Special thanks from the FOCUS Media Journal Staff to the following for their continuous support:

Staff Joe Palladino Janice Strobach Dana Welch

Faculty Peter Bloom Anna Brusutti Alenda Chang Michael Curtin Anna Everett Cynthia Felando Jennifer Holt Ross Melnick Laila Shereen-Sakr Cristina Venegas Janet Walker

Funding Associated Students UCSB FAMST Department Michael Curtin

i ii President Ian Laughbaum Vice President Elizabeth Cook Secretary Matthew MacPherson Officer Alejandra Gularte Chief Copy Editor McKinsey Fidellow Copy Editors Irene Chen, Catalina Fernandez, Angelina Garcia, Hannah Maerowitz Writers Alejandra Gularte, Alex Tritt, Cassidy Pyle, Catalina Fernandez, Elizabeth Cook, EmmaClaire, Fong Kuo, Ian Laughbaum, Joey Goodman, Kai Glick, Keana Alden, Matthew MacPherson

Graphic Designer Tinna Lam

Staff Advisor Joe Palladino

iii ABOUT THE STAFF

President: Ian Laughbaum After having come out of the FOCUS editorial board last year confused as to how he became president in the first place, now fourth-year Ian Laughbaum knew he wanted to do it again, right this time. He’d like to give out his thanks to all of the journal’s authors, the faculty and staff who made it possible, and of course the journal’s staff, without whom he’d be utterly lost and probably doing something silly.

Vice President: Elizabeth Cook Elizabeth Cook is a second-year double major in Film and Media Studies and Feminist Studies hailing from Los Altos, CA. When she’s not talking about women in film, she performs with the Women’s Ensemble Theatre Troupe and volunteers with Camp Kesem, an incredible non-profit dedicated to supporting kids through and be- yond their parent’s cancer. This year she became even CLOSER with her best friend, Joe Palladino, and is a firm believer that Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are in the midst of a passionate affair.

Secretary: Matthew MacPherson Matthew McPherson is always caught in a hustle. Since last year, he added a third major, joined KCSB, and start- ed delivering pastries at at 6AM-all while maintaining his status as the Secretary on the Santa Barbara Stu- dent Housing Cooperative Board of Directors, and help- ing steer the FOCUS Media Journal towards new fron- tiers. How he has managed it all, he does not know! What he does know is that he is eternally grateful for the most supportive, loving staff in existence, who kept things moving at a tenacious pace. He also offers a tip of his metaphorical hat to Joe Palladino, a man who had tickets to see XTC in LA before they became a studio only band. iv Officer: Alejandra Gularte Alejandra Gularte is a fourth-year graduating senior and she’s extremely happy to be spending her last year with the FOCUS Media Journal. In her spare time, she performs stand-up comedy around California and as- pires to have her own television show. She loves learn- ing about digital media and media censorship. What inspires her most is the iconic Joe Palladino!

Graphic Designer: Tinna Lam Tinna Lam is a fourth-year Art major. Last year, FOCUS gave her the chance to prove her self-taught design skills by designing the cover and layout. This year, she returns to create an even better design for the journal! She is proud to have worked with an amazing team of students and staff for her last two years at UCSB.

Chief Copy Editor: McKinsey Fidellow McKinsey is a fourth-year Linguistics major from a small town in San Diego County that you’ve probably never heard of. She has served as a copy editor for several campus publications and this is her second and final year with FOCUS Media Journal. She is grateful and proud to have been part of such a wonderful editorial team and publication.

v Copy Editor: Irene Chen Irene is a second-year Communication major from the Bay Area. This is her second year working with FOCUS Media Journal. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new places, drinking lots of good coffee, and document- ing her adventures with her camera!

Copy Editor/Writer: Catalina Fernandez Catalina Fernandez is a third-year honors student pur- suing a double-major in Communication and Film and Media Studies and an intended minor in Multimedia Writing. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in Orange County, California, her academic and creative work explores the complexities of cultural and personal identity in dual worlds. Throughout her time at UC Santa Barbara, Catalina has focused on personalizing her voice as a writer and content creator for a future career in entertainment media.

Writer: Kai Glick Kai Glick is a third year in the Film and Media Studies department at UCSB. Born in New York to a Japanese artist mother and an American graphic designer father, Kai is very grateful for all the early childhood experi- ences that have shaped him before moving to California. He would like to thank the many supporting figures— the academic mentors and inspirational figures—who helped motivate and guide him throughout this project. A special thanks for this piece goes out to Professor Bhas- kar Sarkar, for all his thought provoking lecture materi- al and his generous creative support.

Writer: Fong Kuo Fong Kuo is a third-year Film and Media and Asian American Studies student. Fong likes to work on small projects as a budding cinematographer and spends his downtime listening to music and looking at memes...aca- demically. vi Writer: EmmaClaire Brock EmmaClaire Brock is in her fourth and final year at UCSB as a Film and Media Studies major, and Theater and Portuguese double minor. She is a founding member of UCSB’s chapter of the National Professional Cinematic Society, Delta Kappa Alpha. On-screen as an actress and off-screen as a crew member, EmmaClaire has contrib- uted to over a dozen short films and video projects in her time at UCSB. She has worked for the FAMST de- partment as a Video Archive Technician and currently she works as a Communications Strategist and Video Specialist at a Santa Barbara marketing agency. After graduation she plans to continue to pursue screen acting and working creatively in the fields of film and media.

Writer: Alex Tritt Alex Tritt is a recent graduate from the Film and Media Studies and French departments at UCSB. She current- ly works as a production and technical assistant for the Pollock Theater on campus and has extensive production credits for Carsey-Wolf Center programming that has aired on UCTV, including production director, technical director, camera operator, and associate producer. She also works as an administrative assistant in the Film and Media Studies main office, where she is a pro at making scans and advising students. In her limited time away from the Film department, Alex enjoys watching films.

Writer: Cassidy Pyle Cassidy Pyle is a fourth-year Film and Media/Commu- nication double major with a minor in Feminist Studies. At UCSB, she supports her fellow students through her work at the ONDAS Student Center, the Women’s Center, and in the Undergraduate Mentorship Program. Her academic interests include identity formation through media as well as digital media affordances, particular- ly in the domain of education. Outside of academia, she enjoys social justice work, makeup, and pugs.

vii Writer: Joey Goodman Joey Goodman is a fourth-year student at UCSB double majoring in Economics and Film and Media Studies. When he is not writing about technology’s effects on loneliness, Joey spends his free time combating loneli- ness himself. He has written for the Daily Nexus and performed in a number of UCSB’s musical ensembles, from the wind ensemble to jazz combos. His favorite col- or is yellow.

Writer: Keana Alden Keana Alden is a third-year student at UCSB, studying Film and Media Studies and the History of Art and Ar- chitecture. She’s originally from Cayucos, a little beach town a few hours up the coast from Santa Barbara. She loves going to college at UCSB, going to the beach, riding her bike, and writing in her free time.

viii A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Well. It’s been a long day. We’ve come a long way from where we began. This year’s FOCUS Media Journal is the first and last of its kind; this edition comes out of two years of constant collaboration, as the FOCUS staff that has come to be known as the FOCUS Freaks have worked together since November 2017. Our team members came together as a collective of friends and yet, through meetings punctuat- ed by laughter and agendas, became a tight-knit family. In a way, the title is squarely on the nose: staking our final claim as a team of researchers and media fanatics. In line with tradition, FOCUS continues to search for untethered niches and new perspectives across three areas of theoretical positions. This year, to make the most of the UCSB Film and Media Studies Department’s rich history with theory and analysis, we decided to focus on exactly that. Our three categories probe the practices of cultural consumption, modern digital media concerns, and the ever complicated questions of genre. Thanks to our unbelievably talented cadre of authors this year, the work we’ve published year has culminated in twelve essays that we couldn’t be prouder to display in these pages which bear the weight of the nearly four decades of FOCUS history. How could we not talk about family when family’s all that we got? No journey is complete without a guide. We owe a great deal of gratitude to our best bud and trusted hero, Joe Palladino. His guidance, pity laughter, and frequent “Have we thought about…?” commentary shaped the journal and its core members in tandem. Joe — we love you, we respect you, and we would be lost without you. Equal amounts of gratitude are necessary for our fellow students, respected faculty, and generous donors at Associate Students.

ix There are a lot of pages unturned in our future ahead, but we’ll tell you all about it when we see you again.

With love,

Your FOCUS Freaks

From left to right: Joe Palladino McKinsey Fidellow Matthew MacPherson Elizabeth Cook Tinna Lam Ian Laughbaum Alejandra Gularte Stephen Borunda

x TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENRE THEORY

Animation & The Queering of the Body Genre in Big Mouth by Cassidy Pyle...... 4

Nicecore: More than 2018’s Choice Buzzword by Matthew MacPherson...... 14

The Hollywood-Porteño Complex: A Theoretical Analysis of Golden Age Argentine Cinema by Catalina Fernandez...... 22

Triangulating the Chains: A Semiotic Analysis of the Hegemonic Hierarchy of Power in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi by Alex Tritt...... 31

DIGITAL THEORY

Jenkins in 6 Seconds: Fandom Theory and Vine by Alejandra Gularte...... 42

Anti-Queer Hegemony vs Alternative Digital Media: Perseverance of LGBT+ Artists in Brazil by EmmaClaire Brock...... 51

Hikikomori: Using Weirdos to Consider Local and Transnational Effects of Digital Technology by Joey Goodman...... 60 1 Asian Resurgence in Western Memetic Culture by Fong Kuo...... 66

CULTURAL CONSUMPTION THEORY

Are You Shining Just for Me? An Analysis of La La Land’s Spatial Imagery by Elizabeth Cook...... 78

Delivering Identity in a Post-Colonial Era: The Influence of Bengali Modernism and the Ray Family Heritage on the Reception and World Premiere of Pather Panchali (1955) by Kai Glick...... 88

From Do-Rags to Designer Bags: The Power Struggle Between Hip-Hop Culture and High-Fashion by Keana Alden...... 99

“You Eat What You Are,” The Newsfeed, Marshall McLuhan, and Build-It-Yourself Restaurants by Ian Laughbaum...... 109

2 GENREGENRE theotheoryry Animation & the Queering of the Body in Big Mouth

by Cassidy Pyle Introduction Evoking the Body Genre: Ele- Garnering both critical and pop- ments of Pornography, Horror, ular acclaim, the Netflix Original and Melodrama in Big Mouth Series Big Mouth personifies the Through its use of icono- trials and tribulations of puberty graphic elements and codes and through figures such as Hor- conventions of pornography, mone Monsters, Shame Wizards, horror, and melodrama, Big and even talking genitalia. De- Mouth visibly evokes the body spite the series’ crude appear- genre that Linda Williams ana- ance, critical and complimentary lyzes. Perhaps the most obvious reviews both note the simulta- body genre that Big Mouth evokes neity of disgust and sympathy, is pornography. Both visual and and of lewdness and heart, in aural references to genitalia the animated program (Framke). saturate the program, which is The television show frequently overtly sexual in its presentation evokes Linda Williams’ concept of puberty and emerging sexu- of the body genre with excessive ality. Rather than shying away iconography and use of the codes from frank depictions of sex and and conventions of pornography, sexuality, the show exagger- horror, and melodrama, which ates these depictions, featuring a serve to incite an adult audience talking vagina and the Hormone to recall the uncharted territory Monsters’ detachable penises as and intense emotions that ac- just a few of the show’s many companied puberty (Williams “guest stars.” Furthermore, the 3). A major characteristic of the show emphasizes that puberty body genre is its provocation of is scary, and drives this point a physical mimetic reaction on home by frequently implement- the part of the spectator (Wil- ing the excess of the horror liams 4). Big Mouth subverts this body genre. Thunderclaps and convention by using animation lightning bolts on a dark and to create what I shall refer to stormy night are paired with a as a “safe distance” between strategic inclusion of dramat- the spectator and the screen ic lighting and point-of-view that negates the possibility of shots, setting up the expectation such mimicry. It is precisely that something terrifying awaits. the safe distance produced by Instead of being followed by a animation that queers the body blood-curdling scream and a vi- genre, providing the means by cious murder, these horror film which physical mimicry is ne- tropes are followed by the literal gated and emotional and men- entrance of puberty, personified tal resonance is prompted for by the character of Connie, an a diverse array of spectators. intimidating and curvaceous Hormone Monstress. While its

Genre Theory 5 adult audience is far removed opment, and sexual difference from puberty, the show’s re- under a microscope, enlarging curring incorporation of horror and exaggerating every detail conventions serves as a dramatic visually as well as narratively. and terrifying reminder of the When the show evokes the aes- way puberty feels for young ad- thetic of pornography, horror, or olescents. The earth-shatter- melodrama, it does so in service ing, soul-crushing anguish of of its mission to address puberty puberty is further accentuated and the development of sexual through the codes and con- identity in a way that is rather ventions of melodrama, most progressive, sex-positive, and notably by close-ups of the even queer. The male and female animated face and exaggerat- hormone monsters, the melo- ed movements of the animat- dramatic portrayal of the dis- ed body. In many ways, the covery of masturbation by both show’s embrace of the body girls and boys, and even the song genre elicits emotional reactions and dance number “Totally Gay” amongst spectators that mim- exemplify ways in which the ic those happening on screen. show implements body genres evenly across its portrayal of Affect, Emotion, and the different genders’ pubescent Function of the Body Genre processes. Big Mouth actively In the case of Big Mouth, employs these body genres to evoking the aesthetics of the make room for and celebrate body genres prompts the ex- difference, while also encourag- pectation that the program will ing its audience to think critical- be narratively similar to other ly about identity and difference. body genre media texts and While on the surface the show thus will be repetitive, formu- may appear to exemplify the laic, unoriginal and circular in body genres, its queer and fem- nature as a result (Williams 3). inist themes, as well as its em- Body genres in general, and Big phasis on diverse experiences Mouth in particular, incorporate of puberty open the show up and simultaneously move be- for critical introspection on the yond aesthetic tendencies and part of the spectator. However, visual excess. They provide a this represents a departure from mechanism by which to “ad- the body genres that Williams dress, if never really to ‘solve’, discusses, which are affective basic problems related to sexual in nature. These genres gauge identity” (Williams 10). Clear- their success in their ability to ly, Big Mouth addresses sexual manipulate audiences physical- difference and identity by plac- ly, to create a “non-conscious ing puberty, adolescent devel- experience of intensity” that

6 Genre Theory is bodily and pre-linguistic as pornography. The audience is (Shouse). While Big Mouth pro- not enticed to mimic the sexual vokes intense reactions among metamorphosis and action hap- its viewers, it is by no means pening on screen. The point of non-conscious. Professional the show and its measure of suc- reviewers and casual viewers cess is not in its ability to pro- alike have consciously noticed duce affect in the form of sexual and remarked about the wit and arousal. The show is similarly originality of the program and not scary enough or sad enough the impact it’s had on them as to induce screams or tears, nor they retrospectively look back is generating screams or tears on their own pre-teen pubes- the show’s goal or function. Big cent journey (Chaney; Framke). Mouth’s wacky aesthetic and Reactions to the show also em- collision of genres are as hap- phasize the mental, emotional, hazard, excessive, and unantic- social, and linguistic—rather ipated as the process of puberty than the corporeal—experi- it portrays. Thus, the show can ences that arise as a result of arguably fall into a fourth cat- viewership. Affordances of the egory of body genre, what Anna animated televisual text, includ- Kérchy calls “anatomo-(in) ing its ability to blur the bound- animation” (Kérchy 179). This aries of physical reality and its category considers affordances excessive self-reflexivity, help of animation, emphasizes the to produce the “safe distance” animated body, and infuses el- by which physical mimicry is ements of various body genres. negated and emotional and Like other texts that fall into the mental resonance is prompted. category of anatomo-(in)ani- mation, Big Mouth incorporates: Anthropomorphic incarnations Animation & Safe Distance of inanimate matter…all bi- Big Mouth obviously evokes the zarre blurrings of boundaries body genre aesthetically while of physicalities and ir/realities, simultaneously departing from provokes a curious spectrum of the traditional notion of the sensorial excitement, flashes of body genre in its lack of “a pleasure, horror, anxiety, expe- sense of over-involvement in rienced as fleeting possibilities, sensation,” as the audience is mixing, transforming into each not meant to physically mimic other to surprise audiences and what happens on screen (Wil- create an overall tickling effect liams 5). The show is sexual, that… offers a teasing-trou- but not sexy. As such, it is not bling mind game, an intellec- physically arousing and does not tual challenge. (Kérchy 179) produce the same kind of affect It manages to visually display

Genre Theory 7 the turmoil and excess that of rendering the “unknown” of characterizes this period of ado- puberty known through physical lescent life in a way that exudes embodiments of the emotions camp and achieves its goal of that reign supreme during ad- cerebral and psychic resonance olescence. Ironically, charac- with spectators. Kerchy’s cat- ters like Maury and Connie—the egory accounts for Big Mouth’s Hormone Monster and Mon- animated form and the flexibil- stress, respectively—help to ity of reality that is afforded by produce the emotional resonance this form, as well as the shift that viewers experience despite away from physical mimicry and them being fantastical charac- towards emotional and intel- ters. Additionally, the animated lectual stimulation. This cat- form possesses a degree of po- egory forces the spectator to tentiality that live-action does question the very existence of not. With animation, mise-en- reality, which spurs an intellec- scène is completely at the will of tual and emotional process that the animator. On the other hand, inherently destabilizes previ- live-action involves constraints ous ideas of identity, existence, of lighting, budget, access to and experience as clear-cut and sets and locations, and even the categorizable. Interdisciplinary capacities of the human body, scholars such as Jeffery P. Den- which all delineate what can be nis take this scholarly conver- shown on screen. The animated sation surrounding animation form can “bring to screen in- a step further, arguing that the complete or infinite variations way animation allows for flu- of grotesque bodily metamor- idity contributes more broadly phosis” (Kerchy 179). As a re- to the ways in which producers sult of animation’s considerable and spectators approach identity freedom, animated bodies can be and desire in the animated text. anyone or anything—as in the Animation’s ability to blur lines Big Mouth episode that features of physical reality most obvious- talking birth control methods. ly manifests in the program’s Animated texts also possess a personification of otherwise certain degree of self-reflexiv- non-existent or non-living ity which, when combined with beings and objects, which is the ability to blur the lines of another means by which emo- physical reality, culminates in tional and mental involvement several moments in Big Mouth between the audience and the wherein possibilities for phys- program is prompted. Personifi- ical mimicry are halted. For in- cation and whimsical fantasy do stance, moments in the show not function solely for the pur- that evoke pornographic, horror, poses of humor, but also as ways or melodramatic elements are

8 Genre Theory typically interrupted by cut- life.” With a live action, hu- away gags, or moments wherein man body on screen, the spec- characters make an offhanded tator has ample chance to see joke and the scene cuts to some themselves in the physical body sort of visual representation of and in the on screen action. In whatever joke was just made. a live action horror movie, for The Big Mouth episode “Every- instance, we can imagine our- body Bleeds” features three cut- selves in the place of a terrified aways each involving a talking protagonist who is at the mercy ladybug inserting humorous of a serial killer or home invader. comments into a melodramat- In animated programs, specta- ic scene. As the music swells tor identification occurs more and protagonists Jessi and Nick in terms of psychic and cerebral are asked to define their unclear dimensions. We do not neces- relationship status in front of sarily identify with Nick’s ex- the entire school and delve into aggeratedly large mouth or Jes- the murky waters of non-pla- si’s experience of talking to her tonic relationships, the ladybug vagina, but with the emotional enters, echoing what we’re all and mental themes they exag- thinking: “Oh shit! What are geratedly produce. We identify these motherfuckers gonna with the experience of feeling do!?”. When Jessi gets her first idiosyncratic and freakish, and period in the same episode, a with the experience of trying to wide-eyed Missy remarks that navigate life through a body that this is the most terrifying thing feels increasingly foreign. At one that could ever happen (anoth- point the show’s protagonists er evocation of the horror body self-reflexively comment about genre) before the ladybug reap- a television show wherein chil- pears to comment on the situ- dren masturbate, calling it child ation, remarking “That’s right! pornography. The Hormone I’m back!”. The malleable reality Monster inquires about whether of the animated form allows for they can get away with it be- even the most unrealistic and cause it’s animated. This illus- fantastical of cutaways to be trates the way animation is con- inserted, literally interrupting sciously and purposely employed any possibility of the audience to enable a safe distance which experiencing physical affect. ultimately prevents the audience The strategic use of the exces- from physically mimicking the sive self-reflexivity of the ani- horrific, sexual, and melodra- mated televisual text serves as matic affect that the characters a pertinent reminder to spec- experience, instead prompting tators that they are viewing a them to identify with the char- production and not a “slice of acters mentally and emotionally.

Genre Theory 9 the body genre can be queered. Queering of Body Genres It is not difficult for Big Mouth provides an spectators to pick up on the example of how animated tele- queerness of Big Mouth as a vision programming can prob- televisual text. Queer characters lematize the existing theory of and queer storylines are com- the body genre. Thus, the body mon throughout the show’s two genre can be shifted, opened seasons, evidenced by episodes up, rethought—even queered. entitled “Am I Gay?” and sto- The term queer in this sense rylines about same-sex desire, moves beyond the idea of denot- whether it be among best friend ing something (in this case, the duo Nick and Andrew, Jessi’s body genre) as different or ab- mother and her rabbi, or among normal. Instead, the term queer the hyper-masculine Jay and directly references queer theory, the only out gay boy in school, which attempts to “challenge Matthew. Even Jay and his male and push further debates on couch cushion experiment sexu- gender and sexuality” and to ally, serving as yet another tes- “confuse binary essentialisms tament to animation’s unique around gender and sexual iden- ability to anthropomorphize tity, expose their limitations, and create fantasy even out of and suggest that things are far everyday household objects like more blurred” (Hayward 326). couch cushions. Beyond these This term is specifically and overt references to same-sex purposely used in this context, desire and queer identity, the since many of the ways that Big especially polysemous nature Mouth departs from Williams’ of animated symbols and signs traditional formulation of the encourages active participation body genres is due to the way amongst spectators who read the show “advocates multiplic- queerness into the televisual text ity: of voices and of sexualities,” even when it is not explicitly which is a central characteristic communicated (Barthes; Den- of queer cinema (Hayward 328). nis). Despite Jay having never Big Mouth’s extreme focus on the come out as such, online mag- experiences of (often same-sex) azines have already referred to desire, uncertainty, and turmoil him as the “next bisexual icon” experienced by multiple gen- (Zane). Ample fan fiction and ders during a precarious stage fan art shipping Jay and Mat- in life not only makes it a queer thew have been created and dis- televisual text, but additional- seminated by actively engaged ly renders the animated text a spectators, and Reddit threads case study that exemplifies the are buzzing with storylines and ways in which the concept of theories of Andrew’s sexual flu-

10 Genre Theory idity as well. Engaging in what presume idealized audiences. Henry Jenkins would call partic- Indirectly, Big Mouth addresses ipatory culture, spectators have its presumed audiences through proven their active engagement diverse characters that represent with the text and that this ac- characteristics and experienc- tive engagement carries with it es that traverse lines of gender, mental and emotional threads, sexuality, ethnicity, socioeco- rather than purely physical ones nomic status, and religion. Jessi (Jenkins). So, the show’s queer- and Missy narrativize female ness also bleeds into the way puberty and destroy the taboo in which the show queers the of adolescent female sexuality, body genre as it incorporates proving transgressive in the way mental and emotional reso- their story arcs legitimize their nance and active spectatorship. desires and agency as young While Williams classifies the women. Andrew’s question- body genres in terms of their re- ing of his sexuality culminat- spective “presumed audiences,” ing in his queer kiss with his there is more to be said about best friend Nick transgress- spectatorship, particularly in re- es the idea of a clean division gard to gender and the binary between straight and gay and of the active/passive spectator between romantic and platonic (Williams 9). Although there has relationships. The heterosexu- always existed a gap between a al imaginary is disrupted fur- presumed and actual audience, ther as Jessi’s mom engages in the very idea of the “presumed a homosexual affair with the audience” is complicated in Big family’s rabbi. The white, het- Mouth since both the female and erosexual, male experience of male adolescent experience of adolescence (think American Pie, puberty is highlighted in great The Graduate, and Superbad) detail. Furthermore, while Wil- is no longer delineated as the liams does not explicitly discuss sole narrative of the trials and this, the presumed male audi- tribulations of adolescence. The ence of pornography is actually presumed audience of Big Mouth a presumed heterosexual male is one that has not traditionally audience—one that derives sco- been considered by many other pophilic pleasure from looking texts, especially body genre texts at the exposed woman on screen. which too often consider males As a genre-bending program, or females separately, assume Big Mouth reinvents and wid- them to be heterosexual, and ens the presumed audience to fail to consider the possibility be more inclusive, calling into of the active female spectator. question and problematizing Thus, the way Big Mouth in- the way other body genre texts terpellates its audience can be

Genre Theory 11 considered as another way in Mercury to a talking vagina and which the body genre is queered. even to Missy’s space-themed The reality blurring affordance fantasy about her celebrity crush. of the animated medium en- A heterosexual spectator need courages fantasy, which in turn not be queer to identify with influences the way Big Mouth Andrew’s identity crisis in the queers the body genre. Fanta- “Totally Gay” sequence. Similar- sies of seduction are quite com- ly, a spectator need not be male mon in the show, from Missy’s to identify with Nick’s feelings space-themed fantasy about her of inadequacy regarding his celebrity crush to Andrew’s fan- delayed entrance into puberty. tasies about Missy. Fantasies of The “safe distance” enabled by sexual difference occur through animation’s many affordanc- the equally common emphasis es renders identification emo- on personified genitalia. The tional and mental, not physical, hypervisibility of these original and as such, one can engage fantasies performs the function with the emotional and mental of rendering spectatorship as concepts of questioning one’s “oscillation rather than iden- identity and feeling inadequate tification in a univocal sense” even if they are not queer and and of the deconstruction and even if they do not have a penis. blurring of “boundaries of bi- ological sex or cultural gender, Conclusion as well as sexual preferences”, Williams’ famous theory of the which are often portrayed as body genres accounts for spec- fixed (Mayne 165). The pro- tators’ experiences of pornog- gram uses the freedom and fan- raphy, horror, and melodrama. tasy afforded to animation to Because Big Mouth incorporates interpellate spectators of many elements of each while also ex- genders, races, and sexualities, perimenting with affordances ultimately contributing to the of animation, it constitutes a queering of the category of the means by which to deconstruct body genre. A more diverse and problematize Williams’ range of spectators with vary- conceptualization of the body ing demographic characteristics genres. Animation is never ex- and life experiences can identi- plicitly figured into Williams’ fy with the show—perhaps not theory, although animation im- physically, but in ways that are pacts spectatorship greatly by cerebral and deeply emotional- providing greater possibilities ly resonant—as a result of the of mise-en-scene and narrative animated freedom that produces while creating distance between characters and scenarios rang- the spectator and the physi- ing from the ghost of Freddie cal action occurring on screen.

