Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Grace Dowden

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

Hill (2004) suggests that Cult TV is “in different levels in a three part model of text/inter-text/audience.” Hill (2004) clearly makes an evident emphasis on audience and contributes a separate definition to their efforts in constructing Cult TV.

The audience plays a central roll in the making/production of some series in the third definition of Cult TV. Hill (2004) states that “these types of arguments positions Cult TC as a grassroots phenomenon, assuming that it is created by fans rather than by media producers,” and goes even further to say, “Cult TV can neither made nor promoted as such by the media industry, but instead hinges vitally on audience take-up devotion.” In addition to this Hill (2004) mentions that the fans themselves use the term ‘Cult’ when describing these groups of shows in these networks, and the term ‘telefantasy’ is also used. Third, fans can gradually form a cult long after a TV programme is over, and do not necessarily have to start out as a Cult TV. Any form of “communal fan distinctiveness” such as, societies, conventions, and even fan clubs are all part of the process of making and transforming a programme into cult. In the final example, Hill (2004) connects all these processes of making a cult to new media and its impact of how all these components amalgamate into one central hub of information, such as the internet. Hill (2004) emphasized the magnitude that the role of the internet played in this process. He mentions that “Although I would not want to exaggerate the impact of the internet on the formation of new cult shows, by making it easier for fans o contact other like minded devotees, the web increases the possibility of small scale organized fandoms emerging around a wider variety of TV shows.” The internet and other forms of new media have not only leveled the playing field in terms of breaking the barrier between the exchange of transparent information, but also have broken the barriers of making a more variety of competition. Since the internet is less regulated and gives the user to choose a non-corporate/industry based product, it makes the interchange of preference and consumer choice in constant (Buffy as Cult Television, 2009).

In conclusion, Hill (2004) ends his final words by suggesting that instead of referring to three different cult statuses, there needs to be a way to institutionalize all three of these different components of the definition since they’re all part of the same equation.

References:

Buffy as Cult Television (2009). Retrieved 9 September, 2009 from: http://culttvbuffy.wordpress.com/2009/06/0 3/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/

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.