REACTIVE PARTICIPATORY CULTURE AND FAN REWRITING: GAME OF THRONES AND THE CONTESTATION OF NARRATIVE AUTHORITY

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, the media landscape has undergone a profound transformation, shifting audiences from passive receivers to active users who can influence media content. This transformation has fostered participatory culture, enabling individuals to intervene in media production processes, generate content, and reconfigure existing narratives. This study examines the impact of participatory culture through the controversial final season of Game of Thrones, focusing on audience reactions, alternative narratives, and creative productions emerging across digital platforms. The study analyzes the fan-produced alternative final season created by Daniel Whidden, which emerged in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the official ending. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, the analysis compares the official and alternative narratives by examining narrative coherence and character motivation. In addition, analytical discussions published on TheRinger.com and user ratings from IMDb are incorporated as supportive indicators to contextualize patterns of audience dissatisfaction. This study contributes to participatory culture literature by conceptualizing fan-produced alternative narratives not merely as forms of creative participation, but as manifestations of reactive participatory culture, in which dissatisfaction is transformed into cultural production. Rather than framing audience intervention solely as production-oriented activity, the study situates it at the level of narrative legitimacy and the negotiation of story ownership. The findings demonstrate that media content is no longer consumed unidirectionally but is actively reshaped through audience participation, offering a conceptual foundation for future research on narrative authority in digital media environments.