Week 9 - Sarah Hosking

What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?

Shows where the main character or characters are apart of a global community or strongly for or against an unpopular ideology which may cast them to the outer boundarys of media acceptance in my opinion causes popularity in equally segregated groups. Show where female main characters are as powerful as a man (or more so) and believe in the power of woman like Charmed and Xena often are neglected as serious television (because of their female leads) but its these types of shows that thrive in the cult television culture. "...to side with a more romantic version of cult status as somehow created by fans." (Hills p.510) Although I would agree with this remark on the surface out of my own synical views ont he media and the human race in general, I can't say that the fans are being lead completely by the producers and writers of such programming.'

REFERENCES
Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Texts, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences, The Television Studies Reader, In R.C. Allen & A. Hall. Loondon.

Week 8 - Sarah Hosking

According to McKee, what relationship did Dick’s ideas have to (a) Christianity (b) religion and philosophy in general?

Mckee states in the opening paragraph, “Dick’s SF has received a good deal of critical and scholarly attention.” And more often then not it’s negative and Philip k. Dick reacts horribly to it. “If they couldn’t get us to write serious things, they solved the problem by decreeing that what we were writing was serious” Taking a pop form as ‘serious’ is what you do if it won’t go away…they get you to submit your S-F writing to them to criticize.” Dick said in the 1978 Exergesis in response to the scholars ‘attack’ on his work. This sort of reaction and “attack” on Dick’s work doesn’t surprise me in the least. The genre in which he writes wasn’t at the time a credible work of English Literature.

McKee throws around the term “Gnostic” a lot throughout this piece of writing. I can’t agree that Dick’s ideologies can be boiled down to the most basic and religious ceremonies or demonstrations as some other scholars of Dick’s can. I agree whole heartedly with Lorenzo DiTomasso, “So many Dick Scholars take for granted the view that his philosophy is static or entirely coherent. It is not, and sometimes not eve within the context of a single novel.”

REFERENCES

Lorenzo Ditomasso, “Gnosticism and Dualism in the Early fiction of Philip K. Dick,” Science Fiction Studies vol. 28 (Spring 2001)

McKee, Gabriel (2004). A Scanner Darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. In, Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. Ny: U press of America

Week 7 - Sarah Hosking

What does Dick (1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?

Philip K. Dick uses the mechanics of a Schizophrenic to explain the ideologies in I Ching (The Book Of Changes) and also uses the drug LSD as a margin to explain further the deep revelations in I Ching. LSD he explains gives the user a 10 hour insight into the world of a Schizophrenic and through that he suggests using ‘The Book of Changes’ to make decisions in your life. “I speak from experience. The Oracle –The I Ching- told me to write this piece” (Dick 1995)

REFERENCE
Dick, P.K. (1995) Schizophrenia and the I Ching. In Sutin, L. (Ed.), The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (p.175-182).

Week7

What was does dick (1995) himself theorise about the l Ching?




According to Dick (1995, p. 179), “the “l Ching” is analytical and diagnostic, not predictive. “There is nothing to do with the future telling and the cause of effect with concurrency which deals with synchronicity and can’t be pre-empted.” I explain this properly defined of synchronicity: “apparently meaningful coincidences in time of two or more of the same or similar identical events that are causally unrelated” (Dictionary.com). Dick (1995) states, these events occur outside the usual time, and disrupt linear time. “The I Ching permits examination of the “koinos kosmos” and that is the shared world.” But a person becomes immersed in static time, if they attempt to live their life completely by the book. (Dick, 1995). My point of view about “The man in the high castle by Dick (1982) is to note both yarrow stalks and coins were interesting when the oracle was consulted, but surely the use of different media must bring about different hexagram result, since a moment is only fleeting, here now and past , perhaps the results of this is not something that can ever truly be examined.




References:


Dick, P.K. (1995). Schizophrenia and the I Ching. In Sutin, L. (ed.), The shifting realities of Philip K. Dick (pp. 175-182). New York: Vintage.

Week 10

How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

The world we live in often separates the good from the evil clearly. The Buffy series, however, deconstructs traditional literary notions of good and evil according to Braum (2000). It does this through the inconsistent portrayals of a lasting good or evil. This is evident in season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Angelus shifts from his evil self to the opposite, due to a curse bestowed upon him by the family of a former victim; this curse being set off by just one interaction of “perfect human happiness” (Braum, 2000); this being sexual intercourse with Buffy.

