ASSEMBLAGED BY DESIRE: POTTERHEADS' PRODUCTIVE CONSUMPTION

ABSTRACT

The Harry Potter saga became one of the cultural products with a major impact on the twenty-first century. Its fans, called potterheads, relate in a social space known as fandom. Their practices are based on the appropriation of the cultural text in a productive consumption process within a context of participatory culture. Assuming desire from the perspective of Deleuzian assemblage theory, which presents this concept as a flow of productive energy that is articulated through a collective force, this study aimed to understand how potterheads' productive consumption is assemblaged by desire. We therefore explored multifocal data concerning practices of potterheads available on digital platforms using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. Our results revealed that potterheads' desire assemblage maintains their bond with the canonical universe of the saga, as a way of maintaining identity and security in the transition to adult life, through relationships in the fandom and in pursuit of broader social legitimacy. The study contributes theoretically by adopting the Deleuzian notion of desire as a lens to understand the collective action of consumers in cultural contexts of practice.

KEYWORDS
Potterheads; prosumption; desire; assemblage; Deleuze

RESUMO

A saga Harry Potter tornou-se um dos produtos culturais de maior impacto do século XXI. Seus fãs, chamados potterheads, relacionam-se em um espaço social conhecido como fandom. Suas práticas pautam-se na apropriação do texto cultural, num processo de consumo produtivo, em meio a um contexto de cultura participativa. Assumindo o desejo do ponto de vista da teoria deleuziana do agenciamento, em que tal conceito é apresentado como um fluxo de energia produtiva, articulada por meio de uma força coletiva, o presente trabalho teve por objetivo compreender como o consumo produtivo dos potterheads é agenciado pelo desejo. Para tal, exploramos dados multifocais referentes a práticas dos potterheads disponíveis em plataformas digitais, por meio da análise de discurso foucaultiana. Nossos resultados revelam que o agenciamento de desejos dos potterheads mantém seu vínculo com o universo canônico da saga, como forma de manutenção dessa identidade e de segurança na transição para a vida adulta, o que ocorre por meio das relações no fandom e na busca de uma legitimidade social mais ampla. A contribuição teórica da pesquisa evidencia-se na adoção da noção deleuziana de desejo como lente para se compreender a ação coletiva de consumidores em contextos culturais de prática.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE
Potterheads; prossumo; desejo; agenciamento; Deleuze

RESUMEN

La saga Harry Potter se convirtió en uno de los productos culturales de mayor impacto del siglo XXI. Sus fanes, llamados potterheads, se relacionan en un espacio social conocido como fandom. Sus prácticas se basan en la apropiación del texto cultural, en un proceso de consumo productivo, en medio de un contexto de cultura participativa. Al asumir el deseo del punto de vista de la teoría deleuziana de la mediación, en que tal concepto se presenta como un flujo de energía productiva, articulada por medio de una fuerza colectiva, el presente trabajo tuvo por objetivo comprender cómo el consumo productivo de los potterheads es mediado por el deseo. Para tal, exploramos datos multifocales referentes a prácticas de los potterheads disponibles en plataformas digitales, por medio del análisis de discurso foucaultiano. Nuestros resultados revelan que la mediación de deseos de los potterheads mantiene su vínculo con el universo canónico de la saga, como forma de mantenimiento de esa identidad y de seguridad en la transición a la vida adulta, lo que ocurre por medio de las relaciones en el fandom y en la búsqueda de una legitimidad social más amplia. La contribución teórica de la investigación se evidencia en la adopción de la noción deleuziana de deseo como lente para comprender la acción colectiva de consumidores en contextos culturales de práctica.

PALABRAS CLAVE
Potterheads; prosumo; deseo; mediación; Deleuze

INTRODUCTION

Recently, the entertainment industry has been one of the world's fastest growing industries, and Brazil represents one of the industry's most promising markets (International Trade Administration, 2016). One of the most successful products of this industry is the Harry Potter saga, whose book series has been the bestselling youth and teen literature during the first decade of the twenty-first century and one of the most successful sagas in the history of cinema. The narrative was developed in seven volumes, produced over a 17-year period, and translated into more than 60 languages, which makes Harry Potter one of the most powerful contemporary cultural texts (Brown & Patterson, 2009, 2010).

