Which pop culture property, do academics study the most? The answer from Slate,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer by a mile. More than twice as many papers, essays, and books have been devoted to the vampire drama than any of our other choices—so many that we stopped counting when we hit 200. Buffy even has its own journal: Slayage, a publication of the Whedon Studies Association (named for the show’s creator, Joss Whedon), which features titles like “Real Vampires Don’t Wear Shorts: The Aesthetics of Fashion in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Killing us Softly? A Feminist Search for the ‘Real’ Buffy.”
Apt. 11d 
I’ve been to a couple of pop culture studies conferences, and not only is there more scholarship on Buffy, it’s freakin’ good. A Buffy paper was always much better than any other paper. At the national conference in March, I also saw good papers on Doctor Who and one on Star Wars cosplay and gender.
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Buffy has a long tail in acafandom. Xena’s another show with staying power (ditto for X-files). Star Trek has infinitely more cool factor in it than Star Wars (bitterly says the co-editor of a collection on Star Wars and history).
I’m waiting for Game of Thrones to really play out in popular culture studies but, like Mad Men, it’s coming on slowly.
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