Download or read book Cult Television written by Sara Gwenllian-Jones and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A television series is tagged with the label "cult" by the media, advertisers, and network executives when it is considered edgy or offbeat, when it appeals to nostalgia, or when it is considered emblematic of a particular subculture. By these criteria, almost any series could be described as cult. Yet certain programs exert an uncanny power over their fans, encouraging them to immerse themselves within a fictional world. In Cult Television leading scholars examine such shows as The X-Files; The Avengers; Doctor Who, Babylon Five; Star Trek; Xena, Warrior Princess; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to determine the defining characteristics of cult television and map the contours of this phenomenon within the larger scope of popular culture. Contributors: Karen Backstein; David A. Black, Seton Hall U; Mary Hammond, Open U; Nathan Hunt, U of Nottingham; Mark Jancovich; Petra Kuppers, Bryant College; Philippe Le Guern, U of Angers, France; Alan McKee; Toby Miller, New York U; Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern U; Eva Vieth Sara Gwenllian-Jones is a lecturer in television and digital media at Cardiff University and co-editor of Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media. Roberta E. Pearson is a reader in media and cultural studies at Cardiff University. She is the author of the forthcoming book Small Screen, Big Universe: Star Trek and Television.
Download or read book The Cult TV Book written by Stacey Abbott and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As evidenced by the recent proliferation of fan conventions, television show boxed sets, and collectible character figurines, cult TV shows have arguably become the most vital and interesting programming on television. The once-marginal genre manifests itself in a remarkable variety of programs, from the suburban mob drama The Sopranos to the beloved occult fantasy Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Cult TV Book is a guide to this phenomenon, complete with lively and diverse analyses of the work that goes into conceiving and marketing a cult series, as well as numerous investigations that explore the unique cult appeal of individual programs. Leading scholars, journalists, and writers consider the many aspects of a show — both script-based and visual — that attract the kind of uncompromisingly loyal fan bases that we know as “Trekkies,” for example, or, more recently, “Losties.” The Cult TV Book sheds light on the heretofore under-examined science of addictive TV programming, pinpointing the complex arcs and intentionally inadequate explanations that keep viewers coming back for more. The contributors cover every corner of the cult map, all the while trying to define the elusive genre, to understand the cult TV obsession from the outside in.
Download or read book The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time written by Christopher J. Olson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reaching back to the beginnings of television, The Greatest Cult Television Shows offers readers a fun and accessible look at the 100 most significant cult television series of all time, compiled in a single resource that includes valuable information on the shows and their creators. While they generally lack mainstream appeal, cult television shows develop devout followings over time and exert some sort of impact on a given community, society, culture, or even media industry. Cult television shows have been around since at least the 1960s, with Star Trek perhaps the most famous of that era. However, the rise of cable contributed to the rise of cult television throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and now, with the plethora of streaming options available, more shows can be added to this categorization Reaching back to the beginnings of television, the book includes such groundbreaking series as The Twilight Zone and The Prisoner alongside more contemporary examples like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Hannibal. The authors provide production history for each series and discuss their relevance to global pop culture. To provide a more global approach to the topic, the authors also consider several non-American cult TV series, including British, Canadian, and Japanese shows. Thus, Monty Python’s Flying Circus appears alongside Sailor Moon and Degrassi Junior High. Additionally, to move beyond the conception of “cult” as a primarily white, heteronormative, fanboy obsession, the book contains shows that speak to a variety of cult audiences and experiences, such as Queer as Folk and Charmed. With detailed arguments for why these shows deserve to be considered the greatest of all time, Olson and Reinhard provide ideas for discussion and debate on cult television. Each entry in this book demonstrates the importance of the 100 shows chosen for inclusion and highlights how they offer insight into the period and the cults that formed around them.
Download or read book American Horror Story and Cult Television written by Richard Hand and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over ten seasons since 2011, the television series American Horror Story (AHS), created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, has continued to push the boundaries of the televisual form in new and exciting ways. Emerging in a context which has seen a boom in popularity for horror series on television, AHS has distinguished itself from its ‘rivals’ such as The Walking Dead, Bates Motel or Penny Dreadful through its diverse strategies and storylines which have seen it explore archetypal narratives of horror culture as well as engaging with real historical events. Utilising a repertory company model for its casting, the show has challenged issues around contemporary politics, heteronormativity, violence on the screen, and disability to name but a few. This new collection of essays approaches the AHS anthology series through a variety of critical perspectives within the broader field of television studies and its transections with other disciplines.
Download or read book The Essential Cult TV Reader written by David Lavery and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Essential Cult TV Reader is a collection of insightful essays that examine television shows that amass engaged, active fan bases by employing an imaginative approach to programming. Once defined by limited viewership, cult TV has developed its own identity, with some shows gaining large, mainstream audiences. By exploring the defining characteristics of cult TV, The Essential Cult TV Reader traces the development of this once obscure form and explains how cult TV achieved its current status as legitimate television. The essays explore a wide range of cult programs, from early shows such as Star Trek, The Avengers, Dark Shadows, and The Twilight Zone to popular contemporary shows such as Lost, Dexter, and 24, addressing the cultural context that allowed the development of the phenomenon. The contributors investigate the obligations of cult series to their fans, the relationship of camp and cult, the effects of DVD releases and the Internet, and the globalization of cult TV. The Essential Cult TV Reader answers many of the questions surrounding the form while revealing emerging debates on its future.
