Who Killed Utopia? : Cult Conspiracy Drama and a Television Imaginary
(2021) In International Journal of Cultural Studies 24(1). p.56-71- Abstract
- This article focuses on the production and reception of television drama, specifically the case study of conspiracy thriller Utopia. The empirical research is based on 21 production interviews with the makers of the drama and 56 interviews with audience members and fans of the drama. The concept of the television imaginary is used as an analytical lens for investigating the various ways television itself, and audiences and fans, are imagined and implicated in the cancellation of a cult drama series. In particular, Barthes’ early writing on a cultural imaginary is used to underscore the contrariness, the contra positions which creative producers, audiences and fans take, in the conspiracies and judgements surrounding the cancellation.... (More)
- This article focuses on the production and reception of television drama, specifically the case study of conspiracy thriller Utopia. The empirical research is based on 21 production interviews with the makers of the drama and 56 interviews with audience members and fans of the drama. The concept of the television imaginary is used as an analytical lens for investigating the various ways television itself, and audiences and fans, are imagined and implicated in the cancellation of a cult drama series. In particular, Barthes’ early writing on a cultural imaginary is used to underscore the contrariness, the contra positions which creative producers, audiences and fans take, in the conspiracies and judgements surrounding the cancellation. Utopia conspiracies within and outside the television industry serve to legitimise and penalise the drama as a cult form; these conspiracies energise the subjective processes that shape an future imaginary for Utopia and drive its afterlife.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8ac0ed3f-3e85-4d87-ab46-75e63cd9922a
- author
- Hill, Annette LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- cult television, media audiences, cultural imaginary
- in
- International Journal of Cultural Studies
- volume
- 24
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85092086685
- ISSN
- 1367-8779
- DOI
- 10.1177/1367877920960153
- project
- Media Experiences
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8ac0ed3f-3e85-4d87-ab46-75e63cd9922a
- date added to LUP
- 2020-10-06 18:17:06
- date last changed
- 2022-04-19 01:05:47
@article{8ac0ed3f-3e85-4d87-ab46-75e63cd9922a,
abstract = {{This article focuses on the production and reception of television drama, specifically the case study of conspiracy thriller Utopia. The empirical research is based on 21 production interviews with the makers of the drama and 56 interviews with audience members and fans of the drama. The concept of the television imaginary is used as an analytical lens for investigating the various ways television itself, and audiences and fans, are imagined and implicated in the cancellation of a cult drama series. In particular, Barthes’ early writing on a cultural imaginary is used to underscore the contrariness, the contra positions which creative producers, audiences and fans take, in the conspiracies and judgements surrounding the cancellation. Utopia conspiracies within and outside the television industry serve to legitimise and penalise the drama as a cult form; these conspiracies energise the subjective processes that shape an future imaginary for Utopia and drive its afterlife.<br/>}},
author = {{Hill, Annette}},
issn = {{1367-8779}},
keywords = {{cult television; media audiences; cultural imaginary}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{56--71}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{International Journal of Cultural Studies}},
title = {{Who Killed Utopia? : Cult Conspiracy Drama and a Television Imaginary}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367877920960153}},
doi = {{10.1177/1367877920960153}},
volume = {{24}},
year = {{2021}},
}