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

https://hrcak.srce.hr/87873

Publication date:

15.12.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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