What role does Hills (2004) suggest
the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How
is new media central to this?
Hills(2004) indicates that the role
which fans in cult tv play is not just a typical “special devotion”, but
instead they can drive off attacks on their fan cultures, defend their passions
and even examine and value favored texts. New media has been central to this,
since fans have been known to not just pursue their activities in real life,
but also through the internet. Creating fan fiction, commentaries, information
on episodes and history of productions, using their expansive knowledge and
reviewing the favored programme. A market also has been constructed for
memorabilia, props and merchandise used in their much loved shows by fans. The
fans rather then just sitting back and taking a back seat when it comes to
their role in cult tv is found to par take in a much more active role,
constantly reviewing their favourite shows, trying to develop a better understanding
and appreciation in regards to the plot as well as the characters, even minor
ones.
Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Texts, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences, The Television Studies Reader, in R. C. Allen & A. Hill. London and New York: Routledge.
Yeah, summed it up well. Back to technology again. Do you think this may be caused partly by how people interact with virtual strangers online? All over the world, you can have full face to face conversations with people you have never met before via things like skype; so I guess some people could build the impression that there is not much difference between a person on a tv show and the person on the other end of a skype conversation, and therefore go seek this info on character background to try and solidify some sense of reality of the tv characters in their own lives. Ha not sure maybe I got carried away.
ReplyDeleteHi Farish,
ReplyDeleteI think the Internet has definitely allowed people to interact with each other faster than ever before. It has had an influenced on TV programmes too. As you mentioned, devoted fans are actively involved and have shaped the TV shows that they love. So although there is a producer of the show, a vast part of the show is driven by passionate fans. This may be evident where TV shows will be meaningless without its devoted fans as it may mean no viewers.
A brief response Farish but you've covered a lot of ground - interesting description of new media fan practices - but it's quite general, it could have been good to search the web to locate one of these and provide your reader with a critical discussion which describes this online fan practice. Good commments by Love Kim and Trevor.
ReplyDelete