The cultural products provide their fans, as private consumers, raw materials over which identities are constructed (Guschwan, 2012). Through a high involvement with the products and an intensive exchange within communities, meanings and values are produced by and for their members (Boulaire & Cova, 2013). New modes of sociability are generated, legitimizing a form of existence where the affinities and relationships maintain the entertainment, production, and assemblage, inside and outside the fandom - the social space where these activities occur (Lee, 2011).

According to Jenkins (2009), the relationship networks established between pop culture fans, cultural producers, and technologies occur through a type of collaborative construction associated with the consumption of a cultural product, globally and democratically established, in a specific behavior of participatory culture. Therefore, fans consumed the products and changed how the cultural products were produced, distributed, and consumed so far.

The productive consumer has been understood based on a simultaneous process of production and consumption and is, therefore, called the prosumer (Cova & Cova, 2012; Dujarier, 2016; Eden, 2015; Ritzer, 2013, 2015). In a close relationship with communities and producers, prosumers co-create meanings and values that benefit themselves and, consequently, may add value to products and brands (Anderson, Hamilton, & Tonner, 2016; Kähr, Nyffenegger, Krohmer, & Hoyer, 2016; Troye & Supphellen, 2012). Hence, some authors evaluate whether the practices of consumers might reinforce or destabilize brand identities, repelling or promoting its audience (Parmentier & Ficher, 2015; Pongsakornrungsilp & Schroeder, 2011). Specifically, as for fans, this behavior is pervaded for their affective relationship with the cultural product, where consumers act passionately, militantly, creatively, and collaboratively (Jenkins, 2009).

However, what propels and maintains the strong bond between fans and cultural products? What drives the potterheads' behavior and their global and collaborative articulation? Based on Belk, Ger, and Askegaard (2003), this could be considered a passionate consumption centered on desire, which here is not necessarily understood as hedonic, aesthetic, or high-involvement consumption, but rather associated with the experience of aspiration in relation to variations of will and ability to control desires that involve objects and states of passion. Based on the Deleuzian concept, Ruckenstein (2015) highlights the contribution of understanding desire as established in the relationships and not rooted in the lack - as commonly regarded by consumer research -, arguing that, in a participatory culture and from the point of view of prosumers' practices, desire is configured and established in the motion flows among people, products, and market, becoming a sort of "bond" that permeates and energizes the produced relationships of recognition and involvement. Similarly, Kozinets, Patterson, and Ashman (2016) claim that the Deleuzian notion of desire is revealed as a productive energy flow, articulated by means of a collective force, aligned with the understanding of virtually established socio-cultural behaviors. Deleuze and Guattari (2010) understand human beings as machines of desire. For the authors, desire is something inherent and that wants to be experienced. Therefore, to desire is to always build an assemblage, which is a production invested in the social field.

Thus, by understanding desire as an aspect capable of clarifying the dynamics of the productive consumption process and based on the theoretical foundation of the Deleuzian concept of desire, the present study assumes that by interacting in their fandom, potterheads form an assemblage of desire. Thus, the question of our study is presented as: how is the potterheads' productive consumption assembled by desire?

Brown and Patterson (2010) highlight the potential of using the Harry Potter saga for the empirical investigation of the concept of desire. When seeking to understand how this force acts in social spaces, we aim to improve the understanding in the field of the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT), which is a fundamental concept in consumer research. In turn, the use of the Deleuzian concept favors the pluralism of the theoretical views of the field, especially because it is a theoretical contribution that displaces the understanding of desire as something individually experienced with its conception as a collective practice.

THE FAN AS A PRODUCTIVE CONSUMER IN BRAND COMMUNITIES

The fan has become a growing social identity, which can be explained by the combination of the growth of the media and entertainment industry that has occurred in the second half of the last century and the relatively recent arrival of digital technologies (Jenkins, 2006). In notions that have been widely accepted since the beginning of the 1990s, the period when fans started to become an academic interest, Fiske (1992) establishes that the fan is, simultaneously, a user and active producer of cultural capital, which occurs through his/her relationship with pop culture products. Similarly, according to Jenkins (1992), fans are readers who write, spectators who participate, and consumers who produce. The understanding that fans are active has been widely adopted, especially due to the interest in analyzing them in the context of the so-called Web 2.0, whose logic strengthens the participation of its users (Bennett, 2014; Hills, 2013; Pearson, 2010).

