The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a highly successful fantasy film franchise based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novels. Directed by Peter Jackson, the trilogy consists of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). The films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship who seek to destroy the One Ring and defeat the dark lord Sauron. The trilogy was a major critical and commercial success, praised for its epic scope, storytelling, acting, visual effects, and musical score. It won a combined 17 Academy Awards and introduced millions of new fans to Tolkien's Middle-earth universe.

1. Audiences & Products
Katie Hair-Morse

2. Task 1

3. Passive Consumption
Passive consumption is where the audience doesn’t interact with the
media product in any way. They don’t create content based around the
media product or involve themselves with the product after consuming
it. Passive viewers see the content but do not influence production in
any way and generally are not involved in the content. An example of
passive consumption is a radio broadcast in the early days of radio in the
USA, where an author was reading out a story on the radio and people
tuned in halfway through, not knowing it was a story, and panicked
because they thought the country was in a crisis or apocalyptic state just
because it had been said on the radio. Passive viewers generally do no
research and just believe what the media tells them.

4. Hypodermic Needle Model
• Definition: The Hypodermic needle model is where the audience passively
believe what the media tells them. This suggests that the audience will just
accept what they are told by the media without any further research or
questioning.
• Strengths: This allows us to reflect upon the influence that the media has on the
consumer. Especially to the extent where the media forms a collective belief of
opinion.
• Weaknesses: This model is presumes that the consumer is passive and will be
influenced by the media with no research using other media platforms, which in
some cases is true, but it is harder to find collective belief with the access to such
a wide range of media platforms.
• Example: A fake news source makes a story on a webpage that looks realistic and
shares this story to Facebook. Users of Facebook read the story and believe it
with no further research, then share it with their facebook friends who believe it
with no further research and share it. The fake news post goes viral and media
consumers on mass have been influenced by it.

5. Active Consumption
Active consumption is where the audience engages with the media content
rather than passively viewing it with little thought. The viewer interacts with
the media product, creating content and influencing production. An example
of active consumption is where somebody is consuming a product on
multiple screens at once, perhaps when watching a reality TV show the
viewer is able to vote or have an input to the programme by using an app,
calling in or tweeting with a specific hash tag. This gives the viewer a sense
of power but actually allows the programme to access the consumer on
multiple platforms. Active viewers are more likely to research things that
they see or read through media sources, and are likely to know how to
access, and in some cases influence, media content.

6. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• Definition: The uses and gratifications theory discusses the ways in which the audience of a product interact with the
media. This is sectioned off four ways.
1) Information – The audience uses the media to find out information, advice and as a tool for learning. Finding
something out online can be satisfying for the consumer. This can be in many different ways, to read what others think
about a topic, to research their own material or to simply satisfy their curiosity.
2) Personal Identity – The audience uses the media to reinforce personal values by engaging with media that share the
same ideals or opinions as them, such as a certain newspaper that is in line with a persons social or political views. The
media can also change and develop a persons behavioural traits in different ways, people form habits of what
newspaper they buy, what games they play, television and film they watch and what social media sites they frequent.
If a person is a fan of an actor, musician, athlete etc, they can use the media to access content surrounding that
person., for example a fan of Samuel L Jackson may see all the films he is in no matter the genre.
3) Integration and Social interaction – The audience may identify with others in various media contexts. Fans of a specific
thing can talk, discuss the product, share fan made content and make friends on social media platforms. The fans gain
a sense of belonging
4) Entertainment : The audience use the product as a form of relaxation and a way to escape real life. Many people just
use/watch/interact with media products because they enjoy them and people want to feel good in their spare time.
The other elements of this theory bleed into this one, as each area has some form of gratification / entertainment for
the viewer.
• Strengths: Gives the audience the ability to understand their use of the media and how it affects them.
• Weaknesses: This theory presumes that the media consumer is active, rather than passive. A passive viewer would not
engage with the product enough to fall into any category of this theory, they may have no opinion on the product and
may just take the media at face value without engaging with it.

