%0 Journal Article
%T Media Text and Audiences: Discursive Constructions of Fandom
%A Helena Popovi£¿
%J Medijske Studije
%D 2011
%I Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
%X This paper presents the research findings obtained from a research project investigating media audiences and their reception of a cult-television (Cult TV) text, namely Da Ali G Show. The audience research comprises 18 semi-structured interviews conducted in London (the United Kingdom) and in Zagreb (Croatia) aimed at establishing how fandom is discursively constructed. The analysis of the interpretive community in two distinct socio-cultural contexts showed that there were more similarities than differences overall. The practices engaged in by the interviewees mostly involved making a conscious effort to regularly watch the primary text as well as to show an interest in the future work of the author. The research showed that interviewees typically engaged in a type of ¡®moderate¡¯ fandom, whilst strong emotional attachments were seen as negative, as was intrusiveness into people¡¯s privacy. This indicates a split between the signifier and the signified: the term ¡®fan¡¯ was readily adopted by interviewees in describing their relationship to the text; however, the meaning was negotiated and carefully constructed so as to disassociate oneself from the extreme, passionate, irrational connotation that the etymology of the term carries.
%K FANS
%K FAN PRACTICES
%K DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION
%K MODERATE FANDOM
%K CULT TV
%U http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=130747