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Understanding Popular Culture
Abstract
This revised edition of a now classic text includes a new introduction by Henry Jenkins, explaining 'Why Fiske Still Matters' for today's students, followed by a discussion between former Fiske students Kevin Glynn, Jonathan Gray, and Pamela Wilson on the theme of 'Reading Fiske and Understanding the Popular'. Both underline the continuing relevance of this foundational text in the study of popular culture. What is popular culture? How does it differ from mass culture? And what do popular "texts" reveal about class, race, and gender dynamics in a society? John Fiske answers these and a host of other questions in Understanding Popular Culture. When it was first written, Understanding Popular Culture took a groundbreaking approach to studying such cultural artifacts as jeans, shopping malls, tabloid newspapers, and TV game shows, which remains relevant today. Fiske differentiates between mass culture - the cultural "products" put out by an industrialized, capitalist society - and popular culture - the ways in which people use, abuse, and subvert these products to create their own meanings and messages. Rather than focusing on mass culture's attempts to dominate and homogenize, he prefers to look at (and revel in) popular culture's evasions and manipulations of these attempts. Designed as a companion to Reading the Popular, Understanding Popular Culture presents a radically different theory of what it means for culture to be popular: that it is, literally, of the people. It is not imposed on them, it is created by them, and its pleasures and meanings reflect popular tastes and concerns - and a rejection of those fostered by mass culture. With wit, clarity, and insight, Professor Fiske debunks the myth of the mindless mass audience, and demonstrates that, in myriad ways, popular culture thrives because that audience is more aware than anyone guesses.
... While they normalize "ordinariness" and imperfection, internet memes also openly and purposely transgress norms of dominant cultural discourses (Douglas, 2014;Coleman, 2015;Philips, 2016, Nagle, 2017. By doing so, they may be seen as inherently political while belonging to the sphere of popular culture, the latter understood in a way that predates digital culture (see, for instance, Fiske, 1989), in which people apply their meanings onto collectively consumed culture texts and thus, in the broader process, negotiate dominant ideologies. ...
... To meet the social semiotic analysis standards, we not only (a) analyzed internet memes as texts: actual instances of language in use comprising discursive structures of potential readings (Fairclough, 2003;Fiske, 1989), e also (b) went beyond simple textual analysis and considered: (i) contexts of analyzed images (including the "ordinary" internet in which the images are produced and distributed); (ii) notions predominantly inscribed onto the genre of internet memes (collective and anonymous authorship, and subversion toward mainstream esthetics and values; see Coleman, 2015;Gilbert, 2013); and (iii) discursive practices of internet memes' production and distribution (what memetic macros and popcultural imagery, including characters from movies, TV series, video games, etc., were used?). ...
... A significant number (73) of the analyzed memes is naughty (Fiske, 1989): they contain humorous content that is subversive towards the norms of mainstream media. These memes consist of jokes based on really dark humor by depicting practices allegedly performed on the darknet that are illegal and undisputedly wrong, like hired killings, live-streamed killings, human trafficking, rape (including of children), pedophilia, and many more. ...
Dominant discourses on the darknet present it either as a dangerous space with flourishing crime or a place for civic action and political activism. However, these depictions have been challenged in online popular culture, particularly in memes. By utilizing the concepts of double articulation of media and cultural imaginaries, this article reveals how memes shape popular definitions of darknet. Our qualitative, social semiotic content analysis of 505 memes reveals an ambiguous and complex vision of the darknet that both supports and demystifies the mainstream imagery. We introduce the concept of discursive malleability of niche technologies to describe how cultural practices reshape technologies, especially those with small userbases. Additionally, we present a “representational map of the darknet” and indicate how this contributes to social understanding of digital technologies more generally, and, not least why the analyzed memes may be read as lens exposing contradictory notions and policies regarding digital technologies nowadays.
... He used the term "popular culture" rather than mass culture, as he believed that the term "mass" suggests something silly and passive. However, in his view, the main body of mass culture is actually ordinary persons who are active and have their own agency [2]. Moreover, he argued that fan culture is a heightened form of popular culture in industrialized society. ...
... Damit einher geht die Gefahr, eine einseitige und romantisierende Perspektive auf kleinteilige, individuelle und informelle Widerstände einzunehmen, diese um ihrer selbst willen hervorzuheben, ohne ihre Effektivität hinsichtlich der Unterminierung von Herrschaft ausreichend kritisch zu analysieren. So wurden in der Vergangenheit beispielsweise vereinzelt in den Cultural Studies subversive Mikropraktiken in den Vordergrund gestellt und von diesen auf einen sich abzeichnenden progressiven Wandel geschlossen (beispielsweise Fiske, 1996). Eine solche Tendenz ist in Certeaus Differenzierung dergestalt angelegt, als Strategien in erster Linie als konforme Praktiken identifiziert werden, die Herrschaft und Macht produzieren und aufrechterhalten. ...
Herrschaft bringt immer auch Widerständigkeit hervor. Demnach stellen Regelabweichungen, die sich aus unvollständig determiniertem Arbeitshandeln ergeben, ein strukturelles Merkmal im Arbeitsprozess dar. Die Formierung eines informellen Repertoires widerständiger Praktiken im Kontext betrieblicher Herrschaft ist dabei von der Arbeitssoziologie bisher vernachlässigt worden. Um diese konzeptionelle Leerstelle zu füllen, systematisieren die Beiträger*innen die Vielzahl der Praktiken und stellen verschiedene methodische, theoretische und empirische Perspektiven einer arbeitssoziologischen Widerstandsforschung vor.
... Damit einher geht die Gefahr, eine einseitige und romantisierende Perspektive auf kleinteilige, individuelle und informelle Widerstände einzunehmen, diese um ihrer selbst willen hervorzuheben, ohne ihre Effektivität hinsichtlich der Unterminierung von Herrschaft ausreichend kritisch zu analysieren. So wurden in der Vergangenheit beispielsweise vereinzelt in den Cultural Studies subversive Mikropraktiken in den Vordergrund gestellt und von diesen auf einen sich abzeichnenden progressiven Wandel geschlossen (beispielsweise Fiske, 1996). Eine solche Tendenz ist in Certeaus Differenzierung dergestalt angelegt, als Strategien in erster Linie als konforme Praktiken identifiziert werden, die Herrschaft und Macht produzieren und aufrechterhalten. ...
Herrschaft bringt immer auch Widerständigkeit hervor. Demnach stellen Regelabweichungen, die sich aus unvollständig determiniertem Arbeitshandeln ergeben, ein strukturelles Merkmal im Arbeitsprozess dar. Die Formierung eines informellen Repertoires widerständiger Praktiken im Kontext betrieblicher Herrschaft ist dabei von der Arbeitssoziologie bisher vernachlässigt worden. Um diese konzeptionelle Leerstelle zu füllen, systematisieren die Beiträger*innen die Vielzahl der Praktiken und stellen verschiedene methodische, theoretische und empirische Perspektiven einer arbeitssoziologischen Widerstandsforschung vor.
... Opposed to the peSSimism Of these two positions is one that , in shifting at-tentIon awgy from texts to audiences, has come to celebrate popular cullure. Largely Championed by theOrIsts whO place themselves politically on the left, thiS view holds lha1 far from being the purveyOfS 01 hegemonic ideologies, popular collural forms Ironically provide the resources for cultural resistance to the status quo (see, for exMlple Fiske, 1989Fiske, , 1992. ...
... Para o historiador inglês, "O que ocorre no momento é que a atenção recai sobre a resistência popular ao 'sistema', bem como sobre a criatividade coletiva." (DE CERTEAU, 1980;FISKE, 1989). "O que em geral era tratado como fatos objetivos e absolutamente sociais, como gênero, classe ou comunidade, é agora considerado culturalmente 'construído' ou 'constituído'." ...
O artigo se propõe a explorar relações entre cultura e educação do ponto de vista histórico, recorrendo ao aporte de dois autores: Michel de Certeau e Edward Palmer Thompson. Apesar de em ambos a discussão sobre educação não figurar como tema central de pesquisa, a questão emerge em alguns de seus escritos. Por outro lado, cada vez mais estes autores têm se destacado como referência fundamental aos estudos sobre a escola e a educação por parte de historiadores da educação que abraçam a perspectiva da cultura como constitutiva da experiência dos sujeitos e das práticas sociais. Para discorrer sobre a questão, este artigo foi organizado em quatro partes. Na primeira, nos detemos nas razões que levaram De Certeau e Thompson a se interrogarem sobre a cultura nos anos 1960. Na segunda parte, abordamos o conceito de cultura para Michel de Certeau. Na terceira, o mesmo movimento é realizado para E. P. Thompson. Nos dois casos, a reflexão se entrelaça a vertentes da pesquisa em educação, evidenciando a proficuidade do uso da categoria para as análises históricas. Por fim, a título de comentários finais, traçamos aproximações e distanciamentos entre a concepção de cultura enunciada pelos dois autores, com o objetivo de subsidiar os estudos no campo.
... Fans are not just people who regularly view a show; their viewing behavior may extend and evolve to other activities, such as sharing their feelings with friends, joining fan communities, participating in discussions, or even creating fan fiction. Fiske (2010) also noted that fans generally display active, participatory, and fanatical behavior to express their enthusiasm. The degree of enthusiasm that fans have for idols has not changed with time; even today, with the help of technology, fan engagement behavior has become increasingly diverse and easier to exhibit. ...
Idol-nurturing reality shows that aim to produce idol groups by audience-chosen have become a hotbed for nurturing celebrities. The unique concepts and designs of idol-nurturing reality shows have attracted a group of committed female fans. As a result, the idol-nurturing reality show has become an essential genre of reality shows in the Asian market and an essential part of idol culture. This study concerned the unique concepts and designs of idol-nurturing reality shows and the psychology and behavior of the fans throughout the shows. Results of structural equation modeling based on survey data with 3,352 young Chinese respondents revealed a significant relationship between prompts, motives, online fan engagement, celebrity worship, and program commitment. The data from this study show that the prompts ability, personality, and facial attractiveness positively impacted online fan engagement and that viewing motives social interaction, voyeurism, and suspense positively impacted online fan engagement. In addition, this study found that online fan engagement exerted a significant and positive effect on celebrity worship and program commitment; celebrity worship positively impacted program commitment. This study also provides suggestions on enhancing the fan stickiness of shows and idols.
... John Fiske, Television Culture, Routledge, London, 1987, pp. 309-313. ...
p>Enzensberger's works have been, for more than forty years, a provocative commentary on and of the post-war period. This thesis uses an interdisciplinary framework drawn from Germanistik and British cultural studies to present a critical, historical account of Enzensberger's cultural politics, particularly concerning popular culture and the role of the critical intellectual in the maintenance of democracy. It argues that much of Enzensberger's writing, particularly his critical essays but also his poetry and his practices as an editor, analyses and, on occasion, intervenes to alter, the shifting relationship between economic and political structures in the Federal Republic and the operations of the 'cultural economy', the processes of making meaning and constructing social identities. What informs his writing throughout is his enduring commitment to the promotion of a democratic political culture. Although he starts from a position influenced by Adorno, where the masses are seen to be victims of the nexus of the culture industries and the political conservatism prevalent in the 1950s, there are also hints in his work of a more populist approach to the politics of popular culture. After formulating an emancipatory theory of the media based on their interactive capacity in 1970, his work assumes that the cultural practices and symbolic exchanges of ordinary people are able to challenge in productive ways the attempts of the culture industries and the political elites in Germany to incorporate them into a repressive version of capitalism. Enzensberger's increasingly populist cultural politics become explicit in his later essays with his advocacy of limited strategic political interventions by ordinary people rather than by intellectuals, Enzensberger's populism culminates in his controversial defence of the thriving, democratic political culture in the Federal Republic created by the affluent Kleinbürger .</p
... News defined as new information or information about something that is happening, presented in print, broadcast, internet, or word of mouth to third people or many people. News must account for its truth, actual, and informative; news must be current and interesting [1], which can significantly affect many people [2] [3]. Some news, especially on social media, uses false news as a political weapon [4], [5]. ...