The X Files too was no different in Scully’s shift from good to the evil side, due to a sexual encounter of her own. This, however, was not a pleasant pleasurable one like that of Buffy and Angel; her transition was caused by a highly unusual bee sting in the breast-like domes in a Texan desert.

As the Buffy season 2 progresses, Buffy is forced to switch back and forth too with bad and morally wrong choices she makes along the way. Regardless of the killing of her then former lover possibly being viewed as an evil act, for the greater good it seemed the right thing to do; it was her ultimate duty as the slayer.

Season 4 of Buffy sees Maggie Walsh, head of “The Initiative” aiming for a better world with Buffy as her trusted ally against evil. There is, however, a string of problems that turn her against Buffy, against the good side; attempts to kill Buffy were made but died at the hands of her creation “Project 314” before she could succeed. The same episode shows Spike, who like Angelus from earlier seasons, changes sides from an evil heartless vampire to a more tolerable humanlike state; he is seen carrying what seemed like a bag of groceries – seriously, what representation of evil goes grocery shopping?

The same thing occurs in Charmed season 4, the line between good and evil is dissolved when the middle sister Phoebe chooses the love for her demonic husband-to-be over both her sisters and the greater good in episode 19. Consequently she becomes the queen of the underworld and ends up helping to lead the demonic underworld, however, she aids her sisters at the same time in episode 20; she is forced to decide between her sisters and her newlywed husband Cole one last time. The fact that her husband is a demon but can love and marry further deconstructs traditional views of good and evil – including mine.

The same can be said about the Buffy series and in the X Files because “aliens and monsters are variously imagined as both desirable and loving toward, and terrifyingly indifferent to, human needs” (Braum, 2000). Both television shows continue to imply that good and evil is not a simple black and white issue, but in reality there are many gray areas; a character can switch between sides from episode to episode depending on a heated situation.

Despite the obvious differences of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X Files, Charmed and others alike, there is one common suggestion I firmly agree with and can always easily reflect on and relate to; “underneath our civilized demeanours, we all have the capacity for evil” (Braum, 2000).

Braum, B. (2000) The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved 18 October, 2005 from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_28/ai_64688900

week5

What is "Shojo" and how does it often function in anime?

Shojo is the Japanese manga. "The age of the Shojo audiences is between 12 to 18 years old. A little/young girl called shojo in Japanese language."(Wikipedia, 2011). This type of manga has an important role in the region. Furthermore, some of manga made for young girls from six years old and the ladies from 18 to 25 years. The Shojo manga describes the love story; the heroes are rich and handsome and heroines are cute and brave, also there is always happy ending. The Shojo manga also try to make readers comfortable world. I have experienced reading Shojo at my young age, as it was very easy to understand and an interesting story, I can say reading that story made me dream about heaven future. Shojo plays an important part in anime. Therefore the reason why Shojo can be absorb the young girls is, the performance of great love and how powerful is love. That is what people are after in books and mangas.

References:

Lent, J. A. (2000), Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved September 10, 2011, from

       http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/jlfr11c.htm


Shojo. (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 10, 2011, from 
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo

week9

What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?

Hills (2004) has suggested, “a cult status comes from, ultimately, the desire for a TV show’s audiences.”  Hills (2004) suggests that the role of fans in the construction of the cult TV is one the three definitions of the cult TV. In this case, the fans or the audiences who make and come with the whole concept called cult TV.    In my point of view, new media such as blogs or portfolios make it much easier for fans of cult TV to recognize their own ideas in relation to cult TV.  Hills (2004) states, “the internet and forms of media makes it easier for fans to contact other like-minded veterans and increases the possibility of small-scale web forums organized around the emerging wider variety of TV shows. Furthermore it is a wider audience and fan base as it allows the forwards. “This opening allows the boundaries of fandom that most people participate in culture technology and the television programmes values obtained as fan.”(Hills, 2004). With the help of the internet, it can become more main stream and a lot more people can understand and enjoy.

Meanwhile I guess with kinds of new media, it is much easier to target wider range of audience to a group of people who are using this media day to day basis. 

References:

Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Text, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences, The Television Studies Reader, in R. C. Allen & A. Hill. London and New York: Routledge.