Star Trek Fans and Costume Art

Abstract

Star Trek Fans and Costume Art by Heather R. Joseph-Witham. Folk Art and Artists Series. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. pp. 72, Preface, Photographs. $32.50 cloth. $16.95 paper) Heather R Joseph-Witham, a doctoral candidate in folklore and mythology at UCLA, has produced the first sustained account of costume art within the Star Trek fan community. In recent years, Star Trek fandom has emerged as a central locus of research for those concerned with the ways that participatory and folk cultures emerge in the shadows of the contemporary mass media. This research has helped to shatter once and for all the stereotype of the clueless Trekkie in desperate need of a life. Fans of Star Trek and many other programs have been examined as active participants in a thriving subculture with its own music, literature, philosophy, video art, and painting. These fans have taken the broadcast material as the raw materials for their own creative activity, much as earlier generations elaborated and retold the stock narratives of their culture. As one of Joseph-Witham's respondents explains, We're not defined by Trek; Trek is defined by us. Joseph-Witham's short yet rewarding study examines one particular sector of that community-those fans who are engaged in the design, production and modeling of their own uniforms, make-up and costumes based on the series. Joseph-Witham helps us to better understand the reasons people choose to more actively participate in this fan culture, despite some of the social stigma that surrounds it, and enables us to more fully appreciate the craftsmanship and ingenuity which goes into this contemporary folk culture. She explores, for example, the tension between fans' desires to more accurately reproduce the costumes which they saw on the aired episodes and their desires to design costumes that reflect their own individual tastes. She describes the sense of community and empowerment the fans gain through their participation within fandom. Her book is richly illustrated with full color photographs of Klingons in full ceremonial attire, of fans dressed as favorite characters from the series or as original personas designed to fit within the program mythology. She also offers some helpful contributions to current debates about the relationship between folk and popular culture. For the most part, Joseph-Witham allows the fans to speak for themselves, faithfully recording their own accounts of how they became involved in science fiction costuming and how that involvement has changed their sense of who they are. …