Currently, the era where social media can present various facilities can answer the needs of the community for information and utilization for socio-economic interests. But the other impact of the presence of social media opens an ample space for the existence of information or hoax news about an event that is troubling the public. The hoax also provides cynical provocation, which is inciting hatred, anger, incitement to many people, directly influencing behavior so that it responds as desired by the hoax makers. Fake news is playing an increasingly dominant role in spreading Misinformation by influencing people's Perceptions or knowledge to distort their awareness and decision-making. A framework is develope dataset collection of hoax gathered using web crawlers from several websites, using classification techniques. This hoax news will be categorized into several detection parameters including, page URL, title hoax news, publish date, author, and content. Matching each word hoax using the similarity algorithm to produce the accuracy of the hoax news uses the rule-based detection method. Experiments were carried out on eleven thousand-hoax news used as training datasets and testing data sets; this data set for validation using similarity algorithms, to produce the highest accuracy of hoax text similarity. In this study, each hoax news will label into four categories, namely, Fact, Hoax, Information, Unknown. Contributions propose Automatic detection of hoax news, Automatic Multilanguage Detection, and a collection of datasets that we gather ourselves and validation that results in four categories of hoax news that have measured in terms of text similarity using similarity techniques. Further research can be continued by adding objects hate speech, black campaign, blockchain technique to ward off hoaxes, or can produce algorithms that produce better text accuracy. © 2019 International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications.
... En effet, l'analyse des représentations genrées que nous allons proposer n'a pas pour objectif de traiter empiriquement la question de la réception et des publics, un travail qui reste très largement à faire en France en ce qui concerne les dessins animés. Pour autant, les réflexions menées par les auteurs issus des Cultural Studies ont montré à quel point il était important de mobiliser de façon conceptuelle la question des publics pour produire une analyse de représentations plus fine et plus riche, capable de saisir l'historicité des discours, mais aussi leurs évolutions et leurs ambivalences (Fiske, 1989). En ce qui concerne les thèmes « médias » et « enfance », la négation des capacités d'interprétation des jeunes publics a souvent conduit à des constats alarmistes qui ne permettent pas de saisir de telles nuances. ...
Este libro se elabora a partir de los trabajos presentados en el
Congreso Internacional Comunicación, conflictos y cambio social,
que se realizó del 18 al 19 de diciembre de 2017 en la Universitat
Jaume I de Castellón, y que congregó a más de 150 especialistas en
este campo. Los textos fueron revisados y evaluados por el comité
científico internacional y organizador de este evento. También a este
texto se incorporaron firmas invitadas. Para una mejor lectura, el
libro se clasifica en tres áreas que agrupan sus líneas temáticas
centrales:
• Comunicación y conflictos
• Comunicación y paz
• Línea interdisciplinaria: paz
El libro cuenta con 4 editores científicos de dos
universidades: Universitat Jaume I de Castellón (UJI) y Universidade
Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho” (UNESP). Esta
publicación es editada por una red de instituciones universitarias,
proyectos y redes de investigación de España, Brasil y Chile. La
publicación cuenta con 44 capítulos elaborados por
investigadores/as adscritos a instituciones de México, Perú, España,
Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Brasil, entre otros
The present study investigates how car bumper stickers in Jordan are exploited as public texts and spaces to communicate transgressive messages about the self and the other. Using Bakhtin’s notions of the carnival and the carnivalesque, eighty-four ethnographically collected bumper stickers were analyzed. The analysis of data shows that this public form of communication is exploited by Jordanian drivers and car owners as a site of carnivalesque transgression and degradation in three discursive spheres: (i) castigating female materiality, calling into question female attainment of rationality, and stressing ‘female infidelity’; (ii) complaining about one’s suffering, burdens, and cares through a plaintive image of ritual lamentation and self-degradation; and (iii) creating a Bakhtinian ‘reversible world’ that attempts to reverse values, hierarchies, and power relationships, and in which the lowly is valorized, and the social discourse of the community is inverted. Like carnival and the carnivalesque, these bumper stickers provide a licensed space of transgression and degradation and reflect a special type of communication that is impossible in everyday life as such communication constitutes a form of carnivalesque ‘marketplace speech’ that is devoid of the norms of etiquette and decency. The present study contributes to research on transgressive language and popular culture in public spaces.
In seinem Aufsatz „What do people do with advertising?“ aus dem Jahr 1991 betrachtet Francis A. Buttle Werbung als soziale Praktik eines aktiven Publikums. Er geht der Frage nach, was über die Rolle des Publikums im Prozess der Werbewirkung bekannt ist und welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, diese Erkenntnisse zu vertiefen. Ausgehend von einer Analyse von 619 empirischen Studien aus den Jahren 1975 bis 1989 identifiziert er eine Forschungslücke im Bereich kontextualisierender Studien in der Werbeforschung, für deren Erkundung er die ethnographische Methode vorschlägt.
Este estudio explica cómo la plataforma TikTok puede contribuir a desarrollar diferentes modelos de identidad entre los adolescentes fans, mediados por las industrias culturales. Los modelos teóricos adoptados son los que se centran en la cultura popular (Fiske, 1989) y, más recientemente, en el estudio TikTok (Abidin, 2021). La metodología combina big y small. Se inspira en las técnicas de análisis de contenido. Los resultados muestran diferentes dimensiones desde las que las industrias culturales construyen la identidad de héroes, ídolos o influencers. Las conclusiones se fijan en los retos planteados a la investigación mediante el estudio de esta red social.
This study considers Matthew Arnold’s “The Scholar Gipsy” within the liminal-limioid theoretical grounds touched upon by Victor Turner and Friedrich Max Müller. The body of discussion focuses on the metapoetic aspect of the art of poetry in relation to liminal-liminoid projections featured within Arnold’s poem. The main argument is that liminal projections within the poem transform into a liminoid and metapoetic space where the essential core of the art of poetry itself is revealed as the product of a liminoid process. The figure of the scholar-gipsy who left Oxford hundreds of years ago and joined a gipsy tribe in pursuit of greater knowledge is animated by means of the speaker’s recalling the now-gipsy-scholar’s story in the poem. Such a summons becomes an eternal symbol of the kind of metapoetic relationship between the speaker and his liminoidly inspiring source. Metapoetic and liminoid connections are further layered with the inescepable presence of a timeless reader bound neither by space nor by time. Thus, boundaries between source-material, speaker, poet, the art of poetry, inspiration and the reader are stretched, where Arnold’s whole metapoetic-liminoid process binds all humanity together by means of the same poetic and re-creative liminoid play.
This article focuses on how digital platforms mediate disasters in the form of storm maps generating struggles over knowledge and authority. We focus on the dissemination of storm maps during Hurricane Dorian, one of the most severe hurricanes on record, as an example of an environmental disaster event that was widely circulated for public consumption. The storm map has become one of the most significant artifacts of the information age. Digital means now transcend the typical uses of the storm map as a guide to disaster planning, leading to two forms of digital ambiguity: hegemonic ambiguity and popular ambiguity. Hegemonic ambiguity refers to the uses of political power through digital tools to disrupt knowledge circulation and scientific legitimacy. Popular ambiguity involves digital technologies increasing the sheer number of perspectives by localizing representations. Actors incorporate smart phones, drones, and photogrammetric, remote-sensing, and GIS software into heterogeneous manifestations of the storm map. The comparison between these two forms of ambiguity demonstrates how digital platforms transform the underlying structure of authority, alter connections between knowledge production and dissemination, and multiply how disaster-related events are represented and interpreted throughout society.
To achieve the purpose of this study 40 male college level volleyball players who were in various colleges of tehsil Devsar of district Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir were randomly selected as subjects. The age ranged from 17-23. The selected subjects were divided into two groups and each group consists of 20 subjects, that is 20 subjects for experimental group and 20 subjects for control group.
K-pop poses several conundrums to international business and marketing specialists regarding its global success. This paper tests two hypotheses drawn from branding theory, feminist theory and fandom studies to corroborate the argument that cultural branding is a key to the success of K-pop. Cultural branding is the most prominent of all branding strategies in the 21st century as its success is anchored in the creation and dissemination of a performing myth that can challenge ongoing contradictions in society, including sexism. What K-pop tries to convey to its fans all over the world is this performing ideology of gendered melancholia that is commonly shared among women due to sexism. However, no previous study has tested this theoretical implication from branding and feminist theories, which are also beneficial to business studies. Using survey data collected from 15 countries, we employ a logistic regression method to corroborate a hypothesis that gendered melancholia motivates women in all parts of the world to participate in the fandom of Hallyu and K-pop, or Korean pop culture.
This comprehensive text explores the relationship between identity, subjectivity and digital communication, providing a strong starting point for understanding how fast-changing communication technologies, platforms, applications and practices have an impact on how we perceive ourselves, others, relationships and bodies.
Drawing on critical studies of identity, behaviour and representation, Identity and Digital Communication demonstrates how identity is shaped and understood in the context of significant and ongoing shifts in online communication. Chapters cover a range of topics including advances in social networking, the development of deepfake videos, intimacies of everyday communication, the emergence of cultures based on algorithms, the authenticities of TikTok and online communication’s setting as a site for hostility and hate speech. Throughout the text, author Rob Cover shows how the formation and curation of self-identity is increasingly performed and engaged with through digital cultural practices, affirming that these practices must be understood if we are to make sense of identity in the 2020s and beyond.
Featuring critical accounts, everyday examples and analysis of key platforms such as TikTok, this textbook is an essential primer for scholars and students in media studies, psychology, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, computer science, as well as health practitioners, mental health advocates and community members.
Resumen
En su reciente libro sobre las culturas del erotismo en la España del cambio del siglo XIX al XX, Maite Zubiaurre defiende la idea de que el erotismo desmantela la asentada teoría de las dos Españas, la liberal y la conservadora, y apunta a una tercera España “audaz y distinta” (13-14). Desde mi punto de vista, la performance del erotismo se asienta, precisamente, en el reconocimiento de la capacidad de la mujer para el placer. Encarnada principalmente en los cuerpos de las cupletistas sicalípticas, esa capacidad para el goce habría de negarse de manera trágica y definitiva con la instauración del nacionalcatolicismo franquista. Sin embargo, la espectacularización del cuerpo de la mujer, su relación con el erotismo, y las prácticas culturales que rodean a esos procesos, han dado lugar a la creación de subjetividades que deben ser entendidas desde la relación que se establece entre el cuerpo y los códigos que lo hacen visible. Este ensayo propone establecer una genealogía entre distintas generaciones de mujeres en el espectáculo. Me detendré en tres momentos: las cupletistas sicalípticas, representadas por La Chelito (1885-1959); las protagonistas del “destape” (a través de la lectura de la novela de Marta Sanz, Daniela Astor y la caja negra, de 2013), y la performance de la artista contemporánea Julia de Castro, De la Puríssima. A través de estos textos intento identificar los esfuerzos por controlar y disciplinar el cuerpo destapado/cuerpo gozador de la mujer, y, sobre todo, señalar líneas de escape a esos esfuerzos disciplinarios.
Populära kultuur speel 'n loane mend belangrike rol in die oorgang na 'n nuwe pailleke bedeling in Suid-Afrika. Die vraag la of daar 'n noemenswaardige funksleverande ring vir populêre simbollese vorme onderskel kan word en of dit selfs tot 'n herwaardering kan lel. Aan vanklik word daar op die algemene funksie van openbaarmaking gekon sentreer voordat die teoretiese debat opgesom word. Daar word geredeneer dat dit nie sinvol is om oor positiewe of negatiewe waardes rondom populêre kultuur te veralge meen nie. Die Ideologieë van massa en populêre kultuur word bespreek en na 'n aantal funksies van laasge- noemde herlei: genotbevrediging, simboliese oorskryding van "ampte- like kultuur, verset teen die domi nante kultuur in die kultuurstryd en teen die kanon van "hoë" kultuur, die daarstel van modelle vir die oor brugging van teenstrydighede, ge meenskapsopvoeding en die ver- teenwoordiging van teenkulturele en subkulturele waardes. Die artikel is 'n verwerking van 'n referaat gelewer tydens 'n seminaar "Kom munikasie-interaksies in die populêre kultuur", gereël deur die Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit in Johannesburg, 22 Oktober 1993.
The death of Elvis Presley in August 1977 unveiled a field of contested interpretative and emotional positions regarding his public persona and its wider cultural implications. Closely studying the particular repercussions of such contestations in Denmark, using the totality of available source material, this article analyses a historically specific complex of temporal sediments and contested cultural norms and emotional expressions in connection with international celebrities and their fans and detractors. In more general terms, this study can contribute to the ongoing endeavours to historicise approaches to celebrities and the webs of significance surrounding their deaths.
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a well-accomplished novel that won countless awards and became a part of the canon soon after publication in 1985. This dystopian fiction circles around Offred, a handmaid living under a totalitarian regime. The subjects in this regime are meticulously monitored. Power is exercised vastly on every terrain it has access to in this dystopia. This paper investigates the vehicles of power in light of the contemporary media scholar and cultural critic John Fiske’s cultural theories. Language, a significant terrain of power, is analysed both as a vehicle of power and an opposing force. Furthermore, we will illuminate how pleasure and discipline are involved in the exercise of power within the Republic of Gilead. In The Handmaid’s Tale, resistance is still producing itself even under a totalitarian government, and the subjects under that regime constantly display resistance wherever possible. Therefore, they can be considered neither as neutral objects nor as commodities. Moreover, we will demonstrate how pleasure is a significant cause for subordination of and resistance by the subjects. Lastly, this article elucidates how subjects resist the dominant power through Guerrilla Tactics.
This is the sixth issue of the journal under my editorship, this time, with the precious help of our new Co-Editor, Dr Alyson Miller (Deakin University, Australia), and our two Associate Editors, Dr Murielle El Hajj (Lusail University, Qatar) and Dr Fernando Darío González Grueso (Tamkang University, Taiwan). I would like to offer my sincere thanks for all their hard work in putting the issue together.
Possessing millions of users and user-generated videos, Bilibili is regarded as the Chinese counterpart of YouTube, while a distinctive hue of youth culture makes it a special case among other streaming platforms. Bilibili publicises itself as an iconic brand of youth culture in contemporary China, boasting millions of sticky users of generation Z that make up nearly 80% of its demographics. Founded in 2009, Bilibili was initiated as an anime, comic, and games (ACG)-themed video-sharing website under the influence of the Japanese Otaku culture. After a decade’s development, Bilibili has made its way into the mainstream as its user number proliferates and its content diversifies.Bullet comments, or danmu (弹幕), are the most recognisable feature of Bilibili. The technology allows users to post their comments onto a video, and the texts will fly across the screen and be seen by later viewers. With commentary integrated into the original video content, viewers reproduce the video and make it an alternative public sphere for participation and communication. Bullet comments thereby make viewing experiences cumulative, participatory, and collective.After the success of Bilibili, mainstream video portals like Youku and iQiyi also started to adapt the bullet-comment feature to their applications, making bullet comments a representative Internet subculture in the Chinese mediascape. Nevertheless, this feature is still excluded from major video websites in the West. So far, bullet comments only prevail in Chinese and Japanese streaming platforms, potentially due to the succinctness of Chinese characters, as four characters can construct a whole sentence that can be understood at a glance.China’s young people’s affinity to bullet comments may be related to the Chinese cultural traditions, for bullet comments could find their precursors in Chinese history, such as open-space film projections, and in-text annotations of vernacular novels. Also, the pseudo-togetherness that bullet comments bring about could be particularly attractive and significant to China’s “only child.” Behind the practice of bullet comments lurk the connotations about Chinese culture and youth dispositions. Focusing on the history of bullet comments together with the lived experiences of the users, this chapter offers a unique perspective on the streaming culture in China.KeywordsBilibiliOtakuChinaBullet commentsAudiencesOnline communitiesPlatformsInteractivity
The practice of fashion memes is a rather fresh exercise on the fashion scene, and it has been enjoyed by both the audiences and the brands. Fashion media have turned their attention to the phenomenon as well, addressing its scope, authorship and function from various angles. Scholarly research of the field is very scarce, though. The article seeks to contribute to the emerging field of fashion meme research by analysing a Lithuanian author of original fashion memes, a self-proclaimed fashion critic the Pink Poodle – an imaginary social media personality active on Facebook and Instagram platforms. The subjects of Pink Poodle memes are objects of media photographs from local and global public events (such as the Presidential Inauguration or an international cinema festival opening, Grammy Awards, Oscars) that demonstrate, from Poodle’s perspective, disagreements with fashion and/or aesthetics in general. The aim of the article is to reflect on the function of irony and sarcasm of the fashion meme as an instrument for fashion criticism, and the role of (visual) irony on the perception of fashion in the contemporary society. The text also addresses the role of independent fashion criticism that the practice of fashion meme creation seems to provide, and the function that this kind of intermediary between fashion and its audiences may perform.
On 12 November 2017, the Philippine celebrity musician Pilita Corrales was singing the popular song ‘Ikaw’ (‘You’) at a gala event in Manila, attended by some of the world's most powerful politicians at the time, US President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Suddenly, she noticed a male voice singing along with her, its intonation off, its volume increasing. Aware that the event was being recorded, Corrales at first tried to disregard the intruding voice. Eventually however, she could no longer ignore it and, shielding her eyes from the lights with one hand, she tried to spot the uninvited singer in the audience. ‘Where are you, sir’? she asked. Realising that the singer was on one of the balconies, it dawned on her that he was none other than Duterte himself. After giving Duterte room to sing a section by himself, she then joined the president in the song's finale (BBC News 2017; Guardian News 2017; Rappler 2017).
