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You know...I love Wesley. So, so, so much. Sometimes I wonder if maybe it's some sort of sickness. Shouldn't I be over it by now? This show has been off the air for almost four years and I still love Wesley like he's a real person I really know and really adore. It's insane.
I presented my paper yesterday--at eight in the freaking morning. The panel was interesting, and I think the paper went well. I'm pleased with the response I got, and people seemed sincere when they complimented it after the discussion. I'm more convinced than ever that I want to make it into a book, and I've got about a billion things I want to write about. I know there are books out there on Buffy the Vampire Slayer scholarship. Does anybody know of any books that are solely about Angel?
Yesterday, one of the panels I went to at the conference featured a paper about Discovery Channel's The Haunting and how the whole series is an exercise in denial. That is, it appeals to America's bloody past of Native American genocide, the Civil War, slavery, witch trials, and the like, and then offers people the chance to put it in a "safe" place and deny that that is America's past/heritage. It was a really good and interesting paper, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the points it raised. Afterwards, as we left the room and walked to the elevator, I was talking to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
agnespennyworth about similar shows like Haunted History on the History Channel and I made an off-hand comment of how "I used to watch crap like that all the time."
The woman walking in front of us instantly corrected us, though she didn't actually turn around to talk to us. "It's not crap. It's Popular Culture. But it's not crap." And she was really strict about it, and apparently upset that I would call such shows crap at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference.
Except, of course, those shows (The Haunting, Haunted History, Ghost Hunter, T.A.P.S., Paranormal State, even In Search Of...) are crap. They've got shitty production values. They insist they are factual and accurate when they clearly are not. A few of them are flat out cons. They either use actors to portray "real people" or they use people who are clearly gullible and unstable to turn a buck. Just because they might be worth discussing in a popular culture context doesn't make them any less crap. I don't think these are mutually exclusive designations. Even the guy presenting the paper acknowledged it's a shitty show, and part of a sub-genre of television that's pretty laughable.
Yesterday, one of the panels I went to at the conference featured a paper about Discovery Channel's The Haunting and how the whole series is an exercise in denial. That is, it appeals to America's bloody past of Native American genocide, the Civil War, slavery, witch trials, and the like, and then offers people the chance to put it in a "safe" place and deny that that is America's past/heritage. It was a really good and interesting paper, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the points it raised. Afterwards, as we left the room and walked to the elevator, I was talking to
agnespennyworth about similar shows like Haunted History on the History Channel and I made an off-hand comment of how "I used to watch crap like that all the time." The woman walking in front of us instantly corrected us, though she didn't actually turn around to talk to us. "It's not crap. It's Popular Culture. But it's not crap." And she was really strict about it, and apparently upset that I would call such shows crap at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference.
Except, of course, those shows (The Haunting, Haunted History, Ghost Hunter, T.A.P.S., Paranormal State, even In Search Of...) are crap. They've got shitty production values. They insist they are factual and accurate when they clearly are not. A few of them are flat out cons. They either use actors to portray "real people" or they use people who are clearly gullible and unstable to turn a buck. Just because they might be worth discussing in a popular culture context doesn't make them any less crap. I don't think these are mutually exclusive designations. Even the guy presenting the paper acknowledged it's a shitty show, and part of a sub-genre of television that's pretty laughable.
In case anybody is interested in the paper I presented, I decided to post it here. It's about how awesome Angel is....so how could you not be interested?
( It's also a long paper. )
( It's also a long paper. )
I bought 4 Wilco tickets for May 7 in Grand Junction, CO. It's in the middle of the week, so we'll have to get ahotel room and Jaime will have to ask for time off. I'm not even entirely sure if agnespennyworth wanted to go, but I got her a ticket anyway. She's never seen them, which I think is a huge shame.
Also, due to all the Buffy discussion at the conference, and watching an episode last night, and the Paley Festival reports, I really, really miss writing fanfic.
agnespennyworth wanted to go, but I got her a ticket anyway. She's never seen them, which I think is a huge shame. Also, due to all the Buffy discussion at the conference, and watching an episode last night, and the Paley Festival reports, I really, really miss writing fanfic.
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