7. Uses and Gratification Theory• Example:
Information: A person watches the news to find out what is going on in the world. To
take this further, they may have seen a headline of a newspaper somewhere and want to
know more, therefore tuning in to a news broadcast or using a news website to satisfy
their curiosity and educate themselves. Furthermore, a person may have a problem and
read a forum online or on a social media page to see how others resolved the issue.
Personal Identity: A person may read a newspaper that aligns with their political
viewpoint in order to re-inforce their values. They may also respond to this by joining a
social media page which contains fans of the same newspaper or political viewpoint,
where they can discuss and all re-inforce their values with like minded people. Personal
identity also relates to the interests of the consumer in the form of actors or public
figures that they might follow, deliberately watching a programme that they wouldn’t
normally watch because that person is in it – for example watching Graham Norton as a
one-off because Emilia Clarke is being interviewed on it.
Integration and social interaction: A fan of The Hunger Games may do a drawing of their
favourite character and share it on social media, with a hashtag relating to the film,
therefore drawing in other fans of The Hunger Games. This could lead to discussion and
social interaction with other fans about their mutual interest, leading to an increase in
online friendships being made as it is so much easier to fins people with common
interests. Similarly, a person may wear a Hunger Games t-shirt out in public and could
draw the attention of other fans.
Entertainment: A consumer has had a hard day at work and just wants to relax so they
open Netflix and watch their favourite tv show or movie. They are using media content as
escapism and to wind down.

8. Reception Theory
• Reception theory is based on Stuart Hall’s model of encoding and decoding
media products and the way the audience interprets and interacts with them.
Hall stated that media producers created the product with encoded messages
within them, to then be decoded by the consumer. Each consumer may
decode the message differently based on a number of factors including age,
social grade, gender, ethnicity and their personal experiences in life. Although
consumer interpretation of a product is complex and personal to each
individual viewer, it can be broken down into three categories:
• Preferred Reading – The consumer decodes the message that was intended to
be construed by the producer and agrees with it.
• Negotiated Reading – The consumer can see a point being made by the
producer but also have their own opinions on the message.
• Oppositional Reading – The producers preferred reading is rejected by the
consumer and they do not agree with the encoded message.

9. Hall’s Model (Encoding and decoding)
Production Circulation Consumption = Communication
Hall states in his theory that the meaning of a media product is not
fixed, despite the intentions of the producer, the consumer / reader (of
media text) of the product will always find a way to interpret the
product differently to how it was intended.
Producer = Encoder : “The producer has framed meaning in a certain
way”
Reader = Decoder : “The reader decodes the meaning constructed
differently depending on their ideologies”

10. Reception Theory
• Choose an image (poster, screenshot from a film, photograph etc)
and provide:
• A potential encoded message: Don’t judge a book by its
cover, the teenagers may dress and talk in a manner that is
frowned upon by society, and may be seen doing bad
things, but ultimately they are people that have been
through a lot at an early age (explored in the film.
Especially with an 11 or 12 year old lad who is often out
causing trouble) and have good hearts and intentions. The
youths are not cared about and lack stable home lives and
places to take out their frustration. They prove their good
nature when they save the community from the aliens.
• A potential decoded message: The characters are thugs
that have no respect for any other members of their
community and generate fear in society. Their attempts at
fighting the aliens were illegal and they spent the entire
movie running from the police too. Their good hearted
actions in the film do not make up for their earlier mistakes
and they are reinforcing a stereotype about how teenagers
behave.

11. Reception Theory
• Preferred reading: Joe Cornish wanted to change
the way that society view young people, especially
the ‘trouble makers’, showing that they are often
not bad people at heart, and actually save the
community in the end of the film. The teenagers
are the heroes of the story and the ‘underdog’
characters that the viewer is supposed to root for.
• Negotiated reading: Youths do bad things but many
of them have a reason for it which should be
considered. The stereotype of the teenager is used
in the film in order to prove a point and show that
young people can be misunderstood and get little
recognition for the good they do as opposed to the
bad.
• Oppositional reading: The teenagers in this film are
trouble makers and will grow up to do bad things
and not contribute to society. This is a negative
representation of teenagers and gives a group of
people a bad reputation, instead of changing how
the group are perceived.
Cornish had actually been mugged before making the
film and had found out the difficult background of the
teenager and that he wasn’t actually a bad person. His
‘reading’ and view of this group within society may be
different had his experience been different (but then
this film wouldn’t exist)
Attack The Block

