Which term describes fans taking existing texts and reinterpreting them creatively?

• A. Interactivity
• B. Participatory culture
• C. Textual poaching
• D. Digital natives

Answer: (C)

Textual poaching describes fans taking existing texts and reworking them creatively. This term, developed by Henry Jenkins, captures how fans borrow elements from movies, books, or shows and transform them into new works like fan fiction, fan art, or remixes, giving the source material new meanings through their own imaginative reinterpretation.

While participatory culture also involves fans making and sharing content, it refers to the broader phenomenon of collaborative creation and community engagement, not specifically the act of appropriating and reworking texts. Interactivity focuses on how users engage with media and control aspects of the experience, rather than the practice of reinterpreting sources. Digital natives describe a generation comfortable with digital technology, not the creative practice itself. So textual poaching is the precise term for this behavior.