From a consumer research perspective, the fan can be understood from the logic of productive consumption, which has been discussed under the concept of prosumption, a term that emphasizes the understanding of the undefined boundaries between production and consumption practices (Eden, 2015; Ritzer, Dean, & Jurgenson, 2012). The prosumer undertakes an increasing proportion of tasks in his or her consumption, which are traditionally considered production (Ellsworth-Krebs & Reid, 2016; Ritzer, 2010). Much emphasis has been given to the prosumer's role as the one responsible for the work, appropriated by the producer, in the production of consumed products and services (Dujarier, 2016; Rieder & Voß, 2010; Ritzer, 2015). However, according to Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010), although this may be true when considering the provision of traditional services, where the participation of prosumers is compulsory, predefined, and often controlled by the producer, the same cannot be true in the context of new prosumption forms associated with Web 2.0 because in these cases, the participation of prosumers is voluntary, desired, and difficult to control.

In this sense, Ruckenstein (2015) claims that the emphasis on this process became more evident within social relationships that are increasingly affected and molded by digital technologies, where a participatory culture was established and new forms of interactions and collaborations were promoted. The internet became a platform widely used by consumers to collectively develop knowledge about a specific product and relate to each other and producers (Cova & Cova, 2012).

According to Jenkins (1992, 2006), fans actively share and exchange knowledge, establishing a collective intelligence around cultural products through which communities such as fandoms are built. As any cultural formation, the fandom establishes its own rules (Schreyer, 2015) and provides their members the possibility to establish a sense of union and cohesion (Hewer, Gannon, & Cordina, 2015), as well as a model of cultural practice (Johnston, 2015). Hence, it is understood as a space where identities are built (Porat, 2010; Seregina & Schouten, 2016) and meanings are created (Jenkins, 2006).

As this process is developed through a practice associated with consumption, fan communities have obtained a growing interest in the CTT field (Cristofari & Guitton, 2016), especially from their understanding as brand communities (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). The fandom can be understood as a means for fans to interact with brands (Jenkins, 2009, 2014) or even a negotiated form of sharing the ownership of brands (McCulloch, 2013). Based on the relationship of fans with the franchise of media products, Robert Kozinets (2014) has proposed the concept of brand fandom (Brown, Kozinets, & Sherry, 2003; Cova, Kozinets, & Shankar, 2007). For the author (Kozinets, 2014), thanks to a base of fans - and not of conventional consumers - the franchise brands of media products can be refreshed or even successfully relaunched.

Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009) start from the concepts of consumption practices to understand how consumers create value in brands communities, which suggests that the observation of fan practices in brand fandoms can be an adequate way to understand how they produce meaning in such communities. Duffet (2013) lists a series of fan practices, which are classified into three types: connection, where fans connect to the media product they admire through in-person contacts, as occurring through autograph and photo sessions; appropriation, for example, where fans appropriate the narrative contents to produce, from these, new content called fanfictions; and performance, which is related to practices derived from products of which one is a fan, revealed for instance, in the production of information content about such products, in the production of videos and adaptation of songs based on their narratives, and characterization of characters. To these practices, we can also add discussions in social networks (Booth & Kelly, 2013; Gibbons & Dixon, 2010; Watson, 2010).

DESIRE AS ASSEMBLAGE IN THE DELEUZIAN THEORY

According to Ruckenstein (2015), the driving force of prosumers' activity is desire - assuming that Deleuzian thought indicates that desire should be understood as relational, produced, and continuously fed in social meetings - with an intensity that acts as a sort of bond of the social boby. In these terms, desire always derives from a meeting of forces. However, it does not wait for this meeting as the moment for action but assembles and builds itself on it. Therefore, the desire of prosumers is formed and intensified in daily practices of consumers and their relationships with the product and market.

