Henry Jenkins Theory: Star Trek Fans vs Sex and the City Fans

Henry Jenkins was one of the first American scholars to study the effects of audience participation on mass culture. One of his most famous examples being the fans of ‘Start Trek’ in which Jenkins is able to provide numerous detailed records of different communities whom each have different experiences and preferences when watching the program. An example of this is Jenkins asked a group of male MIT students and a group of female fanzine characters ‘what came into their minds when he named each character?’ to which the males answered more along the lines of characters as autonomous problem solvers, stressing instances where one or another, primarily acting alone, saved the ship from certain destruction. Where as the females were more drawn to the relationships side / desires and emotional lives. Many Star Trek fans hold websites/logs, attend Star Trek exhibitions, get emotionally attached to certain characters, dress up and compare themselves to characters etc.

Similarly, the fans from ‘Sex and the City’ compare to these Start Trek fans in the sense that there are different communities which also provide different experiences when watching the show allowing certain audiences to attach to the show in different ways. Numerous blogs, quizzes and websites have been created especially for Sex and the city fans on sites such as:

1)      Sex and the City

2)      Star Trek

The facebook group – ‘Addicted to Sex in the City’ shows fans who leave comments about their views on certain characters within the show and what they would like to happen or how they feel about certain aspects. This compares to Star Trek followers as both fans get hooked and learn the characters thoroughly enough they are able to write their own texts and opinions. Sex and the city appeals more to women as they can relate to the main characters, of whom are female, and the ins and outs of relationships which occur within the script. Males aren’t as big with Sex and City but for the few who do get hooked it is mainly to watch the drama and follow the narrative which consists of all types of twists and turns. 

Jenkins states about Start Trek followers:

“Fans elaborate on the program “meta-text” to insure both consistency and complexity in their understanding of its various worlds and cultures, imagining alternative plots or different character relations”

On the facebook group – ‘Addicted to Sex in the City’ fans also suggest hypothetical scenarios as this ensures a deeper understanding and complexity, as said by Jenkins’ of the characters and other worlds which could exist.