My friend Lucy observes:
Ever since Worldcon last year I’ve realized all [Science Fiction] conventions are merely an excuse for Livejournal members and Buffy fans to hang out while the professionals in the field get some business done on the side.
I’ve wondered why Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a hit with ‘mainstream,’ book-oriented fandom, and not just ‘media’ fans. So I ran a panel on the question at WisCon: “How Buffy made Media Safe for Fandom.”
Between the panelists and the audience, we settled on two reasons:
- The show’s appeal to multiple groups:
- TV critics loved it.
- SF and Fantasy writers appreciate Whedon’s work. Nancy Jane Moore said “Whedon knows how to write for a series, season, and episode level.”
- Academics latched onto the show and made it an object of study.
- The panel’s audience mentioned a ‘low’ weirdness threshold for the show: audiences ‘got’ the high school is ‘hell’ theme. You didn’t need to know the current politics of hell to jump in.
- At the same time, the show rewarded long-time viewers: “Aha! That was set up two seasons ago!”
- The internet
- Beth Friedman suggested that the internet, not Buffy, made media fandom mainstream.
- Fans able to react, share, and confer as soon as an episode aired.
- A place to store shared knowlege such as episode guides.
- An easy way to publish fan fiction.
- See Steven Johnson’s recent book for more on how the internet ties into how we watch TV.
Technorati: wiscon
Possibly Related posts (machine generated):