Download or read book The Television Studies Reader written by Robert Clyde Allen and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A discussion of a truly international range of television programs, this title covers alternative modes of television such as digital and satellite.
Download or read book Cult Telefantasy Series written by Sue Short and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-07-25 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From The Prisoner in the 1960s to the more recent Heroes and Lost, a group of television series with strong elements of fantasy have achieved cult status. Focusing on eight such series, this work analyzes their respective innovations and influences. Assessing the strategies used to promote "cult" appeal, it also appraises increased opportunities for interaction between series creators and fans and evaluates how television fantasy has utilized transmedia storytelling. Notable changes within broadcasting are discussed to explain how challenging long-form dramas have emerged, and why telefantasy has transcended niche status to enjoy significant prominence and popularity.
Download or read book Dexter written by Douglas L. Howard and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based upon the successful Jeff Lindsay novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Showtime’s Dexter continues to raise the bar on television drama, as it chronicles the grisly exploits of a police blood spatter expert who moonlights as a serial killer. But unlike other serial killers, Dexter only kills the bad guys, a distinction that sets up one of the primary ethical conflicts of the show. For fans who want to delve deeper into the fascinating complexity of this hit show, this guide offers a wide range of topics that will give bloggers, tweeters, and aspiring spatter experts a lot to talk about. Includes: • A complete episode guide to the first three seasons • An exclusive interview with Darkly Dreaming Dexter author Jeff Lindsay • A world-class group of critics offering the first lively investigation of the show’s issues • Chapters on Dexter as a vigilante hero, Dexter and psychoanalysis, the politics of Dexter, the German "obsession" with Dexter, and much more
Download or read book Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory written by Roberta Pearson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-12-08 with total page 800 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory clearly and accessibly explains the major theoretical approaches now deployed in the study of the moving image, as well as defining key theoretical terms. This dictionary provides readers with the conceptual apparatus to understand the often daunting language and terminology of screen studies. Entries include: *audience * Homi K. Bhabha * black cinema * the body * children and media * commodification * cop shows * deep focus * Umberto Eco * the gaze * Donna Haraway * bell hooks * infotainment * master narrative * medical dramas * morpheme * myth * panopticon * pastiche * pleasure * real time * social realism * sponsorship * sport on television * subliminal * third cinema * virtual reality Consultant Editors: David Black, USA, William Urricchio, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, Gill Branston, Cardiff University, UK ,Elayne Rapping, USA
Download or read book American Science Fiction Film and Television written by Lincoln Geraghty and published by Berg. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Science Fiction Film and Television presents a critical history of late 20th Century SF together with an analysis of the cultural and thematic concerns of this popular genre. Science fiction film and television were initially inspired by the classic literature of HG Wells and Jules Verne. The potential and fears born with the Atomic age fuelled the popularity of the genre, upping the stakes for both technology and apocalypse. From the Cold War through to America's current War on Terror, science fiction has proved a subtle vehicle for the hopes, fears and preoccupations of a nation at war. The definitive introduction to American science fiction, this is also the first study to analyse SF across both film and TV. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with critical case studies of key films and television series, including The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and Battlestar Galactica.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema written by Ernest Mathijs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 1002 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema offers an overview of the field of cult cinema – films at the margin of popular culture and art that have received exceptional cultural visibility and status mostly because they break rules, offend, and challenge understandings of achievement (some are so bad they’re good, others so good they remain inaccessible). Cult cinema is no longer only comprised of the midnight movie or the extreme genre film. Its range has widened and the issues it broaches have become battlegrounds in cultural debates that typify the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Sections are introduced with the major theoretical frameworks, philosophical inspirations, and methodologies for studying cult films, with individual chapters excavating the most salient criticism of how the field impacts cultural discourse at large. Case studies include the worst films ever; exploitation films; genre cinema; multiple media formats cult cinema is expressed through; issues of cultural, national, and gender representations; elements of the production culture of cult cinema; and, throughout, aspects of the aesthetics of cult cinema – its genre, style, look, impact, and ability to yank viewers out of their comfort zones. The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema goes beyond the traditional scope of Anglophone and North American cinema by including case studies of East and South Asia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, making it an innovative and important resource for researchers and students alike.
Download or read book Time on TV written by Lorna Jowett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-06-22 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From early examples such as Star Trek and Sapphire and Steel to more contemporary shows including Life on Mars and The Vampire Diaries, time has frequently been used as a device to allow programme makers to experiment stylistically and challenge established ways of thinking. Time on TV provides a range of exciting, accessible, yet intellectually rigorous essays that consider the many and varied ways in which telefantasy shows have explored this subject, providing the reader with a greater understanding of the importance of time to the success of genre on the small screen.
