FAN-TEXTUAL TELEVISION: NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, VIRTUALITY AND FANDOM IN BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER , ANGEL AND VERONICA MARS AF ŞAR YEG İN 102603001 İSTANBUL B İLG İ ÜN İVERS İTES İ SOSYAL B İLİMLER ENST İTÜSÜ SİNEMA VE TELEV İZYON YÜKSEK L İSANS PROGRAMI TUNA ERDEM HAZ İRAN 2006 Fan-Textual Television: Narrative Structure, Virtuality and Fandom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Veronica Mars Hayran-Metinsel Televizyon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel ve Veronica Mars’ta Anlatı Yapısı, Sanalsallık ve Hayranlık Af şar Yegin 102603001 Tez Danı şmanının Adı Soyadı ( İMZASI) : Tuna Erdem Jüri Üyelerinin Adı Soyadı ( İMZASI) : Kaya Özkaracalar Jüri Üyelerinin Adı Soyadı ( İMZASI) : Selim Eyübo ğlu Tezin Onaylandı ğı Tarih : 26/06/2006 Toplam Sayfa Sayısı : 133 Anahtar Kelimeler (Türkçe) Anahtar Kelimeler ( İngilizce) 1) Hayranlık 1) Fandom 2) Sanalsallık 2) Virtuality 3) Anlatı Yapısı 3) Narrative Structure 4) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 4) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5) Veronica Mars 5) Veronica Mars Abstract This study is concerned with tracing the relationship between the narrative structure of American television and fandom with a specific focus on the texts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Veronica Mars. Television narratives differ from classic narratives in certain key respects. Television narration is characterized by an episodic and fragmented structure that relies on the postponement of closure for its continuation. Viewer interest is further maintained by heavy characterization and the use of multiple concurrent story arcs spanning numerous episodes in addition to one central seasonal arc. These narrative specifics enable the construction of a fabulated universe, ‘virtuality,’ by the fan viewer. Virtuality ensures a safety zone where the fan is able to manipulate the meanings of popular texts and to create new, possibly subversive ones. On the other hand, the self-reflexive nature of the medium and its position within Postmodern popular culture lend television texts a heightened degree of awareness of fannish meanings. Because of this hyperawareness, subversive readings and fannish meanings are increasingly incorporated by industrial texts, simultaneously generating further fan interaction and acting as possible inoculations. iii Özet Bu çalı şma, ba şta Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel ve Veronica Mars olmak üzere, Amerikan televizyon dizilerinin anlatımsal yapısı ile hayranlık arasındaki ili şkiyi gözlemlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Televizyon anlatıları bazı temel noktalarda klasik anlatılardan farklılıklar göstermektedir. Televizyon anlatımlarının yapısı bölümsel ve parçalı olup devamlılıklarının temelinde dramatik sonun sürekli olarak ertelenmesi ve karakterlerin derinli ği yatmaktadır. Seyirci ilgisinin devamlılı ğını sa ğlayan di ğer bir unsur ise tüm bir sezonu kapsayan tek bir ana hikaye yanında birkaç bölüme yayılan ba şka olay dizilerine de yer verilmesidir. Tüm bu anlatımsal özelliklerin de katkısıyla hayran seyirci sanalsallık olarak adlandırılabilecek olan hikayele ştirilmi ş bir evren kurgulayabilir. Bu sanalsallık, hayrana, popüler metinlerin egemen söylemlerinin farklıla ştırılabilece ği veya altüst edilebilece ği güvenli bir bölge sa ğlar. Bununla beraber, Postmodern popüler kültürün içinde yer alan televizyonun kendine dönük yapısı, televizyon metinlerini alternatif anlamların ve okumaların ileri derecede farkında kılmaktadır. Bunun sonucu olarak ise hayranların farklıla şmı ş anlamları ve okumaları giderek sektörün metinlerinin içine dahil edilmektedir. Böylelikle hayranların egemen söyleme alternatif okumalarına ham malzeme olu şturulurken aynı zamanda farklı okumalara ve anlamlara kar şı a şı etkisi de yaratabilmektedir. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep and heartfelt gratitude for Selim Eyubo ğlu for his wisdom, ceaseless moral support and unerring academic guidance. He has, in turns, been a teacher, a sounding board, an inspiration and a friend who shared his knowledge, experience, wisdom and resources unconditionally and without whose assistance the writing of this thesis would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Tuna Erdem for her time and support. I am, as ever, deeply greatful to my parents, Birsen and Kenan Yegin, who have always supported me in all my choices and trials of life. I would have been a lesser person without their love and trust. My dear grandparents Remziye and Mustafa Çezu graciously allowed me the use of their home, prepared me breakfast every morning, scolded me for not getting enough sleep everyday and are the reason I could finish this study on time. I would like to thank my brother Ba şar Yegin who supplied me with endless printer cartridges, coffee, food and understanding. My friends Neslihan Özgül, Lalehan Öcal, Engin Ertan, Didem Çakmaklı, Eda Hayırlıo ğlu, Jaba ğı Kök, and Melis Bilgin were staunch supporters, trustworthy ears and the voices of reason during stressful times, moments of doubt and nervous breakdowns. I will always be in their debt. v Table of Contents Introduction...............................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Narrative Structure in Television..........................................11 1.1. Basic Problems in Discussing Television Narration ..............12 1.1.1. Variety of Programming.............................................13 1.1.1.1. Raymond Williams and Flow .........................13 1.1.1.2. John Ellis and Segmentation...........................15 1.1.2. Classic Narrative Theory and Television ...................18 1.1.3. Counter-acting Tensions.............................................20 1.2. Basic Characteristics and Structural Forms............................22 1.2.1. Five Act Structure.......................................................25 1.2.2. Proairetic and Hermeneutic Codes .............................27 1.2.3. Narrative Closure and the Use of Character...............28 1.2.3.1. The Sit-com: Series Format in Comedy .........29 1.2.3.2. Procedurals: Series Format in Drama.............31 1.2.3.3. The Serial Format ...........................................34 1.2.4. Lack of Suspense, Storylines, Syntagmatic Axis .......37 1.3. Television: The Writerly Text ................................................39 Chapter 2: Serialization and Hybrid Structures......................................47 2.1. Serialization: Blending Forms ................................................47 2.2. Hybrid Structures: Buffy and Veronica Mars .........................49 2.2.1. Types of Story Arcs....................................................50 2.2.2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Season 5 ...........................51 2.2.3. Veronica Mars : Season 1............................................54 Chapter 3: Fandom and Virtuality..........................................................62 3.1. The Fan: Problems in Defining a Concept .............................66 3.1.1. Fandom as Deviance...................................................67 3.1.2. Fandom as a Superior Form of Reading.....................69 3.2. Speak (For) Me! Authorizing the Text ...................................72 vi 3.3. How Does Television Speak (For) Me? .................................74 3.3.1. Too Much of Something is a Good Thing: Excess.....74 3.3.2. The More, the Merrier: A Fan Must Contribute.........76 3.3.2.1. Joss Isn’t Always Perfect: “If I Owned Them, We Would See More Nekkid!Spike”......................78 3.4. Embroiling the Viewer: Television as a Producerly Text ......81 3.5. Making Fans: Structural Origins in Buffy , Angel, Veronica Mars .................................82 3.5.1. A World is Not Enough, We Need a Universe...........83 3.5.2. Filling the Blanks: Syntagmatic Gaps, Cliffhangers ..84 3.6. This Is Your Subtext: Enjoy and Subvert At Will..................87 Chapter 4: Hyperawareness of Fan Meanings......................................100 4.1. Return of Spike.....................................................................102 4.2. Used To Be a Wallflower: Willow the Witch ......................105 4.3. Love to See Him Suffer: Logan the Woobie ........................107 4.4. Subverting the Formula in Procedurals ................................111 Conclusion ............................................................................................118 Bibliography .........................................................................................121 Appendix...............................................................................................125 vii Introduction For the past 50 years, television has accompanied people in their daily lives, supplying them with information, news, entertainment and consumable products. It has been a persistent companion of domestic life, binding people together since the early days of its birth. Even today, with the Internet casting a menacing shadow over it, television remains the most effective medium of mass communication. Nonetheless, like everything else in our lives, the medium has evolved through time as the world transformed itself from Modernity to something else. Popularly categorized as a postmodern medium, television has embraced this evolution and reveled in the self-reflexivity, intertextuality and awareness of the (popular) culture from which it feeds. American television, which informs national institutions and defines the norms of television narration and broadcasting across the world, can be identified as a symptom of this process. In fact, the state of American television, especially in