This study focuses on United States-based players of World of Tanks, a historical battle arena game that features many playable tanks based on their actual historical origins, mostly from the World War II and postwar eras. Through a partnership with the game’s developer Wargaming.net, we conducted interviews with 20 players of World of Tanks who indicated that they are interested in history generally or military history specifically. Our findings indicate that playing World of Tanks is one dimension of a broader spectrum of interacting with history as a kind of leisure activity. Players put history in service of their own interests and recreational enjoyment, while acknowledging that historical accuracy is a moving target that must be balanced with elements that shape gameplay structure, competitive potential, and player agency. This study contributes to scholarship on the experiences and motivations of people who play historical games, situates interest in historical games within a broader array of history-related leisure, offers insights for historical game developers interested in players’ cultural and social context, and notes the limitations of games to teach about the past.
The typical vision of the Middle Ages western popular culture represents to its global audience is deeply Eurocentric. The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones imagined entire medievalist worlds, but we see only a fraction of them through the stories and travels of the characters. Organised around the theme of mobility, this Element seeks to deconstruct the Eurocentric orientations of western popular medievalisms which typically position Europe as either the whole world or the centre of it, by making them visible and offering alternative perspectives. How does popular culture represent medievalist worlds as global-connected by the movement of people and objects? How do imagined mobilities allow us to create counterstories that resist Eurocentric norms? This study represents the start of what will hopefully be a fruitful and inclusive conversation of what the Middle Ages did, and should, look like.
Since the first appearance with his brand Vetements at the Paris Fashion Week in 2014 and his successive takeover of the French maison Balenciaga in 2015, designer Demna has represented a controversial figure in the industry, capable of merging stereotypically luxurious pieces with direct references to pop culture and politics. This article analyses the imagery and the communication strategies of his two brands by providing a revised reading of the grotesque theory to fit the contemporary climate. Previously associated with a regenerative power capable of contrasting the status quo, the grotesque returns in the new millennium shrouded in an aura of gloom. Demna intercepts the anxiety thatarises from the environmental crises, our poorly regulated relationship with technology and social media, and the rightward populist drift that has been spreading in Europe and USA, and distills it in his collections, fashion shows and campaigns. In order to explore the dark, thickly encoded work of the designer, the theoretical framework of this article combines a rigorous account of the grotesque canon to postmodernist theory, for their shared interest for low and popular culture as the unofficial voice that mocks and undermines power structures.
Organizational Technology (s): The representative (s) of the unspoken
This article sheds light on the ambivalent dimension of the development of the use of Organizational Technologies by showing that it falls within the register of psychic causality. In this regard, it shows that this development finds its root causes in the hold of the asemantic signifier generated by the generalized phenomenon of the digitization of the economy and social activities.
Focusing on the South Asian videocinemas of Manipur and Malegaon, two media “industries” with distinctive compulsions and motivations, this chapter explores how local exigencies inflect and shape rooted cultural pursuits of a global contemporaneity. While Bollywood, the Korean Wave, and Hollywood provide paradigms of success, inspiration, and direction, place‐bound media cultures embody markedly singular actualizations of global aspirations. In their bottom‐up and frequently piratical modalities, and fraught relationship to both the nation and the state, these videocinemas instantiate informal and improvisational forms of participation that invoke, but cannot be subsumed by, models of DIY cultural citizenship. Most strikingly, in all their vigorous mediations of affiliation and identity, they espouse no obvious notion of authenticity or purity, nor any predetermined political logic of resistance or complicity. In establishing their own infrastructures, working out their own aesthetics, and articulating their collective political concerns, these plastic media formations forge their own lo‐tech, low brow digital modernities that complicate extant accounts of cultural globalization.
Turkish soap operas propose an alternative modernity marked not only by tra-ditional family structures and gender roles but also by the social conservatism im-posed by the current government. Nevertheless, the soap operas in question are also under the pressure of representing social change, particularly as far as wom-en's rights are concerned. Through this article, the author aims to highlight the ways in which Greek women resist to the patriarchate through their decoding of these particular media texts. Based on the results of an audience ethnography, the author demonstrates that the resistance of meaning receivers is neither always op-positional to the media text, nor necessarily progressive.
This article is a cultural analysis of the "Kiddush Club" ritual conducted in many Modern Orthodox synagogues in the Western world. Before the Shabbat Mussaf prayer, several men leave the service to drink whiskey and socialize in a side room during the Haftarah reading from the prophets and the rabbi's sermon. Afterwards, the Kiddush Club members return to the sanctuary for the Mussaf prayer. What are the purposes of this ritual? Why do many Rabbis ban it? To what extent do Kiddush Clubs undermine the order of the Modern Orthodox synagogue? The article addresses those questions by situating the Kiddush Club ritual and the rabbinic debate surrounding it in a historical context and offers a sociological analysis of the practice as part of modern men's clubs. It demonstrates that the Kiddush Club is a significant practice for community formation, and it’s less innovative, less Ashkenazi and less provocative than appears at first sight.
Bu çalışma, postmodern unsurlar barındıran Covid-19 salgınının oluşturduğu yeni dindarlık biçimlerine odaklanmaktadır. Yeni dindarlık formları ile popüler kültür arasında var olan bağları belirginleştirme gayretindeki çalışma, psikososyal analiz niteliğindedir. Çalışma, salgın döneminin din ve dindarlığı radikal dönüşüme uğratacağı varsayımı üzerine kurulmuştur. Buna göre, salgın sürecinde popüler dindarlık önem kazanmış, halk inançları ve hurafeler yaygınlaşmıştır. Bireyler, salgın döneminde varoluşlarını daha fazla sorgulamış, resmi dini söylem yerine yeni medya eksenli popüler dindarlığa yönelmişlerdir. Dinin genel esasları değişmese de dindarlığın kişiye özgü olması ve salgın gibi radikal krizlerde kamusal alanın sınırlanmasıyla birlikte eklektik bireysel dindarlık biçimleri önem kazanmıştır. Bu çalışmada yeni medyanın kullanımıyla birlikte dinin kamusal alandan çekileceği, dindarlığın daha liberal biçimlerinin artacağı, sekülerleşmenin belirginleşeceği öngörülerine de yer verilmiştir. İleride yapılacak çalışmalar için kavramsal bir zemin oluşturma gayretindeki bu çalışma, postmodernite olgusunu popüler dindarlık ve yeni medya ekseninde tartışmaya açarak sosyal bilimler alanlarına katkı sunma gayretindedir.
