Why am I Watching This?: A Study on Hate-watching through the Viewing Preference of the Filipino Youth

Why Am I Watching This?: A Study on Hate-Watching through the Viewing Preferences of the Filipino Youth

This study focuses on the phenomenon of hate-watching. Particularly, how this concept is connected to the idea of fans as consumers of media. Using Grossberg’s The Affective Sensibilities of a Fandom and Jenkins’ Fan Critics, both of which explores the relationship between a fan and its attachment to the medium s/he prefers. This research used interview as its primary method to accumulate the qualitative data needed for the study. The data presents several reasons as to why hate-watching is an activity that audience employ to view media. As in Grossberg, the idea of pleasure plays a major role on how they view their attachment and manifest their criticality for the programs. The research concludes with the notion that the habits of hate-watchers parallel the habits of fans as they both have invested a part of themselves in their program of preference.

Keywords: hate-watching, audience studies, fandom View Thesis