Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Cult TV



Cult TV shows generally have an audience that are devoted in a cult like fashion. Hill (2004) explains Cult TV as having three different definitions firstly “defined through textual analysis and depends on text”. The second definition is that it is “defined through an analysis of secondary texts or inter-texts, and depends on these inter-texts” and lastly that it “can be defined through an analysis of fan practices, and depends on fan activities”. There is limited scholarly research on these three competing definitions of cult TV.

One aspect of a cult TV shows is that they often have a broad universe, meaning there are parallel dimensions from the past to present to future. For example Star Trek has time travel and parallel universes. Usually these shows will have quite a diverse range of races and species. For example in Star Trek there are Klingons and Vulcans and Buffy has werewolves, demons and vampires.

Another aspect of cult TV is that they have quite a strong relationship between the lead character and a partner of the same sex as with Captain Kirk and Spock on Star Trek. Buffy has Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The phenomenon of cult TV is recent however shows like Star Trek have been around for generations and have developed a cult like following.

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