‘BLOODY PIRATES!!!* shakes fist*’: Reimagining East Asian film distribution and reception through online filesharing networks

Abstract

ABSTRACTThrough an examination of the findings of an ethnographic study of online forums concerned with sharing East Asian films, this article considers how these filesharing forums enable audiences to both reimagine and reconfigure their relationship with the text. Rather than replacing traditional forms of production, distribution and consumption, these activities exist alongside them, but can be considered to further blur the boundaries between such categorizations. On filesharing forums, films will be sourced, encoded, shared, promoted, subtitled, recommended and reviewed by a range of people who cannot be easily categorized as simply consumers, producers or distributors in any traditional sense. As such, the ‘linear’ industry model where a film is produced, distributed and consumed by people who occupy strict roles in the process explodes into a network model that involves a varied and dispersed group of people (both professional and amateur). Perhaps more significantly, these forum members see their online activities as adding value to the product; far from viewing themselves as revenue-stealing ‘pirates’ they conceive of themselves as almost part of the East Asian film industry. By viewing their activities as promotional and adopting ethical codes they interpret their own behaviour as positively contributing to an industry that they hold in the highest regard.