Question Is This a Culture?

[Kean]

Once again YouTube brings the goods in their suggestions.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFb5XXzAyzc&feature=related[/ame]

This vid talks about how Buffy the Vamipre Slayer (and it's Universe in general) are a culture.

Do you agree with what is said in the vid? Why?

I'm not fully decided yet on how I view it, but Buffy being a culture does offer me a better understanding on how my relationship with this show is so drastically different than any other program I have watched. Especially because I no longer view Buffy as the best show I've seen, yet I am still compelled to speak about it and seek out others who I can converse with, who speak this Buffy language.

 

[racheltng]

I was an anthropology major, so the word "culture" has a very specific meaning to me. In this video, it's batted around the way the word often is in popular culture (no pun intended).

Out of curiosity, what is the best show you've ever seen?

 

[faeriegrrl27]

I don't really have time to do the topic justice now, but I absolutely think Buffy is a culture. We're all connected by this common interest and can count on others to understand us. I'll be back to go more in depth, but the language, the community, the unifying interest... it indicates culture.

 

[Taake]

I'm not fully decided yet on how I view it, but Buffy being a culture does offer me a better understanding on how my relationship with this show is so drastically different than any other program I have watched. Especially because I no longer view Buffy as the best show I've seen, yet I am still compelled to speak about it and seek out others who I can converse with, who speak this Buffy language.

That was certainly interesting to watch, I think I am where you are. I'm not sure whether I agree or not but it does provide with a bit of understanding about my own relationship with the show

 

[Kean]

I was an anthropology major, so the word "culture" has a very specific meaning to me. In this video, it's batted around the way the word often is in popular culture (no pun intended).

I did find that they only showed a very specific *yet vague) opinion on the issue of it being a culture. I'd be interested to hear what you think of Buffy as a culture though. Especially since you have the background in anthropology to substantiate it.

Out of curiosity, what is the best show you've ever seen?

So far, because this is certainly something that can change, the West Wing is the best TV show I have ever seen. By a long mile.

 

[Professor Walsh]

Coming from a field where "anthro" is most likely to be followed by "morphism", I purpose I have a fairly pop cultural understanding of "culture". My first thought when I saw the intro to this thread, was that I think about it as a sub-culture (at least the way "subkultur" is used in Norwegian). To stumble over someone who is able to catch a Buffy reference is enjoyable the same way suddenly finding another horse person at a party where I feel out of place is.
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[Doppelgang]

I think it's a culture in the sense of giving Buffy fans a shared interest to talk about, and having a whole set of terms unique to it which mean it almost has a language in its own right that only Buffy fans can understand. As I was amazed first visiting this site late last year to see how active it is. This has to be partly because the Buffy community has a life of its own based around but at times going beyond the show, which is a bit like you'd expect from a culture.

It's also a culture in a completely different sense aswell I think. As, for me personally and for many others I would have thought, it was a really vital part of my life at helping me get through adolescence. It wasn't just entertainment, it also felt to me like a lifestyle choice, similar to someone who say gets a tatoo, or a peircing when they're a teenager. It felt like I wasn't just watching a show, I was adopting a whole way of life by watching Buffy. So it provides this feature of a culture also for me of helping to initiate you into adulthood.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I don't think it's a culture... I think it's a fandom. I mean, when I think of culture, I think of how something affects your day to day life and how you view the world. Does BtVS change how I live my life or how I see the word? No. Do I enjoy watching the show and being a fan of the actors? Yes. 🙂