Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks

The way Japanese animation has been spread outside Japan not only by entertainment companies but also by fan groups that have worked to produce fan subs—that is, subtitled translations of films and television shows produced without authorization and shared outside established commercial channels—has...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mikhail Koulikov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Organization for Transformative Works 2010-09-01
Series:Transformative Works and Cultures
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2010.0115
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spelling doaj-063862c6a3794b8686739f96e7b1b9192021-07-02T05:33:48ZengOrganization for Transformative WorksTransformative Works and Cultures1941-22581941-22582010-09-01510.3983/twc.2010.0115Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networksMikhail Koulikov0Brooklyn, New York, United StatesThe way Japanese animation has been spread outside Japan not only by entertainment companies but also by fan groups that have worked to produce fan subs—that is, subtitled translations of films and television shows produced without authorization and shared outside established commercial channels—has been one of the most powerful examples of transformative culture to take place in the last three decades or so. Much has already been written about anime and its global impact, but the process of fan sub creation and distribution, and in particular how these groups have been structured, has not yet been examined in depth. A question that is becoming prominent concerns what happens when the fan subbing culture finally clashes with authorized commercial content distributors. This essay explores the way fan sub distribution has changed over the years and draws on the concept of Net war to illustrate the conflict and the potential tools and methods animation distribution companies have used to engage, subvert, and interdict these groups. This has broad implications for understanding and predicting the flow of other emerging conflicts between networked actors, such as hackers, anarchists, and activists, and hierarchically organized traditional corporate entities.http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2010.0115AnimeArquillaJapanese animationNet warNetworked publicsPeer-to-peer distributionRonfeldt
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Mikhail Koulikov
spellingShingle Mikhail Koulikov
Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
Transformative Works and Cultures
Anime
Arquilla
Japanese animation
Net war
Networked publics
Peer-to-peer distribution
Ronfeldt
author_facet Mikhail Koulikov
author_sort Mikhail Koulikov
title Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
title_short Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
title_full Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
title_fullStr Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
title_full_unstemmed Fighting the fan sub war: Conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
title_sort fighting the fan sub war: conflicts between media rights holders and unauthorized creator/distributor networks
publisher Organization for Transformative Works
series Transformative Works and Cultures
issn 1941-2258
1941-2258
publishDate 2010-09-01
description The way Japanese animation has been spread outside Japan not only by entertainment companies but also by fan groups that have worked to produce fan subs—that is, subtitled translations of films and television shows produced without authorization and shared outside established commercial channels—has been one of the most powerful examples of transformative culture to take place in the last three decades or so. Much has already been written about anime and its global impact, but the process of fan sub creation and distribution, and in particular how these groups have been structured, has not yet been examined in depth. A question that is becoming prominent concerns what happens when the fan subbing culture finally clashes with authorized commercial content distributors. This essay explores the way fan sub distribution has changed over the years and draws on the concept of Net war to illustrate the conflict and the potential tools and methods animation distribution companies have used to engage, subvert, and interdict these groups. This has broad implications for understanding and predicting the flow of other emerging conflicts between networked actors, such as hackers, anarchists, and activists, and hierarchically organized traditional corporate entities.
topic Anime
Arquilla
Japanese animation
Net war
Networked publics
Peer-to-peer distribution
Ronfeldt
url http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2010.0115
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