Dr. Sarah N. Gatson

Sociology

Texas A & M

Faculty

College Station, TX 77845-4351

USA

gatson@neo.tamu.edu

 

 

 

Ms. Amanda Zweerink

El Cerrito, CA 94530

USA

adwilla@yahoo.com

 

Bronzers still, online and off? The changing basis of Bronzer identity after Buffy

[Click on the link above to see this paper's placement in the SCBtVS Program.]

 

At this stage in our project with The Bronze, we are interested in a problem with communities based in media fandoms. Eventually, the artist will quit making music, the movie will cease to have sequels, or the television show will get cancelled. What happens to these communities when their basis of interest goes away? Is the bond of community enough to keep them together? Why do people fracture into other groups? Why do some hold on to the one-for-all-all-for-one mentality? Finally, do people find themselves gravitating toward friends they would have chosen offline, or do they stick by the friends they made in the community, who would not ordinarily be their type? In the last couple of years of working with Bronzers, we’ve been thinking about the ways in which one gauges when a community ends, and when it merely morphs into some other kind of interpersonal phenomenon. Since Bronzers tend towards a deep and abiding love for pop culture and esoteric discussions, their involvement with one another may be more encompassing than following this one show.  Now that both Buffy and The (official) Bronze are defunct, Wherefore The Bronzers?