From Teddi Castle: I was talking to my husband about what to blog about for media marathoning class and he happened to mention that to him marathoning seems like an obsessive compulsive type of behavior. According to Wikipedia, the definition of obsessive compulsive is, “an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension,…
From Bre Page: As part of an independent study with Dr. Perks I held a focus group with Hunger Games marathoners and conducted interviews with TV marathoners. My research fostered some interesting results solidifying some hunches that I had, as well as highlighting two very interesting new concepts. First, I noticed that many of the…
From Katie Bishop: After our discussion on Tuesday about narrative complexity, I began thinking about shows that I watch that encourage a more actively engaged viewer. One show that really stood out to me was ABC’s Once Upon a Time, a show about story book characters coming to life. This show is very complex, but…
In the end of July, Peter Jackson announced that The Hobbit would be split into three films. The decision was cause for concern, particularly among those who had a hard time picturing how a relatively short book would be coaxed into three separate films. (Would the story be sort of stretched, like butter scraped over…
From Rachel Montpelier: I am in the middle of viewing Season 2 of The Wire in another class and can’t help but wonder if my experience is different from those who watched it every week when it originally aired. While the first viewers probably expected resolutions for the characters during each season finale, my professor…
Post from Student Kelly Oliver: Everyone has their own favorite actors or actresses. Whether its because you believe Julia Roberts can transition into any character flawlessly, or because you have a secret crush on Channing Tatum’s six pack we all have our own favorite that we love to watch. These relationships we form with our…
From Steph Cerio: When it comes to watching my previously marathoned television series Pretty Little Liars, I have come to realize I am very selective when it comes to where I choose to watch the show, who I’m with, what I eat, etc. As you sit down to watch our favorite television series (my chosen…
From Amanda Davis Gatchet: As I work through the interviews with our marathoning participants, it strikes me that people who marathon often “re-marathon,” returning to much loved characters and storylines again and again. This resonates with my own marathoning experiences—at least with the marathons I do for me, not for research. I don’t even want…
From Student Aleks Flur: I think the media changes us on some level. Whether we do it consciously or not, we take things from watching hours upon hours of a TV series that stay with us for the rest of our lives. But just what or how much we take is entirely up to us.…
In last night’s Media Marathoning class, we discussed what it means to take an “active audience” approach after reading Henry Jenkins’ chapter “How Texts Become Real” in his 1992 book Textual Poachers. I consider this to be one of the most illustrative quotes from the chapter: “The text is drawn close not so that the…