Download or read book True Blood written by Brigid Cherry and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As seen in HBO's "True Blood", vampires have never been more edgy, gory or sexy. Since its arrival on screen in 2008, Alan Ball's adaptation of "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" by Charlaine Harris has exploited the creative freedoms of the HBO brand and captured a cult audience with its passionate, blood-drenched visuals and stories. From viral webisodes depicting vampires announcing themselves on TV to the steamy title sequence and the show's uninhibited use of language, sex and gore, "True Blood" has quickly gained status as cult TV with bite. "True Blood" posed the question of what would happen if vampires 'came out of the coffin' and this book considers the representations of sexuality, race and class in a series that engages directly with prejudice and civil rights. It also considers "True Blood's" generic roots in television horror, paranormal romance and Southern Gothic, the wider contexts of fairy tales and religion, the marketing of the series and the activities of its fans. Written for students, scholars and fans, "True Blood: Investigating Vampires and Southern Gothic" explores the hidden depths of "True Blood's" vampire bars, small town communities and haunted bayous.
Download or read book Cult Collectors written by Lincoln Geraghty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-24 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cult Collectors examines cultures of consumption and the fans who collect cult film and TV merchandise. Author Lincoln Geraghty argues that there has been a change in the fan convention space, where collectible merchandise and toys, rather than just the fictional text, have become objects for trade, nostalgia, and a focal point for fans’ personal narratives. New technologies also add to this changing identity of cult fandom whereby popular websites such as eBay and ThinkGeek become cyber sites of memory and profit for cult fan communities. The book opens with an analysis of the problematic representations of fans and fandom in film and television. Stereotypes of the fan and collector as portrayed in series such as The Big Bang Theory and films like The 40 Year Old Virgin are discussed alongside changes in consumption practices and the mainstreaming of cult media. Following this, theoretical chapters consider issues of gender, representation, nostalgia and the influence of social media. Finally, extended case study chapters examine in detail the connections between the fan community and the commodities bought and sold. Topics discussed include: The San Diego Comic-Con and the cult geographies of the fan convention Hollywood memorabilia and collecting cinema history The Star Wars franchise, merchandising and the adult collector Online stores and the commercialisation of cult fandom Mattel, Hasbro and nostalgia for animated eighties children’s television
Download or read book Battlestar Galactica written by Roz Kaveney and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-07-02 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The West Wing" or "Generation Kill" in Space? A show about God-fearing sex-obsessed robots? Or a complex meditation on fate, dreaming and eternal recurrence? Of all recent television science fiction series, the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" is the most highly praised and consistently inventive and intelligent. Where the original show was a straightforward space opera, the new one is rich, strange and above all unpredictable. This book covers the new "Battlestar Galactica" from beginning to end, covering all of the show's principal themes from the depiction of sexuality in an era of artificial people and downloaded memories to what it means to be a member of a military organization when the stakes are not victory or defeat but survival. Like all the best shows about the future or the past - we are never sure when all this is supposed to be happening - "Battlestar Galactica" is a series about the present; chapters here cover its depiction of the post-9.11 world and such issues as abortion and worker's rights. This definitive book on the full new "Battlestar Galactica" also includes an interview with Jane Espenson, co-executive producer of the show's last seasons and writer/director of the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel film "The Plan", with a complete episode guide.
Download or read book Investigating Alias written by Stacey Abbott and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2007-06-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First aired in 2001, "Alias" is a spy drama with a central action heroine, a complex narrative of moral twists, turns, lies and double-crosses, and an imaginative array of gadgets, gizmos and glamorous costumes. It has become a leading cult television series with a loyal fan following. In the wake of 9/11, "Alias'" themes of doubles and duplicity have been perfectly placed to comment on global relations and the personal paranoias of post 9/11 citizens. But as much as "Alias" reflects contemporary global politics, at its core are themes of family and relationships. The series is ending with a bang in 2006 and "Investigating "Alias"" is the first book to give a full and fascinating examination of the series in its entirety, with a complete episode guide. Placing the series within the wider context of American Quality Television and the spy genre, contributors consider the central role of family, race, gender and moral ambiguity in "Alias". They also focus on the creator of "Alias", JJ Abrams, and discuss the development and influence of the fan world beyond the series with in-depth studies of DVD releases, tie-in, fan and slash fiction. is the first book to give a full and fascinating examination of the series in its entirety, with a complete episode guide.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction written by Adam Roberts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-03-30 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is a comprehensive overview of the history and study of science fiction. It outlines major writers, movements, and texts in the genre, established critical approaches and areas for future study. Fifty-six entries by a team of renowned international contributors are divided into four parts which look, in turn, at: history – an integrated chronological narrative of the genre’s development theory – detailed accounts of major theoretical approaches including feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, postcolonialism, posthumanism and utopian studies issues and challenges – anticipates future directions for study in areas as diverse as science studies, music, design, environmentalism, ethics and alterity subgenres – a prismatic view of the genre, tracing themes and developments within specific subgenres. Bringing into dialogue the many perspectives on the genre The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and the future of science fiction and the way it is taught and studied.
