And that person is Henry Jenkins. Self-described as a devout fan of science fiction, pop culture and video games, the 52-year-old Jenkins is probably not the first person to surface on one's mind upon thinking about today's public intellectuals. However, one mustn't be fooled by his swanky facade to believe that he is anything but.
To start off, what is or qualifies someone as a public intellectual? In his blog post "The 'Decline' of Public Intellectuals?" Steven Mack debunks the ill-advised theory that a public intellectual is one who is "grounded in the myth of an aristocracy of experts," lending the title to an exclusive number of those who fit the traditional mold of an academically-driven, doctorate-holding connoisseur. He also dismisses the idea that the population of public intellectuals in today's society is quickly diminishing, and claims that the narrow spectrum of what constitutes a public intellectual is misguided. With the help of Jean Bethke Elshtain, Mack proposes a set of more wholesome, democratic criteria to classify a figure as a public intellectual:
... [T]he public intellectual function is criticism. And if intellectuals are in a better position to perform that function it’s not because they are uniquely blessed with wisdom—and it’s certainly not because they are uniquely equipped to wield social or political power. It is only because learning the processes of criticism and practicing them with some regularity are requisites for intellectual employment. It’s what we do at our day jobs.In both respects -- that of the traditional, distinction-based sense of the title and that of which focuses on the role -- Henry Jenkins is the paradoxical quintessence of what constitutes today's public intellectual.
Jenkins boasts a decorated academic background. After earning his BA in Political Science and Journalism at Georgia State University, Jenkins went on to obtain his MA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past decade, he acted as the director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT as well as the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He recently joined the team at USC in the fall of 2009 as the Provost's Professor of Communications, Journalism and Cinematic Arts. Throughout his career, he has authored and edited twelve books on various aspects of popular culture and media, and is also currently the principal investigator for Project New Media Literacies (NML).
Given his perceived intellectual chops and superfluous career, Jenkins aptly fits the mold of a public intellectual. However, those aspects could be almost dispensable to traditionalists upon learning some of his proudest landmarks in his career: As a public advocate for fans, gamers and bloggers and a promoter of the educational use of computer and video games, he testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee following the Columbine shootings, signed amicus briefs in opposition to games censorship, and regularly speaks to the press about these beliefs. In this sense, he would be classified as an "anti-intellectual," as he actually promotes (i.e. video games) what is typically perceived as anti-intellectual. This illustrates the limitations of the traditional definition of the public intellectual.
In other focal endeavors, Jenkins has explored the recent developments of media convergence with a focus on the phenomenon of transmedia storytelling, which develops the same story throughout a variety of media platforms, "not to be redundant but complementary." In his 2003 article titled "Transmedia Storytelling," he writes about the potential of a complete "enhanced storytelling [that] represents the future of entertainment" but is hampered by the ill-intentioned media conglomerates:
The media industries haven't done a very good job of collaborating to produce compelling transmedia experiences. Even within the media conglomerates, units compete aggressively rather than collaborate ... Each industry sector has specialized talent, but the conglomerates lack a common language or vision to unify them.Jenkins shares his vision of a cohesive transmedia experience, in which media platforms work together to bring a deeper understanding and developments of characters, themes and plots -- "a more complex, more sophisticated, more rewarding mode of narrative." One of the examples he gives television series Dawson's Creek, whose producers used the Web to provide deeper understanding of the characters by mimicking the characters' desktop along with their emails, school essays and journals.
In this video clip , Jenkins gives the most relevant example of the emergence and effectiveness of transmedia: the Obama campaign. He states that the Obama campaign explored every available media platform, including social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, cell phone technology and Youtube for sharing official videos and allowing people to produce their own. With Obama as the "character," transmedia storytelling allowed citizens to gain a deeper understanding of our now-president.
In a historic moment of our transition into the new digital age wherein the audience's participation is emphasized more than ever, Jenkins acts as a pioneer, expert and visionary for the potentials of this new convergence culture that allows the public to tell their own stories, bring new perspectives and challenge societal norms. And more so, he dutifully stands as a critic against the traditionalists and conglomerates that stand in the way -- marking the boldness of true public intellectual.
Learn more about Henry Jenkins on his blog.