The concept of desire was established as one of the most adopted concepts in the field of consumer research. Its most commonly adopted understanding is based on the psychoanalytical theory, founded on the concept that desire is caused by the lack of the object of desire, which, never under possession, generates a constant state of dissatisfaction that becomes a driver of human behavior (Lacan, 1977). Differently from the dominant line, Belk et al. (2003) support the anthropological concept of desire, which happens within cultural contexts and is understood as an incarnated passion that involves the pursuit for alterity and sociability, as well as for danger and inaccessibility, in a process of cultural socialization permeated by tensions between seduction and morality. However, according to Kozinets et al. (2016), for such a core concept in consumer research, the notion of desire was the object of little reassessment, especially when considering the current context where consumers combine and connect collectively with their wills using new technologies. Based on such arguments, the authors utilize the Deleuzian approach to understand desire in the digital era.

Contrary to the established psychoanalytical tradition, the Deleuzian notion of desire is based precisely on the claim that it is not based on lack. In the studies with Félix Guattari (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, 2010), the concept of desire is presented in a positive and productive way, understood as an inherent expression of social force that empowers connected social bodies. This force can be understood as a productive energy flow that is directed and transformed in specific interests (Kozinets et al., 2016).

The Deleuzian concept of desire is inserted in a broader approach, named the Assemblage Theory. Articulated as assemblage, desire is understood as an experiential phenomenon, which is external to the individual (i.e., social). The assemblage should be understood here as a complex arrangement of heterogenic elements (e.g., objects, bodies, experiences) that combine in a productive and functional way, never as a whole but as multiplicity (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, 2010). Hence, assemblage can be understood as an "arrangement" (Nail, 2017) where different configurations propitiate different practices (Araujo & Kjellberg, 2016; Scaraboto, 2015), which can be understood as a system susceptible to stabilization or destabilization by its components - which could be applied in how fans can stabilize or destabilize brand identities (Parmentier & Fischer, 2015).

Deleuze and Guattari (2010) articulate the notion of assemblage as machines operated by desire, culminating with the understanding that assemblages are machines of desire. The machine's structure is formed by three characteristics: an abstract machine, understood as its own existence condition, which refers not to something that concretely exists, but to relationship networks that allow its operation; the concrete arrangement, which refers to the elements that compose it materially and propitiate its relationships; and its agents, which are understood not as self-conscious subjects, but rather as mobile operators connected to the network (i.e., abstract machine) by its concrete elements (Nail, 2017).

Such machines are always coupled to others (Deleuze & Guattari, 2010), part of more complex systems (institutional, social, and cultural) called territories, through which desire connects experiences of social and psychological levels (Kozinets et al., 2016). Despite its name, a territory does not refer to a fixed space, but to the result, always dynamic and momentaneous, of arrangement processes between machines of desire. Deleuze and Guattari (1987) articulate the notion of territories as the result of territorialization, which is the process through which machines of desire connect. However, this notion is better understood from the deterritorialization and reterritorialization processes, because assemblages are susceptible to continuous decoupling and coupling, respectively. Hence, every time a territory results in a reterritorialization process - which infers a deterritorialization - it is different from its prior version.

Therefore, each machine considers the other's production as a product, which occurs as desire displaces through the productive unconscious, determined by connection, disjunction, and conjunction syntheses that produce subjectivities (Deleuze & Guattari, 2010). This productive unconscious is presented using the concept of body without organs (BwO), a virtual concept found in a potential state, loaded by various possibilities of forms of action and for being machines of desire (Deleuze, 2000). Therefore, the BwO offers the conditions for new forms of experience (Deleuze & Guattari, 2010), helping desire to configure as a liberating force of creativity and innovation (Kozinets et al., 2016). This understanding corroborates with Firat and Venkatesh (1995), adhering to the definition of the "new consumer" elaborated by Cova and Cova (2012).

METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES

In line with the adopted theory, it is understood that the most appropriate analytical pathway for this study is discursive analysis. Among the available options, the Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) has been adopted, as its philosophy is similar to Gilles Deleuze's. In this sense, Deleuze (2008) sustains the existence of a common philosophical concept between himself and Foucault.

The methodological organization of this study was based on Leão et al. (Camargo & Leão, 2015; Costa & Leão, 2012; Leão, Ferreira, & Gomes, 2016), who presented the method based on Foucault's four fundamental analytical categories (Exhibit 1), analyzed sequentially with the interpretation of the data (Figure 1).