This paper traces how the international music press used the clothing and appearance of the Irish blues/rock musician Rory Gallagher to mythologize him as the “People’s Guitarist.” I explore how this image was constructed and developed over time, as well as Gallagher’s own response to this mythologization and how it has consolidated since his death in 1995. I argue that Gallagher’s unwillingness to compromise his integrity and shift his music or clothing to fit changing trends made him an anomaly in an image-conscious music industry. Thus, his appearance became an easy target for the music press who focused overwhelmingly on his clothing in interviews and articles. This focus unfairly drew attention away from his music and downplayed the important contribution he made to the world of blues and rock.
This article proposes an analytical framework that combines Conversation Analysis, Positioning Theory, and Stance Analysis to study communalization and distinction as basic interactive mechanisms within group interactions. The framework is based on the premise that participants in multi-party interactions constantly manage the local demands of the ongoing conversation and turn-by-turn talk as well as implicitly or explicitly evoked references to global discourses, which in turn are closely related to the topic currently discussed. By considering both micro- and macro-contextual features in the analysis of group interactions, it is possible to reach a deeper understanding of dynamic group activities. The framework has been empirically developed based on data from a study on epistemic positioning practices in adolescents’ group interactions about popular TV series in Germany. The data comprises ten videotaped focus group discussions that have been elicited in a school context. By applying the framework to the analysis of a single case from the corpus, insights can be gained, both on how group members’ finely adjust their epistemic and evaluative stances as well as on how the participants themselves interactively link their stances to broader discourses.
Razumevanju digitalne sfere i njenog uticaja na razvoj kulture, savremene umetničke prakse i složene međuodnose u medijskim sistemima, kako onima koji deluju na globalnom nivou, tako i oni- ma koji se uspostavljaju unutar država-nacija, može se prići sa mnogo različitih stanovišta i iz ugla različitih naučnih disciplina. Nesumnjivo, kada je o kulturi reč, ovo je trenutak kada kulturne politike i institucionalni aparat države imaju manji značaj od algo- ritama koji prate ukus i ponašanje publike kao potrošača, pa onda dalje nameću, podstiču, „nagovaraju“ one još uvek neopredeljene da se i sami uključe i postanu deo globalnog trenda. Bihejvioralna ekonomija (Thaler & Sunstein) pokazala je kako čak i nenametljivim nagovaranjem (nudge) ljudi mogu brzo menjati svoje odluke. Ova teorija donela je njenom autoru čak i Nobelovu nagradu za ekono- miju 2017. godine pa, iako se može koristiti u kulturnom razvoju, zdravstvenom prosvećivanju, podizanju ekološke svesti, ipak je primetno da se društvene mreže i njihovi složeni algoritmi koriste pre svega za promociju već popularnih proizvoda koji često i nemaju nikakvu vrednost za potrošača, ostvarujući tako izuzetnu dobit.
Stoga je ključno pitanje da li se i ova, i mnoge druge nauč- ne teorije, u digitalnom svetu mogu primenjivati u cilju javnog interesa i ostvarivanju javnog dobra, ili će društvene mreže, iza kojih stoji globalni svetski kapital, pre svega voditi računa o sop- stvenim ekonomskim interesima i time zloupotrebljavati infor- matičku moć koju poseduju i same komunikacione kanale koje kreiraju i kontrolišu.
Hane halkı gelirinin, toplum sağlığı üzerinde önemli etkileri olduğuna dair birçok çalışma bulunmaktadır. Söz konusu
etkilerin incelenmesi için, mutlak gelir hipotezi, nispi gelir hipotezi ve gelir eşitsizliği hipotezleri gibi birtakım hipotezler
ortaya atılmıştır. Mutlak gelir hipotezi, gelirde meydana gelen artışın sağlık düzeyini aynı oranda iyileştirdiğini öne
sürmektedir. Nispi gelir hipotezinde, bireylerin sağlık durumunu belirleyen etkenin mutlak gelirde meydana gelen artışın
değil, bireyin içinde yaşadığı toplumun gelir düzeyi ile ilişkili olduğu ifade edilmektedir (Wilkinson, 1996, 2001).
Gelir eşitsizliği hipotezinde ise, gelir eşitsizliği ve sağlık sorunları arasındaki ilişki incelenmiş ve gelir dağılımdaki
adaletsizliğin artmasının, sağlık üzerinde büyük ölçüde zararlı etkiler bırakabileceği öne sürülmüştür. Bu çalışmanın amacı gelir eşitsizliği ile bebek ölümleri ve yaşam beklentisi arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyerek Türkiye’de
gelir eşitsizliği hipotezinin geçerli olup/olmadığını analiz etmektir. Çalışmanın ikinci bölümünde gelir, gelir dağılımı ve
sağlık arasındaki ilişkinin teorik çerçevesine yer verilmiş, üçüncü bölümde mutlak gelir hipotezi, nispi gelir hipotezi ve
gelir eşitsizliği hipotezlerinin ulusal ve uluslararası boyutta geçerliliğini sorgulayan ampirik literatür gözden geçirilmiş,
dördüncü bölümde veri, model, yöntem ve analiz sonuçlarına yer verilmiş ve beşinci bölümde ise sonuç ve öneriler ile
çalışma sonlandırılmıştır.
Theorists since Marx, Bourdieu, and DiMaggio have asked how individual choices on cultural preference interact with collective social network structure. The rise of social media in today’s communication landscape motivates us to take a closer look at the involved dynamics. We designed an agent-based model to explore how different behavioral principles for cultural choice and communicative affiliation affect (1) collective consumption patterns, (2) social segregation, and (3) resilience of the emergent dynamic during exogenous distributions. We analyze the influence of individual agency on network structure, and vice versa, by simulating agents who pursue elite or popular culture, while communicating with others based on homophily or randomness. Our method allows us to go beyond specific constellations and explore the realm of theoretically possible combinations. We then used an exogenous disturbance on elite culture cost to test the resilience of social network structure. We found that only in societies where economic factors drive cultural consumption, increased access to elite culture can lead to reorganization in the social network and reduce segregation between different social groups. This is because the disturbance on consumption provides agents opportunities to connect with other social groups and opens a window for social mixing. We end by discussing how our model allows us to inform a diverse set of empirical research questions, including the cultural markets of social media, the digital divide, and the split between free misinformation and established news outlets.
Globalization has been created a field of cultural production that allows the formation of hybrid identity among young Muslims in Indonesia. The emergence of the Metal Islam subculture in Indonesian metal music scenes reflects the effort of Muslim metalhead to articulate two different elements of identities―metal and Islam―into a new discourse through ideological practices. In this way, Muslim metalhead wants to show that being a Metal musician and orthodox Muslim at the same time is possible. Moreover, Metal Islam subcultures even borrowed the imagery and practices of metal culture as a counter-culture strategy against the dominant metal culture that is considered harmful to the values of orthodox Islam. Metal Islam subcultures see themselves as “missionaries” in a mission field that desperately needs the Islamic message and discourse they are bringing, which in many cases has in common with Islamic discourse which has been echoed by Islamist groups in Indonesia. Thus, the emergence of Metal Islam subcultures has marked a new trend in the dynamic of the Islamist movement in Indonesia.
Razumevanju digitalne sfere i njenog uticaja na razvoj kulture,
savremene umetničke prakse i složene međuodnose u medijskim
sistemima, kako onima koji deluju na globalnom nivou, tako i onima koji se uspostavljaju unutar država-nacija, može se prići sa
mnogo različitih stanovišta i iz ugla različitih naučnih disciplina.
Nesumnjivo, kada je o kulturi reč, ovo je trenutak kada kulturne
politike i institucionalni aparat države imaju manji značaj od algoritama koji prate ukus i ponašanje publike kao potrošača, pa onda
dalje nameću, podstiču, „nagovaraju“ one još uvek neopredeljene
da se i sami uključe i postanu deo globalnog trenda. Bihejvioralna
ekonomija pokazala je kako čak i nenametljivim nagovaranjem (nudge) ljudi mogu brzo menjati svoje odluke. Ova teorija donela je njenom autoru čak i Nobelovu nagradu za ekonomiju 2017. godine pa, iako se može koristiti u kulturnom razvoju, zdravstvenom prosvećivanju, podizanju ekološke svesti, ipak je primetno da se društvene mreže i njihovi složeni algoritmi koriste pre svega za promociju već popularnih proizvoda koji često i nemaju nikakvu vrednost za potrošača, ostvarujući tako izuzetnu dobit.
Stoga je ključno pitanje da li se i ova, i mnoge druge naučne teorije, u digitalnom svetu mogu primenjivati u cilju javnog interesa i ostvarivanju javnog dobra, ili će društvene mreže, iza kojih stoji globalni svetski kapital, pre svega voditi računa o sopstvenim ekonomskim interesima i time zloupotrebljavati informatičku moć koju poseduju i same komunikacione kanale koje kreiraju i kontrolišu.
За последние годы все большее количество ученых проявляет интерес к архетипам, мифам и символам. От всеобщей тенденции не отстают и грузинские ученые. Научные труды об использовании мифов и символов в творчестве знаменитых отечественных писателей Важи Пшавелы, Михеила Джавахишвили, Григола Робакидзе и др.
пользуются огромным интересом не только в кругу теоретиков, но и среди широкой общественности. Хотя, к сожалению, мы не можем сказать то же самое про архетипику.
Использование архетипов в литературных произведениях все еще остается малоизученной темой. Можно найти лишь несколько трудов, посвященных данному вопросу, но и те обходят стороной архетипику государственных режимов и политических деятелей. Эта причина и послужила для нас предлогом еще раз пересмотреть и исследовать творчество знаменитого грузинского писателя Григола Робакидзе и проанализировать его отношение к Гитлеру, Сталину и
Ленину и к созданным ими режимам.
Jede Befassung mit 'Kunst' - sei sie produzierend, rezipierend oder affizierend - kommt an Kunsterfahrung nicht vorbei. In ihr sind die konstitutiven Entscheidungen bereits getroffen, ob das Wahrgenommene ein Gefühl, ein Geräusch oder ein Eindruck bleibt, oder ob wir es als ›Kunst‹ begreifen. Kunst 'existiert' nicht außerhalb eines Beobachters, sondern ist imaginierte Realität eines Beobachters. Eine solche Argumentation zwingt zu einem radikalen Beobachterstandpunkt für jedwede Kunsterfahrung, die nicht mehr traditionsgeflissentlich ergründet: 'Was ist Kunst?', sondern: 'Wie ist Kunst möglich?'. Damit ist ein fundamentaler Perspektivenwechsel gezeitigt vom Werk zum Beobachter, indem man nach den Bedingungen von Kunst fragt: Wie Kunst zur Kunst wird, und was Kunst für die Gesellschaft leistet. In dieser Lesart offenbart sich Kunst mit einer zentralen Funktion in der Gesellschaft. Sie überwindet das unüberbrückbar erscheinende Verhältnis von Wahrnehmung und Kommunikation. Kunst aber 'macht Wahrnehmung für Kommunikation verfügbar' (Niklas Luhmann). Dies vermag Kunst, indem sie in der Lage ist, Wahrnehmbares zu inszenieren, mithin dem Beobachter Anlässe für Wahrnehmung anzubieten. Die Autorinnen und Autoren greifen diese Problemstellung offensiv auf und diskutieren sie kritisch unter epistemologischen, differenztheoretischen, ästhetischen sowie diskurshistorischen Aspekten. – Mit Beiträgen von Oliver Baron, Angelika Böck, Gernot Böhme, Remigius Bunia, Alberto Cevolini, Malda Denana, Julien Dolenc, Karin Dörre, Michael Dürfeld, Christian Filk, Christiane Heibach, Bernhard Langer, Harry Lehmann, Peter Mahr, Thomas Morsch, Norbert M. Schmitz, Silke C. Schuck, Anja Schürmann, Holger Simon und Carsten Zorn.
