Thesis M.Siler
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MARTINA SILER THEATRICALIZATION OF SELF PERSONAL BLOGS AS THEATRE PERFORMANCE MASTER ’S THESIS DIGITAL CULTURE UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ DEPARTMENT OF ART AND CULTURE STUDIES JYVÄSKYLÄ 2011 1 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Faculty of Humanities Department of Art and Culture Studies Tekijä – Author Martina Siler Työn nimi – Title Theatricalization of Self Personal Blogs as Theatre Performance Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level MA Degree Programme in Digital Culture Master’s Thesis Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages October 2011 100 pages Tiivistelmä – Abstract The aim of this thesis is to compare personal blogs and theatre art. The study is conducted as theoretical discourse and focuses on comparison of personal blogs with a subgenre of theatre art, performance art. Using actual selected examples from theatre art as well as from personal blogs, the study aims to outline the similarities, which personal blogs share with theatre performance. The theoretical framework of the thesis suggests that personal blogs with their nature of the observed subject, the blogger, and the observer, the reader, produce one of the bas ic elements of theatre art, theatricality. Furthermore, personal blogs are placed closer to postdramatic theatre, a form of theatre art that denies Western theatrical tradition and explores theatrical expression in many different ways. One of the genres o f postdramatic theatre is also autobiographical performance. The theatre art of personal blogs equals this specific category of performance, where the performer tells her or his personal story in front of the audience. Both autobiographical performance and a personal blog tell about the performer’s (the blogger’s) self and about various aspects of her or his life. Since personal blogs reside within their own media, which is far from actual theatre art , the idea of autobiographical performance in personal blogs is approached with Bolter and Grusin’s concept of remediation. Additionally, the thesis includes Brenda Laurel’s proposal that computers share their nature with theatre art and thus also remediate theatre. In addition, the thesis examines the role of the personal blog’s reader, the spectator, suggesting that there are at least three different categories of the personal blog’s audience. Finally , the thesis introduces some selected examples of actual theatre productions both in theatre and on the Internet (e.g. the series of projects Ballettikka Internettikka by Slovene artists Igor Štromajer and Brane Zorman) to get a better insight into the performative nature of personal blogging. Asiasanat – Keywords personal blogs, personal blogger, reader of a personal blog, theatre art, performance art, theatre performance, autobiographical performance, remediation Säilytyspaikka – Depository Muita tietoja – Additional information 2 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Humanistinen tiedekunta Taiteen ja kulttuurin tutkimuksen laitos Tekijä – Author Martina Siler Työn nimi – Title Itse-Teatralisointi Henkilökohtaiset Blogit Teatteriesityksenä Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Digitaalinen kulttuuri Pro Gradu - tutkielma Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages Lokakuu 2011 100 sivua Tiivistelmä – Abstract Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on verrata henkilökohtaisia blogeja teatteritaiteeseen. Tutkimuksen perusteena toimii teoreettinen esitelmä, joka keskittyy vertailuun henkilökohtaisen blogin ja performanssin välillä. Käyttäen valittuja esimerkkejä teatterista, sekä henkilökohtaisista blogeista, tutkimus pyrkii hahmottamaan yhtäläisyyksiä, jotka henkilöko htaiset blogit jakavat teatterin kanssa. Teoreettisesta rakenteesta lähtien henkilökohtaiset blogit luovat teatraalisuutta; se on yksi teatteritaiteen peruselementeistä. Blogeissa se syntyy kirjoittajan ja lukijan suhteesta. Lisäksi henkilökohtaiset blogit sijoitetaan lähemmäksi postdramaattista teatteria, jo ka kieltää länsiteatterin perinnettä ja tutkii teatteria monin eri tavoin. Yksi postdramaattisista genreistä on myös omaelämäkerrallinen performanssi. Tutkimuksen mukaan henkilökohtaisissa blogeissa on teatteritaidetta, joka on periaatteessa samanlaista kuin omaelämäkerrallisessa performanssissa, jossa näyttelijä kertoo hänen henkilökohtaisen tarinansa yleisön edessä. Sekä omaelämäkerrallinen performanssi, että henkilökohtainen blogi kertovat näyttelijän (bloggaajan) omasta itsestään ja hänen elämänsä monenlaisista näkökohdista. Koska henkilökohtaiset blogit ovat olemassa ihan omassa mediassaan, joka on todella kaukana teatterista, tutkimuksen lähestymistapana performanssiin toimii Bolterin ja Grusinin kä site remediaatiosta. Sen lisäksi tutkimus sisältää myös Brenda Laurelin ehdotuksen, että tietokoneet jakavat luontoa teatteritaiteen kanssa, eli tietokoneet tuottavat teatterin remediaatiota. Tutkimus selvittää myös henkilökohtaisen blogin lukijaa, katsoja a, eli hänen rooliaan; tutkimus ehdottaa, että henkilökohtaisissa blogeissa on olemassa ainakin kolme eri yleisöä. Lopuksi tutkimuksessa esitellään valittuja esityksien esimerkkejä sekä teatterista, että Internetistä (esim. slovenialaisten taitelijoiden Igor Štromajerin ja Brane Zormanin Ballettikka Internettikka -esitykset) paremman käsityksen saamiseksi henkilökohtaisen bloggaamisen performatiivisesta luonteesta. Asiasanat – Keywords henkilökohtaiset blogit, henkilökohtainen bloggaaja, henkilökohtaisen blogin lukija, teatteritaide, performanssi, teatteriesitys, omaelämäkerrallinen performanssi, remediaatio Säilytyspaikka – Depository Muita tietoja – Additional information 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my gratitude to The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia for the scholarship that supported my attendance to the Master’s Degree Programme in Digital Culture. I would like to thank Professor Susanna Paasonen for her comments, remarks and useful suggestions considering the literature, which have assisted to construct the theoretical framework of the thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Raine Koskimaa for the support during my studies. Finally, I would like to express gratitude to my parents for their compassion and patience. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6 1.1.Background ....................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Previous Studies ............................................................................................................. 11 1.3. Terminology ................................................................................................................... 13 1.4. Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................... 14 2. From Blogs to Performance .............................................................................................. 15 2.1. Focusing on the Blogosphere: Personal Blogs. ............................................................. 15 2.2. Personal Blogs and Theatre Art: A Remediated Performance ...................................... 28 3. Personal Blogs and Bloggers as Theatre and the Actors ................................................ 50 3.1. The Blogger: The Performance of Self. ......................................................................... 15 4. The Personal Blogger and the Reader .............................................................................. 75 4.1. The Reader: The Personal Blogger’s Audience. ............................................................ 75 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 87 5.1. The Theatre of Personal Blogs. ..................................................................................... 87 6. References ........................................................................................................................... 95 5 1. INTRODUCTION The Internet brought the notion of individual freedom and the idea that a person, freed from the social and physiological constraints of the body, could be whoever and whatever they wanted to be, specifically, that they could discover and actualize their "true" self, who was held back by the constraints and limitations of the everyday world. (Shaap, 2003) The aim of this thesis is to compare personal blogs and theatre art. The study is conducted as theoretical discourse and focuses on comparison of personal blogs with a subgenre of theatre art, performance art. Using actual selected examples from theatre art as well as from personal blogs, the study aims to outline the similarities, which personal blogs share with theatre performance. 1.1. BACKGROUND In the year 2007, when the proposal for this thesis has emerged, the phenomenon of blogging reached its peak – at least in my home country Slovenia. On 9th of June 2007, in Slovene capital Ljubljana was even organised Blogres 1, the first international congress for bloggers. The programme of Blogres consisted of several lectures, practical workshops as well as discussions about blogging. Blogres, though, did not specify its focus on personal blogs; it covered the phenomenon of blogging in general, from hobby to economic and political blogs. The bloggers, who applied to attend the congress, were represented with their nicknames they had used in their blogs; they were given T-shirts