For the past couple of weeks I’ve been giving audiences a lot of thought. Damsel Cannibal and I had a small talk about what our next projects were going to be and, trust me, there were journals filled with page upon page of ideas. From sex mutants to aztec gods we threw our ideas around until it came down to “Who is our audience?”. Was is it LGBT? YA? Maybe Horror or Romance? Maybe all in one? This ugly question really forced us to realize how important a demographic is and, as much as we want to believe that we can bring good literature to the minds of the general public, it all comes down to if someone wants to read it or not.
Now let’s talk about the picture of Teen Wolf. Why did I post that? Well my niece begged me to watch this show with her since she’s a die hard fan. So I watched the past four seasons and learned something about audiences. This show is geared toward hormonal teenagers, horror fans, and young twenty-somethings who just want to stare at hot guys. As much as I enjoyed the horror bit and the comic relief(aka Stiles), I honestly couldn’t get past the angsty teen love scene. The constant whining and pining of these teenagers bugged me so much that I had to fast forward the romantic parts. Even when they have a mature adult werewolf(Derek Hale, the one character that was holding my attention) he doesn’t get enough screen time. In fact his character got demoted from series regular to guest star.
What does this tell us? Well since I just turned 27 on Saturday, this show really isn’t for me or I’m forced to be part of the “young twenty-somethings who just want to stare at hot guys”. I can’t relate to these teenagers anymore because I’m a grown ass woman. The only thing that is keeping my interest is the hot shirtless men and the Monsters running around Beacon Hills. Now for someone like my niece, who is still in high school, she can’t get enough of it. It’s like she can speak the language while I have to watch with subtitles.
So for all you who want to actually see your shows, movies, comics, and books being enjoyed by the general public, please consider who your audience is. I’m sure that in college there are plenty of classes that tell you this, but sitting in a class and experiencing it are two different things. Trust us, it’s a pain in the ass to put your blood, sweat, and tears into your work and get a rejection because publishers don’t know which category it belongs in. It’s easy to think that you’re the exception to the rule but you’re not. Please don’t fall into that trap!
That’s my humble opinion.
Damsels With Chainsaws 