ABSTRACT
In the chapters so far, we have examined accounts of popular science fiction which have ‘preferred’ a variety of different interpretations. Our approach has been of two kinds: a survey of those theorists who go primarily to the texts to find their meanings (e.g. Dunn’s ‘instrumental rationalist’ interpretation); and a study of different audience groups’ meanings (e.g. the young mothers’ ‘PET understanding of Doctor Who). Surveying his own analysis of text and audiences in the Nationwide project, David Morley asked the question whether ‘preferred meaning’ is in fact a property of the text, or something generated from the text by the analyst, or the reading which the analyst predicts that most members of the audience will produce.2 We need to ask a similar question of ourselves: more than predict audience meanings, perhaps as interviewers we actually help them produce them? The simple answer is: yes we do. But rather than worrying about this recognition as somehow compromising our findings, we should articulate it. Indeed, we need to extend it to recognize that all readings take place in contexts where some agents and agencies will have more power in determining interpretations than others. In this chapter I will explore this issue by comparing fan readings in two very different contexts: a student class and a fan convention. We’ll start with Morley’s question about preferred readings.
