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! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Man!Machine!Poem:!Viewing!the!Tragically!Hip’s!final!tour!through!a!post;humanitarianism! lens! ! Connor!Vreugdenhil;Beauclerc,!6477662! ! Submitted:!April!25th,!2018! ! Department!of!Communications,!Faculty!of!Arts,!University!of!Ottawa! Master!of!Arts!Communication! ! ©!Connor!Vreugdenhil;Beauclerc,!Ottawa,!Canada,!2018! ! ! ! ! Abstract!! In!late!2015,!Gord!Downie,!lead!singer!of!the!iconic!Canadian!rock!band!the!Tragically!Hip!was! diagnosed!with!glioblastoma,!a!terminal!brain!cancer.!Some!eight!months!later,!on!August!20,! 2016,!the!band!completed!its!final!concert!tour!in!its!home!town!of!Kingston,!Ontario.!One!of!the! many!noteworthy!features!of!the!tour!was!the!extensive!fan;based!fundraising!efforts!for!brain! cancer!research!that!accompanied!it.!In!recent!years!some!commentators!have!characterized!this! type! of! emotional! outpouring! as! a! form! of! ethical! ambivalence! or! post;humanitarianism! reflecting! a! sensibility! of! pity! that! valorizes! a! consumerist! oriented! form! of! short;term! low; intensity! agency! as! opposed! to! some! more! authentic! forms! of! empathy.! A! leading! figure! in! developing!the!concept!of!post;humanitarianism!is!Lilie!Chouliaraki.!Her!2013!book,!The!Ironic! Spectator,!investigates!four!different!aspects!of!contemporary!humanitarian!communication!–! appeals,!celebrity,!concerts,!and!news!–!to!examine!the!ethical!ambivalence!underlying!post; humanitarianism.! Drawing! on! Chouliaraki’s! claims! about! the! influence! of! celebrity! and! news! reporting! in! fostering! post;humanitarianism,! this! Major! Research! Paper! analyzes! newspaper! reporting!of!the!Hip’s!Man!Machine!Poem!tour!in!order!to!assess!how!news!reporting!of!celebrity! and!suffering!is!structured!when!the!celebrity!is!the!suffering!other.!! ! ! ! ! ii! Acknowledgements1 I! would! like! to! thank! Nick! and! Rosie! for! their! enduring! patience,! love! and! support,! and! acknowledge! the! sustained! contributions! of! Dan! as! my! supervisor,! without! whom! this! paper! would!not!have!been!possible.!I!would!also!like!to!thank!Patrick,!the!reader.!!! ! ! ! iii! Table1of1Contents1 Section11:1Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………….11111 Section12:1Literature1Review……………………………………………………………………………………………….11191 Section13:1Data1Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………….1111171 3.1!How!Canadians!were!affected……………………………………………………………………………………..!!!17! 3.2!Emotional!Approach…………………………………………………………………………………………………….!!!24! 3.3!Outliers……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….!!!!321 Section14:1Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………1111351 4.1!Appeals……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….!!!!35! 4.2!Celebrity……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..!!!!37! 4.3!Concerts/Rock!star!charisma……………………………………………………………………………………….!!!38! 4.4!Para;social!interaction…………………………………………………………………………………………………!!!!39! Section15:1Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………1111401 5.1!Limitations!and!future!directions…………………………………………………………………………………!!!43! 5.2!Final!conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…!!!43! ! ! ! ! iv! ! List1of1Tables1 Table!1.1:!Cities!on!the!Man!Machine!Poem!Tour……………………………………………………………………..!5! Table!3.1:!Reporting!on!How!Canadians!are!affected!(i.e.,!Canadiana)……………………………………..!18! Table!3.2:!Instances!of!Evoking!Emotion…………………………………………………………………………………..25! ! v! Introduction1 Humanitarian!action!tends!to!be!understood!as!a!“charitable!ethic!of!‘giving’”!that!is!based!on! the!sufferers’!“status!as!victims!and!their!capacity!to!generate!pity”!(Gordon!&!Donini,!2015,!p.! 82).! However,! a! shift! in! this! view! is! hypothesized! to! have! coincided! with! the! increasing! pervasiveness!of!information!and!communication!technologies!(ICTs)!and,!concomitantly,!the! ability!to!disseminate!information!faster!and!more!effectively!(Gordon!&!Donini,!2015).!Since!the! 1950s,!crises!and!suffering!have!been!regularly!broadcast!on!a!global!stage,!exposing!viewers!to! suffering!without!them!being!directly!connected!to!the!sufferers,!and!simultaneously!revealing! their! inability! to! attenuate! said! suffering! (Orgad! &! Seu,! 2014).! The! gap! manifested! between! suffering!and!audience,!it!is!claimed,!presents!suffering!as!a!spectacle!that!audiences!view!from! a!distance!thereby!creating!a!situation!wherein!the!suffering!is!removed!from!reality!and!the! audience!is!disconnected!from!it!(Chouliaraki,!2013).!This!hypothesized!gap!has!led!Chouliaraki! (2010,!p.!107)!to!claim!that!the!contemporary!“emotional!repertoire!of!pity”!associated!with! humanitarianism!“is!no!longer!inspired!by!an!intellectual!agenda!but!momentarily!engages!us!in! practices!of!playful!consumerism”!that!has,!in!turn,!given!rise!to!a!post;humanitarian!sensibility.!!! Chouliaraki! (2013)! investigates! four! different! aspects! of! contemporary! humanitarian! communication!–!appeals,!celebrity,!concerts,!and!news!–!to!examine!the!impact!each!has!on!the! dichotomy! between! audience! and! suffering.! She! posits! that! appeals! are! a! communicative! practice!of!using!language!and!imagery!to!produce!an!emotional!response!to!suffering,!catalyzing! action!towards!the!suffering!of!others.!In!her!view,!encouraging!humanitarian!action!by!relying! on!emotions!such!as!guilt,!empathy,!and!indignation!is!not!an!authentic!way!to!portray!suffering! because!these!emotions!are!used!to!manipulate!the!spectator!by!telling!them!how!to!“[feel],! [think]!and![act]!about!vulnerable!others”!(Chouliaraki,!2013,!p.!56).!She!further!contends!that,! ! 1! while!attaching!a!famous!name!to!a!cause!gives!it!more!power!by!personalizing!the!issue!and! evoking! emotional! responses! from! audiences,! contemporary! celebrity! humanitarianism! relies! too! heavily! on! the! theatrical! and! performative! elements! of! celebrity.! The! former! entails! celebrities!turning!suffering!into!a!spectacle!that!is!presented!on!a!stage!that,!in!turn,!creates!a! gap!between!the!actual!suffering!of!others!and!the!audience!who!views!the!spectacle!whereas! the!latter!refers!to!the!celebrity’s!ability!to!perform!or!act!out!the!suffering!of!others!as!if!it!is!her! or!his!own!(Chouliaraki,!2013).!! Chouliaraki!(2013)!expounds!on!the!concept!of!authenticity!by!examining!rock!concerts! and!charismatic!rock!stars.!Comparing!the!cases!of!Live!Aid!in!1985!and!Live!8!in!2005,1!she! maintains!that!the!spectacle!of!concerts!draws!the!public’s!attention!to!the!suffering!of!distant! others!through!the!charisma!of!rock!stars!without!those!attending!and/or!watching!the!concert! actually!engaging!with!the!humanity!of!the!sufferer.!This!said,!it!is!important!to!note!that!in! discussing!celebrity!involvement,!Chouliaraki!employs!two!terms!–!suffering,!and!the!suffering! other!–!interchangeably.!This!is!unfortunate!because!it!fosters!interpretative!ambiguity!insofar! as!engaging!with!suffering!is!not!the!same!as!engaging!with!the!suffering!other.!Consider!for! example,! a! starving! child! in! an! impoverished! or! destitute! community.! Engaging! with! ‘the! suffering’!in!this!instance!might!involve!donating!to!hunger!relief!or!partaking!any!number!of! other! charitable! activities! contributing! to! alleviating! the! suffering! of! the! child.! By! contrast,! engaging!with!‘the!suffering!other’!might!involve!traveling!to!the!affected!community!to!interact! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 !Live!Aid!consisted!of!dual!concerts!(one!in!London!and!one!in!Philadelphia)!that!were!held!simultaneously!in!july! in!1985!to!raise!funds!for!the!Ethiopian!famine.!Live!8,!which!took!place!in!2005,!consisted!of!a!series!of!rock! concerts!that!took!place!in!ten!cities!around!the!world!on!the!same!day!with!the!objective!of!putting!an!end!to! third!world!debt!(Chouliaraki,!2013).!! ! 2! directly! with! the! child! and! her/his! family.! The! fourth! aspect! of! humanitarian! communication! examined!by!Chouliaraki!(2013)!is!news.!In!her!view,!news!brings!distant!suffering!closer!to!the! viewer,!providing!a!stage!for!this!suffering!to!be!viewed!from!one’s!own!television,!for!example.! She!maintains!that!the!combination!of!images!and!language!used!by!broadcast!news!creates! meaning!and!evokes!an!emotional!response!from!the!viewer.! Using! the! Tragically! Hip’s! Man! Machine! Poem! tour! as! a! basis! of! analysis,! this! major! research! paper! investigates! the! hypothesized! link! between! celebrity,! news,! and! post; humanitarian!sensibility.!The!tour!was!announced!shortly!after!the!band!publicly!revealed,!in! May!2016,!that!Gord!Downie!had!been!diagnosed!with!glioblastoma!(King,!2016).!As!an!iconic! Canadian!rock!band,!the!Tragically!Hip!have!been!hailed!as!giving!“a!voice!to!Canada’s!land,!its! history! and,! at! times,! its! official! winter! sport”! (Fraser,! 2016,! para.! 8).! The! announcement! of! Downie’s!diagnosis!and!the!plans!for!a!final!concert!tour!brought!many!Canadians!together!as!a! nation,!playing!on!the!notion!of!national!pride.!The!farewell!tour!also!gave!a!voice!to!different! humanitarian!causes!and,!principally,!brain!cancer!research.!For!instance,!the!Gord!Downie!Fund! for!Brain!Cancer!Research2!was!set!up!at!the!Sunnybrook!Health!Sciences!Centre!in!Toronto!and! received!more!than!$1!million!in!donations!within!the!first!six!weeks!of!its!August!2016!launch! (“Canadians!contribute!$1!million!to!Gord!Downie!fund!for!brain!cancer!research”,!2016,!para.! 6).3!In!addition!to!the!band’s!fans,!members!of!the!Canadian!rock!band!Rush!announced!that!they! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 !See,!https://donate.sunnybrook.ca/braincancerresearch!