From: "Neil Faulkner" N.Faulkner@tesco.net
To snip an absolutely magnificent post down to its conclusion:
So Sally's got a point - there is no universal canon, shared by all
viewers,
because we each individually extract different elements of focus *prior to* the construction of our individuated altercanons. Our attention is consciously or subconsciously pulled in particular directions. This was pointed out very clearly to me by Iain's performance workshop at
Redemption,
where he - as an amateur actor - could point to an instance of appallingly bad acting that I've never noticed before despite seeing it a dozen times
or
more. He could look up and see the stork, while my eyes were firmly glued to the pavement.
It's very true-- I'm reflecting too on what I said about the visual conventions of one culture's films being more or less lost on viewers in another culture. What *is* interesting, though, is that there do sometimes seem to be shared elements of perception with regard to a show, rather than simply individual experience. For instance, for a very long time B7 was regarded to have been totally masterminded by one Mr Nation-- he was solely responsible for the characters, the tone, the morally ambivalent "Che Guevara in Space" feel, etc. etc. Then, gradually, even before Nation died, the words "Chris Boucher" began to be heard more and more, and right now it seems to me (correct me if I've got this wrong) that most people regard him as being at least partially the one responsible for the directions the show took over the years. Now, these views have both been held by a large number of people, so it can't be just individuals' experiences, shaped only by their professional and personal interests, that are at issue here.
I keep mentally going back to that image from Bacon-Smith of the older fan talking a newbie through a show. I would very much doubt that it happens quite so blatantly for many (or even 9/10ths of us), but it's an interesting image. Our perceptions vis-a-vis B7, including what we see and what we miss, are also influenced by collective dialogue among ourselves and input from other fans. Another example: seeing "Project Avalon," as a non-fan, I quite liked it and thought it was a clever, well-paced story. When I first joined fandom, the people I hung about with, the mags I read, etc., all favoured the opinion that it was actually a naff, tired reiteration of *Star Wars.* Gradually, I began to focus less on the good bits and more on the naff bits, or the bits that resembled *Star Wars,* and the bits that I still saw as good I tended to keep fairly quiet about. More recently, rewatching it with people who didn't have an axe to grind vis-a-vis "Avalon", I've begun noticing the good bits again.
So I think it's worth noticing that while some of us may watch B7 in a vacuum vis-a-vis fandom :), just by being involved in the Lyst our perceptions of the show are being shaped and even changed daily. To some extent, at least, perception seems to be a learned activity.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Recently rehabilitated at http://nyder.r67.net
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