Week 9&10: Cult TV

What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult tv? How is new media central to this?

The role of fans in the construction of Cult TV is identified by Hills (2004) as a "'grassroots' phenomenon, assuming that it is created by fans rather than by media producers" (p.510). It draws emphasis on the fact that cult TV cannot be made or promoted by the media industry, but by the devotion and how the audience intends to interpret what they are viewing. Furthermore Hills (2004) suggests that cult TV has become "centrally important to cult fans lifestyle and identities' (p.517). It has become a part of who they are, where they attempt to account and defend the passion of a fans text, and appreciate and analyse a readers favourite text and simply sticking up for their favoured text against negative portrayals of a fans culture (Hill, 2004). It become a way of life in that fans construct cult TV by way of three methods as identified by Hills (2004) which are:

1. Fans organise tv programmes into a 'intertextual network'- This network allows fans to link to other networks that cover films, programs, books, comics, and other materials (Jenkins, 1992, p.40) that may be of the same genre or may be a different text type.

2. This allows fans to use the term 'cult' as a way of describing the types of networks that has fans following a popular realm of television which covers a variety of genres. In doing so fans are able to be a part of a community group that is able to provide insights into popular texts and cultures that are developed through online fan sites.

3. Through the development of these fan sites, fans of cult TV organises themselves socially into 'Appreciation Societies'. This may be a development overt time of a popular TV programme in which a  fan is inspired to the point where their passion of the TV programme become an obsession for a cult rather than Cult TV.

The fans of Cult TV as described by Hills (2004) gather together for conventions, where they share similar interests about their popular TV programme. This in a sense creates a “communal distinctiveness, working to knit together and sustain a fan culture” through these annual events. An example of fan cultures of the primary text Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which became and is still a popular culture today, is suggested by Postrel (2003) that: Buffy assumes and enacts the consensus moral understanding of contemporary American culture, the moral understanding that the wise men ignored or forgot. This understanding depends on no particular religious tradition. It's informed not by revelation but by experience. It is inclusive and humane, without denying distinctions or the tough facts of life.

For this reason, I believe that Buffy demonstrates the skill of slaying for good rather than evil. The book and TV series have become and is still influencing a lot of the media in today’s society. Moreover New Media in this context increases the activities of fans in which they use internet as a way of easily meeting other fans in a virtual world that allows them to discuss the cult show with each other and blog about what might happen in the episodes that follow. Hills (2004) states that “by making it easier for fans to contact other like-minded devotee, the web increases the possibility of small scale organised fandoms emerging around a wider variety of TV shows” (p.519).

References
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.

Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. London and New York: Routledge.

Postrel, V. (2003). Why buffy kicked ass: The deep meaning of TV’s favourite vampire slayer. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://reason.com/archives/2003/08/01/why-buffy-kicked-ass