Media studies, Vol. 2 No. 3-4, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Media Text and Audiences: Discursive Constructions of Fandom
Helena Popović
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper presents the research findings obtained from a research project investigating media audiences and their reception of a cult-television (Cult TV) text, namely Da Ali G Show. The
audience research comprises 18 semi-structured interviews conducted in London (the United Kingdom) and in Zagreb (Croatia) aimed at establishing how fandom is discursively constructed. The analysis of the interpretive community in two distinct socio-cultural contexts showed that there were more similarities than differences overall. The practices engaged in by the interviewees mostly involved making a conscious effort to regularly watch the primary text as well as to show an interest in the future work of the author. The research showed that interviewees typically engaged in a type of ‘moderate’ fandom, whilst strong emotional attachments were seen as negative, as was intrusiveness into people’s privacy. This indicates a split between the signifier and the signified: the term ‘fan’ was readily adopted by interviewees in describing their relationship to the text; however, the meaning was negotiated and carefully constructed so as to disassociate oneself from the extreme, passionate, irrational connotation that the etymology of
the term carries.
Keywords
FANS; FAN PRACTICES; DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION; MODERATE FANDOM; CULT TV
Hrčak ID:
87873
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2011.
Visits: 4.269 *