasocial relationship
since it is linked with fond memories they share with families. This study expanded
what we knew of the traditional parasocial relationship by adding the social element。
Future researcher could investigate if social relationship is incorporated with
parasocial relationship, is the bond stronger? In addition, one of the findings is quite
unique since this is rarely talked about in any academic setting -- parasocial
relationship with Stan Lee. Stan Lee has mentioned his strategy of getting his readers
to feel closer to him and he succeeded, quite a few participants showed that they have
established parasocial relationship with him. It is curious that the audiences can
maintain parasocial relationship with him and his creations. Future researcher might
investigate whether establishing a parasocial relationship is easier with fictional
characters or with their creators. Perhaps is it a singular case with Stan Lee since he is
not only a creator?
Unlike what Marvel hoped, the fans do not see every media platform as
complementary to each other (Jeffries, 2017). Instead, they only see the characters as
different adaptations, which is in line with most transmedia theories (Jenkins, 2010;
Delwiche & Henderson, 2012). However, fans do think compared to traditional media,
transmedia helps the narrative in enhancing familiarity, letting audience invest more
in the characters -- therefore reinforcing the parasocial relationship. What’s more, the
continuity in Marvel Universe is highly praised and seen as a basis of the entire
transmedia world (2012). This study also confirmed the participatory fandom
contributed in the transmedia world -- quite a few participants create and consume fan
made content (Jenkins, 2010). In addition, when the participants were asked about the Marvel content they consume, many mentioned fan-made contents as regular
consumption material. In their mind, the fan-made content is a part of the transmedia storytelling.
This study contributes in adding width to the traditional uses and gratification
theory (Levy & Windahl, 1985). Magical realism is one of the gratification users
could get from seeing fantastic stories based on a realistic setting: it gives users the
satisfaction of combining relatable stories with wild imagination. Using transmedia
platform, the audiences gained the gratification of familiarity and emotional
investments, and it extends the pleasure the audiences get from one platform to the
next. Therefore, both magical realism and transmedia platform using are two types of
gratifications that could motivate users to use Marvel media platforms.
It is sad to see that many fans encountered bullying because superhero stories are
perceived to be too childish. Some participants even changed their behavior because
of it. This study confirms what other studies discussed about nerd culture and how it
has changed over the years because of the media landscape change. However,
participants from different countries and cities have different experience of bullying,
some of them believed it has to do with environment instead of time. Since one
participant experienced harsh bullying in 2010s, but another never experienced any
experienced more stigma because the stereotype that comics are only for boys. Future
research could investigate whether this is a common phenomenon and its
complications.
There were a few limitations and restrictions of this research. First, since the
researcher is very passionate about the topic, sometimes she tried to express her own
opinions during the interviews. This normally would cause contaminated response
since the participants might be guided towards her opinion. Luckily, the participants
are all very opinionated and not afraid to disagree and correct the researcher, some on
different occasions. Therefore, the answers are still valid and meaningful. However,
future researchers should take notes on this matter and avoid giving out their own
opinions to best maintain the most natural responses. Second, because the interviews
are conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, some targeted demographics were not
reached after they have agreed to participate, therefore some participants were
younger than planned. Nevertheless, the population is already quite diverse, they did
give very meaningful response, so the results are still valid. Future researcher could
potentially study more on age and gender or geographical differences in fan behavior
and experience.
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Appendix A
Interview Guide Introduction
Goal: Discover marvel fan experience on various topics and contexts
Put participants at ease: Your anonymity is assured; our conversation won’t be shared with anyone other than my supervisor for academic purposes.
Recording: The interview will be recorded for research purposes.
Informed consent: Digitally signed consent letter
Presentation: Can you please introduce yourself?
Topic 1 Fan history
Goal: Find out fan experience history
Introduction: When did you first know about marvel?
Initial question: When and how did you become a fan? (I mean it is completely up to you how you define becoming a fan)
2nd question: How much time you spend with Marvel or Marvel related stuff or with other Marvel fans?
3rd question: How did people around you react to your fandom when you were younger, and has this changed over time?
Marvel?
5th question: Favorite superhero and why?
Topic 2 Transmedia
Goal: Understand the journey as a fan exploring different platforms
Introduction: How many different marvel media do you use? (clarification if needed: I mean movies, comics, social media, TV series, cartoon series, trading cards, podcasts, action figures, etc.)
Initial question: And can you walk me through how do you use those media?
2nd question: How and why did you find out and decided to explore different platforms?
3rd question: What are the difference and relationship between platforms? Content wise-and how you use it?
Topic 3 Magical realism
Goal: Find out how fans deal with confliction.
Introduction:
Initial question: Do you know what magical realism mean?
If not: imagine watching a sci-fi movie about aliens and monsters, and their spaceship exploded, fire and sparkles
everywhere. People started to question why a spaceship would explode because there is no air in space. Instead of questioning the fact that there are no aliens or monsters in the world. The realism people experience in a fantasy setting is called magical realism. So have you experienced anything like this in the Marvel Universe or Marvel Cinematic Universe? Can you
elaborate?
2nd question: What is your impression of this situation?
3rd question: Did it effect your feeling towards Marvel?
Appendix B
Original Chinese transcript and translated quotes Translation 1:
But when you get out of the theater it stopped…(consuming multiple media outlets) is
for extending happiness, or even produce new happiness.
Original: 我觉得电影他是一个能很带来很视觉上很直观的 pleasure 的一个地方…但是这个 快乐在你走出电影的那一刻消费停止了…是这样我才会去比如说豆瓣上我会去 看大家的影评，我去看彩蛋，然后在微信上然后在漫威的同好群里面我们会去讨 论。然后你在微博上，我会再去刷比如说一些花絮这些大 v 更新的那些花絮，还 有其他的东西。其实都是为了让我去延续微博电影带给我的快乐吧。而且甚至会 产生新的快乐对吧。
Appendix C
Consent Form
Informed consent form
I hereby declare that I have been informed in a clear manner about the nature and method of the research, as so communicated by the researcher before this study.
I agree, fully and voluntarily, to participate in this research study. With this, I retain the right to withdraw my consent, without having to give a reason for doing so. I am aware that I may halt my participation in the interview at any time.
I understand that if my research results are used in scientific publications or are made public in another way, this will be done such a way that my anonymity is completely safeguarded. My personal data will not be passed on to third parties without my express permission. This form is only for the researcher and my own safe keeping.
If I wish to receive more information about the research, either now or in future, I can contact Shukun Xue. at shukun.xue@student.uva.nl. Or the researcher’s supervisor Dr. R. (Renske) van Bronswijk PhD, at
r.vanbronswijk@uva.nl. Should I have any complaints about this research, I can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee representing the ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR secretariat, Ethics
Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020‐ 525 3680; ascor_secr_fmg@uva.nl.
By signing this, I understand the text presented above, and I agree to participate in the research study.
Full Name: ____________
Date: _________________
Appendix D
Code Book
being a fan
age · anticipation · become a fan · care for a character · Chinese fandom shift quick · collecting comics · connection · consume marvel media · daily routine · define being a fan · doing hobby related work · downside being a fan · exploring · family legacy · fandom hierarchy · fandom more inclusive · feel protective of characters · First encounter · first knew MCU · first knew modern marvel movies · gaining enjoyment · hobby come in to one's life · hyped about future project · immediately sold · inspired · marvel is more fun · not immediately
sold · participatory fandom · save money to buy comics · see movie premiere day one · Spending time · upside being a fan
bullied
behavior change over time · being bullied might because of area and ppl · break from marvel · bullied · bullies bullied me because they watch American film · bullies might like marvel now · busy don’t have time to read · change in nerd
culture · change in perspective · comic is male dominant culture · define
nerdy · family needs money, cut back on comics · fan girl stereotype · from nerd to pop · going back to marvel · got out of comics because grow up · I was right back then · MCU bring non nerds into the franchise · MCU changed nerd culture
landscape · MCU is not the reason for nerd culture uprising · media access is more convenient · movie made nerd culture popular · nerd stereotype · non-fan perspective change · not being bullied · not talk to close minded ppl · now no bully · payback for being bullied · society change · stigma · stigma changed behavior · stigma for female fans · superheroes are for kids · teased · the effect of MCU
character
character not black and white · details so good · human emotions · marvel character building is better · more human · more movie, deeper development
corona
corona related comments · corona related questions
criticism
disappointment · keep character and corporate separate
DC
Marvel and DC handle things differently · Marvel character building is
better · Marvel character deeply flawed is interesting · Marvel character is more human · Marvel has more characters · Marvel is more acceptable · Marvel is more
fun · Marvel spend time character build up · Marvel storytelling is better · Marvel>DC
family& friends
common love for marvel with friends · family legacy · From peers · like
debates · marvel changed network · Peer activity · peer perspective · peers · peers make her more active · ppl knew marvel from very early on · recommended marvel to someone else · watching movie have social aspects
love
happy for Marvel · happy to see marvel and nerd is big · love artwork · love big reveal · love character · love Marvel · love the story · love too many Marvel characters so can’t just hate Marvel · means a lot to me · remember for 30
years · remembers plot very well · singing · spend all the money on comics · vivid memory · want to spend more time
nostalgia
nostalgia · remember for 30 years · still have the comic from 30 yr ago
old and new media
don’t read comics · don’t want to read comics, just fanfic · from physical to digital comics · old media tv guide · old time media · old ways of selling comics
parasocial
anticipation · care for a character · connection · emotional bond · experience emotion by reading comics · identification · inspired by character · Marvel is the constant in everchanging life · parasocial relationship with character · parasocial relationship with Stan and Jack · relatable character · relate to the story · strong emotion · take in character personality · the effect of a character · using a very affectionate tone to describe the character
very excited · want to be the character
transmedia
a character made her read comics · audience · audience determined content · Blu-ray and tablet · cartoon comparison · change is fine as long as core ideal stays · comic is the source · comics buying habits · comics less censored · consume different marvel medium is cool · consume Marvel media · digital comics to save room · digital on phone · Disney plus
extend the pleasure of film · fan fiction · if it is Marvel related will go see it · introduction to comics-library · like to buy comics rather than action
figures · make a Captain America pin · MCU continuity is unique · MCU is made by comic ppl · media comparison · merchandise · merchandise as fan identity
reassurance · movie comics comparison · movie going habits · movie introduced comic · need Marvel content during movie gap · no selection process · no
