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'It's all my interpretation': reading Spike through the subcultural celebrity of James Marsters
[journal article]
Abstract This article considers how fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel interpret the character of Spike through meanings attached to actor James Marsters as a 'subcultural celebrity'. Work on TV’s celebrity actors has stressed how character and actor can become semiotically blurred. Rather than appro... view more
This article considers how fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel interpret the character of Spike through meanings attached to actor James Marsters as a 'subcultural celebrity'. Work on TV’s celebrity actors has stressed how character and actor can become semiotically blurred. Rather than approaching this blurring of textual and extra-textual connotations as an essential property of television celebrity, we analyse how Marsters displays situated agency by discursively constructing 'himself' in publicity materials as 'like Spike'. We then consider Marsters as a reader of Buffy. As a subcultural celebrity, we argue that Marsters is positioned between media producers and media fans, and therefore is able to offer up privileged interpretations of 'his' character, Spike, while simultaneously observing the symbolic power of producers’ preferred readings. Marsters supports certain fan readings of Spike, acting as a textual poacher who nevertheless is 'inside' the texts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.... view less
Classification
Impact Research, Recipient Research
Broadcasting, Telecommunication
Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature
Free Keywords
agency; Buffy; celebrity; fandom; subculture; television actors; textual poachers
Document language
English
Publication Year
2005
Page/Pages
p. 345-365
Journal
European Journal of Cultural Studies, 8 (2005) 3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549405054866
Status
Postprint; peer reviewed
Licence
PEER Licence Agreement (applicable only to documents from PEER project)