The Powerless Elite
In Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek, Tulloch analyzed the Doctor Who fandom especially mostly through interviews. In his analysis, he concludes that the fandom is a “powerless elite” because they are “positioned in relations of expertise and intimacy with ‘their’ show. They are necessarily positioned…in an immediate context of industry (‘producers’) and audience (‘the floating voter’)” (169). According to Tulloch, the fandom was powerless because they were positioned between the official producers and the general audience without any power to maneuver between the two or change the official text. While the fandom had extensive knowledge about the television series, held conventions, and wrote fanfiction and books on Doctor Who, ultimately the fandom could not change the official text.
However, the fans did influence the official text of the classic Doctor Who series because the producers began to create episodes that were tailored to please these fans rather than the general audience. While the fandom sort of influenced the text indirectly, many fans now firmly believe it was the fans' fault that the show was cancelled. Thus, in this instance, the fans were not powerless and actually caused the demise of the classic Doctor Who. Additionally, as a group, through Jenkins' theory of the collective intelligence, as well as the technology and easy access to information, the fandom has even more influence on the official text.
However, Tulloch's idea of the elite fans being stuck between 'producers' or the industry and the audience, or the general audience, is something that Hills and Hadas and Shifman point out in their analyses that continues to affect fan discourse today. According to these scholars, fans feel like they cannot cross the line and influence producer, and they actually have to protect the general audience from the elite fans so that history does not repeat itself (Hadas and Shifman 284).
Therefore, while scholars have proven why the fandom is not a powerless elite necessarily, scholars still rely on his idea of the fans being stuck between the producers and the general audience to analyze the fandom. Tulloch's basic theory is still the foundation theory for the fandom that many scholars build off of when doing their analysis. In future research, I would like to explore what Tulloch meant by power, since this is a slippery term, or maybe how the definition of power has changed for us and examine what kind of power the online Doctor Who fandom really has.
However, the fans did influence the official text of the classic Doctor Who series because the producers began to create episodes that were tailored to please these fans rather than the general audience. While the fandom sort of influenced the text indirectly, many fans now firmly believe it was the fans' fault that the show was cancelled. Thus, in this instance, the fans were not powerless and actually caused the demise of the classic Doctor Who. Additionally, as a group, through Jenkins' theory of the collective intelligence, as well as the technology and easy access to information, the fandom has even more influence on the official text.
However, Tulloch's idea of the elite fans being stuck between 'producers' or the industry and the audience, or the general audience, is something that Hills and Hadas and Shifman point out in their analyses that continues to affect fan discourse today. According to these scholars, fans feel like they cannot cross the line and influence producer, and they actually have to protect the general audience from the elite fans so that history does not repeat itself (Hadas and Shifman 284).
Therefore, while scholars have proven why the fandom is not a powerless elite necessarily, scholars still rely on his idea of the fans being stuck between the producers and the general audience to analyze the fandom. Tulloch's basic theory is still the foundation theory for the fandom that many scholars build off of when doing their analysis. In future research, I would like to explore what Tulloch meant by power, since this is a slippery term, or maybe how the definition of power has changed for us and examine what kind of power the online Doctor Who fandom really has.