Exhibit 1
Analytical categories

Concepts	Description
Statement	The statement, which represents the elementary discursive unit, is the existence mode (historical condition of possibility) of a set of signs that are presented as interdependent knowledge.
Enunciative function	Statements gain existence linked to their functions, which are able to reveal contents. The enunciative function indicates its performance in discursive activities, showing how they operate.
Rule of construction	The rules of construction are closely linked to the discursive formations and determine the boundaries and the possible forms of the saying.
Discursive formation	The formation reveals the regularity of the discursive field, pertinent to a specific time and space, given how the statement relates to the functions, which in turn are regulated by rules that indicate these conditions.

Foucault, 2009

Figure 1
Synthesis of the analytical process

Foucault (2009) considers file as the collection of documents used for the FDA. In a way, according to its function, it could be compared to what is understood as corpus in a qualitative study (Bauer & Aarts, 2002). To build the file, the potterheads' practice criteria have been used. In addition, to corroborate the theoretical concept built for the study, Foucault (2009) understands that practices are responsible for institutionalizing discourses, crystallizing them in the social medium. In total, 21 common practices have been identified in the fandom (Exhibit 2).

Exhibit 2
Potterheads' practices

To accuse poser

To adore the universe

To collect merchandise

To buy books and movies

To comment about the universe

To diffuse the saga content

To participate in the selection of the houses

To participate in fan meetings

To participate in movie and book releases

Re-edit/Remix cultural contents

To worship the artists from the movies and the author of the saga

To produce fan fiction

To produce fan art

To write specialized digital media

To play quidditch

To duel

To test small beans of all flavors

To get tattoos

To cosplay

To watch or read again movies or books

Multifocal data (Flick, 2009) composed the file of this study, which consisted of a total of 593 documents, of which 280 were in Portuguese and 313 were in English, because the fandom has no geographical borders. In total, 67 videos were collected from the YouTube platform and 526 images and texts were from different platforms of social networks, blogs, and websites. Two criteria were adopted for the selection of the data: relating to the potterheads' interaction, with no interest on the comments of third parties about their practices; and contemplating the potterheads' practices in this context.

The main issues encountered in the study were, on one hand, due to the fact that social media are under a constant dynamic of production and exclusion of information, and on the other hand, because the fandom is a social space marked by a particular culture where researchers do not belong. To tackle the first difficulty, data were collected from different social media, considering that the contents produced in the fandom are reproduced in different media. As to the second, the consulting support of two fans of the saga was adopted and these fans played an important role in the solution of questions that contributed to the recognition of practices and the definition of the media to be accessed for the collection of data.

Finally, the investigation adopted the quality criteria of qualitative research (Paiva, Leão, & Mello, 2011). The representativeness of the corpus of the research was contemplated by means of the abundance of information acquired about the object, acknowledging the wide variety of expressions of different media. Reflectiveness was adopted throughout the entire analytical process, where constant inquiries attempted to address the numerous relationships evidenced by the empirical data and theoretical foundation. The triangulation of data occurred in the validation of the analysis performed by the authors. The rich and detailed description of the study is presented within the limits stipulated for the study.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESULTS

This study led us to identify a discursive formation, related to how the potterheads' machinery of desire maintains its bond with the canonical universe of the saga. It is based on 16 statements, nine functions, and four rules. Figure 2 presents these elements in their relationships. The transversal norm of these rules as assemblage of desires that refer to wills establishes them as the core aspects that make them singular. The discursive formation represents the synthesis of these singularities. All of them refer to a particularity of the potterheads' relationship with the canon of the saga: adequacy, values, maintenance, and safety. Based on this, the results are presented using the rules of construction as reference.

Figure 2
Relationship map of the discursive formation

The relationship with the canon

The first rule refers to how the fans bond to the canon through their relationships in the fandom, discussing the adequacy conditions to establish the longevity of this relationship. Two enunciative functions are the basis for this rule: one concerning how potterheads establish their characteristics in the fandom (F01), and another about the will to participate in fandom practices as a way to obtain sensation, pleasure, and accomplishment (F02). The first function is related to five statements, which refer to: the resistance of fans to norms and procedures established by the canon (E01); the appropriation, by the fans, of canon's contents to question their dogmas (E02); the mutual recognition of similar characteristics (E03); the link established by mutual actions of influence, support, and coercion that take place in the fandom (E04); and the actions that prove the conviction of accepting the affiliation to the identity profiles defined by the canon (E05). This statement is also related to the second function, which is connected to another and refers to potterheads' motivation to participate in fandom activities (E06). The statement that concerns the bond established in the fandom (E04) derives (incident relationship) from the others, which in turn relate to each other (synchronous relationships).