12. Framework for Interpretation
• List 2 very different frameworks for interpretation;
1
• Age: 49
• Gender: Female
• Social status/Class: ABC1
• Ethnicity: White, British
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
• Education: Degree level
2
• Age: 18
• Gender: Male
• Social status/Class: C2DE
• Ethnicity: Black, British
• Sexuality: Homosexual
• Education: A level / BTEC

13. Framework for Interpretation
• Discuss how each may react to a film of your choice based on their framework
• Attack the Block
1
Person one may enjoy the film as a fun, action
and sci fi film if they enjoy those kinds of films
and especially if they are able to connect with
Joe Cornish’s encoded messages within the
film. Person one may struggle to relate to the
gang, as they are older and have presumably
not had to put on male bravado to impress
friends and look ‘hard’ to protect themselves,
especially as someone from an ABC1 social
background. However, person one may be able
to empathise with the characters and at least
connect with the nurse in the film, who has a
changed view of the teenagers at the end.
2
The film may resonate more with person two
as the protagonist is a teenage black male from
a working class background. They may or may
not identify with the situations of the
teenagers in the film, but have most likely met
and interacted with people in similar situations
or of a similar nature over the course of their
education and social lives. They know what it is
like to be judged by others and can relate to
being outcast from society, even if they do not
agree with the initial actions of the gang. This
film is likely to appeal to a young male as it is
funny, action packed and has sci-fi overtones.

14. Task 2

15. Case Study
• Select a genre (or film franchise) that you like and provide some
contextual background information.
• What is the genre/franchise, what are the key films, who are the key
directors/actors/studios/etc, how successful/unsuccessful was it, how
was it critically received, when were the films made, etc.
• Go over as many slides as necessary

16. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Lord of the rings trilogy is a set of films based on a fantasy epic series written by J. R. R.
Tolkien. The books and films both have a large following and have been the inspiration for
much modern fantasy fiction. The novels as a trilogy won the international fantasy award in
1957 . The books originally were published in July and November 1954 and October 1955 and
were brought to life by Peter Jackson in 2001 – 2003 in the form of the movie trilogy. The Lord
Of The Rings franchise led the way for much modern fantasy and has the largest fan base of
any fantasy film.
This franchise was expanded in 2012 by the Hobbit Trilogy and is now often known as the
Tolkien franchise, but for this project I will be solely studying the original Lord of The Rings
trilogy and its fan base.

17. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The first film in the fantasy trilogy, released in 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring
sets up the viewer for the rest of the story, introducing each character and
showing how they come together to defeat The eye of Sauron and destroy the
soul-consuming, evil ring for good. The Fellowship of the Ring was filmed in New
Zealand at a variety of locations across the country, the most popular of these
destinations is the area used to film The Shire where the ‘hobbit homes’ are now
a huge tourist destination. The film is rated PG in the UK, although this has been
disputed due to moderate amounts of gore and the Orc characters which might
be scary for under 12’s. It has a run time of 171 minutes (nearly three hours)
which earned it the genre title of a Fantasy epic. TFOTR was directed by Peter
Jackson who has been critically acclaimed for the film and won two BAFTAs for
the film, also nominated at the Oscars’ for ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best
Screenplay based on material previously produced or published’. The film itself
won 4 Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Music & Original Score
and best Visual Effects / Special Effects. The most notable actors in the film
include Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean and Cate Blanchett, many of
which were already well known and had a following which attracted more people
to the movie when it first came out in cinemas, and also created a buzz regarding
the lesser known actors Elijah Wood and Sean Astin as they had such significant
roles.
The Fellowship of the Ring has an 8.8 score on IMDB and 91% at Rotten Tomatoes.
The film had a positive reception and gained a hoard of fanatics, both fans of the
novels and new fans to the world of Middle Earth. It had a budget of $93 million
and made $871.5 million in the box office. It was distributed by New Line Cinema
(owned by Warner Bros), an American film company, but was first released in
Wellington, New Zealand, where Peter Jackson is from.

18. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Two Towers is the second film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was named
after the second book in J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels. The film covers
the second part of the story after the fellowship of the ring has split up, following
the stories of two groups both fighting for the future of middle earth. Golum, a
well known character relating to this franchise, is introduced in this film. It was
released in 2002 with a BBFC rating of 12 and a run time of 179 min (2hrs59) but
had a special edition and blu ray DVD releases that ran well over 3 hours and
included bonus scenes that didn’t make it into the original film. It was directed
by Peter Jackson, the same director as the first film and had many of the same
writers as the first one, including Fran Walsh, who often works alongside Jackson
.The film got the 2003 MTV Movie award for Best Virtual Performance, notable
especially as Gollum went on to become an iconic character and Andy Serkis
(Gollum) won several awards for best digital acting performance. Other awards
won by this film include the academy awards Best Visual Effects, Best Costume
Design and Best Sound Editing. The Two Towers had a budget of $94 million and
WETA digital doubled their staff for the special effects project for this movie. The
character of Treebeard took between 28 and 48 hours to render in each frame. It
made $923 million in the box office, even more than the first film in the trilogy
and earned the title of the highest grossing film of 2002 worldwide.

19. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lord of the Rings: The return of the King came out in 2003 and is the final film
in the original fantasy trilogy. It completes leads up to the ending of the
trilogy and is the climax of the films, which is evident when comparing this
poster to the other two. This film holds the title as one of the most critically
acclaimed films in movie history and is one of the record holders for the most
academy awards won by a film, which is especially notable for a sequel. It
won best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best costume
design, best art direction, best film editing, best makeup, best original score,
best sound mixing and best visual effects at the 2003 academy awards.
Return of the King has a run time of 200 minutes (over 3 hours) and had a
budget of $94 million. It made the most money in the box office out of the
trilogy at $1.120 billion, the highest grossing film of 2002 and second highest
grossing film of the 2000s. The visual effects in this film are even more
massive than those within The Two Towers, with double the amount of VFX
shots. The DVD set had the largest extra’s and commentary section of its time
(and possibly still), with 6 hours of extra content on a bonus disk and an
extended version of the movie.

20. Task 3

21. Your Interaction with Media
• Talk about why you like that film/genre and your relationship with it and
how audiences have responded to it, you cover the following:
• How audience engagement relates to the key theories you have outlined in section 1
• Outline and investigate all the different ways in which you and the wider audience
might respond and interact with the film (we’ve covered this at length with the
screenings for Star Wars related material).
1. Active spectatorship, fandom and preferred readings (how do audiences make
active responses to your genre)
2. Frameworks of interpretation, intertextuality and media literacy (consider the
effects of the film on other films/tv/etc and the way this is done, i.e. parody,
pastiche, homage, etc)
3. Social networking, conditions of reception and pre- and post- viewing experience
(how the audience interacts and responds as part of a community)
• Go over as many slides as necessary

22. Lord of the Rings and the fantasy genre
The fantasy genre is one of the most popular in terms of audience participation and many fans of one fantasy film
or series find that they enjoy others. There is a wide range of content within the genre, which allows consumers
to delve into different types of fantasy and find a sub-genre they prefer. In the case of lord of the rings, the books
and films are set in a medieval era of fantasy, which has proven to be extremely popular and has led the way for
many other creators and has created a level of expectation (for how the characters will dress, speak, travel etc.)
in newer fantasy films and programmes. Many people say that the Lord of the Rings films defined the modern
fantasy genre and created a market for this style of fantasy film due to its popularity. This can be backed up when
studying the extreme popularity of George R R Martin’s novels and TV series Game Of Thrones, as it is set under a
similar premise and uses the similar elements of medieval living to base the world of the story. Like Lord of the
Rings, Game of Thrones has an extensive map and world for fans to get engrossed in, and even other languages
that some fans go out of their way to learn. Lord of the Rings also laid the way for The Chronicles of Narnia,
another book series which was adapted into films and has themes and styles relating back to LOTR, such as the
costume, set and props used in the film, allowing them to meet the expectation of the viewer when watching the
genre. The most obvious films to owe their existence to the Lord of The Rings films would be The Hobbit trilogy,
based on a singular book and prequel to the LOTR series. The first of the Hobbit films was released in 2012, nine
years after the final chapter of the original trilogy: The Return of the King, was released. This reboot shows how
the rise in popularity of the genre led the owners of the rights to the story and lord of the rings films (who made
the space in the market in the first place), saw that fans would flock to more content and more screen time in
Middle Earth.

