Full Description
When the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired in 2003, fans mourned the death of the hit television series. Yet the show has lived on through syndication, global distribution, DVD release, and merchandising, as well as in the memories of its devoted viewers. Buffy stands out from much entertainment television by offering sharp, provocative commentaries on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and youth. Yet it has also been central to changing trends in television production and reception. As a flagship show for two U.S. "netlets"-the WB and UPN-Buffy helped usher in the "post-network" era, and as the inspiration for an active fan base, it helped drive the proliferation of Web-based fan engagement.In Undead TV, media studies scholars tackle the Buffy phenomenon and its many afterlives in popular culture, the television industry, the Internet, and academic criticism. Contributors engage with critical issues such as stardom, gender identity, spectatorship, fandom, and intertextuality. Collectively, they reveal how a vampire television series set in a sunny California suburb managed to provide some of the most biting social commentaries on the air while exposing the darker side of American life. By offering detailed engagements with Sarah Michelle Gellar's celebrity image, science-fiction fanzines, international and "youth" audiences, Buffy tie-in books, and Angel's body, Undead TV shows how this prime-time drama became a prominent marker of industrial, social, and cultural change.
Contributors. Ian Calcutt, Cynthia Fuchs, Amelie Hastie, Annette Hill, Mary Celeste Kearney, Elana Levine, Allison McCracken, Jason Middleton, Susan Murray, Lisa Parks
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction / Elana Levine and Lisa Parks 1
1. The Changing Face of Teen Television, or Why We All Love Buffy / Mary Celeste Kearney 17
2. I Know What You Did Last Summer: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Crossover Teen Stardom / Susan Murray 43
3. Vampire Hunters: The Scheduling and Reception of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in the United Kingdom / Annette Hill and Ian Calcutt 56
4. The Epistemological Stakes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Television Criticism and Marketing Demands / Amelie Hastie 74
5. "Did Anyone Ever Explain to You What 'Secret Identity' Means?" Race and Displacement in Buffy and Dark Angel / Cynthia Fuchs 96
6. At Stake: Angel's Body, Fantasy Masculinity, and Queer Desire in Teen Television / Allison McCracken 116
7. Buffy as Femme Fatale: The Cult Heroine and the Male Spectator / Jason Middleton 145
8. Buffy and the "New Girl Order": Defining Feminism and Femininity / Elana Levine 168
Bibliography 191
Contributors 197
Index 199
