Henry Jenkins – A Level Media Studies Eduqas Revision

Henry Jenkins: An Overview

Henry Jenkins is a renowned academic figure in media and cultural studies, particularly known for his research in video game studies.
His work spans a broad range of fields including fan culture, new media literacy, transmedia storytelling, and media convergence, among others.
Jenkins served as the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and currently holds a post at the University of Southern California.

One of Jenkins’s fundamental theories is that of convergence culture, which he discusses in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.
Convergence culture refers to a cultural shift where consumers play an increasingly participatory role in media production and consumption, driven by the fluidity of content across various media platforms.
According to Jenkins, this phenomenon allows for greater interactivity and audience participation, a characteristic also found in many modern video games.

Jenkins is a key advocate for the societal and cultural value of video games. He actively challenges the discourse that paints gaming as solely a negative influence.
His book, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games, looks at gender representation in video games. He asserts that video games, like other media forms, reproduce cultural notions about gender roles and identities.
He also addresses the concept of narrative architecture in video games, suggesting that game stories are not merely told through scripted dialogues or cutscenes, but also through game mechanics and players’ interactive experiences within the game world.
Jenkins also explores the idea of video games as a new form of literacy, suggesting that gaming can foster problem-solving, exploration, and comprehension skills similar to traditional literacy skills.

Jenkins is also known for his study of fan cultures, where he underscores how fans appropriate original content and reshape it in creative ways, a practice known as textual poaching.
This links back to the culture of modding in video gaming. Modding allows fans to transcend the role of passive consumers and become active creators, developing their own modifications to the original game.
Overall, Jenkins’s work is crucial in understanding how video games function within the larger media landscape, highlighting the active engagement of audiences and the cultural conversations involved in gaming.