To illustrate the spectrum of relationships that reveals this rule, an example is presented about a discussion of fans about the initial membership process to the fandom. The condition implies, similarly to new students in a magic school in the saga, the predisposition to participate in a selection that links the fan as a member of one of the houses where such students are allocated, as determined by the Sorting Hat, which makes this indication by reading the minds of the applicants, according to his or her personality. Nevertheless, the will of a student may prevail. This occurred to Harry Potter himself, who noted that Sorting Hat was unsure between two houses and repeated his preference mentally, influencing the hat's final decision, which assigned him to one house and changed his mind. In the saga, this is a decisive selection, given that the houses are the scope of the performance of activities and the establishment of relationships, thus becoming an identity for life. Within the fandom, this is considered with the same seriousness, and thus, despite the many tests available for this purpose on the internet, the result considered true by the fans is Pottermore's, a website created by the author of the saga, considered canonical by the fans, as the books themselves. The selection should be done only once, but the result does not always please the fan, who is forced to clarify his or her identity in the fandom or, more radically, to cheat the rules and repeat the selection, a fact that requires the gain of support and justification in front of the group, keeping his or her condition as a member.

The section below illustrates this aspect:

That was stuck in my mind. I do not want Hufflepuff. Did I hesitate in some questions? What if the Sorting Hat is broken? I wanted another chance, just as Harry Potter had. Unfortunately, to fulfill my wish, I had to wait for several months before the website officially opened, to register another email and to start the adventure from scratch.

But it was worth it. Now, my dashboard is dark blue and there is a very beautiful eagle in the middle. I do not like conformism. If I am talking about Harry Potter, participating to something that gives me the opportunity to experience a little the witch world, I want to feel it as close as possible. If I was outraged by Umbrige's abuse of authority, I would have also joined Dumbledore's Army. If I believed that Sirius was innocent and had the opportunity to help him, I like to think that I would do that. And if my opinion was not in line with the Sorting Hat's, why would I be silent?

Therefore, if you believe you were assigned to the wrong house, do not be afraid: register another account, yes, and try to get in the house that you want. But be honest in your answers, as I was. I do not know if the beta version had some issues, if I was distracted or I do not know, someone casted Confundus on me and made me answer everything differently. What matters is that I am happy and excited to earn more and more points for the house of my heart. (Potterish, 2012, our translation)

In the selected example, a fan applies to one of the houses as a fandom practice (E06), following one of the essential steps to prove her loyalty to the canon (E05), therefore qualifying to benefit from collective practices (F02). However, the fan reports his/her discomfort with the result of the selection and questions whether she would have the right to a second chance, as it happened to the main character of the saga, using the story itself (E02) to justify breaking a rule (E01) as a way to bond to characteristics with which she identified more (F01). Thus, the fan tries to create identifications among participants (E03) and to encourage them to also circumvent this rule (E01). The bundles identified in this example discuss the desire to have a proper relationship with the canon, as this should be a more pleasant and truthful experience to fans' expectations. Circumventing one rule indicates the resistance as a mode of legitimized condition in the fandom, yet, only because it was based on knowledge of its own established morale.

This rule indicates how potterheads establish their relationship with the universe canon, searching for balance between the established rules and their own wishes and convictions. This is possible in the fandom space due to the support of the community for actions considered correct, as well as the rejection of unaccepted ones. This is how the relationship established between fans and canon, through the fandom, is based on adequacy logic, established in the balance of forces.

From the saga to the world

The second rule refers to potterheads' desire for canon values to be legitimized as real social values. It is based on a single function, related to the use of canonic signs to produce social critic using humor and irony (F03), which is related to both statements with synchronous relationships that refer to the relationships established in the fandom using support, coercion, and mutual influences (E04) and the production of cultural texts inspired and derived from signs of the saga universe (E07).

