Popular Culture in Theory II 2024 PDF

POPULAR CULTURE IN THEORY (II) CONTEMPORARY POPULAR CULTURE IN EAST ASIA, SPRING 2024 TODAY’S TOPICS 1) POSTMODERNISM AND POPULAR CULTURE: CULTURE OF SIMULACRA, HYPERREALITY, GLOBALIZATION, CONVERGENCE CULTURE 2) HOW DO AUDIENCES RESPOND TO THE POPULAR MEDIA? MEDIA AUDIENCE RESEARCH K. Barancovaitė-...

POPULAR CULTURE IN THEORY (II) CONTEMPORARY POPULAR CULTURE IN EAST ASIA, SPRING 2024 TODAY’S TOPICS 1) POSTMODERNISM AND POPULAR CULTURE: CULTURE OF SIMULACRA, HYPERREALITY, GLOBALIZATION, CONVERGENCE CULTURE 2) HOW DO AUDIENCES RESPOND TO THE POPULAR MEDIA? MEDIA AUDIENCE RESEARCH K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė POSTMODERNISM (1960-70S) BLURRING THE CONCEPTS OF ‘HIGH’ AND ‘LOW’ CULTURE (SONTAG 1966) BLURRING THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ART (ANDY WARHOL) K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė JEAN-FRANCOIS LYOTARD (1924-1998) “THE POSTMODERN CONDITION” (1979) REJECTION OF ‘METANARRATIVES’ (UNIVERSAL HISTORICAL OR SOCIAL CONCEPTS LIKE MARXISM, ENLIGHTENMENT ETC.) THE POSTMODERN SOCIETY IS PLURALISTIC AND DIVERSE: IT IS OVERWHELMED BY A VARIETY OF IMAGES TRANSMITTED THROUGH MASS MEDIA AND INTERNET. PLURALITY OF SMALL NARRATIVES DERIVED FROM SYMBOLIC AND LINGUISTIC PRODUCTION REPLACES METANARRATIVES. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ARE JUDGED BY THEIR PERFORMATIVITY, NOT BY THE PROGRESS IN SEEKING ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE FOR POPULAR CULTURE TASTE IS IRRELEVANT, VALUE DEFINED BY MONEY POSTMODERNISM AS A STEP TO NEW MODERNISM K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė DEFINITION OF ‚METANARRATIVE‘ METANARRATIVE (GRAND NARRATIVE) IS A THEORY THAT TRIES TO GIVE A TOTALIZING, COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT TO VARIOUS HISTORICAL EVENTS, EXPERIENCES, AND SOCIAL, CULTURAL PHENOMENA BASED UPON THE APPEAL TO UNIVERSAL TRUTH OR UNIVERSAL VALUES. (NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA) K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė JEAN BAUDRILLARD (1929-2007) CONTRARY TO MARXIST THOUGHT THAT SOCIETY IS FORMED BY ECONOMIC FORCES, IN POSTMODERN WORLD THE SOCIAL LIFE IS INFLUENCED BY SIGNS AND IMAGES ECONOMIC REALM IS INSEPARABLE FROM CULTURAL REALM POSTMODERNISM IS A CULTURE OF ‘SIMULACRUM’ IDENTICAL COPY WITHOUT AN ORIGINAL. RELIGION AS A PRIMORDIAL FORM OF SIMULATION, AND DIVINITIES AS THE OLDEST FORM OF SIMULACRA. THE NOTION OF HYPERREALITY: “THE METICULOUS REDUPLICATION OF THE REAL, PREFERABLY THROUGH ANOTHER, REPRODUCTIVE MEDIUM, SUCH AS PHOTOGRAPHY” (IN WOLFREYS ET AL 52) (CITED FROM WOLNY R. W. 2017) K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė HYPERREALISM: MASCOT CASE FADING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN REAL AND IMAGINARY (WE RATHER REACT TO THE IMAGES TRANSMITTED BY MASS MEDIA THAN TO REAL PHENOMENA OR PEOPLE) HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=KB4MXXU_GT0 (CHIITAN) FUNASSYI HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=X9GR_24W1-Q K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė HYPERREALISM: VOCALOID CASE HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.CO M/WATCH?V=YSYWTESOEOC K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė HYPERREALISM: MAID CAFE CASE K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ibPC_e_kU (interview with maids at My home cafe) HYPERREALISM: V-TUBER CASE KIZUNA AI K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sPnwZUMckE GAWR GURA GLOBALIZATION AND POSTMODERNISM VIEW OF GLOBALIZATION AS CULTURAL AMERICANIZATION. PROBLEMS: 1) COMMODITIES EQUALED TO CULTURE 2) COMMODITIES THOUGHT TO HAVE INHERENT VALUES AND SINGULAR MEANINGS 3) ‘FOREIGN’ PERCEIVED AS ‘SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY’ 4) AMERICAN CULTURE ASSUMED TO BE MONOLITHIC K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė CONVERGENCE CULTURE CONVERGENCE CULTURE IS THE MERGING OF THE VARIOUS FORMS OF MEDIA SO THAT THE MEDIA CONSUMER HAS BECOME AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THE GUIDING FORCES BEHIND THAT MEDIA. IT IS THE CONVERGENCE OF CONSUMERS, PRODUCERS, CORPORATIONS, AND ADVERTISERS SUCH THAT THE LINES BETWEEN EACH PARTY’S ROLE IS NO LONGER A STRICT BOUNDARY BUT IS IN A FLUID STATE. (JENKINS, 2012:18) CONVERGENCE CULTURE RESULTS FROM: 1) CONCENTRATION OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP (USING DIFFERENT MEDIA PLATFORMS) 2) TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE (NEW PLATFORMS FOR MEDIA CONTENT) 3) CONSUMERS OF MEDIA (CONSUMERS SELECT THE MEANS HOW THEY PREFER USING MEDIA) K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė MEDIA AUDIENCE RESEARCH: HOW AUDIENCES RESPOND TO THE MEDIA? Direct-effects theory (‘Hypodermic syringe model’) ‘Active audience’ concept Encoding/decoding model of the media K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė Reference about media audience research: Milestone & Meyer 2012, pp.151-164 DIRECT-EFFECTS THEORY THE MAIN IDEA: MEDIA TEXTS CONTAIN CERTAIN REPRESENTATIONS AND MESSAGES, WHICH ARE DIRECTLY AND UNCRITICALLY ABSORBED BY THE AUDIENCE. MEDIA REPRESENTS POWER, WHEREAS AUDIENCE IS PERCEIVED AS POWERLESS AND PASSIVE. (COMPARE TO THE IDEAS OF THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL) DIRECT-EFFECTS THEORY AND FEMINISM: MASS MEDIA AS MAINTAINING PATRIARCHY THROUGH TRANSMITTING STEREOTYPICAL IMAGES AND NARRATIVES ABOUT GENDER CRITIQUE: MEDIA INFLUENCE ON INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS AND AUDIENCES IS MORE COMPLICATED AND MORE VARIED THAN THE DIRECT-EFFECTS THEORY SUGGESTS. K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė LINEAR COMMUNICATION MODEL SENDER (MEDIA)- MESSAGE- RECEIVER (AUDIENCE) (SIGNS K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė MEANINGS) CONCEPT OF ACTIVE AUDIENCES AUDIENCES ARE ACTIVE IN 2 WAYS: 1) MEDIA AUDIENCES ARE ACTIVE IN THE PROCESS OF MEANING PRODUCTION (THE FINAL MEANING DEPENDS BOTH ON MEDIA GENERATED MESSAGE AND ON THE VARIETY OF INTERPRETATIONS BY THE AUDIENCE); 2) AUDIENCES ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN INTERPRETIVE RESISTANCE TOWARD RECEIVED MESSAGES/TEXTS (THE AUDIENCES ARE CRITICAL ABOUT WHAT THEY SEE/HEAR/ READ AND SOMETIMES REJECT MEDIA’S MESSAGE) JOHN FISKE (1989): THE CONCEPT OF POLYSEMY OF CULTURAL TEXTS THE NEAR REVERSE STANCE COMPARED TO DIRECT-EFFECTS MODEL: AUDIENCE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN MEDIA K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė POLYSEMY CONCEPT Preferred meaning Excess of meaning K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė Space for interpretation Cultural text: words, images, colors, text Uncontrolled condition: media is powerless vs. audience is powerful ENCODING/DECODING MODEL BY STUART HALL (1980) MEDIA PRODUCERS ENCODE A TEXT WITH A PARTICULAR MEANING/ MESSAGE (PREFERRED MEANING). THE AUDIENCE CAN ADOPT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS IN EVALUATING THE MEDIA MESSAGE: 1) PREFERRED READING POSITION; 2) OPPOSITIONAL READING POSITION; 3) NEGOTIATED READING POSITION. BASED ON HEGEMONY THEORY: MEDIA AND AUDIENCES ARE ENGAGED IN CONTINUOUS POWER STRUGGLE OVER MEANING. CRITIQUE: NOT VERY SUITABLE FOR FICTIONAL MEDIA, WHICH AIM TO ENTERTAIN AUDIENCES. K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė OTHER POSSIBLE AUDIENCE RESPONSES TOWARDS A MEDIA MESSAGE JACKSON ET AL. (2001) DISTINGUISH 12 DISCURSIVE DISPOSITIONS (RESPONSES): 1)CELEBRATORY; 2) COMPLIANT; 3) HOSTILE; 4) APOLOGETIC; 5) DEFERENTIAL; 6) DEFENSIVE; 7) VULNERABLE; 8) DISTANT; 9) REFUSING; 10) ANALYTICAL; 11) DISMISSIVE; 12) IRONIC. WHAT ELSE CAN INFLUENCE THE RESPONSE BY THE AUDIENCE? SOCIAL BACKGROUND SOCIAL POSITION GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION GENDER SEXUAL ORIENTATION INDIVIDUAL/ COLLECTIVE MEDIA CONSUMPTION K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė LET’S DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING IMAGES WHAT IS THE PREFERRED MESSAGE IN THESE IMAGES? WHAT ARE POSSIBLE RESPONSES OF THE AUDIENCE? HOW WOULD THEY DIFFER ACCORDING TO AUDIENCE’S AGE, GENDER, MARITAL STATUS, INCOME ETC.? K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė OOKU: THE INNER CHAMBERS K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė REFERENCES MILESTONE, K. & A. MEYER (2012). GENDER AND POPULAR CULTURE. CAMBRIDGE: POLITY PRESS BUTLER, J. (1990). GENDER TROUBLE. LONDON: ROUTLEDGE GILL, R. (2003). GENDER AND THE MEDIA. CAMBRIDGE: POLITY GOFFMAN, E. (1959). THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE. HARMONDSWORTH: PENGUIN BOOKS GIDDENS, A. (2001). SOCIOLOGIJA. POLIGRAFIJA IR INFORMATIKA K. Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė