In this article I revisit concepts of fan culture and community, which have been central to fan studies. Critiques of subcultural theory, along with fandom's fragmentation into "traditional" fans and "brand fans," have suggested that media fandom cannot be viewed as a coherent culture or community. Consequently, I consider how a concept of fan world addresses some of these emergent critiques of fan culture/community, setting out what a world theory can offer current debates surrounding fandom. I draw particularly on Howard Becker's approach to art worlds (Becker, 2008) and Steven Connor's overview of world concepts (Connor, 2010). This allows me to elaborate on a model of the fan world, moving away from a position where world theories have usually been adopted in relation to franchises' world building to think about the platforms and pathways through which fandom is performed today. Ways of "having done fandom" are chosen, more or less reflexively, by fans from an array of communal and individualized possibilities. And "paths not taken" become counterfactual as fans follow certain bran-1 orcid.org/0000-0002-8778-6530. University of Huddersfield, England. M.J. Hills@hud.ac.uk
Having defined paratexts' spatial coordinates as possessing a "location that can be situated in relation to the location of the text itself," Gerard Genette also reflects on the "temporal situation of the paratext" (1997: 4-5). Crucially, it is the spatiotemporality of paratexts that needs interrogation if we are to understand the role they play in cultural memory. At stake is the act of remembering textual encounters through paratexts that are shared inside and increasingly across national boundaries. This ensures that television heritage travels not simply as a fannish scouring for textual completeness but, we contend, within recuperating acts of nation and Empire. It is imperative, then, to reconsider the spatiotemporal situation of paratexts from a cultural memory perspective, linking Doctor Who fandom's seemingly apolitical memories to cultural-political national communities, as we'll go on to do. Rather than considering paratexts as activators of textual meaning we suggest that paratextual memory (i.e. memories of "being there" inserted around texts, and texts' transient contexts of "now-ness" and "then-ness" inserted into memory) inscribes specific texts with senses of longing and loss, identity and experience, that such texts could not originally convey. "Cultural memory," state Reading and Katriel, "emerges out of a blend of individual choices framed by institutional decisions and media constraints" (2015: 8). The first part of this article addresses how unofficial/official media texts constrain fans' paratextual memory, while the
Mimetic fandom is a surprisingly understudied mode of (culturally masculinized) fan activity in which fans research and craft replica props. Mimetic fandom can be considered as (in)authentic and (im)material, combining noncommercial status with grassroots marketing or brand reinforcement as well as fusing an emphasis on material artifacts with Web 2.0 collective intelligence. Simply analyzing mimetic fandom as part of fannish material culture fails to adequately assess the nonmaterial aspects of this collaborative creativity. Two fan cultures are taken as case studies: Dalek building groups and Daft Punk helmet constructors. These diverse cases indicate that mimetic fandom has a presence and significance that moves across media fandoms and is not restricted to the science fiction, fantasy, and horror followings with which it is most often associated. Mimetic fandom may be theorized as an oscillatory activity that confuses binaries and constructions of (academic/fan) authenticity. This fan practice desires and pursues a kind of ontological bridging or unity—from text to reality—that is either absent or less dominant in many other fan activities such as cosplay, screen-used prop collecting, and geographical pilgrimage. Fan studies may benefit from reassessing the place of mimesis, especially in order to theorize fan practices that are less clearly transformative in character.
Of late, TV seriality has become not just a matter of textual analysis but also intertextual analysis as texts from the cultural past are variously revived and reimagined. Critics have sought to name this trend, arguing for the 're-quel' as a useful term (Pinkerton 2016, 34). For example, writing in Sight & Sound Nick Pinkerton argues that re-quels act simultaneously as sequels and as restatements of key elements from their previous textual incarnations. By introducing new, younger characters alongside ageing favourites, franchises can strategically facilitate a "baton passage of Q [diegetic] worlds from one generation to the next" (Pinkerton 2016, 34). In such continuations, then, the issue of cross-generational transfer necessarily becomes significant (Lizardi 2017). Cult TV has proffered a number of re-quels (e.g. Doctor Who; Star Trek: The Next Generation; The Prisoner) given that it tends to have established fan loyalty and brand recognition. Indeed, cult TV can be defined by its "post-object fandom" (Williams 2015) as dedicated fan cultures continue to develop their relationships with cult texts long after television cancellation. Rebecca Williams has observed how post-object fandom can offer opportunities for textual resurrection (2016, 56; Hills 2013, 297). Here, I am interested in one case of cult TV revival: the third season of Twin Peaks (Showtime, 2017), promoted as Twin Peaks: The Return. I will argue that what distinguishes the revival's seriality is its invocation of 1 This article is dedicated to the memory of my father, Robin Hills.
Before Saturday March 26th 2005, "Doctor Who" had been off the air as a regular, new TV series for more than fifteen years; until a production team led by Russell T. Davies re-imagined the programme so successfully, so triumphantly, that it's become an instant Christmas tradition, a BAFTA winner, an international 'superbrand' and a number one rated show. It's even been credited with reinventing family TV. This is the first full-length book to explore the 'new Who' phenomenon through to the casting of Matt Smith as the new Doctor. It explores "Doctor Who" through contemporary debates in TV Studies about quality TV and how can we define TV series as both 'cult' and 'mainstream'. Further, the book challenges assumptions in focusing on the importance of breath-taking, dramatic moments along with narrative structures, and in analysing the significance of Murray Gold's music as well as the series' visual representations. Matt Hills is a lifelong "Who" fan and he also considers the role of fandom in the show's return. He investigates too the multi-generic identity, the monster-led format, and the time-travelling brand of BBC Wales' 'Doctor Who'. In the twenty-first century, TV is changing, but the last of the Time Lords has been more than ready: he's been fantastic.
The editors situate the rise of transatlantic television drama within the history of transnational cultural exchange, theories of transnationalism, and scholarship on the topic within the field of media studies. They argue that broadcasting is uniquely entangled with tensions over national culture and identity to which scholars have responded with three distinct “waves” of thought. The first wave centered on fears of “Americanization,” the second focused on the “globalization” of culture via international trade, while the third has shifted to a transnational approach that is concerned with complex flows of influence and meaning. Theories of transnationalism put forward by Arjun Appadurai, Mette Hjort, Ien Ang, and others are brought to bear on considerations of international industries, texts, and fandom today, with particular attention to the transatlantic sphere. Finally, the key themes of transnational coproduction, new transnational relationships, and transnational representations are traced across and between the volume’s three parts.
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