To illustrate this bundle of relationships, the image of a character (Dolores Umbridge) who is hated by fans is used. She imposed a dictatorial regime in the Hogwarts fiction school during her short-term mandate as director, revealing pleasure in torturing the students physically and psychologically. The most common punishment she adopted was to force students to repetitively write sentences with a magic pen that used the user's blood as ink, leaving a scar of the text on the skin. Such production exhibits the text "The punishment to those accused of defending LGBT rights will be to write down 1000 times: 'There is no homophobia.'" The image is a composition with the character (E07), ironically used to make a social critique of the fact that the existence of homophobia is denied (F03). The production reveals a social posture considered hypocritical and that aims to legitimize the value of the canon (i.e., tolerance of differences) more widely in the society.

The rule shows how the canon of the saga is used by fans as reference to elaborate debates about established social values, many of which affect their choices and social life. Thus, some potterheads' practices are presented as political positions directed to certain values they considered unjust and countered by values present in the saga with which they identify. This action becomes possible as the fandom is presented as an environment providing emotional support to their members.

Potterheads forever

The next rule reflects the potterheads' desire to maintain their bond to the canon even during adulthood. This rule was based on five functions. The first refers to the effort of the fan to spread the value of the Harry Potter universe (F04) and derives from a statement regarding the guidance of new fans' involvement with the universe (E08). The second function refers to maintaining bonds between fans (F05) and relates synchronously to statements that discuss the bonds (E05), the exchange of information (E09), and production (E07) within the scope of the fandom. The third function refers to the promise to keep the universe alive (F06) and is based on two related statements, once again about the producing cultural texts based on the universe (E07), now concerning the identification between fans (E03), and also one that relates to the excitement caused by the advertisement of new products of the franchise (E10). The fourth function relates to the aim of fans to safeguard the image of the universe (F07), based on two statements about the establishment of relationships between potterheads (E04) and their dedication to fandom practices (E11). Finally, the last function of this group is attempting to keep the condition of the fan alive (F08). This function is related to seven statements, three of which were already presented in this group (E07, E08, and E10). The remaining refer to professional competencies developed in the fandom (E12), to nostalgic memories of experiences related to the universe (E14), the affinities of the fans with the canon (E15), and their strong affective bonds with the universe (E13). In this group of statements, the first three maintain synchronous relationships between each other and incidents about the last.

This bundle of relationships has been illustrated using an image that refers to the gap below the stairs that was used as Harry Potter's room when he was still a child and was brought up by his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents. It is also complemented by a text that states, in a playful tone, if a potterhead's son is not like his parents, he will be treated as the character in the indicated situation: "My children must adore Harry Potter, otherwise I will just put them inside a cabinet under some stairs. So, they will not be forced to love Harry Potter... They will become Harry Potter." This example shows the objective of converting descendants to new fans (E08), and it evidences the potterheads' affective dependency in relation to the universe of the saga (E13), given that they feel the need to transfer their legacy to their offspring. Therefore, they disseminate the value of the universe (F04) when restating their condition as fans (F08). These aspects confirm potterheads' desire to maintain their active relationship with the saga's universe beyond their youth.

The rule refers to a managerial challenge. The Harry Potter universe is developed as youth and young adult narrative, and its fan base is formed by people who grew up following it and are now beginning their adult life. However, these fans refuse to accept the end of their bond with the saga with this passage and make an effort to keep it alive and ensure its future existence. This process is the means to keep their identity (i.e., potterhead) alive, which occurs by strengthening the relationships within the fandom with the assumption of responsibility to propagate, externally, the legacy of the saga.

A basis for life

The last rule refers to the potterheads' desire to feel safe in relation to the canon, a condition presented as a maturing crisis coincident with the end of the saga. The rule is based on two functions that refer to fans' attempt to maintain this condition (F08), as well as the protection provided by their relationship with the universe (F09). The first function is the only one in the study that relates to two rules and, therefore, was already discussed. The second refers to five statements, also previously discussed (E07, E13, E14, E15, and E16).

To illustrate this bundle of relationships, a post was found where a potterhead reports in video how his fan condition became a job:

This week came a muggle, which in this case was a real muggle, not that he is not a witch; this week a big idiot came to my twitter talking about the fact that I am 24 years old and record videos about the HP series on You Tube, exactly. I was judged, the guy started taking a bunch of crap because I still record videos about the HP series. [...] I think this guy does not know the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings fans. [...] I became fan of the series in 2001, when I was 11 years old, and since then I follow the series, and the series is part of my daily life to this day. I have never had one single day where I did not think about the HP series since I came out of the movies and had just watched the Philosopher's Stone; seriously, I am serious! I have not stopped thinking about the HP series for one single day and I think about it to this day and we are in October 2014. Why? Because I felt affection, I started loving this series so much; a love that lasted and lasts to this day; I gave in, I said: I love this series from the bottom of my heart, if someday I can work with anything involving it, I will. And that is how I had the idea to create the Potter Observatory - imagine if you earned money with your work, to talk about something you love. (YouTube, 2014, our translation).

The youtuber discusses his identification with the series (E14) and nostalgia about it (E13), faced with the attributions of adulthood (E16) and how this allowed him to work with something involving the saga (E12), aiming to maintain his condition of fan (F08) and the canon's aegis (F09). This provides him with a feeling of safety provided by the universe, given that he starts to accomplish a challenge of adult life based on a knowledge that he possesses.

If the previous rule indicates the desire to maintain the identity understood as youth and young adult in maturity, the present one shows how the potterheads' relationship with the saga represents emotional and social safety. The fact that they grew up involved with the Harry Potter universe causes the potterheads to find, in their lessons with the canon, a way to deal with the challenges of adulthood, where the fandom is the repository of values and bonds that subsidize this support.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

According to this study's results, the assemblage of desire evidenced in the potterheads' productive consumption has the function to maintain the bond with the saga. This guarantees the maintenance of an identity constructed by consumption throughout the years and provides safety during transition to adulthood. As such, fandom relationships are used as a basis, and there is the pursuit of social legitimacy beyond this community. Retrieving the theory presented as a foundation to interpret these findings, we will reflect upon the theoretical implications of the study.

To understand precisely how the assemblage of the potterheads' desire works, the components of this desiring machine are taken. Potterheads act as its agents, and the creativity of their productive consumption practices evidences the energy of desire. This becomes possible thanks to the connection established between them. It can be understood that new communication and information technologies, aligned with the participatory logic of Web 2.0, are presented as the concrete arrangement of this machine, while the fandom, as a space of affection and sociability, becomes the abstract machine that guarantees the existence of conditions for the assemblage of potterheads' desires.

In turn, all potterheads' actions in the fandom, which were found or selected for analysis, refer to their relationship with the canon. More than presenting itself as a reference for the collective activities of its fans, the canon is established as a field of knowledge, about which such practices are developed, configuring, in Deleuzian terms, a territory. This reference is used to measure the relationships within the fandom and to propitiate the potterheads to position themselves socially. Nevertheless, this knowledge is not considered exact: they are debated, appropriated, and given new meaning, through the constant processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization.

The study reveals the potential for investigating online communities as favorable spaces for productive consumption practices (i.e., prosumption), intensified by their insertion in a field of participatory culture. Specifically, the investigation emphasizes the singularity of the fan as a highly emotionally involved consumer dedicated to activities related to cultural products he/she is linked to, and the fandom as a brand community, characterized as a space based on knowledge that is originally conceived by a cultural product, although not controlled by associated brands. In this sense, even though they do not have a performance nature, the results presented here also indicate the need of marketing management to observe fandom dynamics because the productive consumption that occurs in these social spaces are able to stimulate the identity of associated brands.

The theoretical contribution of the study is observed in the adoption of the Deleuzian notion of desire as a perspective to understand the collective action of consumers in practical cultural contexts, articulated by the understanding of consumption activities as productive and by virtual interaction environments as favorable spaces for participation. The adoption of this perspective in future studies can improve the discussion about the pertinence of this approach in the consumer research field. Considering the unfolding of the present study, the adoption of this approach in studies about fandoms of other fantastic universes or about other cultural products (e.g., music and games) could, respectively, improve and extend the discussion presented here. On the other hand, the investigation of fan practices can also focus on understanding how these activities are related to brands.

• Evaluated through a double-blind review process. Guest Scientific Editor: Letícia Casott

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq]) for the grant provided for the study on franchise brands of media products, which originated this work.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jan-Feb 2018

History

• Received
  21 Dec 2016
• Accepted
  14 Aug 2017