Abstract
In this chapter I want to argue that the dismissal of aesthetic considerations from much work in media/cultural studies--a foundational gesture aimed at distinguishing academics from both "naive" consumers and "imposed" ideologies--does not, in fact, work to install critical rationality or desired neutrality (Barthes 2005). I will suggest that via its anti-aesthetics (see also Sandvoss, this volume) much cultural studies work has constructed cultural distinction for itself bu implying that its scholars are exempt from the domains of fan culture and/or popular culture (Hills 2002, 2005b). However, such a fantasized exemption has not all produced an escape from "popular aesthetics" (Bird 2003) but has instead recoded aesthetic judgments within the supposedly pristine spaces of academia.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Fandom |
Subtitle of host publication | Identities and Communities in a Mediated World |
Editors | Jonathan Gray, C. Lee Harrington, Cornel Sandvoss |
Publisher | NYU Press |
Chapter | 2 |
Pages | 33-47 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780814732380, 0814732380 |
ISBN (Print) | 0814731813, 9780814731819, 9780814731826, 0814731821 |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |