‘The one you watched when you were twelve’: Regenerations ofDoctor Whoand Enduring Fandom's ‘Life-Transitional Objects’

Abstract

In this article I return to the fannish transitional object, relating fandom across the life course (Harrington and Bielby 2013) to recent critical concepts of ‘consumed nostalgia’ and ‘mediated nostalgia’ (Cross 2015; Lizardi 2015), both of which imply that ‘enduring fandom’ can represent an unhealthy holding on to the past. Challenging this, I turn to Christopher Bollas’ (1993) notion of ‘generational consciousness’, considering instead how a long-running British science fiction TV series such as Doctor Who (BBC1, 1963–) can become a ‘generational object’ for multiple cohorts of fans (Booth and Kelly 2013), this being recognised through fan discourses of ‘my Doctor’. I also examine how changes in the fan object linked to recasting and reimagining are drawn on by fans to understand the ageing of their own generation, and its movement from a culturally powerful ‘illusion’ (that the text is meant for them), to disillusionment (that Doctor Who is now aimed at younger audiences, and hence they may no longer be culturally central to its meanings and practices). If we can identify ‘media generations’ (Bolin 2017), then this calls for a greater exploration of how media attachments, retained by fans across many decades, can act as life-transitional objects within experiences of ageing. I conclude by addressing the ‘textual ageing’ of Doctor Who, demonstrating how the programme denies its own metaphorical ‘life cycle’ (Harrington 2016) in favour of always regenerating, even while it simultaneously trades on the cultural/heritage value of being more than 50 years old.

Fã cínico: falando a verdade descaradamente

“…Ambas as posições revelam formas de legitimar o consumo dos fãs (Sugihartati, 2020;Ulusoy & Firat, 2018). Isso acontece porque os fãs muitas vezes reformulam sua fanidade, produzindo conhecimento sobre os produtos de mídia, a fim de tornar públicas suas expectativas e opiniões sobre eles (Fathallah, 2014;Hills, 2017). Com base nesta perspectiva, corroboram ou contrapõem-se aos textos midiáticos que justificam a própria confirmação de sua fanidade (Brennan, 2014;Goodman, 2015).…”

Cynical fan: telling the truth shamelessly

“…Both positions reveal ways to legitimize fan consumption (Sugihartati, 2020;Ulusoy & Firat, 2018). It happens because fans often reframe their fannish by producing knowledge about media products in order to make their expectations and opinions about them public (Fathallah, 2014;Hills, 2017). Based on this perspective, they corroborate or oppose media texts accounting for the very confirmation of their fannish (Brennan, 2014;Goodman, 2015).…”

When the Pet Shop Boys were ‘imperial’: Fans’ self-ageing and the neoliberal life course of ‘successful’ text-ageing

“…Journalist-fans have also reimagined the imperial phase in a specific way, by reflexively linking it to stages in the life course, and to forms of generational consciousness (Hills 2017a). For example, writing in the programme for 2016/2018 'Super' gigs, Dorian Lynskey argues that during their first few years Pet Shop Boys permanently altered many fans' conception of what pop music could be.…”

“…I want to pursue this trajectory by considering how discourses of "text-aging" can be drawn on by fans following media texts across many years, and how this can be related to "self-aging". Such fandom has been described as "enduring" (Hills 2017a), as "life fandom" (Garner 2018), and even as "perpetual fandom" (Driessen 2018: 36). Multiple scholars have echoed Harrington and Bielby's (2010) call for work on fandom and the life course, with pop music providing a key site.…”