23. Fandom
A ‘fandom’ is a group of people who connect with one another using a franchise that they have
in common (essentially a modern term for the word fan-base). Fandom spaces are often found
in the form of blog pages, forums, chat groups and other social media platforms. Fans can also
get together at conventions and meet-ups, sometimes even dressing up as characters from the
franchise and exchanging content they have created themselves. Lord of the Rings has a
massive fandom, consisting of young teenagers through to middle aged adults and attracting all
genders. Lord of the Rings fans are known for not being shy about their passion, with some
particularly eager viewers even going out of their way to learn the elven language spoken in the
films and written in the books, allowing them to further expand the world and create their own
stories within it. Not only does a franchises fandom use the product as a method of integration
and social interaction, but also to further their personal identity by reviewing the film online
and having personal input as to how the films were rated and received. This is especially
prevalent as the first film of the trilogy was released around the time of the beginning of the
rise of the fandom in the way we know it today, for example websites like rotten tomatoes and
IMDB were first appearing just a few years before The Fellowship of the Ring and rising in
popularity when the film came out. This meant that fans had more power and input than ever
before. Lord of the Rings created the biggest fandom post-2000 (since Star wars before that)
and the fandom has more influence than any other I the fantasy genre, leading the way for
fantasy fiction and fans of it. However, this is not always a positive thing, as some fans use their
opinions and personal input to bully other fans and even the makers / writers of the film if they
don’t get their own way. This ‘toxic’ behaviour became prevalent in the Lord of the Rings
fandom mostly after the release of the first ‘The Hobbit’ film in 2012 when ‘gatekeeping’
became a large issue with die hard fans, and in a similar fandom for a show called Game Of
Thrones, where fans sent hate mail to the writers for diverging from the original novels and
changing the story, also creating hostility between fans in a space that should’ve just been fun
and lighthearted. What a mess

24. Conventions and Guest Panels
Conventions are a way for fans of Lord of the Rings to come together to discuss the films and the world in which
the films take place. Many fans use conventions as a way to make friends as it is a good environment to find people
who have things in common and like the same films. It is also a good place to buy merchandise linked to the films,
and fan-made paintings, models, props and costumes. Collectable items are most commonly available to buy at
conventions, as the sellers target a prime audience. Actors and producers of the film may feature on a panel at a
convention and talk about the films, taking questions from the fans and interacting with them. This is a form of
active spectatorship and a way for the creators / actors to see how fans respond to the product in a direct manner.
An example of this is Middle Earth Con, a convention entirely devoted to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films
(both trilogy’s set in Middle Earth), which took place at the Hilton Hotel in Paris in 2016. 5 actors from the films
attended and met with fans, each having a personal interview with the hosts of the convention and all joining
together to talk on a panel about the films and take questions from fans.

25. Cosplay
Cosplay is where fans of a franchise dress up as the characters
and sometimes role-play with other fans in character. Devoted
fans will spend a lot of time and money creating the most
realistic costumes that match those the characters wear in the
film and it is easy to find lots of photos online of Lord of the
Rings cosplayers. This also shows how the characters are
interpreted by the fans and how the fantasy genre allows
creativity and experimentation when designing costumes as
everyone knows what to expect (for example, when reading
the books, you would be able to visualize what the characters
looked like due to previous fantasy works) Cosplayers often
meet at conventions and will re-enact scenes or simply talk
about the franchise and make friends with people who have
similar interests to them. Some conventions even have
costume competitions, where cosplayers can show off their
costumes on stage and a panel of judges pick the best one.
Cosplayers can also meet like-minded people online when
posting photos to fan forums and getting likes and comments
on their images. Cosplay is a form of audience participation
that allows them to enter the world of Lord of the Rings and
create their own fan stories while in character. It could also be
considered fan-generated content and fan art, especially if the
costumes are hand made.

26. Fan generated content – Fan art
Fan art and other content forms a large section of fan culture and has a defined
market within the genre. Creators of fan art usually share their creations with
other fans using social media, and often gain popularity the more artwork they
produce. Creators can sell their artwork and some pieces can become extremely
sought after if the creator is well known for their art. Fan art can include a range
of styles, from pencil and pen drawings, to paintings to digital artwork and even
sculptures. Sculptures often cost more as they are rarer, and include realistic
wood or metal work weapons and props from the films, small dolls/action figures
or character sculptures and much more. Many fan artists create content based
on more than one franchise, which again boosts their popularity and can get their
name out on social media. Having artwork linked to a famous film franchise, such
as Lord of the Rings, can get an artist followers quickly, as fans of the franchise
will be drawn to their work, and are more likely to share it. A lot of fan art
incorporates the same elements of uses and gratification and preferred reading
as fan fiction does, and a fan has to be literate and savvy in the language used in
social media posts regarding certain fan art and creations. Another example of
fan generated content is where fans create their own video games and trailers
based on the film franchise. Fans take a lot of time making this content and often
put it online for other fans to play or watch. Many of this content contains
references to the franchise that only hardcore fans would understand, further
emphasizing how in depth fans go into the product.

27. Fan generated content – Fan Fiction, Shipping and
LOTR fans.
Alongside fan art and fan made games and trailers, some members of the Lord of the Rings fandom also write
stories about the characters and add to their own personal image of Tolkien’s world and publish them on
forums and fan pages on social media. This is a form of active consumption that allows the fan to engage with
the uses and gratification theory in the form of personal identity (By writing about their favourite character and
creating a story to suit their agenda), entertainment (as they are using their own enjoyment of the films to
create their own content, which will then become a form of entertainment for the readers) and also integration
and social interaction (when fans publish their writing to a social media forum and gain followers of like-
minded people). An example of this would be a story written by a fan where a few of the characters go on a
different adventure within the same world, and maybe meet fan-made characters along the way (example in
image 1). A large area of fandom and especially fan fiction (and sometimes fan art) is ‘Shipping’, a term
created by fans which is an abbreviation of the word ‘relationship’, to show when fan’s want two characters to
have a relationship with one another (usually romantic) that is often not in the ‘canon’ world of the films.
Many stories involving a fan’s ‘ship’ are a form of preferred / oppositional reading, where a fan has studied the
interactions between the characters (or even just based upon their personalities) within the film and decided
to read it in a way that makes there seem like there is more than meets the eye. This is then added into the fan
story and other fans can debate the story and the ship involved if they are pro or against that pairing.
Furthermore, this extensive integration has led to more in depth terms to appear, such as ‘OTP’ which is an
acronym for ‘One true pairing’ and shows how obsessive fans can be about their ‘ships’ and the way the
characters are perceived. This all links back to lord of the rings fans, as typing ‘Lord of the rings fan fiction’ into
a search engine, many websites come up, many showing fan fiction descriptions including characters’ names
and terms like ‘ship’ and ‘OTP’ (I recommend you do not do this as some of it was weird)

28. Social Media
Social media is a huge part of how Lord of the Rings' audiences interact with both the product itself and amongst themselves
as fans. One of the biggest forms of active consumption is based around social media and how fans may respond to the films
online while watching them, for example, a fan of the original lord of the rings films may tweet about the new Hobbit films as
they are watching them from the first time, even having the ability to use GIF's from the first films as reaction images to the
newer strand of the franchise. Furthermore, even over a decade after the original trilogy was released, fans still create new
content based around the films and the novels that they originally stemmed from, using original characters and those they
have made up and posting this content (fanfiction, art, fake trailers etc.) to social media websites such as twitter, tumblr,
facebook and deviantart where like minded people can see and respond to it. Content created out of the canon world of these
films are so popular that popular youtubers and internet personalities sometimes refer back to them or create 'reaction'
videos while reading someone's fanfiction or watching a fan made trailer in order to gain viewers from such an extensive
fanbase. The youtube channel Bad Lip Reading created a parody of Lord of the Rings using footage from the films and, as the
channel's name might suggest, used voice-overs to misread what the characters were saying in the original version to give it a
completely different context. Social media links all of the above together, fan created content, cosplay, conventions, words,
acronyms and phrases specifically created by fan culture, all stem from the social media presence of fan bases, Lord of the
Rings being one of the largest of them all. However, this immense connection can create negativity within the fan base,
especially with a fanbase as large as Lord of the Rings, as there is so much room for clashing opinions and such a broad
spectrum of media on which to discuss it.