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University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol
Thursday 12th and Friday 13th July 2007
> Click here to view the detailed programme overview (online)
> Click here to download the detailed programme overview (pdf)
Conference Programme - Abstracts
Panel 14: Fan Culture and Online Audiences
Chair: Dr Mark Bould
Dressing up as Vampires - Virtual vamps: negotiating female identity in cyberspace
Maria Mellins, St Mary's University College
audience, internet, identity
Dressing up as Vampires is an ethnographic audience study investigating issues of identity and the masquerade within the active female vampire fan community. Drawing on previous theoretical material by Milly Williamson (2005), Paul Hodkinson (2002) and wider methodological approaches such as Lori Kendall (1999) this paper will focus on the negotiation of female fans’ identities across various online networks such as
MySpace, LiveJournal, VEIN (Vampire Exchange Information Network) and Yahoo groups. Its objective is to explore how identity is constructed in the virtual community, via imagery (avatars & graphics), photography and text and to what extent this online persona encroaches and impacts upon fans’ ‘real lives’.
The recent online phenomenon MySpace has already proved an extremely popular medium within this community. Users can construct an online profile, display photography, write
blogs, and join both private communities and wider networks of likeminded individuals. They can also post forthcoming ‘real life’ events on the Bulletin board that may be of interest to other network users. Most of these online profiles are open to the public and can therefore be viewed by anyone. This raises questions about both the construction and the impact of an online persona and how such networks may either reinforce or resist an individual’s face-to-face identity. Through analyses of these MySpace pages and various other networks I will suggest that female vampire fans use the Internet as an extension of their identity, and although they may construct an alternate persona within cyberspace, this usually serves as a reinforcement of their idealised ‘real life’ identity.
Pure power, pure pleasure? Recontextualising fan/object and fan/fan relationships
Rebecca Williams, Cardiff University
audiences, fandom, cultural value, online studies
Whilst previous academic work has focused on cult media/ ‘quality’ television, considering these texts to be worthy of critical scrutiny whilst sidelining more popular programs such as sitcoms, quiz shows and ‘middle-of-the-road’ dramas, I suggest we should also examine fans communities of shows in genres such as soap opera, reality television and drama. Drawing on a case study of fans of the seventh series of Big Brother UK which aired in 2006, this paper uses Pierre Bourdieu's work on cultural and social capital and the theories of sociologist Anthony
Giddens, in particular his work on narratives of the self and pure relationships. Using data generated from on-line questionnaires and textual analysis of online postings, this paper argues that we view fan/object and fan/fan relationships as examples of Giddens’ ‘pure relationships’ in which fans form both deep emotional attachments to fan texts and fellow fans as well as accruing levels of fan power and capital within their
fandoms.
Experiencing Grindhouse (Part of - Tarantino’s Audience: A Cognitive based Audience Research Enquiry)
Rebekah Smith, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
qualitative research, cognitivism, quentin tarantino, audiences
My research is concerned with the nature of the emotional relationship between audiences and films and is specifically focused on Quentin Tarantino’s films and fans. Although academic interest in Tarantino is expanding, he is largely being celebrated without examination of the nature of his success. My aim is to continue exploring how his films invite and structure his fans’ emotional involvements and investments, and how the films affect their ongoing lives.
Tarantino’s work does seem to evoke a particularly strong combination of knowledgeable and emotional responses, yet the cult of Tarantino has become increasingly difficult for researchers to explain. However, the current internet reception research I have been doing (since June 2006 when the pre-release buzz began surrounding his new film; Death Proof, from the Grindhouse double feature) is beginning to show I may have found interesting and significant patterns of emotional talk emerging, which could possibly help us start to understand this type of film audience’s emotional responses to cult films and directors.
The aspect of my work I would like to present is a discussion of the findings from my online questionnaire (which is specifically focused on Death Proof). I launched the questionnaire in time to coincide with the films release in America to which it received a very high level of response. I will present an analysis of the qualitative responses and compare and contrast them with the patterns I identified from the forums I’ve been monitoring. The main point I wish to emphasize is that the ways in which the fans have been previously discussing Death Proof during its pre-release phase and their responses to my questionnaire after finally seeing the film are very similar; therefore I will attempt to show how these powerful, emotional responses are formed.
These findings will no doubt raise a number of significant questions for further research and I will conclude with a short summary explaining how I plan to develop these questions.
Panel 1: Imperialism and Globalisation
Panel 2: Online Citizens and Democracy
Panel 3: Television Audiences
Panel 4: Mediating Identity 1
Panel 5: Reporting the Conflict
Panel 6: Journalism and Social Responsibility
Panel 7: Sexual Representations in Cinema
Panel 8: Popular Culture
Panel 9: Still Image
Panel 10: Branding, Advertising and Corporate Cultures
Panel 11: Film and Theatre
Panel 12: Alternative Film
Panel 13: Feminism, Gender and Identity
Panel 14: Fan Culture and Online Audiences
Panel 15: Public Service Broadcasting and Radio
Panel 16: Design for Screen
Panel 17: Uses of Music and Sound in Film
Panel 18: Mediating Identity 2
Panel 19: Citizens, Interaction and the Public Interest
Note: Please be aware that the programme might be subject to changes. Please refer back to this page for a final programme overview nearer the conference. The final programme will also be communicated to delegates via email.
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