Chapter 66. RealComm4e_WiredforComm

66.1 Section Title

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Wired for Communication
New Life Through Digital Media?

Read the passage below and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

Imagine that a friend shares a link to an online fan site devoted to a television program. There are forums where fans review episodes, discuss the actors, or explain the themes. The site also notes upcoming events or conferences in cities across the United States; it even has a section where fans submit their own creative works related to the show (fiction, poetry, artwork). This is not surprising, of course, as the internet is littered with such venues. But what might surprise you is that all of this fan activity is for a show that ended over a decade ago. Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran on American television from 1997 to 2003. Despite achieving only modest ratings across its broadcast career, it has remained a pop culture juggernaut through its online fandom afterlife. There is even a commitment to the show among some media scholars, who hold regular conferences and publish journals devoted to academic analyses of Buffy and creator Joss Whedon’s other productions (such as Firefly) (Whedon Studies Association, 2016).

Digital technology certainly did not create the fandom experience—Star Trek and Star Wars fans have been stapling together “fanzines” and attending science fiction conventions for decades—but the internet and social media have facilitated the formation and maintenance of such fan groups. Online fandom allows fans to more easily connect with one another to develop personal relationships as well as to rewatch and reanalyze episodes of their favorite shows (one blogger recently coordinated a year-long “Buffy rewatch,” complete with podcasts, blog entries, and fan-scholar comments for every episode). Digital media can also facilitate the “rebooting” of canceled, cult-favorite shows with new episodes. Netflix, for example, fulfilled the wishes of millions of Arrested Development fans by producing a long-awaited fifth season and making it available all at once for immediate binge-watching. And of course fans themselves often post their own videos and animated shorts in an effort to generate new love for their old favorites.

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