«There is much about Wraith that you do not know» Potentials for Media Education in a literary Role-playing Game for the Science Fiction Series Stargate Atlantis

Abstract

From the point of view of communication sociology, the perspectivation work situated in the everyday practice of individuals and groups is a prerequisite for media education processes. Fan fiction and transformative working favour perspectivation work, insofar as they suggest a constant oscillation between existing material and new creation, between various media forms, between past and present, as well as between various participation roles. Against this background, the contribution focuses on a literary role play initiated by a group of fans on the basis of the science fiction series Stargate Atlantis. This role play was accompanied by media ethnography as part of a study on cooperative transformative fan works. The role plays’s potentials for media education are worked out exemplarily on the levels of «boundary reference», «action reference», «knowledge reference» and «biographical reference». Written from the perspective of the Wraith species, the players make a fundamental reversal of perspective and playfully navigate through relations of domination and power.