Weeks 10 and 11 – Buffy.
1) Q. Wilcox and Lavery
(2002) identify 9 defining characteristics of 'quality TV' - can you apply any
of these to other television series that you have viewed recently? Are there
any other characteristics that you could add to their list?
2) What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans
play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?
3) Hills (2004)
lists a number of defining characteristics of cult TV that contain similarities
to the defining characteristics of pop genres (e.g. fantasy, science fiction)
discussed earlier in the Pop Genres paper. Can you identify these and discuss
why you think that these characteristics are repeatedly viewed as underpinning
popular genres?
2) What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?
ReplyDeleteIn Hills’ Defining Cult TV (2004), he provides three definitions of cult TV shows which are analysed from textual, inter-textual, and fan audiences perspective respectively. However, he states in the end of the article that none of the definitions above can solely and fully define cult TV. Instead, they are highly related and should be all taken into account in order to define cult TV. According to Hills (2004), fans play a crucial role in making a TV programme a cult. A fan of cult TV usually not only shows his or her passions toward the shows, but also defends the favoured shows when anyone has doubts in them. The shows become a part of a fan’s identity and embed in a fan’s life.
In addition to fans’ enthusiasm to the shows, Hills (2004) indicates that when and how long a TV show is programmed on TV has an influence on fan activities, and thus affects fans’ construction of cult TV. Cult TV shows are usually “run in seasons of 24 episodes and often features end-of-season cliff-hangers” (pp. 518). This means that after watching a season with an intriguing ending, fans are given enough time to think about the plot, produce related works such as fan fiction, and discuss the plot with one another. Thus, the interest in the cult TV show is kept for a long time until the next season takes fans’ world by storm again. By contrast, fans of normal soap operas do not have the opportunity to write about their stories because the plot is updated continuously by the programming of the show itself.
What’s more, according to Hills (2004), fans themselves turn some TV shows into cult TV in some ways. Fans create an “intertexual network” where many TV shows are compared and related (pp. 518). A fan might join a fan community because of a particular TV series. After intense discussions and conversations with other fans, the new fan is able to know other similar TV shows, and that TV series could gradually become a cult. This fan-based space remains untouched by relevant industry. Thus, it is fans’ contribution and decision that make a TV show to a cult. Sometimes, fans will directly use “cult” to describe some TV programmes.
Another way of fans’ constructing cult TV might be the emergence of “Appreciation Societies” (pp. 519). Fans “share their interests”, “gather for conventions”, and present their show-related works in those appreciation societies (pp. 519). Some TV shows were not that popular and did not belong to cult TV as they aired in the beginning. However, they could become a cult after they go through intense fan activities and discussion, which makes those cult TV shows unique. Lastly, fans can make a cult TV show stay as a cult for a long time even after the show has been stopped by creating spinoffs and other related products and works.
DeleteHills (2004) also points out that the development of new media has made the distribution and discussion over TV programmes easier than before. It is widely acceptable to say that new media reaches more people and allows fans to take part in the discussion over more TV shows on virtual world. Also, it brings people with similar interests together without requiring them to show up in a gathering physically. It successfully helps spread fandom and breaks the barriers between fans already in the subculture and the people outside. Therefore, cult TV’s having becoming “less mainstream” and “less subcultural” would invite new people and affect the formation of cult TV (Hills, 2004, pp. 519). However, some people do not agree that the Internet, the core of new media, has a huge influence on the establishment of cult TV. One reason is that it is required that fans should have deep knowledge of the plot and the long following of the TV series, even other shows, so that they are able to talk about it profoundly and then be a part of the formation of a cult. Yet, new fans usually do not have the competence and enough knowledge to join the discussion as successfully as old fans do. The other reason provided by Hills (2004) is that “fans’ criteria for inclusion as a cult text” stays the same because the “intertextual network”, the possible criteria, has already been built (pp. 520). This means that the Internet does not change fans’ criteria for whether a TV show could become a part of cult TV.
References:
Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Texts, inter-texts and Fan Audiences, In R.C. Allen & A. Hill, The Television Studies Reader (pp. 509-523). London and New York: Routledge.
5. In what way is Buffy influenced by the romantic gothic tradition? Yet how does Buffy also provide a contemporary critique of this tradition?
ReplyDeleteGothic fiction is a subgenre of ‘Gothic Horror’, combining fiction, horror, death, and even romanticism, into one form of literature. ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ is an example of literature that has been heavily influenced by Gothic Fiction. The character of Buffy demonstrates the influence in which romantic gothic tradition has over the TV series. She’s a female lead, fated to become a “Slayer” of all things dark and evil. She goes through a series of trainings, guided by her “Watcher”, Rupert Giles, then eventually starts battling dark creatures. The main outline of Buffy’s conquest is clothed in typical romantic gothic tradition, with the likes of her interest being a vampire with a soul, however, in terms of contemporary critique of this tradition, Buffy is not just a female who is well-aware of such existence from the get-go; she’s a high schooler with a group of friends, and often makes choices based on her knowledge as a teenager thrown into the deep-end of something she had no idea was actually real.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Cult TV Show) - How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?
ReplyDeleteWe live in a world where we cannot always separate the good and evil. It consists of complexity to say what is good and evil, but normally we judge by the traditional literary notions of good and evil such things like bad will hurt people or the world and good will save the day. A good example of this will be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The vampires that hurt people and try to kill Buffy are bad and the slayer Buffy who tries to save Sunnydale and fight the evil vampires is good. This however causes confuses when Angel in involved. He is Buffy’s lover, and the vampire who was cursed at the same time. I enjoyed this TV show because of the romance storyline between the two. Yes, although Angel turned into a fully evil vampire, it is hard to say he was as evil as the other bad vampires. Reason being, he was always on call to help Buffy whenever she needed help, was there to save her life time and time again and he actually felt emotion of love. According to Braun (2000) “Buffy’s full recognition of both the demonic and Angelic aspects of Angel demonstrates a moment of reconciliation of the Kleinian ‘good’ and ‘bad’ into one body“. Braun also states that main characters has moral ambiguity and they are portrayed as making morally wrong choice which shifts the nature of good and evil.
The complicated relationship between Buffy and Angel show as Braun (2000) mentions “Tangle of psychological and sexual roles and moral positioning does not lead to easy analysis, but it does reflect the complexity of real human personalities and relationships.” I think these moral ambiguity relationship made people to fascinate by Buffy the vampire slayer. It won’t be this much interesting if this show only present the fight with Buffy and vampires without this suffering relationship. And as like Braun says (2000) “underneath our civilized behaviours, we all have capacity for evil”, I think ‘good’ and ‘evil’ can’t be think separately because we all have both good and evil with us. Even if it only shows one side on the surface, there will be other side underneath us.
Reference
Braun, B. (2000). The X-files and Buffy the vampire slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations.