It’s often tricky to find people with similar interests at
the best of times.
As many of you, dear readers, would have guessed, I enjoy
television shows, mainly from overseas. While I use technology in a way to
receive this content as fast as I can, my friends generally don’t, and are
usually left watching whatever’s on our own television screens.
So it comes as little surprise when I ask them what they thought of Arrested Development’s fourth season on Netflix and they reply with; “What?”
Michael Bluth expressing how I feel. (Source: Tumblr)
To connect with others and discuss the various shows I love, I have to turn to the internet. As Lim (2012, p. 128) expresses, blogging is a tool which can be utilised by people to express and share their interests, forming a new communication sphere.
Through the blogging site, Tumblr, I connect with others who enjoy the same shows as I do, and we discuss all sorts of things relating to these programs, ranging from our favourite scenes and characters to various casting and new season news.
The blogosphere also allows for a sharing of creative works based upon the shows. For example, many bloggers create artwork known as ‘fan art’ and then share it with their various followers; able to receive both praise and criticism from anyone across the sphere. Fan art allows a user to show off both their artistic talents and their love for a character or program.
Supernatural fan art. (Source: Tumblr)
The community created by the blogosphere is not barred by geographical location; those I communicate with are, more often than not, not Australian. I believe this is a good thing. It allows for a more diverse discussion as people with all sorts of different backgrounds can come together to bond over a common interest and bring their own personal context to share, presenting a different look at the storyline and characters.
When so much of the Australian television ratings are dominated by reality programs, sports, and news coverage, it’s refreshing to be able to log on to the internet and connect with people about things that my own friends have little interest or understanding of.
Sources
Lim, M 2012, ‘Life is local in the imagined global community: Islam and politics in the Indonesian blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, vol. 11, pp. 127-140
Lim, M 2012, ‘Life is local in the imagined global community: Islam and politics in the Indonesian blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, vol. 11, pp. 127-140
Hi Rhys.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading you post as you present a unique perspective on this week’s topic. Your own involvement and experience in one area (that of television show fans) of the blogosphere helps to illustrate the diverse communities that exist within it. I liked that you mentioned fan art as this is just another realm of the blogosphere to be explored, which also demonstrates how blogging appeals to the most unique of interests. Perhaps a link to a fan art blog that you referred to would have been helpful in explaining this idea. My only other suggestion would be to include another academic reference to support your ideas.
Nice work!
Rhys, I thought your interpretation of tumblr as the 'imagined global community' is interesting. Having used tumblr extensively myself, I agree that as a microblogging tool, it is useful for establishing a community which transcends geographical constraints - and in this way resembles a global village. I would've been interested to read your thoughts on the almost viral speed by which popular culture and subcultures surrounding arrested development were embraced and discussed within such communities on tumblr. I was most fascinated by your discussion of Australian television ratings and this comparison with the types of popular programmes on the internet, I would even go so far to suggest that tumblr is saturated, by alternative TV shows, to the same extent as broadcast TV shows.
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