12 Genre Theory However, it is important to clar- genre, I suggest a queering of ify that the distance created by the body genre, which considers animation does not translate to the role of interpellation and a lack of engagement. Instead, fantasy in queering common it produces more mental and notions of spectatorship with- emotional forms of engagement, in the theory of the body genre. which allows diverse spectators to appreciate and identify with the show’s emotional threads. Rather than displacing the body

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. Rhetoric of the Image. 1993. Chaney, Jen. “Netflix’s Big Mouth is Your Childhood in Disgusting, Humiliating Detail.” Vulture, 28 Sept. 2017, www.vulture. com/2017/09/big-mouth-review.html Dennis, Jeffery P. “Perspectives: ‘The Same Thing We Do Every Night”: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Car- toons.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 31.3 (2003): 132-140. Framke, Caroline. “Netflix’s Big Mouth Takes a Sharp, Sur- prisingly Joyful Look at the Gross Time That Is Puberty.” Vox.com, Vox Media, 30 Sept. 2017, www.vox.com/fall- tv/2017/9/29/16382984/big-mouth-netflix-review-kro- ll-mulaney. Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2013. Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. Routledge, 2012. Kérchy, Anna. Alice in Transmedia Wonderland: Curiouser and Curiouser New Forms of a Children’s Classic. McFarland, 2016. Mayne, Judith. “Paradoxes of Spectatorship.” Cinema and Spec- tatorship (1995): 155-183. Shouse, Eric. “Feeling, emotion, affect.” M/c Journal 8.6 (2005). . Williams, Linda. “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess.” Film Quarterly 44.4 (1991): 2-13. Zane, Zachary. “Big Mouth’s Jay Bilzerian Is About to Become the Next Bisexual Icon.” OUT, Out Magazine, 18 Oct. 2018, www.out.com/popnography/2018/10/17/big-mouths-jay- bilzerian-about-become-next-bisexual-icon.

Genre Theory 13 Nicecore: More than 2018’s Choice Buzzword

by Matthew MacPherson

14 Genre Theory If you were paying at- does a movie with a talking CGI tention to your local film buffs bear and a Fred Rogers docu- at any point in 2018, you might mentary have in common? The have heard about the supposed commonality lies in the current greatness of a children’s film political moment. In Elrich’s called Paddington 2 (Dir: Paul pseudo-framework for nicecore, King) or a documentary about he positions the micro genre as the life of public television pio- part of a larger reaction to the neer Fred Rogers entitled Won’t “Dark Age of Donald Trump,” You Be My Neighbor? (Dir: Mor- featuring protagonists chan- gan Neville) They were legiti- neling interpersonal kindness mate indie breakouts, coming instead of mutually asserted out of a year of rather dreary, destruction or terror. Elrich’s world-weary pictures that stood examination about the politics out for their sincere, humanist of nicecore are a vital context for approach to filmmaking that the micro genre, explaining why were brimming with kindness. it exists here and now. Turning These pictures, among others, to the director of Won’t You Be My quickly became the prime ex- Neighbor?, Morgan Neville, El- amples of a micro genre of film, rich traces Neville’s filmography dubbed nicecore. Nicecore cinema from music documentaries to is exactly what it seems, charm- Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal ingly sweet pictures that also (2015), a film that focused on the happen to approach moral issues birth of the modern conserva- with a whiff of everyday realism. tive movement and the media Since David Elrich’s coinage of landscape that Neville accuses of the term in a piece for Indiew- having “incentivized disgraceful ire, the conversation for nicecore behavior.” It makes sense then, has expanded into television and that after having acknowledged video games, all while almost and exposed this, his follow up disappearing entirely from the Won’t You Be My Neighbor? sought mediascape in 2019. Whether to present an alternative media or not nicecore will transcend landscape where thoughtfulness its meteoric rise and fall can- and empathy become the norm not be predicted, yet the pieces as an act of resistance against of visual media that encompass forces of hate. In positioning nicecore present a case for radical nicecore as such, Elrich suggests love in filmmaking that audi- that nicecore is something root- ences are bound to champion. ed in this particular moment, a To the untrained eye, claim that seems nearsighted, it would seem like nicecore lit- especially when considering erally came out of thin air. In the godfather of nicecore, Fred all serious conversation, what Rogers. However, when a sim-

Genre Theory 15 ple google search for “nicecore Hill. It is in Paddington’s adop- movies” leads to all kinds of lists tive multiethnic neighborhood suggesting that nicecore is com- where he offers one woman a prised of both animated Disney sandwich, another man a re- fair and Life is Beautiful, the minder not to forget his keys, Italian movie about a father pro- tests the neighborhood’s local tecting his son from the grave garbage man in his knowledge of dangers of a Nazi concentration London’s taxis routes, and even camp, his framework grounded feeds a stray-dog all during the in the current political moment morning rush! It is a charming seems more apt. For certain, sequence that establishes this films for decades have offered multiethnic neighborhood and characters rooted in kindness, presents Paddington as the most yet they rarely present kind- loveable denizen to grace the ness as a divine remedy in the neighborhood; one whose care onslaught of hate that pervades and attention to others brings the current climate and threat- out the best in them. After his ens many good people. The pol- arrest, a mirror sequence of itics of nicecore can be subtle, the morning routine with Pad- but they are present in the great dington absent is played out, works that define this genre. featuring a gloomier downbeat Paddington 2 exempli- neighborhood robbed of its good fies all of the greatest charms fortune. The local scrooge of the of nicecore, infusing kindness street, Mr. Curry, uses Padding- literally into the backbone of its ton’s absence to be as abhorrent general plot, to make a wider to the locals as possible, while point about the United Kingdom chastising the community for in a post-Brexit era. Following “opening their doors” for the Paddington’s efforts to acquire a bear in the wake of his supposed pop-up book for his Aunt Lucy’s criminal actions. It is an obvious 100th birthday, all while being reflection of the race-baiting framed for stealing said book, attacks against minority im- Paddington 2’s plot immediately migrant communities in the introduces kindness as the es- wake of neighborhood crime. sential plot device through the In Paddington 2’s most vital se- film’s A-plot, involving Pad- quence, Paddington’s adoptive dington, and B-plot, involv- father Henry Brown stands up ing his adoptive family trying to Mr. Curry, calling him out to prove his innocence. During for his attacks against Pad- the opening “Dear Aunt Lucy…” dington, while everyone in the letter that Paddington narrates, neighborhood assists in starting the jubilant bear interacts with a the Brown family’s car on their plethora of characters in Notting way to prove Paddington’s in-

16 Genre Theory nocence. The film’s choice to bed time story, but the guards dedicate a substantial B-plot to refuse to provide one. He also the resilience of Paddington’s makes a humble offer to start a adoptive multicultural neigh- gardening club that only makes borhood home evokes what him a target of the most hard- makes nicecore more than just ened inmates. He alienates the a buzzword. It really is rooted in inmates further by mixing all human pathos and experiences the prison laundry with a red that affect people. So, what if sock, which in turn appealed to it can be used to critique and viewers to such an extent that reform issues plaguing society? it developed a quality of viral Paddington 2’s A-plot fame. The pink prison uniforms takes this specific route, plac- were likened to the world of Wes ing the charming bear in a cold, Anderson’s The Grand Budapest callous prison and utilizing his Hotel. However, the comparison charm to present a reformation is just aesthetic and ultimately of the prison industrial com- meaningless, for the prison in plex. The prison setting in the Anderson’s feature was merely film is quite dreary at first, dark a playset for the larger mecha- greys and faded blues comprise nizations of the plot; there were the color palette across prison no attempts to open a dialogue uniforms and furniture, with about prisoner conditions or re- the most minimal and measly form. This is where Paddington 2 furniture adorning the mess hall and nicecore at large make their and holding cells. They give the biggest impact. After Padding- sense that this is a place for the ton successfully volunteers to undesirables in society to rot improve prison food via mar- away alone. In placing Padding- malade sandwiches with head ton is prison, director King could chef Nuckles, Paddington hum- have played the entire thing for bly asks if any other inmates laughs. This is the bear that re- would be willing to share their peatedly emphasizes to all “If recipes and volunteer to cook. we’re kind and polite, the world Moved by Paddington’s dazzling will be right!” However, that sandwich, one by one, the in- phrase in Paddington 2’s philoso- mates stand up to offer their phy is framed by being kind, col- best family recipe. The mon- laborating, and interacting with tage features the bright calypso a group of hardened individuals music played by immigrants in that would rather not. Upon his Paddington’s adoptive home, arrival in prison, Paddington’s introducing the sound of D Lime philosophy is on full display, and Tobago Crusoe. The pris- being tested against grim pris- on kitchen and mess hall then on life. He naively asks for a are transformed into a colorful,

Genre Theory 17 bustling bakery. Meanwhile, the nerability and the ever-present prison decks become encom- helplessness from contemporary passed in flowers and wreaths, politics. Joe Pera Talks With You as prisoners engage in what can only be described as cheerful rebels by taking one of the most schoolyard activities. No lon- significant characteristics of ger is the prison a desolate land, nicecore, a focus on the everyday but an active community where mundanity of life, which pres- inmates are allowed to take something they know or want ents Joe as a man almost cut off to learn and pour themselves entirely from the current climate into it. It is an absolute anomaly around him. This is not some- that so little of cinema presents thing to be approached frivo- such a thing. Yet, in the works of nicecore, this is the norm. lously, as the character of Joe, a For a network that has prided “fragile” choir teacher in upper itself on provocative, crude tele- peninsula Michigan, is handled vision for nearly two decades, with immense care. His intense Joe Pera Talks With You is a radical focus on the study and discus- outlier on Adult Swim. Based sion of strangely specific topics around Joe Pera’s comedy rou- or routines, like the supposed tines, it involves a fictionalized difference between diners and version of himself that can best family restaurants, or a guide be surmised as a 75-year-old meant to help lull viewers to man in the body of a young adult sleep (which indeed works), are which quickly became a cult hit humorous as they are banal. Yet, in 2018. Despite all its quirks, that determined focus on these Joe Pera Talks With You is derived types of topics reflects a malaise from the last decade of comedy rooted in the fear of something innovation, channeling the me- that seeks to take it all away. ta-show mechanics of Check it Take for instance the episode Joe Out!, Nathan for You, and Review, Pera Takes You on a Fall Drive, as well as following their lineage which at first glance seems of off-kilter protagonists. Yet, exactly like what it describes, all three shows took their pro- Joe’s annual fall drive around tagonists into terrible, humili- the upper peninsula. Howev- ating situations based on vul- er, the context for such a drive comes from a bizarre fear, Joe’s strange belief that when he decides begin an impromptu carves a pumpkin up as a jack- discussion about the UK rock o-lantern, he loses one-six- band The Who. For the remainder teenth of his soul. Joe’s friends of the episode, Joe describes his never question him taking a fall discovery of The Who’s “Baba O’ drive to regain part of his soul, Riley,” a song which he becomes in fact they even encourage it. infatuated with while cleaning While never explicitly stated, dishes. As the piano keys enter this supposed routine drive of- into the track, Joe’s entire notion fers Joe is a chance to confront of music is shattered in the span his fears of mortality, with a si- of a single moment. He stops lent flashback sequence of Joe cleaning his dishes, calls every carving his first jack-o-lantern station in the area to request as a boy suggesting the loss of the song so he can hear it over his father having impacted him and over again, orders pizza, and at a young age. Only through begins an impromptu party with this strange annual ritual can only himself, the pizza delivery Joe hope for his soul to grow man, and his dog. For as strange back. The aerial sequence of Joe as the entire affair seems on pa- sending a jack-o-lantern down a per, it is an incredibly humorous waterfall could have been played tour-de-force to watch, show- for laughs, but his genuine be- casing one of the greatest joys in lief in this affair is spiritually life, the discovery of music. For touching. Without this routine, the remainder of the episode, Joe Joe has no way to approach discusses his attempts to share and meditate on the death of the nearly 50-year-old song a loved one, yet by sending it with all of his friends. It is sad down a waterfall, he “can feel for Joe, who feels like he is the part of his soul growing back.” first person to look around and Yet, not all of Joe Pera’s routines appreciate this singular song. He carry such emotional weight. doesn’t understand that every- The episode Joe Pera Reads You one has heard the song dozens The Church Announcements aban- if not hundreds of times, having dons its central plot over a min- internalized it and become im- ute into the episode when Joe mune to it. Nonetheless, Joe’s Genre Theory 19 starry-eyed love for the song from media heaven that a few wins over the town. In a mo- individuals wanted to share sto- ment of sheer grace, everyone ries of healing and mundanity. joins in with Joe to sing the Here is to hoping that in 2019 it opening verse instead of reading becomes a true act of rebellion. the church announcements. In different hands, Joe would have been booed off the stage, or the church would have remained si- lent in order to mock the pro- tagonist. Yet, by allowing Joe this small, mundane victory, you end up with a scene that exem- plifiesnicecore . In other words, the depiction of a town coming together to celebrate a song. The works of nicecore are few and far between, even with the most avid scholars looking for its application across the me- dia landscape in film, television, and video games. What nicecore offers is a uniquely optimistic perspective of the world. One where forces of evil, whether that be racism, societal injustice, or a general lack of feeling are combatted through an antidote of empathetic kindness and col- laboration. While their left of center approaches are unteth- ered by traditional notions of realism, the features that ex- emplify nicecore are nothing to scoff at. In 2018, it felt like a gift 20 Genre Theory Works Cited

Augustine, Tom. “Looking Back At A Fading Americana In Joe Pera Talks With You.” Birth.Movies.Death., 6 July 2018, birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/07/06/joe-pera-talks- with-you-americana. Ehrlich, David. “The New Wave of Nicecore: How the Dark Age of Donald Trump Is Inspiring Movies to Choose Kind- ness Over Conflict.” IndieWire, 20 June 2018, www. indiewire.com/2018/06/nice-movies-in-age-of- trump-1201974749/. Greene, Steve. “‘Joe Pera Talks With You’ Is a TV Show That’ll Make You Happy to Be Alive, 10 Minutes at a Time.” IndieWire, 4 June 2018, www.indiewire.com/2018/06/joe- pera-talks-with-you-adult-swim-show-1201971095/. “r/Movies - What Are Some of The Greats of ‘Nicecore Cinema’?” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/8vkdad/ what_are_some_of_the_greats_of_nicecore_cinema/.

Genre Theory 21 The Hollywood-Porteño Complex: A Theoretical Analysis of Golden Age Argentine Cinema

by Catalina Fernandez

22 Genre Theory Introduction portant to understand the role Today, Argentine cinema of the transnational market in is regarded as a leader in the the development of Golden Age Latin American film industry. Argentine cinema. At the time, Its cinematic history, though Argentina was beginning to deeply rooted in its turbulent participate in the transnational political and economic histo- economy by being the “grane- ry, is embedded in its relations ro del mundo”—or breadbasket with American and European of the world—and engaging in forms of cinema, specifically, foreign investments. During Hollywood. Tango (Barth, 1933), the Golden Age, Argentina was the first popularly regarded Ar- working to enter the global gentine sound film and Argen- sphere through foreign relations. tina Sono Film S.A.C.I. venture, In 1896, Argentina had received marked the beginnings of the its invention of moving pictures, Golden Age of Argentine cinema, soon after the invention in Paris a period of cinematic boom that and started with silent cinema. prevailed until the 1950s. Tango Through imported American is reflective of the socio-polit- technologies, Argentine cinema ical context in Argentina at the flourished in the 1930s when time and Golden Age cinema’s it started producing “talking relationship with Hollywood. pictures”, or sound films. The While this essay provides a close 1930s to the 1950s initiated a reading of this specific cinematic period of modernization, bour- text, the film’s characteristics geois values, and American-ism reflect broader aspects of Gold- in Argentina. American-ism also en Age cinema. Through adap- transpired into cinema, in tan- tions of Hollywood conventions dem with messages of national of spectatorship and stardom, pride. This duality of themes Argentine cinema of the period was especially pertinent to the reflects a mimicry of the classi- popular genre of the time: the cal Hollywood cinematic style. At Tango-musical. Tango, like other the same time, Argentine cinema Tango-musicals, is set in a barrio involves the use of a negotiat- (neighborhood) in Buenos Aires, ed reading of these elements the nation’s capital, and centers of stardom and spectatorship around the love triangle between and, in turn, acts as a cine- Tita, a lower-class barrio woman matic reformulation of stylistic and aspiring Tango singer (Tita and cultural conventions: the Merello), Alberto, a Tango singer Hollywood-Porteño complex. (Alberto Gómez) and Malandra, To understand the con- a dishonest business-man (Juan ventions of Tango and Golden Sarcione). Lured by promises of Age cinema as a whole, it is im- fame and fortune, Tita decides to

Genre Theory 23 run away with Malandra to Par- features Argentine actors, re- is, leaving behind her family, her garded as leading figures of the ex-boyfriend Alberto, and the time, who were praised for their barrio. Eventually, Alberto be- work as Tango singers and on comes a famed Tango singer and radionovelas—radio transmitted leaves to perform in Paris, where melodramas, a popular form of he eventually reunites with Tita. entertainment at the time. The film’s inclusion of a star-stud- Reflecting Hollywood ded cast can be considered an Heteronormativity, attempt to publicize the film by Spectatorship, and relying on the appeal of well- Stardom known performers. Regardless, In conjunction with Ar- the film’s cast of leading per- gentina’s desired role in the formers reflects the use of the global sphere during this time, star-system. Following the Hol- the film presents a mimicry of lywood-model of the star sys- dominant Hollywood conven- tem—in which cinematic genres tions of femininity and mascu- and cinema itself are associated linity, constructed through the with certain actors—this film implementation of Hollywood’s initiates a star-system in Ar- star system, cinematic themes, gentina’s Golden Age. Notably, and consideration of spectator- the cast’s most prominent per- ship. Though the plot adheres formers were women: Libertad to the prototypical Tango musi- Lamarque, as Elena, and partic- cal particular to Argentina, this ularly, Tita Merello as Tita. Aside genre is inherently influenced from being the female protag- by the star-system common onist of the film, whose char- Hollywood musical films. Given acter name coincided with her Tango’s status as the pioneering stage name, Merello was stylis- film for the age, the film was tically pronounced the leading not released with any prestige lady or ‘star’ of the film, with attached to it. In fact, the suc- more camera close-ups than cess of the film has been heavily the other characters. Similar to debated regarding sound quality the leading ladies of Hollywood and acting (Rist). Notably, this films, Merello’s character is hy- was the first regarded work of the per-feminine in her manner- era and could not be expected to isms and dress and is the center meet the demands of films from of a love triangle between two the prestigious, world-leading men. However, Merello’s role Hollywood industry. Despite its as a star differs from that of fe- lack of high cinematographic male stars in Hollywood films. quality—in terms of sound and While Hollywood films’ camera equipment—the film manifestations of the star are

24 Genre Theory extensive, here the role and im- mercial purpose and the studio’s plementation of the star are not promotion of its first venture so. Merello primarily functions and potential for future success. in the first sense of the con- Despite Merello’s star cept, as being a star for capital status, the action of the film’s value (Hayward). Though she is plot reflects Hollywood’s use of also emblematic of the star as sexual difference and male-driv- cultural value by characteriz- en plots as hegemonic, or ideo- ing Tita as the weak, vulnera- logically dominant, mechanisms ble archetype type of Hollywood (Bennett). As is characteristic stardom, her role is primarily of classic Hollywood cinema, limited to offering commercial the male pursuit of a woman value by drawing in viewers to is central to the development the film (Hayward). Reminiscent of the story. The film presents of stars of early Hollywood cin- the Hollywood archetype of a ema, Merello’s perceived capital ‘damsel in distress’ (Tita) who is value comes from her ability to subjected to the mistreatment of inform viewers of the prod- a malicious figure—in this case, uct—the film. Again, Merello’s a womanizing man (Maland- one-dimensional role can be ra)—and is eventually rescued attributed to the lack of pub- by the underdog male lead (Al- lic attention to the cinematic berto), who wins her love and movement and funding, given relieves her from her unwed sta- that this was the first cinematic tus. Both Tita and Alberto pursue text of the period. Furthermore, their professional Tango singing unlike Hollywood capital-based ambitions by moving to Paris to stars, Merello’s stardom is a acquire fame and fortune. Yet, one-way exchange, as she did their circumstances after mov- not benefit from the production ing differ greatly in terms of ful- in the same way as did Holly- fillment. Tita’s move to the city wood actresses who could po- with Malandra does not meet tentially make a fortune once her expectations; she begins to they brought extensive mone- make unhealthy decisions, all of tary value to the studio. Given which are characterized by ex- that this was Argentina Sono cess, usually in terms of alcohol Film’s first venture, the studio consumption and food. To some did not gain extensive profits, extent, this concept of excess making this exchange impos- contradicts the passivity and sible. The film’s embeddment submission associated with con- of the star system, though due ventions of femininity, in which to the globalizing efforts of the women exist in a diminutive or transnational market, mainly small space ideologically and fomented as a means for com- physically. Tita’s role changes

Genre Theory 25 throughout the film; she be- and sought-after international comes increasingly passive as Tango singer. This discrepancy a result of her relationship with in the depiction of the leading Malandra and dependence on characters’ agency, dependent Alberto’s forgiveness. Tita also on gender, further reflects the grows increasingly dependent power differences between men on the outcome of the struggle and women. Men are commend- between Malandra and Alberto to ed or expected to leave the barrio choose her partner. Throughout for greater pursuits, whereas the film, Alberto and Maland- women risk the wrong path ra engage in a series of power toward impurity. As the pro- struggles over the ‘ownership’ tagonist, Alberto is especially of Tita. Though the term own- expected to be associated with ership may seem stark for this bravery. In his case, bravery is context, the word is fitting for linked to his decision to pursue the discourse of the text. In the Tita once again, after years of physical duel between the two separation. When Alberto re- men, they explicitly state that turns to her, he blames her for the winner will “get to have his pain, for which she apologiz- her.” Additionally, Alberto re- es and explains that her “head asserts his deservingness of Tita was full of dreams, which made to Malandra by clarifying that her blind.” Tita must justify Malandra was able to be with her her ambitions to remain fem- only because Alberto allowed it. inine and subject to masculine The patriarchal structures pres- dominance. While Tita’s efforts ent in the male characters’ rela- to become a multi-faceted in- tion to Tita underscore her lack dividual are subdued by the of agency. Notably, her choice is discouragement and scolding not prioritized. Instead, a duel of her personal drive, Alber- between the two men determines to is rewarded for his charac- who will “get to have her.” Ac- ter development. These gen- cordingly, physical strength and der conventions are reflective bravery are equated with achiev- of the influence of Hollywood ing the pursuit of the woman. hegemonic attitudes regarding Hollywood’s heteronor- cinematic figures in Hollywood. mative values are reflected in The aspect of masculinity the rewarded complexity of in these Hollywood conventions the film’s leading man. As the can also be understood through male protagonist, Alberto is por- the film’s male-gaze approach trayed as increasingly complex, to spectatorship. Though Tita is transforming from the unmo- initially perceived as a star for tivated ‘underdog,’ underval- her gifted Tango singing, years ued boyfriend to the charming pass and her beauty ‘fades.’

26 Genre Theory As a result, Malandra opts to Porteño-ism. pursue other younger women. While the film’s adap- Here, Tita faces the direct con- tion of Hollywood conventions sequences of the aging beauty creates the assumption of a dilemma of female stardom as male-gaze, it is important to a construct, in which youth and consider the possible alterna- physical beauty are equated with tives. The Hollywood convention a female’s inherent value. Es- constructs an idealized spec- sentially, Tita’s main purpose in tator—the receptive audience the film (as the actress and as the implicit in the work (Mulvey). In character) is to give the audience congruence with the male-gaze and the male star a human sense approach, the spectator is pre- of beauty and eroticism, thus sumed to be the white, hetero- satisfying the demands of sco- sexual man. Thus, the male gaze pophilia, the pleasure in looking delivers pleasure to an audience (Mulvey). Her value is equated through the objectification of with the extent of her “to be- the woman on screen (as dis- looked-at-ness” (Mulvey). It cussed with Tita’s characteri- is only when Malandra direct- zation), but glorifies the main ly negates her physical beauty, male as the “screen surrogate” due to his inability to satisfy his or idealized on-screen version need for scopophlia from her, for the spectator. The spectator that she decides to leave him is believed to identify with this and return to the barrio. Tita’s projected idealization of them- decision does not stem solely selves, regardless of sexuality, from the inter-personal impli- gender, or race. The male movie cations of Malandra’s affairs, star is glamorized as a perfected as they are not a particularly form of the ideal ego, rather than amicable or loving couple; in- an eroticized figure (Mulvey). stead, her decision comes from Though this assumption of the his rejection of her beauty. Tita spectator may be appropriate herself experiences the reverse for some works or individuals, formation of scopophlia, as this film does not lead to that she derives pleasure from be- condition. Tango, though adapt- ing looked at. When Malandra ing Hollywood conventions of no longer views her under the female cinematic figures, does context of scopophilia, she no not invoke this all-encompass- longer receives fulfillment from ing form of spectatorship. Rath- him. Therefore, Tita is also en- er, “the model is no longer the acting the male gaze by perceiv- passive, manipulated (and in- ing herself through this view. evitably white and heterosexual The Hollywood-Porteño Com- spectator) but rather the con- plex: The Tango Star and tradictory, divided, and frag-

Genre Theory 27 mented subject” (Mayne). This tor that transcends the hetero- is attributed to the concept of sexual symmetry of Hollywood the male Argentine Tango star. spectatorship of males. Here, Similar to Hollywood’s the spectator may still have el- concept of male stardom, the ements of a projected perfection Argentine Tango star is an ide- of themselves in regards to the alized cinematic figure whose Tango star, but there is also a conventions implicate a certain more eroticized layer present, a spectatorship. First, he invokes fetishization. In the film, Alberto capital value. Such is the case is emblematic of this complex regarding the figure who served appeal toward the Tango star. as much of the inspiration for In the scene in which Alberto Tango-musicals: Carlos Gardel. performs in Paris, both women As a French-Argentine icon of and men open their mouths in Tango music, Gardel was re- awe of his Gardel-esque allure. packaged as the pinnacle of Ar- The stylistic elements of this gentine-ness while appeasing moment are also indicative of the European bourgeoisie and a complicated spectatorship as re-branding the once considered the camera pans in on Alberto lowly Tango as something sen- and uses direct eyeline matching sual, yet refined. This reworking between Alberto and the men of the Tango is made possible present, not just the women. through the Tango star’s ad- It is because of this dichotomy ditional position as a cultural that the Tango star simultane- value. Through the icons of his ously serves as a construct. As a hat and slick suit (items of the figure representative of Tango, typical Tango look), he becomes he also represents the ‘evolu- both present and distant from tion’ of Argentine culture in the spectator; this binary creates the global context, as one that a fetishism in itself (Hayward). is transgressing its ‘lowly’ or Specifically, the Tango star is a ‘vulgar’ indigenous roots and fetishism due to the inherent embracing its Europeanism. binaries within the Tango itself. The perceived evolution The Afro-indigenous and Euro- of culture, initiated by the Tan- pean influences of the Argentine go star and its implications on Tango create a binary-produced the cinematic spectator, allow eroticization of culture, of that for the interpellation—the pro- which is close to the Argentine cess by which viewers recog- people (i.e. the indigenous and nize themselves as the subjects criollo roots) and that which of film’s ideology and become is distant (i.e. the European). ideological subjects of the ideal- Consequently, the Tango star’s ized spectator (Althusser). Again cultural value creates a specta- the film strays from the con-

28 Genre Theory ventions of the male-gaze and to be Argentine. In this negoti- Hollywood model of spectator- ated reading—the way in which ship (addressed above), as the “different texts can be used, in- assumed spectator is not white. terpreted, or appropriated in a Yet, the film does not categorize variety of ways” (Mayne)—Ar- a white spectator in the same gentine cinema takes an authen- sense that a Hollywood film tic approach toward its culture might. The idealized spectator that interpellates people through here is the Argentine, who may familarisms. In other words, the be conventionally ‘white’ in the cinema of the time reconfirms genealogical sense, but not in its brand as inherently Argen- the conventional cultural sense. tine. Here, the film includes In other words, though this ide- cultural artifacts or mannerisms alized spectator may be Spanish like the mate (argentine herb- or Italian or French (cultures al tea), barrio, the Tango, and considered European and thus, porteño leunfardo (slang) with white), they are labeled Argen- words like “pibe” (colloquial- tine; they are not considered part ism for boy or guy) to encourage of the ‘white’ category used in Argentine audiences to embrace and associated with the United the themes of nationalism and States. While it may be true that emphasize “amor a la patria,” the idealized spectator is not as- love for the nation. The film sumed to be white culturally, continues to do so through the the idealized spectator does not inclusion of porteño landscapes, imply an Argentine spectator showing local areas like the city either. The idealized specta- center and the Riachuelo (a port tor of this film (and of greater in Buenos Aires) to convey an in- Argentine films of the period) ternational prominence through is the porteño, an individual the cityscapes, rooted in a na- from the capital, Buenos Aires. tional foundation (as portrayed This concept of the Tango through footage of Buenos Ai- star then allows for an under- res). Additionally, the film it- standing of the reworking of self communicates the barrio Argentine cinema as one which as the root of soul, family, love, indicates a Hollywood-Porteño and home associations. Accord- complex. Specifically, one that ingly, Tita’s eventual return to combines local, idealized aspects the barrio from Paris, in itself (as informed by the idealized represents a return to good. spectatorship mentioned above) Overall, Argentine Gold- of Argentine-isms with an adap- en Age cinema allowed for an tation of Hollywood conventions adaptation and modification of in which to be porteño, is to be Hollywood cinema’s star system, bourgeois and to be porteño is ideology, and spectatorship to

Genre Theory 29 contextualize and accentuate its conventions in embedding a efforts toward modernization in Porteño-ism into its cinemat- the global context. The trans- ic works. As Tango creates an national market had exposed idealized spectator through Argentina to interact with the its negotiated readings of the United States, in which cinema Hollywood-Porteño cultural became a cultural exchange. As complex, the film also points a result, this cultural rework- to a re-working of consider- ing enabled a negotiated read- ation of the role of Golden Age ing within Argentine cinema. Cinema. Argentine Golden Age The period implemented a ne- cinema itself becomes a spec- gotiated reading of Hollywood tator of Hollywood cinema.

Works Cited

Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation).” In Lenin and Philos- ophy and Other Essays, translated by Ben Brewster (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971), 127–186. Bennett, Tony. “Introduction: Popular Culture and ‘The Turn to Gramsci.’” In Popular Culture and Social Relations, ed- ited by Tony Bennett, Colin Mercer, and Janet Woollacott (London: Open University Press, 1986), xi–xix. Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. London; New York: Routledge, 2018. Mayne, Judith. “Paradoxes of Spectatorship.” In Cinema and Spectatorship (London: Routledge, 1993), 155–183. Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Film and Theory: An Anthology, edited by Robert Stam and Toby Miller (Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2000), 483–494. Rist, Peter. Historical Dictionary of South American Cinema. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

30 Genre Theory Triangulating the Chains: A Semiotic Analysis of the Hegemonic Hierarchy of Power in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

by Alex Tritt

Genre Theory 31 This image reveals two of the prima- specifically coded relationships ry characters in this scene: Princess between the three characters, Leia and crime lord Jabba the Hutt. A which function to reproduce both third character, Han Solo, is absent; heteronormativity and white he has been imprisoned by Jabba, male dominance. A re-mythi- and a failed attempt to rescue him fication of the image, however, has resulted in Leia’s enslavement. can challenge these hegemonic power structures; the substi- To this day, one of the tution of a white male for the most controversial scenes in character of Jabba, for example, the entire Star Wars canon is the collapses the racial distinctions ‘slave Leia’ scene from Star Wars: that are made between Jabba and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi Han, thus erasing the possibil- (Marquand, 1983). The scene—a ity for white male redemption. screenshot of which has been First, the relationship included above—is frequently between Han and Leia that has criticized for its blatant objecti- been established prior to this fication of women. However, the scene must be analyzed. The hegemonic hierarchy of power relationship between the two that is produced in this scene is characters is both monoracial far more complex than a simple and heterosexual. This is not male-female relationship. The inherently problematic; how- racialization of Jabba as an ‘Ori- ever, there is a distinct lack of ental’ figure adds an alternate other romantic relationships in form of non-white masculinity the original trilogy, interracial or into the hierarchy. A semiotic homosexual or otherwise. Thus, analysis of this scene reveals the central example of romance in the first three films is be- discourse, or an acceptance of tween a white man and a white heterosexuality as the ‘normal’ woman, with no other exam- and preferred expression of sex- ples of relationships present uality for empowered women, to offer a diverse and balanced and incorporate this discourse representation of love. In other into their own social lives. The words, Han and Leia’s relation- manner in which this heter- ship encourages the hegemonic onormativity is mobilized during concept of heteronormativity, the ‘slave Leia’ scene will be or the dominant idea that rela- discussed later in this analysis. tionships should exist between Next, the semiotic coding two people of the opposite sex. of the relationship between Han In his chapter “Encoding, De- and Jabba must be analyzed. As coding,” Stuart Hall elaborates a white male, Han represents on how hegemonic ideas are the hegemonic Western concep- encoded in the process of dis- tion of the ideal ‘man.’ Jabba, course, which consists of the therefore, can be interpreted as “production, circulation, dis- the opposite: the ‘non-man.’ tribution, consumption, [and] Beyond the obvious fact that reproduction” (508) of codes. he is literally non-human, or a These ideas, he explains, are creature that is denied human encoded in order to have some form and subjectivity, he is also kind of effect on society, to “in- denied traditional and accept- fluence, entertain, instruct or able forms of masculinity. For persuade” until the message be- example, if Han’s fit physique is comes fully integrated and nor- considered the ideal male form, malized within “the structure then Jabba’s bulbous body is the of social practices” (509). This complete opposite; his fat, slug- process of encoding can be seen like form, combined with his in Han and Leia’s relationship. slothful conduct, signify that Leia is coded as an empowering he is incapable of traditional, character; she is fierce, coura- heteronormative sexuality. In geous, and resourceful. When other words, he is placed outside the film is circulated, distribut- the realm of acceptability, and ed, and consumed, women and that which is not perceived as girls see an empowered woman, ‘normal’—also referred to as and they want to reproduce her the ‘Other’—is inevitably con- expressions of female strength sidered a threat to the dominant in their own social practices. If social order and organization of Leia engages in a relationship power. In the scene, this social with a man, then the consum- threat is represented as a phys- ers of this encoded message ical threat. Jabba, the non-male, will decode a heteronormative has imprisoned Han, the male;

Genre Theory 33 in other words, the ‘Other’ has linity, is further exoticized by taken away the power and the the inclusion of the hookah, agency of the white male. Han’s which positions him within rescue, therefore, functions to the ‘Orientalist’ discourse as a restore the relation of power threat to white male superiority. to its original hegemonic state. This imbalance of pow- Even without further er can also be seen by analyz- analysis, this relationship be- ing the mise-en-scène of the tween Han and Jabba functions scene, which takes place in Jab- to perpetuate white male dom- ba’s palace. The room they are inance. However, the inclusion in is dark and cave-like, which of ‘Oriental’ symbols within the starkly contrasts the interior of scene further problematizes the the spaceships in the film, which power dynamic between these are often white and sleek. Even two characters. For example, the Death Star, which is charac- Jabba is shown smoking a hoo- teristically dark in color, is dis- kah, and the crowd of girls that is tinguished by its impressive and positioned around him is remi- pervasive technology. In com- niscent of a harem. Both of these parison to these environments, symbols are taken from Middle which are primarily populated Eastern culture, thus suggest- by white males, Jabba’s cave ap- ing that Jabba is a rendition of pears barbaric. This is an exam- a sultan, or a Muslim ruler. The ple of what Edward Said refers association of Jabba’s slothful to as “Oriental backwardness,” and sluggish appearance with (15) which is a characteristic of any real group of human beings the European representation of is problematic in itself; howev- the ‘Orient’ that functions to er, an analysis of the implica- “reiterate European superior- tions of this association reveal ity” (15) over non-Europeans. a deeply hegemonic imbalance Jabba, then, can be understood of power between the ‘Occident’ as a continuation of this barbar- and the ‘Orient.’ In fact, the en- ic environment; he is dark and tire existence of the ‘Oriental’ slimy, and his large figure com- identity is representative of this mands control and dominance imbalance, as it was created by over the space. Han, on the other European intellectuals to sepa- hand, is a pilot; no one is more rate Western culture from that at home in a spaceship than a which is “exotic” (Said, 9), or pilot. Thus, while Han is com- ‘other’ than Western culture, fortable in a space characterized and relegate it to a position of by technological advancement inferiority. Jabba, who is already and intellectuality, Jabba is coded as an ‘Other’ because of comfortable in a space that is his alternate form of mascu- undeveloped and uncivilized in

34 Genre Theory comparison. This is visual evi- the hegemonic superiority of dence of Said’s claim; by insert- the ‘Occident’ over the ‘Orient’ ing Middle Eastern symbols into and redeem white masculinity. the environment, the barbarism Finally, the semiotic of the cave becomes coded with coding of Jabba’s relationship ‘Orientalist’ discourses of cru- with Leia functions to reproduce dity and primitiveness, marking problematic discourses of gender it as inferior to the technolog- regarding the ‘Oriental’ male. ically advanced spaceships that Jabba, who has enslaved Leia are inhabited and controlled by by attaching a chain around her the ‘Occidental’ characters. Said neck, displays not only dom- explains that the reproduction inance over her, but owner- of this discourse—the “idea of ship. The relationship of pow- European identity as a superior er between the two characters, one in comparison with all the therefore, is like that between non-European peoples and cul- owner and pet, with the chains tures” (15)—in both intellectual functioning as a leash that Jabba and media platforms reinforces uses to maintain his control over the hegemonic status of Euro- her. The issue, however, is that pean culture not only in Europe, Jabba’s cultural identity is not but in non-European countries ambiguous; he is coded as an as well. In other words, codify- ‘Oriental’ male, and as a result ing Jabba and his cave as Middle his representation functions to Eastern, or ‘Oriental’, functions reproduce harmful stereotypes to reproduce the “uneven ex- of violence and aggression. Said change with various kinds of notes that the inclusion of ste- power” that occurs between the reotypical elements is not un- “two unequal halves” (20) of common in media portrayals the ‘Occidental’ male and the of the ‘Orient’, especially those ‘Oriental’ male. This imbalance who come from the Near East, of power is troubled, however, which—according to the West— when the ‘Orient’ threatens the signify “danger and threat” superiority of the white male; (34). As discussed above, Jabba’s for example, Jabba removes Han position of dominance over Leia from his native environment and poses a clear danger to her, and places him within his “exotic” his imprisonment of Han also (9) palace. Not only does Han threatens the hegemonic power lose his agency by being im- relations between the ‘Occident’ prisoned by Jabba, he also loses and the ‘Orient.’ However, Jab- the power and control that one ba’s simultaneous portrayal as receives in their native sur- a ‘non-male’ must also be re- roundings. Thus, Han’s rescue visited. Despite the dominance is necessary in order to restore that he exercises over Leia,

Genre Theory 35 Jabba remains an emasculated placed from an environment character that is denied access in which she is comfortable— to traditional forms of sexual- such as the technological- ity and masculinity. Thus, he ly advanced spaceships—into perpetuates another harmful an environment that is not stereotype that is seemingly only foreign, but also barbaric. in contradiction with the first: Indeed, this image of the idea that the ‘Oriental’ Leia in the metal bikini has male does not occupy a space become the most infamous and that is fully masculine, in the discussed aspect of this scene hegemonic sense of the word. because of its presentation of Like Han, Leia is an out- the active female protagonist in sider in the space of Jabba’s pal- a position of extreme submis- ace. However, unlike Han, there siveness. In fact, the image is are changes that are made to so widely circulated that it has her appearance and her behavior undergone a process of mythi- so that she is incorporated into fication. The first-order signifi- the space, rather than simply cation of the image is simple: imprisoned within it. First, this Leia, wearing a metal bikini, is is the only scene where she is sitting on the ground chained to portrayed in a state of undress; Jabba the Hutt. However, when the infamous metal bikini that the image undergoes a second she wears serves as a symbol of process of signification, all of her objectification, transforming the history of the image “evapo- her from a woman with agency rates” (Barthes, 5); in this case, into a mere object that is intend- the history is the position of the ed to be gazed upon by Jabba. scene within the context of The Her position also signifies her Whole film, or within the context lack of agency; Leia is an active of The Whole trilogy. Without this character within the trilogy, of- context, Leia’s achievements are ten physically fighting members forgotten, as well as her demon- of the Empire herself and saving strations of courage, ferocity, her own life. By positioning her and strength. What remains is on the ground, literally chained an empty signifier, a “newly ac- to Jabba, she loses her agency quired penury [that] calls for a and her ability to defend her- signification to fill it” (Barthes, self. In this particular image, 5). What fills it, unfortunately, furthermore, she is looking is the hegemonic understand- down; she is not alert or actively ing of the relationship of pow- looking around, but rather pas- er between males and females. sively accepting her captivity. Thus, the form—Leia in the Lastly, she is incredibly rigid, bikini—is “wholly absorbed likely as a result of being dis- by the concept” (Barthes, 5) of

36 Genre Theory female passivity, resulting in a male dominates female if both mythification of the image that subjects are white, but white- conveys not only male domi- ness dominates non-white- nance over the female, but male ness regardless of gender. ownership and possession of the Furthermore, Leia’s act female, who is reduced to a fig- of redemption—while heroic ure that is submissive and lacks and empowering for women— the ability to defend herself. still functions as a reinstallation What complicates the of heteronormativity. By escap- relationship between the three ing from her relationship with figures—the man, the non-man, a non-white non-male, Leia is and the woman—is Leia’s act of able to rescue Han and restore redemption. In the climax of the her heterosexual and monora- scene, she takes the chains—the cial relationship with him. Her same object that symbolizes her dominance over her captor, submissiveness and her status however, is undermined by her as a possession—and strangles return to a position of subordi- Jabba, thus reestablishing her- nation in a hegemonic, heter- self as an active character and onormative relationship with a reclaiming her agency. By free- white man. Moreover, Han and ing herself from Jabba’s grasp, Leia are presented as heroic for the understanding of the rela- eradicating the threat that the tionship of power becomes more non-white non-male posed to complex. As discussed above, their hegemonic hierarchy of this scene is most frequently power. For Han in particular, discussed in terms of its rep- Jabba’s alternate form of mas- resentation of male dominance culinity posed a greater threat over the woman. However, Jab- to his white male dominance ba’s status as an ‘Oriental non- than Leia did as a white female. male’ is often left out of these However, Leia’s assistance in his analyses. Because of his alter- escape and his reclamation of nate form of masculinity, Jabba white power encourages white is not able to retain the same women to assume a position power and control over Leia that of subordination and servitude a white man would be able to under white men, even when maintain. Thus, the hegemonic the women are otherwise fero- understanding of the hierarchy cious, capable, and independent. of power relations among these By contrasting him with a giant, three groups that is demonstrat- ugly, slug-like creature, Han ed by this scene is: the white is encoded as the ‘preferred’ male dominates the white fe- representation of masculinity, male, who dominates the non- and this discourse is absorbed white non-male. In other words, by the consumers of the me-

Genre Theory 37 dia object, who reproduce the The insertion of Trump into normalization and idolization Jabba’s character collapses the of heterosexual whiteness in distinction between white male their own social practices. In and non-white non-male; he other words, by defeating Jab- retains his own white skin, but ba’s ‘Otherness’ and escaping he is also bestowed with the bul- from the barbaric palace, Han’s bous body and the violent dom- victory over Jabba functions as inance of Jabba, which function a triumph of white masculinity, as exaggerations of traits he has a reinstallation of white male in his human form. Thus, the dominance. The only way that notion of white masculine dom- this hegemonic power struc- inance is troubled because it is ture can truly be challenged, collapsed with the violent and therefore, is by the insertion of emasculate masculinity that is a white male for the character of usually reserved for the ‘Oth- Jabba, which creates a re-myth- er’—or the ‘Oriental’ non-male. ification of the entire image as By collapsing the two types of a result. In modern times, this masculinity into one, there is is achieved by the substitution no possibility for the redemp- of Donald Trump for Jabba and tion of white masculinity; there the substitution of Melania is no heroic white male to de- Trump for Leia, as illustrated feat the non-male, because the by the political cartoon below: white male is simultaneously the non-male. This impossibility of redemption is further communi- cated by the static nature of the image. Because of the dynamic nature of its medium, the scene in Star Wars has an arc: Leia is in a position of passivity, but then she uses the object of her captivity to reclaim her power over the non-male. Melania, however, is frozen; the nature of the illustrated medium does not allow her the opportunity to complete the arc, to regain con- trol over her captor and restore a sense of agency. However, as discussed above, Leia uses her freedom to return to her place of subordination in her hetero- sexual relationship. Melania, on

38 Genre Theory the other hand, never left this masculinity, thus problema- hegemonic relationship; because tizing its position at the top of Trump is both white male and the hierarchy of power. This non-white non-male, Melania re-mythification of the image, is already in her heterosexual, therefore, suggests a barbaric monoracial relationship. There aspect of white male dominance is no other white male to es- that was likely always present. cape for, no other white male After all, Jabba was a product who will serve as the hero that of the mind of George Lucas, a redeems white masculine domi- white male, who perhaps pro- nance. In this image, the inser- jected the violent and emascu- tion of the white figure into the late stereotypes onto Jabba out ‘Oriental’ role of Jabba re-myth- of fear that his own position at ifies the image and troubles the the top of the hierarchy of power notion of white male dominance would someday be challenged. that is celebrated in Star Wars. A close semiotic analysis of the three primary characters in the ‘slave Leia’ scene func- tions to reveal a complex—yet hegemonic—hierarchy of pow- er between the white male, the white female, and the non- white non-male. The original scene functions to reinforce the concept of white patriarchal dominance through the racial- ization of Jabba as a non-white and non-male ‘Other’, the rein- stallation of the heteronorma- tive relationship through Leia’s escape and return to Han, and the redemption of white mas- culinity through Han’s victory over Jabba. In recent times, this triumph of white masculinity has been challenged by the sub- stitution of a white male—Don- ald Trump—for the character of Jabba. The collapse of the white male and the non-white non- male removes the possibility of redemption for white patriarchal

Genre Theory 39 Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. “Myth Today.” Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers, Hill and Wang, New York, 1984.“Don- ald Trump Jabba the Hut with Melania Trump Slave as Leia.” https://starecat.com/donald-trump-jabba-the- hut-with-melania-trump-slave-as-leia/ Hall, Stuart. “Encoding, Decoding.” The Cultural Studies Reader, Second Edition. Edited by Simon During, Routledge, 1999. Said, Edward. “Introduc tion.” Orientalism. Routledge & Keg- an Paul, 1978. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Directed by Richard Marquand, performances by Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Larry Ward, Lucasfilm, 1983.

40 Genre Theory DIGITAL theory Genre Theory 41 Jenkins in 6 Seconds: Fandom Theory and Vine

by Alejandra Gularte You have six seconds to posed them into new memes or tell a joke: set-up and punch- video compilations, dedicated to line. How do you navigate main- the most beloved vines. Howev- taining an audience’s attention er, what the Vine fandom, and while expressing a successful the application itself, failed to do joke in such a short amount of was protect the content creators time? In 2013, the phone ap- from getting their videos re- plication Vine was created by posted without any credit. Henry Colin Kroll and allowed content Jenkins had many theories on creators to share incredibly short fandom, such as his work with videos in a scroll-feed style. Ev- the Star Trek fandom, but none ery Vine video was six seconds explained how a fandom would or less, and creators could craft react to its platform being can- elaborate storylines or share celed in the new technology era. goofy jokes all within that ex- Jenkins does not take into ac- tremely short time frame. How- count when a fandom’s platform ever, as internet users learned goes beyond the self-preserv- how to navigate the application, ing platform and is reliant on creating a new Vine fandom and a platform that’s outside of the a place for new Viner creators to fandom’s control. Vine’s fan- share their videos, eventually dom was utopic to a fault; its the application fell through the inside jokes culture and inclu- cracks, and Twitter announced sivity caused its failure because on October 27, 2016, that it would of its difficulty to grow as a plat- disable uploads to Vine and then form outside of its fandom and permanently make the website ability to maintain individual an archive server on January 17, ownership for original content. 2017. Vine’s closure left many In Henry Jenkin’s “My Week- Viners without a clue of what to end Only World,” Jenkins de- do with the content they’ve built scribes five levels of fan activ- for themselves and require they ity the members in almost any start over again on other plat- fandom engage into a certain forms in order to continue their extent. One point that Jenkins comedy careers. Drew Gooden, makes is that fandoms view its comedian and Viner stated in an content multiple times in order interview with Mashable that to be able to analyze and in- he essentially had to start from teract with other fans, making scratch with his comedy videos, references to the content. This transitioning to YouTube (Sung). is an important aspect in the Despite the end of Vine, called Vine Fandom because a big part “Vine is Dead” by the fandom, of what separates a true Vine the fandom managed to resur- fan to a casual fan is being able rect the old videos and repur- to reference Vines out of con-

Digital Theory 43 text. Many superfans of Vine ing to connect with the younger have different videos practically generation. The Vine fandom memorized; they can casually policed what content can be en- quote Vines in conversation and joyed from the app and when understand what video is being people were taking advantage referenced. Viners, aka vine us- of users. Vine allowed Clinton’s ers, also reference other Vines in video to go viral, not because she a way of promoting other Viners fit into the niche Vine humor, or maximizing their six seconds but because she was the oppo- as the reference is already un- site of it. She was an outsider derstood as one joke. As the Vine attempting to cash in on the fans interact with the content, young audience on Vine without individual creators grow in size an understanding of the politics and become the leaders in con- of the fandom and how young tent creation, therefore shap- people decide what content is ing the Vine culture. However, ‘cool’ and what is ‘try hard.’ the fandom determines who However, Jenkins’ the- stays relevant and who gets ory that fandom constitutes a forgotten through self-polic- base for consumer activism does ing what content becomes viral. not apply to the Vine fandom. Jenkins also states that As Twitter purchased Vine and fandoms involve a particular eventually canceled the app, the set of critical and interpretive Vine fandom was still heavily practices. The Vine community active on the app despite the app is self-policing; if there is an being shut down. Jenkins states “outsider” attempting to pre- that the fandom is an extension tend to understand the fandom, of the market base that com- the fandom is able to detect it panies or brands use in order and create memes mocking the to see the markets with which person. For example, during the fans wish to interact. While 2015 primaries, Hillary Clinton other fandoms express opin- posted a Vine to her account, ions about the development of where she says, “I’m just chill- the fandom’s content, the Vine ing, here in Cedar Rapids.” Clin- community had little to no say ton was attempting to appeal to on how the app was being run the younger crowd by creating and how content creators would a Vine without understanding be able to continue to grow their what content is successful on the careers through the app. Be- platform. The Vine community cause the humor and the fandom responded by making memes were so niche and specific to the from her video, mocking her by app, Vine had nowhere else to reposting the Vine and adding grow and was not marketable in clips of other adults attempt- on any other platform. Vine cre-

44 Digital Theory ators did not have a say in how lishing on Twitter. While the they were paid or if they were fandom maintained a hold of the paid at all from their content content, it inadvertently hurt the and did not have a say in the creators of the content. Unlike application’s future. It is as if Jenkins’ argument against larger employees were denied a say in networks for creative control of how a company is run and are television shows or franchises, suddenly fired because the com- the downfall of Vine exempli- pany was not giving them the fies how smaller creators who chance to express changes that do not have as much wealth or needed to be made. Thousands power as a network lose cre- of Vine accounts were delet- ative licensing to their content. ed, and content creators had to While their work is still gaining scramble to find new platforms popularity and being reshared, to grow their population on. If these creations are not direct- Jenkins’ theory were true, the ly benefiting the original cre- Vine application would still be ators. Jenkins’ belief that the available because it was suc- audience or fandom owns the cessful in consumer activism as work once it has been distributed people consuming the Vine app cannot function for a platform were constantly active. However, like Vine. In order for creators the external forces outside the and users to continue to create fandom affected how the app content, they need some form was run and decided its fate as of authorship to their work in eventually being shut down. order to make a living and de- Another way Vine chal- velop brand deals. For Viners, lenges Jenkin’s theories on their videos are all they had to fandom lies in Jenkin’s claim show for their creativity and that fan creations challenge the comedy in order to eventually media industry’s claims to hold grow as creators on different copyrights on popular narratives. platforms, but because Viners As Vine began to dissolve as an lost their authorship to their application on the phone, the videos, they are now being freely videos transferred to other plat- posted anywhere without any forms and new users began to legal repercussions. In fact, the claim authorship for these Vines. fandom is hurting the creators The original creators of the Vine they are attempting to celebrate. and the Vine platform both lost One of Jenkins’ last points in ownership of the content that this essay was that fandom is a was originally on the app; fans utopian dimension of popular began reposting Vine on other culture and Vine’s collapse chal- platforms, making compilation lenges this because, if the Vine videos on YouTube or repub- fandom was still active up until

Digital Theory 45 its collapse, then why did Twit- teractive Audiences, Jenkins de- ter cancel the application? Vine scribes a new interactive au- could have never been a utopia dience of viewers that need to because there was no way for its be impressed immediately or creators to make money to en- attention will be lost. Jenkins courage them to stay on the app. compares Pierre Levy’s theory Jenkins argues that fandoms like on Collective Intelligence to online Vine offered a “better” worlds communities as self-organizing for its members but that is only groups that focus on collective true for the fans of the app. But, production, debate, and circu- for content creators, the app did lations of meanings through not offer routes for them to be contemporary popular culture financially successful. Instead of (Jenkins 137). Vine encapsu- being a “weekend only world,” lates Levy’s theory to a fault; as Jenkins argues, Vine became Vine’s fandom self-organized a part of the daily lives of us- and policed to a point where it ers and fans. Users could easily became difficult to join the Vine create a video at any time and fandom with their inside jokes fans could scroll through their as too niche to comprehend. In favorite vines as long as they Jay Versace’s Vine, “the tables had their cell phones with them. have turned,” he mocks the While Jenkins argues that fan- meme that young people have doms had to eventually return begun to share that mothers to “real life,” members of the complain that their children do Vine community did not need not do anything because they are to; they could escape to the app too busy with their cell phones. whenever they wanted, whether Versace reveals the mother char- it be a positive or negative thing. acter as wearing a vacuum on While Vine did provide a space her head to symbolize that she for creators to create content is the mother/authority fig- that would normally not be suc- ure. While the reimagining of cessful on other platforms, those the joke may be understood by creators lost authorship to their outside audiences, the distinct creations and profit-source as Vine trope of putting an inani- creators. Vine’s self-policing mate object on your head would also shut down other creators not be understood immediately and bullied them into nonex- by outside audiences. The cir- istence, which is not a quality culation of the meaning of this in a utopia. It is inclusive to a joke only circulated within the fault; where no one new was able fandom, not elsewhere. This to enter its fandom, preventing shared knowledge only stays the fandom from expanding. within the fandom and does In Henry Jenkins’ In- not explicitly get shared else-

46 Digital Theory where. Fans in the Vine fandom of the actual Vine application, share this knowledge with each these creators would not have other but not an outsider of the a place to put their content on fandom, causing these inside and still be considered Viners. jokes to be difficult for outsiders Jenkins praises the network to follow along. The audience computing that transforms fan for this Vine is young people of production but does not mention color, because the phrase “it’s that the hosts of where users because you be on your phone” produce content, like the Vine is popular among immigrant or app itself, is reliant on more parents of color, who under- than just the fan. Vine depends stand the niche vine humor and on outside profit-driven forces that the second character of the that lack consideration of the sketch is supposed to be Ver- fan’s active use of the app if it sace’s mother. Versace had only is not profitable. Fan magazine six seconds to convey the issues was self-funded and only relied of having immigrant parents or on the fans creating the content, having parents of color hold- but with spaces like Tumblr or ing unrealistic expectations as Vine, the fan relies on the plat- well as using the comedy trope forms for the content to be shared of the object on the head. The and, without those platforms, constraint of having only six would have no way to share it. seconds to give a successful set- A user in the Vine com- up and punchline brought out munity is someone who has the best comedy under difficult posted a video on the app at circumstances, but creators are some point in time. In order to not getting the ownership over be a user, one does not need to their hard work due to issues of actively post on the app, they authorship with the closed app. just need to post an original Because Viners eventu- video on their page, even if the ally lost the rights to all of their video is reposted from a dif- work on the app, the fandom ferent platform. For example, failed to give rightful ownership some Viners are “one hit won- to the content creators of the ders” meaning that they have app. Vine failed to self-orga- had one successful, viral Vine nize a way for creators to still and may choose to not create maintain ownership of their more Vines or their other Vines work. Vine could not have been were not nearly as popular as successful under this theory of their first hit. For example, Tish fandom because Vine relied on Simmonds, or better known for an outside source in order for its her Vine “I’m in my mum’s car,” product to be distributed with is considered a one-hit won- their attributing authors. With- der of Vine. Her popular vine out capitalism and the creators Digital Theory 47 consisted of her sitting in her sistent content creator. This is mother’s car, saying the phrase a Vine user that regularly posts “I’m in my mum’s car, vroom videos on the app, whether or vroom” with a response from not they go viral. For example, her actual mother saying, “Get the Vine user Jay Versace is con- out my car”(Simmonds). It was sidered a consistent content cre- a wholesome vine that grew into ator because, while the app was a phenomenon on the site; the still active, he regularly posted video inspired remixes from videos and contributed to the other content creators on Vine, Vine community as one of its creating songs or alternative leaders in the niche Vine hu- endings to her original Vine. mor. One of Jay Versace’s most However, as Tish continued to popular comedy tropes was, in create videos on the app, they order to symbolize the parent were not as successful because or adult character of the Vine, the Vine fandom was not in- placing an inanimate object on terested in Tish as a Vine per- his head to show that he was sonality; they enjoyed the Vine playing a different character. because of its weird, quirkiness He helped create this niche that was present in its original Vine trend that only contin- video. The Vine fandom was not ued to grow and change within a utopic, accepting platform as the app; this comedy trope was Jenkins makes fandoms out to not used in any other platform be; it scared off a creator because besides Vine and to reference of bullying within the fandom. Vine. Jay Versace’s personality Jenkins states that when fan- and comedic timing drove his dom works creatively within success on the app; the Vine their fandom world, they “high- community helped further grow light the Utopian possibilities” his following as he continued to in the universe (Jenkins 211). contribute to the niche humor of The self-policing frightened a the app. The shared knowledge creator into never wanting to of the jokes in the application make content again for fear of spread through creators like Jay the fandom; the inside joke end- Versace and other creators who ed with making another per- expanded on the niche humor by son the butt of the joke. While adding their own spin to jokes. Tish did not find success out- However, this knowledge did side of Vine and her “one hit not extend beyond the fandom wonder,” other Vine creators because many people outside of were able to find their audience the Vine fandom did not un- within the Vine community. derstand his sense of humor. Another form of a user However, as Vine died and cre- in the Vine community is a con- ators had to find new ways of

48 Digital Theory creating content, Jay Versace one hit wonder like Tish or who adapted a new way of sharing his stays around like Jay Versace. unique humor to a large audi- Without the fans of Vine, there ence elsewhere. Versace is cur- would be no inside joke culture. rently creating longer content on While Vine’s death pre- YouTube and has over 800,000 sented as heartbreaking and subscribers and growing, re- surprising, its impact as a short- building his fan base from Vine. lived video platform influences A fan in the Vine commu- creator on digital platforms to- nity is anyone who consistently day. Content creators on You- interacts with the app, whether Tube, whether or not they were it be revining, resharing, com- Viners themselves, were heavily menting, or liking Vines. A fan influenced by Vine. YouTubers in the Vine Fandom has an un- began making quicker jokes in derstanding of its niche humor; their videos and referencing a fan is a member of the inside vines, even using sound effects joke culture of the app. The suc- from old vines as jokes in their cess of any user on the app is videos. The Comedy Central Pro- dependent on the superfans of gram, @Midnight, featured a Vine. If a user is creating con- segment called Vine-HS, high- tent and no one is around to see lighting weird vines and hav- it, does it still contribute to the ing comedians complete the rest culture? On one hand, the video of the Vine (“Featuring Erica does because if a video does not Rhodes, Rory Scovel, and Doug go viral, it indicates what the Benson”). Instagram, feeling community filters out in favor threatened by Vine, added a vid- of “good” content. On the other eo function to its app to allow side, it does not because if some- Instagramers to publish short one is attempting to take a niche videos as well. Vine’s creation, Vine joke in a new direction, it whether or not the app was will not be seen if people are not successful, challenged internet sharing it within the app. The users to create content that was content will also not be success- engaging and fun, all in under ful on other platforms because six seconds. It stripped away the video is targeted to the Vine the boundaries of content cre- audience, a community that is ation by allowing creators to film created its own language and and edit video within the app, aesthetic in short form content. therefore, expanding its base The fans of the Vine community of content creators. While the are the ones shaping its culture Vine fandom was not perfect, because they are deciding what and its inclusivity was a factor goes viral and what does not. in its downfall, Vine still made The fans decide who becomes a a huge impact on comedy of so-

Digital Theory 49 cial media in general. It changed millennial humor became an how young people interacted inside joke to an entire fandom. with digital content and how

Works Cited

Clinton, Hillary. “Just Chilling in Cedar Rapids.” Vine, Vine, 3 Aug. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M1uDcqkWVE. “Featuring Erica Rhodes, Rory Scovel, and Doug Benson.” @ Midnight, created by Chris Hardwick, performance by Erica Rhodes, et al., Comedy Central, 8 Jan. 2016. Jenkins, Henry, et al. “‘My Weekend Only World’ Reconsidering Fandom.” Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell, 200AD, pp. 791–799. Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York University Press, 2006. Simmonds, Tish. “I’m in me mum’s car.” Vine, Vine, 27 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWVTsHNQIiU. Versace, Jay. “The Tables Have Turnt.” Vine, Vine, vine.co/v/ im0nL0TOVjq/.

50 Digital Theory Anti-Queer Hegemony vs Alternative Digital Media: Perseverance of LGBT+ Artists in Brazil

by EmmaClaire Brock

Digital Theory 51 The media landscape in which refers to intensely polit- Brazil is one of a high volume ical and oligarchical nineteenth of production by a very concen- century landowning practices, trated group of media owners. to discuss the later concept The dynamics of this ownership, of “coronelismo eletrônico.”2 which are both religious and They describe electronic cor- extremely political, perpetuate onelism as an urban Brazilian dominant ideology or hegemonic phenomenon of the second half beliefs that are often strongly of the 20th century, and state: anti-queer or queerphobic, and “No coronelismo eletrônico, create a challenging environ- portanto, a moeda de troca con- ment for queer/LGBT+ artists tinua sendo o voto, como no vel- who do not fit within that hege- ho coronelismo. Só que não mais mony. It is outside of the dom- com base na posse da terra, mas inant media structures where no controle da informação – vale alternative and newer forms of dizer, na capacidade de influir funding and distribution come na formação da opinião pública. into play. This paper seeks to [In electronic coronelism, the provide an understanding of exchange currency continues Brazil’s current media structure to be the vote, as in old coro- of conglomerates, who are deep- nelismo. But no longer on the ly connected with politics and basis of land tenure, and instead religion, and highlight two oc- in the control of information - casions in which artists, whose that is, in the capacity to in- message or identity run con- fluence the formation of pub- trary to the values of hegemonic lic opinion.]” 3(Lima, Lopes 2) media conglomerates, were able Enxada e Voto - whose first edition to gain international acclaim was published by Forensic Magazine using global digital platforms. in 1949. It refers to dynasties of land- In many ways, the current owners known as “Colonels”. structure of media ownership “Electronic coronelismo” ad- in Brazil resembles the power 2 dressed by researcher Suzy dos Santos dynamics that existed during the in several works, amongst which the country’s formation. Research- book “Sempre foi pela família” (‘It’s ers Venício Lima and Cristia- always been about the family’, 2017), no Aguiar Lopes expand upon which was written with Janaína Aires. the concept of “coronelismo1”, It is a term used to address the 1 Coronelismo is a concept phenomenon on concentrated media that was developed by the study of the ownership in late 20th century Brazil jurist and professor Victor Nunes Leal and has been recognized by academics in 1949 which defines the political and in public debate. practices and ownership of land in 3 Lima, Lopes, 2 Coronelismo the old rural Brazil. - Coronelismo, Eletrônico de Novo Tipo 52 Digital Theory Lima and Lopes’ article “Cor- have extended their territorial onelismo Eletrônico de Novo claims to the digital. The great- Tipo,” discusses how owner- est of these “colonels” or “con- ship of media became a tool of glomerates” is Grupo Globo. political bargaining, configuring Grupo Globo has outlets a practice that they refer to as or networks in every media “electronic coronelism of a new market in Brazil. They are the type.” Media broadcasters, who market leader in free-television are largely supported by official with their channel “Rede Glo- (government) advertising and bo.” They dominate the pay-TV are affiliated with the domi- space with their the platform nant national networks, possess GloboSat, which produces and this “Coronelismo Eletrônico distributes content including the de Novo Tipo,” a kind of pow- all-news channel GloboNews er that is greater than coercion and thirty others—not including and makes them creators of international partnerships with political consensus. From their other studios; on the Internet, research on Brazilian media, as they own the largest Brazilian well as findings from research online news portal, Globo.com; projects conducted by the Me- on radio, two of their networks dia Ownership Monitor (MOM) range among the ten most im- that was promoted by the or- portant in the country: Globo ganization Reporters Without AM/FM and CBN; in print media Borders (Germany) and execut- they publish newspapers of great ed in Brazil in partnership with relevance such as O Globo, Extra, Intervozes – Collective Brazil of Valor Econômico and Expresso Social Communication4, we can da Informação, and magazines conclude that digital technology like Época, Crescer, Galileu, does not seem to pose a serious Marie Claire and many others. challenge to these oligopolies, They also own one of the main or modern day “Colonels,” who news agencies in the country, Agência O Globo (AOG), and also http://observatoriodaimprensa. operate in the phonographic, com.br/interesse-publico/o-cor- movie and editorial markets. onelismo-eletronico-de-novo-ti- Such dominance is possible po-19992004/ because of the absence of any 4 Fonsêca, Daniel functioning legal mechanism to Marco regulatório do sistema de mídia prevent cross-ownership. The brasileiro: Estudo realizado para o Federal Constitution states in Monitoramento da Propriedade da Article 220, paragraph 5, that the Mídia, MOM - Brasil 2017 http://bra- media cannot, directly or indi- zil.mom-rsf.org/fileadmin/Editorial/ rectly, be subject to monopoly or Brazil/MOM_Documento_legal_por- oligopoly, yet the concentration tugues.pdf Digital Theory 53 of media ownership that exists they broadcast.7 MOM, on their in Brazil reveals that the current Brazil online database, notes that laws are ineffective and permis- “Mônica Mourão revealed in an sive. 2015’s Report of the Special article for Intervozes in October Rapporteur for Freedom of Ex- 2016 that many religious leaders pression of the Inter-American who own broadcasting media Commission on Human Rights outlets were also politicians of the OAS reveals that in Brazil, with legislative mandates.”8 Grupo Globo’s Rede Globo alone All of these factors trigger what holds 70% of the commercial MOM-Brasil refers to as an advertising’s market and 40% “alerta vermelho [red alert]” of the national audience”5. Ac- because they indicate that Bra- cording to MOM’s report, Gru- zil does not provide a space for po Globo reaches an audience public debate that includes all larger than that of the second, voices and all viewpoints, in- third, fourth and fifth largest cluding those that are critical Brazilian groups combined.6 of people in power. With this In addition to the intense in mind, it is imperative to also cross-ownership of Brazilian consider that whenever a me- media, all the aforementioned dia conglomerate’s ownership studies find that politicians’ intersects with hegemonic re- families are heavily invested in ligion and politics, it supports the media business and consid- dominant social, political, and er Brazilian churches as media religious ideologies. Anthropol- owners. Beyond the explicitly ogist and president of Grupo Gay religious programming, such de Bahia, Luiz Mott, attributes as the transmission of masses, the rising violence against LGBT these owners promote certain people in Brazil to the influence catholic ideologies in the re- of ultra-conservative politicians, maining variety of programs that several of whom have ties to Brazil’s evangelical caucus. He claims that these politicians are Available at: https://www. 5 promoting “a discourse that oas.org/pt/cidh/expressao/docs/publi- destroys solidarity and equates caciones/brasillibertadexpresion2016. LGBT people to animals,” and pdf notes that television programs 6 Fonsêca, Daniel which have ties to evangelical Marco regulatório do sistema de mídia churches repeatedly link homo- brasileiro: Estudo realizado para o Monitoramento da Propriedade da Mídia, MOM - Brasil 2017 http://bra- 7 Ibid see page 69 zil.mom-rsf.org/fileadmin/Editorial/ 8 http://brazil.mom-rsf.org/ Brazil/MOM_Documento_legal_por- br/destaques/participacao-religio- tugues.pdf sa-na-midia/ 54 Digital Theory sexuality to the devil.9 There are was a flurry of problems and currently no laws which mark issues in regards to appropria- homophobic speech as a federal tion, it was a time of unification crime in Brazil, and in looking within Brazil’s highly racist and at many of the laws in Brazil, classist society, where a “black” it is doubtful that if such a law dance and form of music became existed it would be enforced with the dominant one. This is one efficacy. With Brazil being the of the greatest transcendence country with the world’s highest stories examples of any that rate of Queer deaths (445 total in have occurred in Brazil in re- 2017, 387 murders and 58 sui- gard to an oppressed group or art cides, 30% higher than 2016’s gaining acceptance, or at least reports)10, one might wonder being deemed of value because as to how queer individuals of their artistic contributions. could possibly have any voice But what about in Brazil’s con- in the media or public sphere. temporary social and political Historically, marginalized peo- climate? The government is not ple in Brazil have on some oc- responsible for making any kind casions been able to transcend of social unification or creation of social barriers through art. an outward brand that involves Arguably the greatest example recognizing artistic contribu- took place in the 1930s when tions of marginalized groups. Brazilian president Getulio In fact, the opposite is true. The Vargas supported the popular- current president of Brazil, Jair ization and wide acceptance of Bolsonaro, initiated an executive Afro-Brazilian dance and music, order to remove concerns about known as Samba. Vargas deemed the LGBT community from his it the national dance and music new human rights ministry only of Brazil in an effort to maintain hours after his inauguration in good relations with the United January of this year. He has de- States in wartime and export an livered a plethora of hate speech exoticized glamorous form of towards LGBT+ people and entertainment to U.S. audienc- other minorities and has said es. This was one of the greatest publicly that he would rather achievements of cultural conver- have a dead son than a gay son. gence and, while there certainly Thus, those in power—media 9 Opinions shared from an conglomerates together with churches and political figures, article https://www.theguardian.com/ perpetuate hegemonic views world/2018/jan/22/brazil-lgbt-vio- that are in direct conflict with lence-deaths-all-time-high-new-re- representing Queer individuals search or the LGBTQ+ community. The 10 according to LGBT watch- question remains: how can queer dog group Grupo Gay de Bahia Digital Theory 55 artists possibly distribute their This project was successful work to audiences, gain visibil- and was funded in July 2016 ity, and achieve international by fans who collaborated with success and recognition? In ex- the crowdfunding campaign amining two recent successes that enabled its production.12 of queer brazilian art/artists, “A postura pública do assumido it is possible to conclude that Liniker adquiriu caráter políti- the combination of low barri- co numa época em que vozes er - high audience distribution se levantam cotidianamente channels such as YouTube, and contra negros e homossexu- online crowdfunding/fund- ais nas redes sociais.” [Liniker raising platforms, have pro- took on a political character at vided the technological media a time when voices arise dai- infrastructures for some queer ly against blacks and homo- Brazilian artist to transcend the sexuals in social networks].13 limits of their social barriers in Life for queer Brazilians is order to achieve great success. commonly characterized by Liniker Barros, the face violence. In November 2017, and lead singer of the group the Trans Murder Monitor, run Liniker e os Caramelows is a by NGO Trans Respect, report- black, non-gender conform- ed that Brazil had the highest ing, cross-dressing, queer in- killings of trans people in the dividual; in Brazil, Liniker’s very world. On a similar note, in 2016 existence is political in nature. it was reported that Brazil held Liniker rose to prominence in the world record for hate-based October 2015 after the YouTube LGBT crimes. Liniker told Bra- release of a 3-track EP, on which zilian press “I think every day, they had spent less than US$ 100 more people have a voice in to produce and shoot. The song Brazil’s LGBT community, but that conquered audiences right we still need to progress a lot, away was, “Zero”, which as of Brazil is the country that kills now has more than 15,300,000 12 “Liniker E Os Caramelows views. The band followed up a Lançam O álbum REMONTA,” year later with their first full Catarse, July 29, 2016, , accessed album, “Remonta”, recorded March 11, 2019, https://old.catarse. through the help of online crowd- me/liniker. funding campaign “Catarse.”11 13 Dazed, “Liniker Is the 11 Gisela Gueiros, “The Melt- Brazilian Soul Musician Whose Love ing Pot of Brazilian Music,” Natura, Songs Will Liberate You,” Dazed, January 01, 1970, , accessed March August 22, 2018, , accessed March 11, 2019, https://www.naturabrasil. 11, 2019, http://www.dazeddigital. com/blogs/blog-do-brasil/The-Melt- com/music/article/41051/1/liniker-bar- ing-Pot-of-Brazilian-Music. ros-caramelows-brazil-soul-musician. 56 Digital Theory the most LGBT people in world. this does occur, not even kisses As a singer, I pass through intol- are displayed. 15 Ribeiro’s short erant situations, so just imag- film “Eu Não Quero Voltar Soz- ine someone who doesn’t have inho” breaks from this mold. this artist status. You don’t see It follows a visually impaired a trans woman, for example, be- teenager named Leo who de- ing a dentist, a doctor, a law- velops a crush on a new friend yer. Trans women still live in a and classmate, Gabriel. Unique marginal place.”14 Beyond their in its approach but universal in clothing choices and presenta- its themes, the film deals with tion of non-binary gender iden- adolescence, young love, crav- tity, Liniker’s lyrics do not shy ing acceptance, and emerging away from romance, and while identity. In approaching the the lyrics of their songs are and theme of homosexuality, the have been universal, Liniker has film makes the matter feel very gone on to collaborate with oth- common place and normal, it er LGBT artists to create music does not seek to scandalize or videos that address and portray over-sexualize the teens or to homosexual love. Today Lini- turn the audience into a per- ker e os Caramelows is touring verse voyeur. The film provides the globe, and for the next four a non-incriminating portrayal of months they are set to perform their budding relationship and in Brazil, Switzerland, Ireland, displays a kiss between the boys. England, the Netherlands, Ger- Beyond the festival circuit, the many, and the United States. film was widely popularized on Another example of a situation YouTube. Despite running con- in which high viewership on trary to the dominant homopho- Youtube led to a fandom that bic ideologies in Brazil, the film crowdfunded the further de- was so beloved by its viewers velopment of queer art is that that a feature length version which took place with the films of the film was created in 2014 of director Daniel Ribeiro. The under the Portuguese title Hoje representation of LGBTQ people Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (which in Brazilian media, as chroni- literally translates to, “Today I cled and analyzed by Brazilian Want to Go Back Alone”) and the scholar Leandro Colling, has English title The Way He Looks. historically depicted LGBT as criminals and even today there 15 Leandro Colling, “Person- exists the refusal to show LGBTQ agens Homossexuais Nas Telenovelas characters as having an intimate Da Rede Globo: Criminosos, Afeta- relationship with anyone; when dos E Heterossexualizados,” Revista Gênero 8, no. 1 (2007): 16, http:// 14 Ibid www.cult.ufba.br/arquivos/textoGene- ro.pdf. Digital Theory 57 The feature was again direct- per, I wish to also note that ed, written, and co-produced these two particular examples by Daniel Ribeiro, and the stars of LGBTQ+ art are just two out of the original short film, Ghil- of that many that exist in Brazil. herme Lobo, Fabio Audi, and Tess There are so many incredible Amorim, returned to their roles. voices continuing to persevere Both Liniker’s music and in light of extreme prejudice Ribeiro’s films are incredibly and violence. It is crucial that important in their represen- we acknowledge the atrocities tation of LGBTQ individuals in that are occurring so that we media. They depict romantic and may move to end them. It would intimate physical relations be- also be an atrocity not to rec- tween people of the same sex in ognize the incredible value that a normalized, non-homophobic these individuals and their cre- manner, and in the context of ative works bring to the world. Brazil this is hugely significant. Although not produced or dis- tributed by a Brazilian conglom- erate such as Globo, these artists and their work have achieved recognition within Brazil and beyond. No digital platform is intrinsically positive or nega- tive in its nature, and all media platforms contain community guidelines, EULAS, and other legal frameworks that permit them to determine what content is “appropriate” and therefore allowed to exist on the platform. They contain algorithms which affect the level of viewership and why certain content is favored over within said algorithms it is not always disclosed. Still, it is likely that without digi- tal platforms such as Youtube and crowdfunding sites such as Catarse, marginalized artists such as Liniker and Ribeiro would not have been able to gain the kind of audiences that they did. In concluding this pa-

58 Digital Theory Works Cited

Colling, Leandro. “Personagens Homossexuais Nas Telenovelas Da Rede Globo: Criminosos, Afetados E Heterossexual- izados.” Revista Gênero 8, no. 1 (2007): 207-22. http:// www.cult.ufba.br/arquivos/textoGenero.pdf. Cowie, Sam. “Violent Deaths of LGBT People in Brazil Hit All-time High.” The Guardian. January 22, 2018. Ac- cessed March 10, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2018/jan/22/brazil-lgbt-violence-deaths-all- time-high-new-research. Dazed. “Liniker Is the Brazilian Soul Musician Whose Love Songs Will Liberate You.” Dazed. August 22, 2018. Ac- cessed March 11, 2019. http://www.dazeddigital.com/ music/article/41051/1/liniker-barros-caramelows- brazil-soul-musician. De Lima, Venício A., and Cristiano Aguiar Lopes. “Rádios Co- munitárias: Coronelismo Eletrônico De Novo Tipo (1999-2004).” Observatorio Da Imprensa 439 (June 26, 2007)http://observatoriodaimprensa.com.br/down- load/Coronelismo_eletronico_de_novo_tipo.pdf. Fonsêca, Daniel. Marco Regulatório Do Sistema De Mídia Brasileiro: Estudo Realizado Para O Monitoramento Da Propriedade Da Mídia. MOM. 2017. http://brazil.mom-rsf.org/fileadmin/ Editorial/Brazil/MOM_Documento_legal_portugues.pdf. Gueiros, Gisela. “The Melting Pot of Brazilian Music.” Natura. January 01, 1970. Accessed March 11, 2019. https://www. naturabrasil.com/blogs/blog-do-brasil/The-Melting- Pot-of-Brazilian-Music. Leal, Victor Nunes. “Coronelismo, Enxada E Voto.” Forensic Magazine, v1949, Xv-Xvi. doi:10.1017/

Digital Theory 59 Hikikomori: Using Weirdos to Consider Local and Transnational Effects of Digital Technology

by Joey Goodman

60 Digital Theory Hikikomori is a Japanese symptoms seems necessary. word derived from the verb hiki, “In 2003, the Japanese which means to move back, and Ministry of Health, La- komoru, which means to come bour and Welfare defined into (Furuhashi et al. 78). The hikikomori as a state in word, in Japanese and in En- which a young person (a) glish, is used as both a noun mainly stays at home, (b) and an adjective (think: alco- cannot or does not en- holic) to describe someone who gage in social activities is chronically reclusive, someone such as going to school who shuts themselves off from or working, (c) has con- friends, family, and often ev- tinued in this state for erything that exists outside a more than 6 months, (d) bedroom or apartment – save for has neither a psychotic “their most imperative bodily pathology nor medium to needs” – for months, commonly lower level mental retar- years on end (Beauchamp-Chat- dation (IQ < 55~60), and el). This severe social withdraw- (e) has no close friends” al was observed in Japan as early (Suwa and Suzuki 192). as the 1970s, but the condition This long definition is signifi- was not named until the 1990s, cant because, despite the com- when it became painfully clear mon association of hikikomori that hikikomori was a growing with internet addiction, exces- cultural phenomenon; today Ja- sive computer usage is not a pan is believed to be home to diagnostic characteristic of the between 500,000 and one mil- condition. This would make lion hikikomori (Suwa and Su- sense since, as mentioned above, zuki 192). Although ostensibly the condition was observed some an occurrence unique to Japan years before personal computer and its own cultural mores, I usage was prevalent; as such, believe the problem of hikiko- “it is clear that the hikikomori mori’s persistence and propaga- phenomenon preceded general tion is inherently technological, Internet usage” (Suwa and Su- and that a close analysis of its zuki 195). The problem, then, evolution will reveal truths not was originally attributed not only about the nature of the con- to technology, but to a cultur- dition, but also about the dialec- al shift that occurred in Japan tical relationship between digital following World War II which technology and society at large. placed outsize priority on ed- In order to closely ex- ucation and corporate success; amine the place of hikikomori this education-obsessed society even within Japan, a clear un- was suspected of forcing chil- derstanding of the condition’s dren into a “single set of values”

Digital Theory 61 from which hikikomori was the 46 percent of the decrease in only escape (Allison 88). As this young men’s participation in cultural trend fortified over the the labor force” (Conti). The fact latter half of the twentieth cen- that a single technology can both tury, the numbers of hikikomori tempt young men away from in Japan continued to compound, participating in the workforce until the problem was so wide- and also allow for their full exit spread that halfway programs from society makes it impossible like New Start began to crop to ignore the ways that technol- up, promising to help hikiko- ogy and modern hermeticism mori recover and reintegrate are related. This observation, with Japanese society (Jones). in turn, inevitably results in Despite the condition’s a discussion about Raymond origins in a time before Internet Williams’s infamous dichoto- usage was commonplace – not to my. The hikikomori problem is mention various plausible the- exceedingly rare in that it seems ories for why Japanese culture to follow the theory of techno- would inevitably result in such logical determinism more close- a population of young men – ly than it follows the theory of I also believe that it would be symptomatic technology. Obvi- impossible for hikikomori to ously, either of these theories of persist or spread without the large-scale cultural interaction ubiquity of digital technolo- with technology is reductive to gy. The internet and all of its a point of near inapplicability, spoils of convenience can enable and the truth of any given tech- a sedentary, reclusive lifestyle, nological advancement almost to say the least; hikikomori always lies somewhere between “use the internet profusely” as both. Furthermore, the use of one group of researchers put it hikikomori – a population large (Beauchamp-Chatel). With just enough to be morally alarming a computer, an internet con- but not large enough to be sta- nection, and a television a hiki- tistically significant, at least as komori can satisfy all of his or far as blanket statements are her own most basic needs and concerned – to make judge- desires, from ordering food, ments about a whole society clothes, and household items would be inherently flawed; online to “filling out tedious however, using such a small and hours” by relying on TV and remarkable population as a ba- video games for entertainment sis for small-scale observation (Jones). In fact, some research- would not prove useless. With ers have suggested that recre- this in mind the power of tech- ational computer use accounts nology to affect culture is made for “somewhere between 23 and scarily clear. Obviously, a group

62 Digital Theory of people who comprise around environment of Japanese and 1% of one country’s population Omani society could reinforce cannot have had any real affect behavior akin to hikikomori” on the advent of any new tech- (Al-adawi et al. 191). A similar nology – it is not the case that a study was published in Poland bunch of hikikomori proclaimed, in 2018. Although the social “We don’t want to go outside!” phenomenon still affects Japan and the technological powers more noticeably than any other that be said, “We will help you!” country, Poland’s hikikomori It is the case, however, that a population has become visible relatively small yet rapidly in- enough that a Polish film de- creasing number of individuals picting the life of a hikikomori were able to use the advent of boy was released in 2011; the each coming digital technology English translation of the ti- to further their own individual tle is Suicide Room (Adamski agendas, eventually comprising 5). This spread to completely an epidemic that was impossible unrelated spheres of the globe to ignore on a national scale. seems to suggest that there is Not only did digital technology’s some global societal truth hid- power to affect social change den behind a problem once be- enable the growth of hikiko- lieved to be localized. The only mori within Japan, but it also common threads among these brought about the spread of the three countries are social pres- condition – which was thought sure put on young men (to some to be caused by cultural shifts extent) and, most significantly, specific to Japan – to developed the increasing ubiquity of dig- countries around the world. ital technology, internet usage. Multiple psychiatric journals Again, technological determin- and academic studies have been ism rears its ugly head as a like- published since the turn of the ly explanation for the cropping millennium which contain cas- up of extremely similar social es studies of individuals around phenomena in largely dissim- the world who exhibit all the ilar locations around the world. essential features of hikikomori. This proliferation found its In 2003, for example, the Inter- way into the Western world as national Journal of Psychiatry well. In the UK the hikikomori in Medicine published a study phenomenon has taken root, titled “Hikikomori, is it a cul- although the word hikikomori ture-reactive or culture-bound is replaced with the acronym syndrome? Nidotherapy and a NEET (Not in Education, Em- clinical vignette from Oman” ployment, Training). The dif- (Al-adawi et al. 191). The study ference between the state of the “speculate[s] that the social UK’s NEETs and the Japanese

Digital Theory 63 hikikomori is strictly nominal. people from all over the world The UKs population of young can discuss anime, or how best NEET men has reached epidem- to minimize the time one must ic levels, forcing Parliament to spent outside his room. Post- take legislative action; they war Japan, clearly, was not as have even appointed a minis- singular a recluse breeding ter for loneliness (Brodie et al.). ground as it once appeared, and Not only did digital technology the fact that whatever ostensibly make it possible for the condi- extremely specific conditions led tions necessary for producing to the first hikikomori in Japan hikikomori syndrome to appear seem to be universally relatable around the world, seemingly at points to that maybe the root random, it also paved the way cause is found in the only thing for peer to peer commiseration each of these countries has in among sufferers of the condition common – digital technology. all around the world. In other In 2018, KKF.org pub- words, what was thought to be lished an international survey an uncommunicable phenom- of loneliness and social isola- enon created from one spe- tion, in which it asked people cific environment was made in the US, the UK, and Japan communicable, so that sud- questions about loneliness and denly it seems impossible that society’s perception of it. Many a condition can remain “cul- statistics published within seem ture-bound” for any length of to hint that Japan may still be time. Hikikomori syndrome has, more likely than other coun- of course, reached the United tries to produce hikikomori; States. However, even more for example, the Japanese were alarming than the mere presence least likely to report using so- of the minority population in cial media (Brodie et al.) Fur- America (since probability seems thermore, Japan had the lowest to state that, given sufficient number of people say that they technology and social pressure, had heard “a lot” about social hikikomori culture will appear isolation within their country, anywhere) is the fact that many despite the fact that Japan is American recluses self-identify where the concept of hikikomori as hikikomori. One teenager who originated. The three countries claims the term said, “I learned agreed unanimously on one of the term hikikomori and re- front: most people in each of alized that was me and that the three countries said that was what I am” (Conti). What’s technology has made it hard- more, online communities have er to spend time with people. been constructed, on places like While it has been made Reddit and 4chan, where young clear that the inception of hiki-

64 Digital Theory komori culture in post-war Ja- internet’s ability to spread the pan was not a result of modern phenomenon once thought to day advanced digital technology, be geographically isolated, the it has also been made clear that growing presence of hikikomori this pre-digital phenomenon syndrome internationally seems seemed to predict some immi- to suggest that global technol- nent truth about the way that ogies effects can quickly move all of the first world would soon from the individual to the na- interface with technology. The tional. “Therefore, we need to internet and digital technologi- consider the possibility that the cal advancement are responsible hikikomori phenomenon which for the continuing presence of emerged in Japan in the 1990s hikikomori culture in Japan, as might be the first sign of a larger well as for the spread of that disturbance in modern society in culture worldwide. Besides the general” (Suwa and Suzuki 198).

Works Cited

Allison, Anne. Millenial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. University of California Press, 2006. Brodie, Mollyann. “Loneliness and Social Isolation in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan: An International Survey.” Kkf.org, 2018. Conti, Allie. “When ‘Going Outside Is Prison’: The World of Amer- ican Hikikomori.” New York Mag, 2019 Furuhashi T, Tsuda H, Ogawa T, Suzuki K, Shimizu M, Teruyama J, et al.État des lieux, points communs et différences entre des jeunes adultes retirants sociaux en France et au Japon (Hikikomori). L’Evolution Psychiatrique (2013) 78(2):249– 66.10.1016/j.evopsy.2013.01.016 Jones, Maggie. “Shutting Themselves In.” 15 Jan. 2006. Sakamoto, Noriyuki, et al. “Hikikomori, is it a Culture-Reactive Or Culture-Bound Syndrome? Nidotherapy and a Clinical Vignette from Oman.” International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, vol. 35, no. 2, 2005, pp. 191-198. ProQuest, https:// search.proquest.com/docview/68717600?accountid=14522. Stip, Emmanuel et al. “Internet Addiction, Hikikomori Syndrome, and the Prodromal Phase of Psychosis” Frontiers in psychi- atry vol. 7 6. 3 Mar. 2016, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00006 Suwa, M & Suzuki, K. (2013). The phenomenon of “hikikomori” (social withdrawal) and the socio-cultural situation in Japan today. Journal of Psychopathology. 19. 191-198.

Digital Theory 65 Asian Resurgence in Western Memetic Culture

by Fong Kuo Asian Resurgence in Western are very difficult to pin to their Memetic Culture sources and original creators. Ever since Richard Daw- Once a meme is created, it is kins proposed the term “meme” released into “disenfranchised in his book The Selfish Gene communities whose sense of (1976), the word has evolved ownership and history is ob- to embody a digital form of re- scured in the digital arena, production, parody, ridicule and buried beneath thousands” of community in the online world. media pieces (Lopez, 165). The The genealogy of online meme anonymous and viral nature of culture has come a long way, memes results in a difficulty to from the crude expansions in link the identity of the creator 4chan’s underbelly to perme- with the message. Therefore, ating mainstream social media, examples used must be taken and influencing elections. Al- with caution to what the cre- though the use of memes has ator’s intent actually is, or lim- traditionally been associated ited to memes that have been with vulgarity and low-brow claimed by professional or per- humor, memes have been adapt- sonal entities. Another problem ed by subcultures and underrep- with literature on meme cul- resented communities to find a ture is the sporadic nature of stronger voice. Asian communi- these online communities. What ties in Western countries such as may be considered relevant in the US and Australia have used memedom may change within this mechanism to promote ra- the time it takes to write this cially-focused new media and paper. Therefore, observations reach out to other members. The on which memes carry the most phenomenon of Memetic Asams1 significance must be made by will be analyzed through exam- eyeballing trends reoccurring inations of viral Asian YouTube across multiple boards and fo- stars, hip-hop label 88rising, rums due to the lack of any quan- and the Facebook meme group titative or statistical authority on “Subtle Asian Traits.” These the dominant meme landscape. online celebrities and commu- Memes are highly cod- nities tell the history of memetic ified pieces of subculture that Asians, representing landmarks from ten years ago, five years Memetic Asian Americans, used here ago, and last year, respectively. for the sake of brevity and simplicity. The difficulties and pro- The term does not include Asian Aus- cesses of researching contem- tralians, who will also be discussed, porary memedom must be first but since the USA has the biggest addressed. First of all, memes amount of Asian migrant populations and digital transnational Asian institu- 1 “Memetic Asams”, short for tions, ASAM will have to suffice Digital Theory 67 rely heavily on exclusion and (Nissenbaum, 493). This creates gatekeeping identities. There- a gatekeeping formula that dif- fore, it is important to under- ferentiates what is a “god-ti- stand how memes interact with er” meme from a “shit-tier” the human psyche before ex- one and is perfect for weeding ploring how they work in the out content that does not di- digital Asian community. Memes rectly pertain to a subculture. are extensions of culture jam- These core tenets of what ming “in which the reappro- makes a meme are optimal for priation of commercial content helping build online commu- produces subversive meanings” nities and identities for Asian (Nissenbaum, 485). Like culture Americans and Asian Austra- jamming, memes also arrive as lians. These underrepresented, “signs and symbols that con- culturally silent and oftentimes stitute a culture’s secret lan- marginalized2 demographics guage” in the form of a popular benefit from meme founda- children’s cartoon figure, or a tions, as the culture-jamming still from a home video gone mentality allows memetic viral that now bear entirely Asams to critique, reuse and new significance (Dery, 1993). weaponize stereotypical Asian However, memes are unique as representations in popular me- they exist in “decentralized and dia. Rapid growth of popular chaotic sphere[s]” while still re- memes allows multi-genera- lying on “intense coordinative tional Asians to identify with work and pervasive mimicry.” specific online jokes pertain- (Knobel, 201) The paradox lies ing to their hybrid culture. in that meme culture has little The foundation and initial to no structure or hierarchy in growth of memetic Asams stem who determines what is popu- from the initial explosion of lar, yet the virality of a meme Asian American YouTube stars, depends on a collective response dating around 2008-2009. These from online communities. It is viral internet icons set the cul- formless in shape, yet well de- tural groundwork for what now fined in identity. The final -im The US has a history of portant tenet of what makes a 2 meme is its exclusive nature. marginalizing Asian migrants, from To engage in meme culture re- the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, quires “understanding of the Japanese Internment, $3000 “license accepted repertoire of a specific to kill” Vincent Chin, and media meme-related subculture,” and stereotyping. In Australia, history of those who improperly use meme using indentured Asian servants or templates are rejected, some- “coolies” permeated the culture into a times with extreme hostility long-withstanding history of subver- sion 68 Digital Theory is considered a “meme”, estab- in a digital dialogue...extending lishing the precedent of absurd- far beyond their own creations” ist humor and hyper-intertex- (Lopez, 158). Higa’s self-paro- tuality that has come to define dy style and use of Asian tropes memes today. Ryan Higa, under encourages a dialogue of how the channel name “Nigahiga,” Asians in the digital community was the flagship Asam You- view themselves, as well as their Tube star. A Hawaii-born Jap- approach to tackling represen- anese-American, Higa spiraled tations in mainstream media. into fame around 2007 with vid- Through branding himself as eos like How to Be A Ninja and a “teriyaki suzuki honda civ- The IPod Human, which earned ic” trainer and speaking with him 3.4 million subscribers, and thick accents, Higa takes these the number one most subscribed classic tropes and makes them to channel on YouTube at the playful and parodical, essen- time. Ryan Higa’s viral explosion tially disarming the power of marks the beginning of an era of these stereotypes. Ryan became Asian virality. In How to Be A Nin- a superstar in his own right, ja, Ryan introduces himself as showcasing to other creators, a ninja master named “Hanate Asian and otherwise, that “once wakuso shiseo tadashite teriyaki you’re on the internet, you don’t suzuki honda civic.” He speaks need to be a tycoon or a rock in a thick, comical accent from star to have a huge impact on East Asia, one that can rival Fu society” (Morozov, 253). Jim- Manchu. In another video, How my Wong, another prominent to Get into Harvard, Ryan teams Asam YouTube figure, also uses up with Asam basketball star these tenets of intertextuality Jeremy Lin to play on the model and self-parodic to spread his minority stereotype. His videos voice. In 2011, Alexandra Wal- represent a digital network of lace, a Caucasian UCLA student, combining independent media posted a rant on YouTube, rant- figures with industry titans such ing about Chinese international as Lin to come together and students speaking “Ching Chong weave a cohesive concept of the Ling Long” and telling them to Asian American image (Lopez learn “American English.” Jim- 2016). Although these videos are my Wong’s response was to take not direct representations of the this video, make a love ballad out traditional image and text meme of it, and speak “in a thick Asian format, their “widely visible on- accent...deriding Wallace’s own line participants” and “richness orientalist rendition” (Balance, in intertextual references” set 138). By remaking the rant into the groundwork in creating me- his own form of interpretation dia that “deliberately participate and ridicule, Wong weaponized

Digital Theory 69 his internet presence and cre- Sean Miyashiro, dedicates itself ated his own response for his to fusing Asian and Western cul- community. The effectiveness tural trends into contemporary of this platform comes from the forms of trap and hip hop mu- internet’s ability to “reinstate an sic. More importantly, 88ris- understanding of race as always ing capitalizes on memes and visible and available to the naked meme culture to spread their eye.” (Nakamura, 205) Content content and raise awareness. creators such as Higa and Wong Their two leading artists, Joji became memes themselves, with and Rich Brian, are intensely their images becoming syn- integrated into meme culture onymous with a subculture of and have nearly abandoned other Asian Americans on the internet, traditional forms of marketing. performing highly textualized Joji, aka George Miller, launched representations of how their de- into stardom on YouTube under mographic is seen in the west- the alias “Filthy Frank,” riding ern world. Instead of trying to the online craze of Asian content permeate mainstream media and creators addressed previously. dominate traditional film and As Filthy Frank, Miller garnered television representations, these a massive cult following, gaining YouTube stars “seized the new- six million followers as of 2019 found agency inherent in social and creating the Harlem Shake media platforms” and ushered in meme. The Harlem Shake con- the trend of meme-based con- sists of a man shaking amidst nectivity (Jung, 2). The signif- a crowd of unimpressed people, icance of these YouTube videos dancing to a Bauer song “Harlem in Asam meme culture does not Shake,” until the beat kicks in necessarily come from their when the entire crowd enters a embodiment of an ideal meme dance frenzy of costumes and paradigm, nor do they even fall bodily contortions. The Harlem under the category of traditional Shake meme spread like wild- memetic media. However, they fire, with thousands of YouTube set the precedent for Asians to tributes rising daily and “rapidly cultivate community through the surpassed the status of a mere internet, leading the way to to- Internet meme and found its way day’s dominant commercialized as a pop culture phenomenon... and popularized meme formats. producing a form of ‘Internet Roughly five years after the dance craze’” (Soha et al., 2016). online explosion of viral Asian In addition to creating the Har- YouTube stars, a lowly hip lem Shake, Filthy Frank’s videos hop studio called 88rising was became famous for their crude, founded in New York City. 88ris- vulgar and existential humor, ing, lead by social media whiz commonly ridiculing hermits

70 Digital Theory and “masses of people who are all the memes and loyal follow- into Japanese culture...often ers of the Filthy Frank channel, called Wapanese” residing on but also recognizes that Miller’s the internet (Stryker, 52). As a new hip hop career is insepara- Japanese man himself operat- ble from his memetic persona. ing in New York and LA, Filthy Joji has become a meme of its Frank’s meme status represent- own, a meme of transition from ed a grotesque look into Asian “a squawking, anti-P.C., anti- media and globalization, as the social nerd with a self-destruc- isolationist themes of Japanese tive streak” to an outrageously youth in his videos carried a popular musical artist (Hsu, 28). massive appeal to young, cynical Of course, Joji’s viral populari- audiences around the world. As ty is also a direct result of Mi- Miller began to retire his Filthy yashiro’s marketing techniques, Frank persona and transition which includes “a professional into music, he immediately meme-maker, who suggest- signed with 88rising, now un- ed synchronizing the music to der the alias of Joji. In October short, repetitive clips” as a re- of 2018, five months prior to this placement for music videos (Hsu, paper, Joji broke history by be- 28). The meme is an especially coming the first Asian artist to effective advertising technique reach the number one spot for because it is subversive; it’s Billboard’s hip hop chart with guerilla marketing tactic feels his debut, Ballads 1. Miyashiro natural and localized, as opposed understood that upon signing to the forced transformational Joji, he would be utilizing the ad techniques that viewers are “massive infrastructure built so aware of today. In addition, around the memesphere that’s since memes spread sporadically driven by media’s insatiable de- and are seemingly uncitable, an sire to be first to market with the image or video of Joji originated next big viral craze.” (Stryker, from Miyashiro and his ad team 160) Joji’s success came with the can become anonymous within benefit of his six million fans a few iterations of shares, and and memers who were sworn appear as innocuous as a casual followers of Miller before he ever friend sharing a meme about a put out a song. Furthermore, as well-known internet icon. What much as Joji’s somber lyricism also makes 88rising exciting is and tone seem detached from its “up-to-the-nanosecond ap- his previously crude and vulgar preciation of hip hop’s youth- Filthy Frank persona, the cover ful, internet-driven trends” of Ballads 1 shows Filthy Frank’s and the celebration of “the free trademark curling smile. The flow of the internet” in which cover not only pays tribute to boundaries are easily broken in

Digital Theory 71 an anonymous landscape (Hsu, on creating an endless stream 28). Rich Brian, a fellow mem- of memes related to the unique ber of 88rising and a Chinese experiences of being a first or hip hop icon, also rode trends second-generation Asian immi- of memedom in his upbringing. grant. What distinguishes Sub- In fact, Rich Brian learned how tle Asian Traits is that it is run to speak English through You- by a group of Melbourne-based Tube videos (very possibly with high school students to address some of nigahiga’s content) and “the Asian-Australian expe- started to establish his internet rience, from cultural clashes fame through the seven-sec- with parents and the sanctity of ond video app, Vine. Rich Brian’s bubble milk tea.” (Kwai) With- popularity also relied heavily on in two months of the group’s his memes such as his first hit creation, over a million Face- “Dat Stick,” which struck the book users joined, consisting internet as a “well-executed mostly of Asian Americans and novelty hit” of an Asian man Asian Canadians. Quickly, the aggressively using Black slurs group expanded into spinoffs in traditional trap music pro- from the Netherlands, New duction (Hsu, 28). Much like the Zealand, Hong Kong, and the viral YouTube stars, these art- UK (Kwai). This shows that the ists under 88rising thrive under cultural struggles of Asian mi- the internet-memedom com- grants can originate from any plex that circumvent many of of the represented countries and the “struggles historically faced still resonate across differing by Asian Americans in more national landscapes. Some pop- traditional media industries.” ular memes on the site consist of (Lopez, 158) The internet has a “galaxy brain” meme, where helped foster an environment four levels of intelligence are that allows, put by Joji himself, mapped by four images of ex- “elements of different expe- panding brains, with the final riences [to come] together to brain expanding into an image support and uplift cultures that of the milky way galaxy, as if the don’t get the limelight they de- person has reached maximum serve” (Smith-Strickland, 45). knowledge. The four brains are Beyond virality and marketing captioned by “saying your Asian strategies, memes have fur- name to your Starbucks baris- thered memetic Asians into ta,” “spelling out your name,” building communities and form- “intentionally allowing your ing a sense of solidarity and ca- barista to butcher your name,” maraderie. The Facebook group and “making up a generic white “Subtle Asian Traits,” formed name.” The meme garnered tens in September of 2018, focuses of thousands of likes within a

72 Digital Theory few hours and plays on some own voice as opposed to pas- of the minor inconveniences of sively consuming and accepting navigating an English speaking Asian depictions in mainstream society with a foreign name. An- media, these memetic Asams other meme pictures a cartoon have created their own image man sweating as he chooses and shaped a humorous identity. between “my ethnicity,” “my The members of Subtle Asian hometown,” and “that’s racist” Traits (and memers in general) when someone asks him “where demonstrate active citizen par- are you REALLY from?” This ticipation in normative media, as platform has allowed a means thousands of online users create, for members of the Asian di- cycle, moderate and reference asporic experience to create their own content. This sudden their own content and contrib- level of participation and rapid ute to the global cyberspace. expansion, as indicated by the The upbringing experience of group’s exponential growth rate, second-generational Asians has signifies a new generation of become associated with strict embracing and communicating tiger-parents, bicultural con- through online forums. One of fusion, and subtle stereotyping the shortcomings of groups like that usually involves excellence Subtle Asian Traits, however, in musical performance and ac- is the gatekeeping mechanism. ademia. In cyberspace, identify- The group is rampant with jokes ing with this culture and set of and memes related to Eastern beliefs can come in “the simple Asian languages and customs act of sharing a meme and being specifically tied to Korean, Jap- able to decode its positions” of anese, Chinese and Vietnamese an inclusive community (Kwai). cultures. The lack of Southern In addition, Asian Americans and Southeast Asian memes can have statistically engaged with “inadvertently proliferate an smartphones, new media ad- ahistorical homogenization of aptations, and online video the diasporic experience.” (Mao) consumption at rates that far The domination of Eastern Asian eclipse other racial groups (Niel- cultures in conversations about sen Company, 2013). This exten- the “Asian Diaspora” can lead sive amount of media literacy in to subdivisions and representa- the Memetic Asam community tional struggles within the ne- has led these digital users to be- tizens. In the process of digital come closer to “sophisticated Asians using “the internet to citizens rather than sophisti- rediscover their own culture,” cated consumers.” (Lewis and they may also discover, “dare Jhally, 109) By participating in we say it, their own national the content and cultivating their bigotry.” (Morozov, 247) De-

Digital Theory 73 spite this, due to the freshness global examples of digitally and explosive popularity of organized reform appear. The these new online communi- speed and microsecond trends of ties, the power of Subtle Asian what is dominant and culturally Traits and the group mentality relevant makes the digital globe of sharing, creating open spac- challenging to research and stay es, and subverting mainstream updated. Therefore, it is import- media monopoly is difficult not ant to recognize these trends as to seem utopian at the moment. they develop and try to frame Through these examinations of them with their digital prede- commercial, social and commu- cessors, and how a community nal applications of the meme like the memetic Asians initially format and culture, the me- began to grow. The historical, metic Asian community can be technological and sociopolitical understood and contextualized framework in which one can un- in the broader, general expan- derstand memetic Asians makes sion of the internet itself. Every their success fascinating and year larger communities, more the future of this contemporary significant calls to action, and emergence worth scrutinizing.

Works Cited

Balance, Christine Bacareza. “How It Feels to Be Viral Me: Affective Labor and Asian American YouTube Performance.” Wom- en’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1/2, 2012, pp. 138–152. Dawkins, Clinton Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, 1976. Dery, Mark. Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs. Open Media, 1993. Knobel M. and Lankshear C. “Online memes, affinities and cultural production”, Knobel M and Lankshear C (eds) A New Lit- eracies Sampler, New York, Peter Lang, 2007, pp. 199–227. Jung, Davis, “How New Media Gave Me a Voice.” http: //asian- filmfestla. org/2011 / films-events/c3-conference-for-cre- ative-content/how-new media-gave-me-a-voice/, 2011. Higa, Ryan, creator. How To Be Ninja. YouTube, nigahiga, 25 July 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdLCEwEFCMU. Hsu, Hua. “Hip-Hop’s New Frontier.” The New Yorker, 2018, p. 28. Lewis, Justin, and Sut Jhally. “The Struggle Over Media Literacy.” Journal of Communication, vol. 48, no. 1, 1998, pp. 109–120. Lin, Jeremy, creator. How to Get into Harvard Ft. Ryan Higa.

74 Digital Theory YouTube, jlin7, 4 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=- 9yVnKQNj58. Lopez, Lori Kido. Asian American Media Activism: Fighting for Cultural Citizenship. New York, New York University Press, 2016 Lopez, Lori Kido. “Asian America Gone Viral: A Genealogy of Asian American YouTubers and Memes.” The Routledge Com- panion to Asian American Media, Routledge, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 157–169. Mao, Frances. “Subtle Asian Traits: When Memes Become a Dias- pora Phenomenon.” BBC News, BBC, 19 Dec. 2018, www. bbc.com/news/world-australia-46394931. Nakamura, Lisa. “Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet”. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, 2008. Nielsen Company. “Significant, Sophisticated, and Savvy: The Asian American Consumer”, New York, The Nielsen Com- pany, 2013. Nissenbaum, Asaf, and Limor Shifman. “Internet Memes as Con- tested Cultural Capital: The Case of 4chan’s /b/ Board.” New Media & Society, vol. 19, no. 4, 2017, pp. 483–501. Smith-Strickland, Stephanie. “Creating Their Own Spotlight.” Billboard, vol. 130, no. 22, 2018, pp. 44–45. Soha, Michael, and Zachary J. McDowell. “Monetizing a Meme: YouTube, Content ID, and the Harlem Shake.” Social Media + Society, 2016. Stryker, Cole. Epic Win for Anonymous : How 4chan’s Army Con- quered the Web. 1st ed., Overlook Duckworth, 2011. Wong, Jimmy, creator. Ching Chong! Asians in the Library Song (Response to UCLA’s Alexandra Wallace). YouTube, Jimmy Wong, 2 Nov. 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUkik- VD-8Iw.

Digital Theory 75 Works Cited Balance, Christine Bacareza. “How It Feels to Be Viral Me: Affective Labor and Asian American YouTube Perfor- mance.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1/2, 2012, pp. 138–152. Dawkins, Clinton Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, 1976. Dery, Mark. Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs. Open Media, 1993. Knobel M. and Lankshear C. “Online memes, affinities and cultural production”, Knobel M and Lankshear C (eds) A New Literacies Sampler, New York, Peter Lang, 2007, pp. 199–227. Jung, Davis, “How New Media Gave Me a Voice.” http: // asianfilmfestla. org/2011 / films-events/c3-confer- ence-for-creative-content/how-new media-gave-me- a-voice/, 2011. Higa, Ryan, creator. How To Be Ninja. YouTube, nigahiga, 25 July 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdLCEwEFCMU. Hsu, Hua. “Hip-Hop’s New Frontier.” The New Yorker, 2018, p. 28. Lewis, Justin, and Sut Jhally. “The Struggle Over Media Litera- cy.” Journal of Communication, vol. 48, no. 1, 1998, pp. 109–120. Lin, Jeremy, creator. How to Get into Harvard Ft. Ryan Higa. YouTube, jlin7, 4 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=-9yVnKQNj58. Lopez, Lori Kido. Asian American Media Activism: Fighting for Cultural Citizenship. New York, New York University Press, 2016 Lopez, Lori Kido. “Asian America Gone Viral: A Genealogy of Asian American YouTubers and Memes.” The Routledge Companion to Asian American Media, Routledge, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 157–169. Mao, Frances. “Subtle Asian Traits: When Memes Become a Diaspora Phenomenon.” BBC News, BBC, 19 Dec. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46394931.

Nakamura, Lisa. “Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Inter- net”. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, 2008.

76 Digital Theory cultural consumption theory Are you Shining Just for Me? An Analysis of La La Land’s Spatial Imagery

by Elizabeth Cook My introduction to jazz community, as the use of ap- occurred in my father’s car. Trips propriation rather than appre- to school and the grocery store ciation allows dominant voices included Louis Armstrong’s and communities to persevere. A “Mood Indigo” and Bill Evans’ recent example of hegemonic di- “Young and Foolish.” Conversa- alogue occurs in La La Land (dir: tion was sparse and through the Damien Chazelle, 2016), a film brass section or piano solos, the that swept awards season and car transformed into a vessel: a received much critical acclaim. place for fundamentally differ- The spotlight in this movie ent people to experience varying focused primarily on a white, emotions and perspectives. This heterosexual couple, ignoring is still the major form of dialogue the inherently Black history and between my father and me, as culture attached to the main we understand each other best ‘jazz’ aesthetic. Furthermore, through music. Nonetheless, the the spaces for jazz performance primary dialogue presented in within the film offer examples my father’s car-coffeehouse in- of gender and racial imbalance, volved male voices, not female. which contrasts to the Isla Vis- I listened to far more male jazz ta community and reinforces musicians than female, a fact I white, male perspectives. The did not notice until much lat- primary setting of La La Land1 er. This observation—though is Los Angeles, despite the fact small and seemingly innocu- that this location does not rank ous—raised several questions amongst historical landmarks for me: Where were the female for jazz music. The main jazz jazz singers? Why had I heard landmark mentioned in the film so little of their music? These is Paris, but this locale becomes questions manifested my main a location of white, middle-class areas of passion and study: is- female empowerment, co-opt- sues of representation, equitable ing the Parisian history of Black, opportunities, and gatekeeping lower-class women performers. within art and entertainment. Moreover, the film features cer- A severe lack of diverse, main- tain African principles of jazz2— stream representation and ad- namely call and response and equate support pervades every improvisation—only to com- industry, whether in discrimi- plement the white, male ego of nation of women in science and Horowitz, J. (Producer). technology or a lack of equal 1 Chazelle, D. (Director). (2016). La La roles for women in Hollywood. Land [Motion Picture]. USA: Lions- Lack of comprehensive rep- gate. resentation ties into a lack of adequate respect for space and 2 Thompson, Robert F., Afri- can Art in Motion, p. 27 Cultural Consumption Theory 79 the main character, erasing the the racial undertones of their aspect of community. Analysis jazz field trip, the conversation of this media explores questions involves gender discrepancies, of racial and gender dynamics notably through Sebastian’s within artistic presentation, penchant for mansplaining specifically in conversation with jazz to Mia. Even on YouTube, the spaces that artists inhabit. the clip3 of this conversation is More than anything, it forces the titled “Sebastian explains jazz viewer to consider: What would to Mia,” placing him in a po- art look like when spaces are in- sition of power even from an clusive and historically accurate? innocent internet search. He The historical context of jazz starts his explanation by stating: first emerges in conversation between Mia (Emma Stone), a “I just feel like people, when struggling actress-barista, and they say that they, you know, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dif- ‘hate jazz,’ they just- they ficult, chronically unemployed don’t have context, they don’t jazz pianist. The two convene know where it comes from. at The Lighthouse Cafe, a his- Jazz was born in a little flop- toric jazz spot, and represent house in New Orleans, people two different, but canonical- were crammed in there, they ly white, perspectives on jazz spoke five different languages, music. Mia “hates jazz” and they couldn’t talk to each oth- refers to it as “elevator music” er, and the only way they could that people normally talk over communicate was with jazz.” at parties, while Sebastian holds an obsession with jazz based on Though the statement carries how fiercely he believes jazz is some accuracy, his description “dying.” In the image on pg. ignores a fundamental fact: the 82, these perspectives become people “crammed in there,” physical as seen through Se- were primarily African slaves bastian’s concerned expression brought to New Orleans against and Mia’s pleasant, passing en- their will4. This is important be- gagement. White skin and white cause the first recorded instance clothing creates a heavenly glow of jazz—documented by Benja- around the two, offset by the darker complexions and col- Sabine. (2017, August 2). La or palettes in the background. 3 La Land 2017 - Sebastian explains They congregate as the only two jazz to Mia. [Video file]. Retrieved white people in a black commu- from https://www.youtube.com/ nal space, basking in black art watch?v=eKz5Hida8n4. and culture with intentions to ignore it or ‘save’ it. Aside from 4 Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz, p. 7 80 Cultural Consumption Theory min Latrobe5—was actually in the lines. This does not mean Congo Square, a designated area white people cannot enjoy or for slaves to sing, dance, and partake in jazz; however, given express themselves creatively. the origins of the art form, a cer- Substituting that history for a tain amount of knowledge and “flophouse” full of “people” context is necessary. An exam- ignores the specific racial and ple of proper acknowledgement spatial aspects of the origins of occurs in the Ben Rosenblum jazz performance. These artists Trio, who introduce the his- “turned segregation into con- torical and technical context of gregation,”6 marking their art each song they perform, even if as an expression of resilience, they add ‘their own spin7 on it.’ rebellion, and perseverance. All Furthermore, Sebastian follows of this is lost under the guise of this history lesson with pas- simply ‘communicating.’ Sebas- sionate pleas about “what’s at tian continues his mansplana- stake”—a phrase he utilizes tion by emphasizing the tech- when discussing jazz perfor- nique and teamwork of the black mance. Each of these state- performers onstage. The impro- ments, though meant with visation and call and response consideration, evoke white sav- principles utilized by the mu- iorism and appropriation. The sicians on-stage is impressive, imagery of a white, male pioneer but the camera shots focus solely or savior in jazz appears often, on the instruments, cutting the especially in discussion with faces behind the music out of club segregation and the ‘mob the shot. Instead, the viewers plantation’ system8 observed in absorb Sebastian’s narration as Chicago. This system created the saxophone player “hijacks options for Black musicians to the song,” while the pianist maintain steady work, but also “rearranges” the melodies. The offered their bodies as property emphasis on community and for ownership and appropriation collaboration is lost through the in exchange. D.J. Travis notes visual exclusion of the talent- that mobster Ralph Capone gave ed men behind the instruments Lucius “Lucky” Millinder a full- and an auditory focus on one, time position at the Cotton Club sole perspective of the music—a in Chicago, under one condi- white, male one. In addition, the tion9: “...we’re going to keep light frames Sebastian and Mia, 7 Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse,Ben leaving the black musicians to Rosenblum Trio. 13 Jan 2019. find their own space between 8 Travis, D.J. The Jazz Slave 5 Ibid, p. 3 Masters, p. 48 6 Lipsitz, George. Black Spa- 9 Travis, D.J. The Jazz Slave tial Imagery, p. 52 Masters, p. 40 Cultural Consumption Theory 81 you boys working regularly, but ical control of the space and its you can’t work for nobody but inhabitants creates an unsettling us.” Jazz in the Windy City pro- image. This unease amplifies vided an opportunity for white when viewers find out at the end mobsters to profit from Black of the film that he achieved that jazz musicians. Money kept the goal: his own self-titled club jazz plantation system afloat in (“Seb’s”). Onstage, Sebastian Chicago, maintained via bribery introduces the pianist, stipulat- of black bouncers, agreement of ing that he’s “a little too good on ownership between club owners piano, so good he’s gonna own in Chicago or elsewhere, and the this place if I’m not careful, Kh- threat of violence or unemploy- ire Tyler.”10 This comment re- ment. Without proper manage- ceives warm applause, perceived ment, the Black musicians were as a harmless complement of completely at the mercy of the Khire Tyler’s talent. However, white club owners, who sus- the context of his ownership pended pay and utilized force status dilutes Seb’s ‘harmless’ if terms were violated. In this intentions through a lens of sys- clip, Sebastian shares his de- temic racism, as he represents sire to own a jazz club; though “forces that turn white privi- not an exact replica of the mob 10 Valdez Vasquez, Omar. plantation model, his desire (2017, June 29). La La Land HD echoes many of the same racial (2016) - epilogue - part 1. [Video file]. and spatial concerns. As a white Retrieved from https://www.youtube. ‘owner,’ his creative and phys- com/watch?v=MWpLPXqa_L8. 82 Cultural Consumption Theory lege and power into property.”11 posits them as intruders in a One of the glaring discrepancies space that is not meant for them. between the fantasy onscreen They act as owners, not guests. and reality onstage was the dis- Once in The Messengers, Se- tribution of spotlight. We watch bastian forfeits the improvi- Sebastian perform in a group sation in favor of more solos twice: the first at the Light- and spotlight. He utilizes the house Cafe—where he kindly principle of call and response, mansplained jazz to Mia—and but again it is not genuine. The the second at a gig with a band bask of the spotlight is not for he begrudgingly joined, The “authentic” jazz performance, Messengers. The Lighthouse but an egotistical interpreta- Cafe scene involves call and re- tion. These tendencies contrast sponse and improvisation—not the “How to Play a Call and Re- between Sebastian and his fel- low, Black quartet members— but between himself and Mia, the only two white people in the space. The camera pans quickly between them as they receive equal amounts of spotlight on stage and on the dance floor for their quick fingers and feet. As the intensity of the song builds, sponse Solo” video,13 which ar- Sebastian raises his body off the gues musicians should “keep it piano bench to emphasize his simple” to ensure the dialogue passion while Mia dances a solo between instruments or band in a sea of elderly Black cou- members is clean and easily ples. The two inhabit the space transmitted. The space in which to celebrate their love and in- they perform is dominated by dividual talent, rather than to lights, back-up dancers, and recognize the community that young, white patrons—all flash graciously offered them access. and no substance. The com- Historically, Black people were munity formed through these forced to “take places”12 to re- ‘concerts’ is not based in jazz inforce agency, and invasion of appreciation; the performance these claimed places enforces elements serve to bolster pop distrust and white dominance. star status rather than appre- Mia and Sebastian’s behavior 13 Howcast (2013, August 6). 11 Lipsitz, George. Black Spa- How to Play a Call and Response tial Imagery, p. 52 Solo. [Video File]. Retrieved from 12 Lipsitz, George. Black Spa- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k- tial Imagery, p. 52 jLbizotH4U. Gauchospace. Cultural Consumption Theory 83 ciate the simple beauty of jazz. The spaces where jazz performances occur in La La Land differ tremendously from the communal spaces I experience in Isla Vista. Comparisons between the spaces span across demo- graphics and aesthetics. The teacher in La La Land is Sebas- tian, a white, cisgender straight man who benefits from every parts, versus the inclusive light- possible privilege—including ing for the bebop group14. An black creative labor. The pro- important aspect of the latter fessors in Isla Vista spaces carry photo is the center spot occupied multiple faces, voices, and expe- by the lead black female vocal- riences: Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, Ben ist, a visual reminder of black Rosenblum, Stephanie Trick, and women pioneered these spaces. Morganfield Burnett, to name a The communities formed at few. Each performer integrated Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse represent historical knowledge and deep unity and appreciation, rath- respect into their performances er than intrusion. The crowds and created a dialogue between were far more heterogenous at the artist and audience, not a JCC and involved collaborative monologue. Their performances learning rather than “jazzolo- also function as homages, es- gy”15 lessons. Though Isla Vista pecially in comparison to the is not a stereotypically urban blatant quest for glory displayed space, it represents modernity by Sebastian. Furthermore, the through a strong community. spotlight discrepancy between The demographics across these the two images below illustrates coffeeshops included ethnici- a key difference: the sole focus ty, sexuality, ability, age, re- on Sebastian (Image below), ligion, and marital status; this which blurs his black counter- demonstrates that jazz can be accessible while still honoring its traditions. A key argument made by Keith (John Legend), one of Sebastian’s band mates,

14 Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse,Bo - plicity 1 March 2019. 15 Travis, D.J. The Autobiog- raphy of Black Jazz: You Are Going to Be More Than Me, p. 70 84 Cultural Consumption Theory is that “jazz is about the fu- of white dreams. Mia’s migra- ture!” This statement is remi- tion echoes the movement of niscent of a phrase used by white her female predecessors, as the musicians—“forward-looking move from one city to the next music,”16 —in Chicago to dis- represents “greater opportuni- tinguish their sound from their ty”18 and empowerment. How- black peers. Jazz music deserves ever, Mia’s successful soiree in prominence for years to come, but Paris also warrants a historical its roots must be acknowledged. context. Black musicians trav- Recognition of history within eled to Paris due to World War certain practices and spaces en- I, specifically in groups like Lt. courages communal respect, a James Reese Europe’s military trait the Isla Vista community band, a brass band that traveled should always work to improve. all around France to perform At the end of the film, the audi- for a variety of soldiers19. Many ence watches as the fantasies of of these musicians returned each character come to fruition: to France postwar and formed Mia becomes an international a Black jazz epicenter within movie star and Sebastian op- Montmartre, an area in lower erates a high-class jazz club. Paris that became an explosion However, in order to achieve of rhythm, culture, and com- these dreams, the two separate: munity. In Paris, Black musi- Mia leaves for Paris, a historical cians, dancers, and performers site of female empowerment, —especially black women—re- while Sebastian remains in started their careers with a sense Los Angeles. Self-discovery in of agency, often venturing into conversation with career suc- club ownership. Though the cess plays a huge role in Mia’s representations of Black wom- journey. Meanwhile, Los An- en in France involved fetishi- geles represents an insulation zation through colonialism, of male ego and holds no true female performers flipped the roots for jazz, creating a re- colonizer “male gaze”20 into an flection of Sebastian’s persona. avenue of erotic empowerment Los Angeles is an urban place and agency. Much like female overrun by whiteness; it does blues singers like Bessie Smith, not hold the same promise for black women reclaimed identity Black, brown, and queer power and sexual autonomy through 17 like the “new hope” in spaces 18 Jones, L. Blues People: The like Harlem. Instead, Los Ange- City, p. 95 les represents wish fulfillment 19 Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, PPT 7 16 Lyttelton, Humphrey. The Feb 2019. Best of Jazz: The Chicagoans, p. 153 20 Mulvey, Laura, Visual Cine- 17 Locke, Alain, Harlem, p. 629 ma and Narrative Pleasure, p. 62 Cultural Consumption Theory 85 migration. The motif of travel propriation, and the importance represents agency, as “sexual- of historical contexts. Prop- ity and travel provided the most er acknowledgement of Black tangible sense of freedom.”21 An spaces and influence is not only excellent example of this suc- important, but also necessary cess is Josephine Baker22, a Black given the centuries of oppression female actress whose opportu- enacted upon communities of nities in the United States were color. Despite these obstacles, limited to negative portrayals black artists persevered and of Black women in blackface or “turned sites of containment exaggerated, ugly comic relief. and confinement into spaces of In Paris, Baker pivoted her ca- creativity and community mak- reer through erotic dancing and ing.”24 This radical subversion rose to international stardom. deserves recognition and re- Given this history, it is import- spect, especially in spaces tied ant to acknowledge how Mia’s to black art borne out of resis- whiteness eases her navigation tance. Unfortunately, modern of success, especially in Holly- spaces praise Black bodies first wood. Transnationalism does and foremost for consumption, not hold the same impact for not compensation. Though Black Mia, a white woman, as it held artists remain the creators of for Josephine Baker in the 1920s. popular culture, they rarely re- Baker formed her new identity ceive adequate credit. Even the out of necessity and a desire for name “La La Land” alludes to a agency, whereas Mia’s trans- fantasy built by and for those national trip solely bolstered who can afford to inhabit the her class and job status. Her space. White people created privilege of whiteness spared these divisions and hurdles for her from the “politics of ne- black communities; therefore, to gotiating race and gender,”23 not acknowledge the impact of a burden still shouldered by unapologetically black art forms countless women in the enter- is to erase a vital part of history. tainment industry who exist at It is an act of violence, negli- the intersection of race, class, gence, and privilege all at once. sexuality, ability and more. La La Land offers an important lesson surrounding homage, ap- 21 Davis, Angela, Here Comes My Train, p. 67 22 Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, PPT 5 Feb 2019. 23 Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, PPT 5 24 Lipsitz, George. Black Spa- Feb 2019. tial Imagery, p. 53 86 Cultural Consumption Theory Works Cited

Davis, Angela. (1998). Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. Pan- theon Books. Gioia, Ted. (1997). The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford UP. Horowitz, J. (Producer). Chazelle, D. (Director). (2016). La La Land [Motion Picture]. USA: Lionsgate. Howcast (2013, August 6). How to Play a Call and Response Solo. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjL- bizotH4U. Gauchospace. Jones, Leroi. (1963). Blues People: Negro Music in White Ameri- ca. William and Morrow Publishing Company, Inc. Lipsitz, George. (2011). How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. viii, 310. Locke, Alain. (1925). Harlem. Survey Graphic, Vol. 6, No. 6: 628- 630. Lyttelton, Humphrey. (1999). Sabine. (2017, August 2). La La Land 2017 - Sebastian explains jazz to Mia. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=eKz5Hida8n4. Stewart, Jeffrey. PPT 5 Feb 2019. Stewart, Jeffrey. PPT 7 Feb 2019. Thompson, Robert F. (1978). African Art in Motion. University of California Press. Travis, Dempsey J. (1983). The Autobiography of Black Jazz: You Are Going to Be More Than Me. Urban Research Press/ Urban Research Institute, Inc. Travis, Dempsey J. (1997). The Jazz Slave Masters. Partners Pub- lishing Co. Cook 12 The Best of Jazz: Basin Street to Har- lem: Jazz Masters and Master Pieces, 1917-1930. Robson Books. Valdez Vasquez, Omar. (2017, June 29). La La Land HD (2016) - epilogue - part 1. [Video file]. Retrieved from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWpLPXqa_L8. Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse, Ben Rosenblum Trio. 13 Jan 2019. Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse, Morganfield Burnett. 1 Feb 2019. Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse, Stephanie Trick. 20 Feb 2019. Jeffrey’s Coffeehouse, Boplicity 1 March 2019.

Cultural Consumption Theory 87 Delivering Identity in a Post-Colonial Era: The Influence of Bengali Modernism and the Ray Family Heritage on the Reception and World Prmiere of Pather Panchali (1955)

by Kai Glick

88 Cultural Consumption Theory Part 1: Critical Acclaim and of Calcutta only after it had re- Misconceptions, Introducing ceived awards abroad (Basu). As the Undertow Robinson explains, the film was Satyajit Ray’s debut film, received warmly even before it Pather Panchali (1955), was the garnered critical acclaim from first Indian film to make a major Western circuits, becoming a box impact on the arthouse circuit, office hit a few weeks after its proceeding to enjoy a long and premiere in south Calcutta and celebrated run towards cinemat- remaining a massive hit for the ic notoriety and high critical ac- six weeks it was able to show claim in markets both domestic (Robinson 90). The limiting fac- and abroad after its world pre- tor in this first domestic run, as miere at the Museum of Mod- Ray himself recalled, was the ern Art. After its initial MoMA advanced booking of the theater screening in May 1955, the film for the screening of another film, went on to carve a unique path Insaniyat (1955), by S.S. Vasan. to the Cannes Film Festival in For just as much as the film was 1956, where it was nominated being picked up and admired for the Palme d’Or and won the in Western arthouse circles, it OCIC Award and the Best Human was also being celebrated locally Document Award (to this day, with the same enthusiasm and a category that has only ever appreciation of its greatness. It been given to that film). Soon is interesting to consider where after its premiere and circula- these misconceptions surround- tion, Western critics praised the ing reception and domestic suc- film for its stunning cinematog- cess originated. Moreoever, the raphy and humanistic appeal as prevalence of this myth might it went on to win other awards in actually point towards the subtle 1958, such as the BAFTA Award workings of a post-colonial un- for Best Film and the Nation- dertow, tangled with a residual al Board of Review Award for strain of Orientalist thinking Best Foreign Language Film that was enshrined in the co- (Basu). But despite this well lonial project’s need for justifi- documented track record of the cation and perpetual substantia- film’s global success in arthouse tion through elements lingering circles, Ray biographer Andrew in the structures and institu- Robinson and scholars like Dilip tions of the contemporary era. Basu of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center at UC Santa Part 2: MoMA’s Pedagogy and Cruz have identified a common Louis Althusser on Ideology misconception surrounding the Borrowing Louis Al- film, as generally assumed to be thusser’s idea of a cultural ISA, appreciated in Ray’s hometown I want to return to the MoMA

Cultural Consumption Theory 89 reception in May 1955, using the writes in, “Ideology and Ideolog- idea of an ideological state ap- ical State Apparatuses,” a materi- paratus as a framework to model alist understanding of ideology the hegemonic reproduction of (an approach which looks at distinction, especially in regards ideology as something that is to what is perceived as high art practical rather than simply the in the realm of the modern West. product of misinformation) is Understanding fully the diffi- essential in unpacking its func- culty of a comparison like this, tion: “Ideology does not exist in and all the intricacies that in- the ‘world of ideas’ conceived tersect to create the tangled web as a ‘spiritual world’. Ideology of influences which inform an exists in institutions and the institution of this cultural mag- practices specific to them. We nitude, I would like to try to un- are even tempted to say, more derscore the parallel currents of precisely: ideology exists in ap- Orientalism and residual colonial paratuses and the practices specific valuation that can be identified to them” (Althusser). Through throughout the story of the 1955 this framework of locating the world premiere. In the MoMA’s materiality and resulting in- online mission statement as of tentionality found within these 2018, the institution’s commit- sites of ideology, I believe we ment to education is made clear: can better ground ourselves in “[D]ocumenting a permanent looking at the MoMA premiere. collection of the highest order With education in mind that reflects the vitality, com- and aspirations of the highest plexity and unfolding patterns of order, the MoMA was to pres- modern and contemporary art; ent this newly opened nation to by presenting exhibitions and the Western public and in effect, educational programs of unparal- usher them into the modern era. leled significance” (Bontecou). It That is how Edgar J. Kaufmann, is from this place of teaching, Jr., architecture and art histo- of being at the forefront of the ry professor at Columbia Uni- modern—the largest collect- versity, found himself in India ing institution—that the sto- preparing for the exhibition ry of Pather Panchali found its entitled, Textiles and Ornamental way into the Western cultural Arts of India (Hoffman). On this fold. Having recently broken trip, he saw portions of Ray’s through in its independence work in progress , The Story of movement in 1947 and becoming Apu and Durga, which as he re- the world’s largest democracy ported back to the museum, was overnight, India was the sub- something that caught his eye ject of increased interest from and was worth keeping up with. Western markets. As Althusser Months later, originally on loca-

90 Cultural Consumption Theory tion in Calcutta for scouting of or concepts, that is, the words, his new filmThe Man Who Would that are available to name visible Be King (1975), established Amer- things, and which are, as it were, ican film director John Huston programmes for perception. A heard of Ray’s work and was work of art has meaning and inter- shown a half-hour rough cut of est only for someone who possess- the richest visual sequences (an es the cultural competence, that is, audition tape of sorts), includ- the code, into which it is encoded. ing the infamous train scene in What this brilliantly addresses is the Kaash field. Interestingly, that the capacity to understand Huston’s initial response was and see (even when applied to one filled almost equally by a an art like film) is directly cor- sort of distanced skepticism as related to the ability one has it was with immense promise: to decode the cultural ciphers “A grim and serious piece of embed within a text. A cultural filmmaking, which should go cachet is developed on which down well in the West” (Basu). the works are either understood, valued, and praised by elite taste, Part 3: Weighted Civility and or excluded from the picture Pierre Bourdieu on Taste Cul- entirely through arbitration. tures It is in consideration of this The underlying sense of unique balance– between ar- weighted civility, seen almost as bitration and exposure—that a bar of entry into this cultural the case of Pather Panchali can West, could be heard echoing be looked at through the en- in the last few words of Hus- ablement and granting of light ton’s phrasing, bringing with it by a Western cultural fold. It a sense beyond an assessment was through the Huston report of taste cultures, but rather that and the good words put in by of an assertion of a presupposed Kaufmann, that in May 1955, Western refinement. As Bour- hosted by Monroe Wheeler the dieu discusses in the introduc- MoMA’s Director of Exhibitions tion to“Distinction: A Social Cri- and Publications, the film was tique of the Judgement of Taste”: first screened to the general Consumption is, in this case, public. Due to deadline com- a stage in a process of com- plications, the film was screened munication, that is, an act of without English subtitles and deciphering, decoding, which incredibly enough, still land- presupposes practical or explicit ed to a hugely positive recep- mastery of a cipher or code. In tion (Hoffman).Without un- a sense, one can say that the derstanding a lick of Bengali, capacity to see (voir) is a func- critics raved about Pather Pan- tion of the knowledge (savoir), chali’s humanistic impact, and

Cultural Consumption Theory 91 the visual beauty of the film ern influence. The reason Ba- caught fire and began hitting nerjee’s widow even gave Ray the festival circuit. It should be the movie rights to the film in noted that while other Indian the first place was because she films had previously entered the had come to admire both Ray’s arthouse circuits, Cannes and grandfather Upendrakisore’s others – with films like Chetan and his father Sukumar’s work Anand’s Neecha Nagarin (1946) (both highly respected Bengali and Vankudre Shantaram’s Amar figures in the arts). However, Bhoopali (1952) bringing home while his family did have this awards like the Grand Prix (Palm reputation of privilege and good d’Or) and Best Sound Recording favor within the educated rul- – were still largely contained ing classes, Satyajit grew up ex- and unable to match the same tremely short on money until level of ubiquitous Western suc- his early 20s (Robinson 5). It is cess dictated by Pather Panchali with these struggles, and despite (Jalan). It was not until Cannes his family’s cultural capital and 1956 that an Indian film was respected name, that Satyajit able to make a full breakout into sought back to the Ray family the arthouse circuit, launch- heritage, expanding on his place ing Satyajit Ray and India into as a commercial artist and ven- global prominence, and the turing into the less traditionally world of avant-garde cinema. accepted territory of filmmak- ing. Not fully acknowledging Part 4: Entanglement of East the presence of that compli- and West, Satyajit Ray and the cated lineage for allowing him Brahmo Moment the aspirational longitude to Standing at an impos- inhabit both places—London ing height of 6 foot 4 inches, and Calcutta—and to frequently and with an honorary doctor- shuffle in between, Ray became ate from Oxford, it is hard to wrongly associated with a sort imagine Ray’s experience in of aristocratic distancing from isolation from the influence of his own roots, even being crit- the Western world,which inter- icized by some as a merchant acted with and shaped him in of poverty. As Robinson notes, profoundly formative ways. Yet this behavior is characteristic in the story of Pather Panchali, of Ray’s tendency to withdraw and the case of its astronomic when not needed, and it is of- rise into the Western fold, it is ten falsely cited as what evokes of equal importance to consid- the patrician image he is often er the Ray family heritage and criticized of having. Robinson how its values negotiated and also brings up a specific Q&A aligned in part with this West- at the National Film Theatre,

92 Cultural Consumption Theory where Ray was asked a question inson 77). It was with this high about Indians in London who cultural capital and perceived were “fifty-fifty.” His answer status that his family name en- was rather tense and disinter- abled him an entry point into ested, making it clear that, peo- the variety of influences that ple without roots – whether in shaped him, and it is perhaps London or in Calcutta – did not this striking duality of East and interest him much as an artist, West that contributes most to the further supporting Ray’s repu- widespread confusion and mis- tation for remoteness growing understanding surrounding his up (Robinson 5). What I want debut film (Robinson 1). When to emphasize here are not the asked directly if he felt conscious tendencies which can be mis- about the range of Eastern and construed as elitist or even Western values that influenced classist (these in conversation him during his upbringing, Ray with Pierre Bourdieu’s idea of gave a reply that was deceptively class taste and the subtle dis- simple and confidently reflective tinctions and intrinsic values of his diverse schooling: “I never placed on aesthetics), but rather had the feeling of grappling with the crucial presence of Bengali an alien culture when reading Modernism, Brahmoism, and European literature, or looking the Bengal Renaissance, which at European painting or listen- had each played their distinctive ing to Western music, whether roles on the Ray family heritage classical or popular” (Robinson). figuring prominently in these A feeling of familiarity that has cultural developments. It was been labeled by colonial dis- through these associations that course as something that could the Ray family had grown up, not belong to him, or more accu- and in this vigorous participa- rately something that belonged tion with the Brahmo moment of solely to the Occident, was (by social reform that their carefully Orientalist logic) counterintui- tailored values began to bear a tive to the humanistic rationale striking resemblance to Victori- of the British colonial project. an ones (primarily due to ideals Being exposed to both East and of simple living and high princi- West, Ray had been taught to ples of industry and humanistic utilize both in fluency, wheth- perseverance) (Robinson 15). er he was aware of it or not. This association with the British was by no means acci- Part 5: Satyajit’s Earliest dental, discrediting the mythic Relatives, Unpacking the Ray construction of Satyajit as a ster- Family Heritage ile carrier of colonial values to This knotted nature of that of outside reduction (Rob- the Ray family heritage in con-

Cultural Consumption Theory 93 nection to the Western world by the British merchants that and their familial quest for aca- populated the local riverbanks demia is one with roots connect- dating back to the East India ed to one of Satyajit’s earliest Company. It was also in Calcutta known relatives, Ramsundar where the Ray family intersected Deo, a Hindu youth who up- with the unique social move- rooted himself in the mid-six- ment of the Bengal Renaissance, teenth century from his village which embraced the multifar- in West Bengal, and eventually ious imaginations of intercul- found himself in Serpour, where tural relations between India he met the ruler of Yasodal. In and the West, and saw to the Serpour, the ruler of Yasodal branching of two Bengali camps. immediately took a liking to The first, being the creative Deo for his sharp intellect and branch, saw the likes of Rabin- quick wit, and so he was invited dranath Tagore and Sir William into the house, given land and a Jones emphasize the new pos- daughter to marry, and official- sibilities in literary arts and ly began the Ray family’s long search for fresh combinations journey of steady accumulation in modernization. The second of wealth and education, which branch, being the sterile one, culminated in the honorific ti- saw to a swath of the popula- tle of “Majumdar,” a common tion flocking to Western values Bengali surname meaning rev- as a completely transforma- enue accountant. It is also in- tive remedy. As described by a teresting to note the fact that contemporary Bengali satirist, the family name Ray in itself is the sterile branch included all an honorific, a derivative of the those who “would be supremely term Raja, which shows status happy when they could dream as a landowner and represents in English” (Robinson 15). Not a family that has steadily pro- only is the second of the two a gressed and climbed the caste product of colonial minded cul- system, gaining what would be- tural domination—necessitating come most central to the family erasure as a means towards re- and their cultural distinction: a finement – it is also reminis- scholarly heritage of learning, cent of the hook that was used piety, and artistry (Robinson 13). to reel the subjugated class back It was in this academic tradi- into the lose-lose situation that tion that the family eventually prescribed them in nothing but made its way to Calcutta, the lack, with the colonial subject capital and second city of the simultaneously lacking the civi- British Empire, a place known lized influences of the colonizer as the City of Palaces due to the and the indigenous roots of the plentiful mansions constructed colonized. Though Ray clearly

94 Cultural Consumption Theory took after the influences of the holding this desire against him. creative branch of this Bengal Renaissance, and in many ways Part 6: Jean Renoir and Saty- became a subject of its warring ajit’s Idols Orientalist logic, his position in The residual colo- terms of the two camps is a bit nial structures which operate more complicated. When finally in the undertow of this story asked why unlike most Bengali show themselves more directly households he did not have a in an account of Ray’s experi- picture of one of his major in- ence with Jean Renoir. Renoir, fluences, Tagore, in his living like many filmmakers before room, Ray laughed at the idea him, had come to Calcutta to and said it was because it was scout for locations on his film too cliché (Robinson 5). In this The River (1951). Determined to way, despite being greatly in- meet him and gain traction in fluenced by the creative vigor the cinematic world, Ray walked of the modern moment of his into Renoir’s hotel and asked family heritage, the neatly cat- for a meeting, and soon found egorizable picture of Ray can- himself accompanying the di- not exist in its entirely in either rector on his research trips in camp, and an ulterior reading search of locations in Calcutta’s altogether must be offered. As outskirts. Seeing his enthusi- simple as it sounds, Ray was asm and knowledge about cine- given prime access to multiple ma, Renoir asked him if he was cultural understandings and like thinking of becoming a film- any intellectual, he voraciously maker. To his surprise, Ray said consumed them. Driven by his yes and promptly gave Renoir own intrinsic talent and avid the illustrations and his brief curiosity, as well as his desire to outline of Pather Panchali. Noth- find his own path above all else, ing came of the exchange. When Ray set out to see his individual Renoir returned to Calcutta lat- artistic vision carried through. er for shooting and hired Ray’s In this way, I want to dispel the friend Bansi Chandra Gupta as elitist reading of Satyajit—one an art director and Harisadhan that blamed him for aspiring to Das Gupta as an assistant (who emulate the academic models of bore an uncanny resemblance to Western Europe in which he had Renoir himself) as well as future grown up. It is in this emulation Pather Panchali cinematographer of his idols and those from which Subrata Mitra to take stills, Ray he had studied the cinematic art was already an art director in – primarily the Western influ- an advertising agency in Lon- ence of Jean Renoir – that I want don and could not be included in to point to as a warning against the picture. It was this strange

Cultural Consumption Theory 95 distanced praise and skeptical criticism concerning the Ben- handling of Ray that resurfaced gali depiction of poverty. Al- again in an interview with critic though officials attending the Penelope Gilliatt in 1974, where 1956 Cannes Film Festival knew Renoir is quoted saying, “Ray is little about the late entry, and quite alone, of course,” referring the failure to properly publicize to him being an Indian artist of the premiere which already had cinema (Robinson 69). Not only the ill-fated screening time of does this fail to account for the midnight on a holiday, the Pather entire body of Indian cinema Panchali screening was resched- that came before and after him, uled after a majority of the jurors as well as all the films paving were found absent for the initial the trail for his breakthrough, screening. Petitioned by the few this dismissive statement also jurors that had actually gone to fails to account for the depth see the screening (a group of Ray and range of Ray’s influenc- aficionados including Lindsay es—both from Calcutta and Anderson, Lotte Eisner, Andre London – East and West. In an Bazin, George Sadoul, and Gene Orientalist picture of India, Ray Moskowitz), the Festival Com- was the civilized exception, not mittee was persuaded to organize the rule. More importantly, the a rescreening of the film with all comment also ignores the main jurors present. It was after this reason for Ray’s disapproval of debacle and the second screen- Renoir in the first place. Fol- ing that Pather Panchali went on lowing Renoir’s move towards to receive the Special Jury Prize Hollywood after his masterpiece, for the Best Human Document La Regle du Jeu, Ray was forced and won another dozen national to criticize one of his very own and international awards (Basu). mentors and idols after real- izing Renoir had sold out on Part 7: A Closing, Countering his artistic position—some- the Undertow thing Ray intended never to do. It is certainly interesting When Ray was finally to consider this last part in the able to screen the finished film legacy of the film—the help- to Jawaharlal Nehru, one of In- ing hands and aficionados who dia’s most important figures in are silent forces that are en- the movement for independence meshed in the successes of this (also Western educated), Nehru story—to reevaluate the tale as was so moved that he gave his if those guardian forces had not helping hand, ensuring the film been in attendance that night. would be allowed to apply for in- Or possibly more productive- clusion in the 1956 Cannes Film ly, we can consider the reality Festival despite local sources of that without this pre-entan-

96 Cultural Consumption Theory gled connection to the Western goes deep into the currents of circuit, the film may not have history, and these questions and gotten the same attention and related ones will continue to rise a second chance at screening. in areas where these postcolo- Does the question of the role of nial undertows are strongest and appearance once again play its their quandaries still unresolved. part, dictating that had Ray not In the case of Pather Panchali, been 6 foot 4 inches, Western it was ultimately the seam- educated, and handsome, would less symbiosis of Bengali and his likability to a Western au- Western values that so uniquely dience have been diminished? spelled out Ray that ensured his Or was there something com- long-term success and ability pletely different at play from to mediate these warring influ- Ray and his heritage altogeth- ences. It was through a mutual er? Something that gave Pather comfort, a product of the Ray Panchali a humanistic twist or family heritage and its close a bodily element—something contact with British India as it like a second emotional logic navigated its way through the that might have more to do with Indian caste system, that Ray the brilliant soundtrack by Ravi was able to flourish and cobble Shankar than anything else? together the classical Bengali The bulk of these ques- tale into his debut masterpiece, tions are still active inquiries a film that holds within it an and can only be referred to in element of humanistic cinematic their incomplete form, stripped excellence, and an expression from their birthplace in history, of a personal artistry, influ- rafts strung together actively enced by both Calcutta and the in a sequence forming the start Western world. It is with this of an arc. Latent and waiting final caution, against a telos to be to chained together, gaps oriented pattern of thinking between these rafts can be in which History with a capi- bridged into stories. I believe tal H is the only pursuit, that that while comprised mainly the roles played by institutions of these anecdotes, the ma- like the MoMA as arbiters of terial tracing of the approach the modern and harbingers in examining the MoMA world of high culture are drastically premiere of Pather Panchali en- complicated, problematized, and abled greater clarity in the di- given even more importance. rection and general movement To be at the deciding end of the of this undertow, along with art world at the bubbling of a some insights into where and vigorous cultural moment, to how these currents replicate. find forward direction in a game The colonial assumption clearly of catch up, and to be able to

Cultural Consumption Theory 97 sort out and appraise distinction are presented to us, we must and what is claimed as value, explore our predetermined as- is before all else an exercise of sumptions, the myths we un- power. In this exercise, it falls knowingly hold close, because on us as consumers of this au- they very well might be tak- thority to remember where it en up and haunted by the very must land. We must do what we same post-colonial forces as the can to resist easy answers and 1955 reception and MoMA world neat categories, and when they premiere of Pather Panchali.

Works Cited

Basu, Dilip. “Films of Satyajit Ray: Getting Started”. Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection. University of California – Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Hoffman, Jordan. “Back on the Little Road: Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali Returns in All Its Glory.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 May 2015, Jalan, Shivangi. “From Pather Panchali to Manto: India at Cannes through the Years.” The Indian Express, The In- dian Express, 8 May 2018, indianexpress.com/article/ entertainment/bollywood/india-cannes-film-festi- val-5166767/. Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Towards an Investigation),” Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, trans. Ben Brewster (New York: Month- ly Review Press, 2001), 85–125. Robinson, Andrew (1989). Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye. Univer- sity of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06946-6. “The Museum of Modern Art | MoMA.” Lee Bontecou. Unti- tled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/about/who-we-are/ moma. And Various Lectures of Bhaskar Sarkar

98 Cultural Consumption Theory From Do-Rags to Designer Bags: The Power Struggle Between Hip-Hop Culture and High-Fashion

by Keana Alden

Cultural Consumption Theory 99 From 1892-2012,Vogue ually within this relationship, magazine produced 1,416 issues, either driving or obstructing fourteen of which had a per- societal and political change. son of color gracing the cov- er (Complex.com). With less Brief Histories of Hip Hop/Rap than one percent of the covers culture, A$AP Rocky, and Dior of high-fashion’s Holy Bible To understand the link featuring minorities, it is a bit between the contrasting cul- shocking that in recent years, tures that Rocky and Dior rep- some of high-fashion’s most resent, and the forms of power popular labels have collaborat- associated with that linkage, ed with black, male rap artists. one must understand the or- Among these unions is the con- igin of such cultures as well nection between rap artist A$AP as the origins of the artist and Rocky and the highbrow fashion brandname representing them. brand Dior. A$AP Rocky has been Hip hop is a subculture featured in Dior advertisement that was born in the Bronx (New campaigns both in 2016 and in York City) in the 1970s (Rose). January of this year. This mar- The social, structural, and polit- keting strategy has shifted the ical struggles in this area at the structure of our contemporary time “exacerbated the already society. Bourdieu claims that “it widening gap between classes is in fact impossible to account and races” (Rose). The lower for the structure and function- class, consisting of youth of col- ing of the social world unless or, strove to reclaim their power one reintroduces capital in all its in the few ways they could: by forms and not solely in the one expressing their style, their sto- form recognized by economic ries, and their names through theory” (Bourdieu). Capital can graffiti, breakdancing, and of be identified as both economic course, rap music. “Hip hop capital and cultural, which Bour- produced internal and external dieu claims can also be recog- dialogues which affirmed the nized as forms of power, as the experiences and identities of the two “amount to the same thing” participants, and at the same (Bourdieu). Threaded within the time offered critiques of larg- relationship between rap Cul- er society which were directed ture and the high fashion indus- to both the hip hop community try, as exemplified by Rocky’s and society in general” (Rose). modeling for the two Dior ad For the last almost fifty years, campaigns, are three types of hip hop culture has thrived in power: cultural power, economic the United States, influencing power, and political power. Each millions from coast to coast type of power operates individ- and becoming popular world- wide. In Tricia Rose’s piece, A one who has internalized most Style Nobody Can Deal With: Pol- fully the logic of high fashion” itics, Style and the Postindustri- (Guan). This may explain his al City in Hip Hop, she claims being the subject of Dior ad cam- that “if anything, Black style paigns for two years in a row. through hip hop has contributed Dior, the high-fash- to the continued blackening of ion brand, has dominated the mainstream popular culture.” high-fashion industry since A$AP Rocky, one of it was founded in 1946. The hip hop’s recent kings and current CEO of Dior, Bernard high-fashion’s freshest am- Arault, is the eighth richest man bassadors, is someone who has in the world with a net worth current influence over today’s of approximately $60.3 billion popular culture. Though he is (Hammersmith). The brand it- now a well- known face, Rocky self has a current net worth of came from humble beginnings. $35.1 billion (Hammersmith). Born in Harlem in 1988, Rocky’s Its latest ad campaigns featuring socioeconomic class provided A$AP Rocky have expanded the him with very few opportunities. boundaries of this dominating He resided in a homeless shelter industry and culture, breaking for part of his life at a time when down societal stereotypes by his family could no longer afford including the face and body of rent, and his brother was shot a Black male figure who per- and killed at age twenty in his sonally embodies the ideals of neighborhood (Alexis). However, hip hop, as well as work ethic during Rocky’s childhood years, and financial success. Dior fea- rap music was “one of the most turing the face of an individual heavily traded popular commod- not broken by the harsh reality ities in the market” (Rose). With of Harlem, but the thriving re- a life story much like a modern sult of a marginalized race and day American Dream, Rocky’s community may seem like an location, talent, and dedication enormous win among the overall advanced him from one of the cultural struggle for hip hop cul- poorest communities in Amer- ture’s advancement. Yet is it that ica to a current net worth of $6 simple? Should this mode of ad- million (Terry). His popularity, vertising be more critically ana- individual style, and interest in lyzed? As Connie Jones-Steward high-fashion has allowed him suggests in her essay, “What to integrate into the highbrow happens when the symbols of industry. Writer Frank Guan, a culture can be bought, re- for vulture.com, states, “Even in packaged and sold back to the this crowded field, Rocky stands society that produced them? out as the most persistent, the Furthermore, what happens

Cultural Consumption Theory 101 when those symbols are sold to representation. Rocky’s image a larger, mainstream audience in the 2016 and 2017 advertise- that consumes them without ment campaigns, seemingly re- knowledge of or concern for their gal and clothed in Dior, presents true meaning?” (Jones-Stew- the possibility of making it out ard). This is not simply a ques- of Harlem and into a realm of tion of a culture turned com- wealth, freedom of expression, modity, but a larger question and a life free of struggle. He is of power and exploitation. an example for the Black male, suggesting the notion that one Cultural Power may eventually achieve acco- The use of A$AP Rocky’s lades, even when carrying the image in high-fashion adver- oppression he was born into and tising campaigns, prompts the the swagger of hip hop. “Hip- idea that the less dominant hip hop gives truth to the idea that hop culture (i.e. those who un- youth are impressionable and derstand, take part in, and/or serve as trendsetters of the fu- idolize the three main activi- ture. Hip-hop artists function ties of the subculture: graffiti, as the success story of a sector breakdancing, and rap music as where little opportunity is af- a means of resistance against forded to large imaginations” social, structural, and political (Fields). Though Dior is strategi- repression) has gained cultural cally using Rocky for his “exotic” power. Cultural power in this look, the fact that he has been context depends on what writ- the subject of two huge adver- er Stuart Hall calls “the draw- tising campaigns for the brand, ing of the line, always in each that have undoubtably been seen period in a different place, as around the world, does subtly to what is to be incorporated normalize Blackness, at least into ‘the great tradition’ and within the realm of high-fash- what is not” (Hall). In a cer- ion. This normalization of the tain sense, hip hop and rap cul- image of a person of color in the ture have infiltrated and been more dominant high-fashion incorporated into high-fash- industry gives cultural power ion’s highbrow culture. With to the less dominant race and the manipulation of rap cul- class constituting hip hop cul- ture comes the representation ture, that is being represented. of what the culture stems from It’s important to un- and stands for—resisting the derstand that the relationship social and economic suppression between rap artists and the of lower-class people of color. high-fashion industry is rather This is a revolutionary new. Hip hop was popularized cultural achievement through and commodified over the last

102 Cultural Consumption Theory fifty years, and though fash- ion has been a large part of hip Economic Power hop as a culture, hip hop has The problem with using still struggled to break into the image of a rap artist in an the high-fashion industry. advertisement for a high-fash- When commenting on A$AP ion brand is not that it is used Rocky’s recent affiliation with as a promotion for hip hop, high-fashion, Karizza Sanchez but rather, how it is used as a for complex.com suggests “the promotion for high-brow in- relationship between rappers dustries and multibillion dollar and high-fashion labels is a brands such as Dior, which do benchmark for the music genre” not have culturally integrated (Sanchez). The article then structures. It is blatant that quotes Guy Wood, who states “marketers, record label ex- that “the fact that they real- ecutives, and brand managers ize and respect any rapper is a have decoded the anatomy of a big thing, times have changed” musical artist and are dissect- (Sanchez).This respect for rap- ing the many ways to promote pers suggests the development the hip-hop artist outside of his of a respect for the culture and original identity,” yet what hap- society they represent. This pens when we consider how the combination of cultures has not anatomy of that artist is used been readily implemented into to promote a brand that caters our society in the past, as John to a mainstream audience who Fiske argues that “in twenti- may disregard the culture that eth-century capitalist societies, the artists stands for? (Fields). few texts or art objects appeal to It can then be suggested that different class tastes simultane- although Dior may have pro- ously,” which supports his the- moted A$AP Rocky as an artist, sis that, “difference in cultural they have also exploited him and taste is a reenactment of social the culture he represents for difference, and that cultural and popularity and economic profit. social discrimination are part Dior’s exploitation of and parcel of the same process” A$AP Rocky’s image as a black, (Fiske).This shines light on the male rap artist is somewhat hard fact that the combination of the to prove, considering that Dior different class tastes of hip hop could be using his image as a and high- fashion is extremely type of collaboration, solely to innovative. This combination promote him as an artist and of opposing tastes is signifi- fashion ambassador. Tricia Rose cant because it works to mend explains in her essay that “it is the cultural and social discrim- very difficult to sustain any -ab inatory gap between the two. solute distinction between com-

Cultural Consumption Theory 103 mercial exploitation on the one a marginalized culture that is hand and creativity/originality starting to gain cultural power, on the other” (Rose). Though this he is affiliating that culture with distinction may be difficult to a brand that the socioeconomic confirm, one thing is for certain: class of people who promoted Dior has used Rocky’s image to and prompted that culture will rake in money, popularity, and probably never be able to afford, praise to supplement its already buy into, or profit from. For in- multibillion dollar market and stance, in the South Bronx, the therefore, gain economic power. birth place of hip hop, almost In contrast, there is a forty percent of the population dearth of economic power in currently lives below the poverty Rocky’s worth (his net worth line (Harris). Thus, their strug- being only a few million), but gle has been exploited, not for more obviously in the devastat- their own economic gain, but to ed, lower socioeconomic class popularize and sell a label in an from which hip hop was built elite industry that remains ex- upon. It is evident that even with clusive and beyond their reach. the influence of hip hop culture in the high-fashion industry, Political Power and Social Control there has been little economic The masses in commu- change for those who embody nities like Harlem, the Bronx, the culture. As Tricia Rose con- Compton, and many other veys in her essay, “today the neighborhoods in the country South Bronx and South Cen- where hip hop has been culti- tral Los Angeles are poorer and vated, have little to no political more economically marginal- power. To clarify, the interests ized than they were ten years of the masses described are ago.” Ad campaigns such as not being met from a political Dior’s, even when they situate standpoint. There is very little someone like Rocky as an influ- legislation that supports the ential subject, do very little to economic, structural, and social mend the economic gap between advancement of these commu- those involved in and consuming nities and people. Additionally, products from the high-fashion we are currently living under industry and those whose lives an administration that does lit- embody the social and economic tle to protect these people and struggle that hip hop was born their rights, not just as citizens from. The most concerning of this country, but as human takeaway from examining this beings. It is tragic that Spike power relationship is the idea Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing,” that although Rocky’s image which was made almost thirty in Dior campaigns represents years ago, is still relevant in its

104 Cultural Consumption Theory raw story of police brutality in addressing the context in which New York, which has taken a hip hop was born by stating, sickening number of black lives “Advertisers geared newspaper even within the last few years. articles and television broadcasts Hip hop as a subculture toward the purchasing power was born as a means of resisting of suburban buyers—creating youth’s complete lack of repre- a dual ‘crisis of representation’ sentation and political control in terms of whose lives and im- (Rose). In its main activities, ages where represented physi- graffiti, breakdancing, and rap cally in the paper, and whose music, as well as in its fashion interests were represented in statements, the hip hop move- the corridors of power” (Rose). ment creates ‘magical solutions’ In the Rocky-Dior example, the to political repression. These lives and images of people as- ‘magical solutions’ act as re- sociated with hip hop culture sistance at the level of style of are represented, but their in- expression within their main terests are not. Additionally, activities—a sort of symbolic Rocky doesn’t wear a “Black solution to a structural issue. Lives Matter” T-shirt in these This resistive style of expression ads, but is instead cloaked in does make a societal statement, expensive Dior clothing. The but fails to implement societal consequence of acquiring cul- change from a political stand- tural power through a represen- point, though it may seem to do tation of hip hop culture is the so superficially. ASAP Rocky’s thought that political power is image in the two Dior campaigns, associated with that gain. This for example, may represent this advancement of hip hop cul- style of expression from hip hop ture, and the marginalized lives culture, yet it doesn’t create new that the culture represents, may legislation for the protection of, create a sense of compensation or place real economic capital in for the culture’s absolute lack of the hands of, the communities economic and political control. that hip hop culture represents. Sadly, this is first and foremost The Dior ad campaigns an incomplete sense of advance- featuring ASAP Rocky are sig- ment, generating complacency nificant because there is cultural among the affected communi- representation in the physicality ties. The incomplete sense of of Rocky’s image, yet the inter- advancement is what we should ests of the people involved in be worried about, as it works the culture that the image sig- within the structures of society nifies are not necessarily being as a mechanism of social con- represented. Rose states this trol. This mechanism of social idea clearly in her essay while control keeps the people that

Cultural Consumption Theory 105 Rocky and hip hop culture repre- tion on how, where, sent content with their cultural and why hip hop recognition, while diminishing culture was cultivated, the amount of protesting and re- as well as the politics sistance against their economic, surrounding it. political, and social repression. 4. Nadeska Alexis’s article and As a result, people may fail to interview with ASAP recognize and consider that the Rocky posted on mtv. struggle for real change, though com, ASAP Rocky Takes it may start as the initial gain of Us to his Harlem Block cultural power, certainly doesn’t Where his Brother was end there. Without economic and Shot, provides infor- political power, access to educa- mation on Rocky’s life tion, opportunity, and financial growing up in Harlem. security remain out of reach. 5. bankrate.com, ASAP Rocky’s It is imperative for society to net worth is $6 million, view Dior’s recent images of for ASAP Rocky’s cur- Rocky critically and with the rent net worth. awareness that the journey to 6. Frank Guan’s article for equality has only just begun. vulture.com, How High Fashion Won Over Notes Rap, talks about ASAP Rocky’s influence in 1. complex.com’s article, A high fashion. History of Racism in 7. Holly Hammersmith’s Fashion, provided in- article, The 10 Rich- formation on the num- est Fashion Icons, for ber of Vogue magazine gobankingrates.com covers that featured states the net worth of people of color from the Dior label and the 1892-2012. COE of Dior. 2. Pierre Bourdieu’s essay, The 8. See Connie Jones-Stew- Forms of Capital, dis- ard’s essay, The Effects cusses cultural, social, of Commodification on and economic capital the Arts and Artists of and how they interact Hip-Hop Culture, for the within social struc- questioning of what tures. happens when hip hop 3. See Tricia Rose’s essay, A culture is commodi- Style Nobody can Death fied and sold to a mass With: Politics, Style and market. the Postindustrial City in 9. Stuart Hall’s essay, Notes on Hip Hop, for informa- Deconstructing ‘the Pop-

106 Cultural Consumption Theory ular’, explains a specif- Ambassadors, explains ic definition of cultural how the relationship power. between high-fashion 10. Brandi Fields’ research and rap artists is inno- paper, Selling the Beat: vative and rather new. Hip-Hop Culture and 12. John Fiske’s essay, Popular Product Branding among Discrimination, provides Young Adults, discuss- insight on the rela- es how hip hop artists tionship between cul- function as success tural tastes and social stories and how that difference. can influence trend 13. Paul Harris’s article for setting and consump- thegauardian.com, tion. Worlds apart - the neigh- 11. Karizza Sanchez’s article borhoods that sum up a for complex.com, How divided America, pro- Rappers Became the vides information on Most Important Fashion the economic status of those living in Harlem.

Works Cited

Alexis, Nadeska. “A$AP Rocky Takes Us To Hometown Harlem Block Where His Brother Was Shot.” MTV News, 14 Nov. 2013, www.mtv.com/news/1717470/asap-rocky-harlem- visit-childhood/. Bourdieu, Pierre. “The Forms of Capital - Pierre Bourdieu 1986.” Marxist.org, www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm. Complex. “A History of Racism in Fashion.” Complex, Complex, 12 Sept. 2012, www.complex.com/style/2012/09/a-his- tory-of-racism-in-fashion/. Fields, Brandi R. “Selling the Beat: Hip Hop Culture and Product Branding Among Young Adults.” Open SIUC, 2014, open- siuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1666&con- text=gs_rp. Fiske, John. “Popular Discrimination .” Popular Culture , pp. 215–221. Guan, Frank. “How High Fashion Won Over Rap.” Vulture, 17 Aug. 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/08/how-high-fash- ion-won-over-rap.html. Hall, Stuart. “Notes on Deconstructing ‘the Popular’.” Popular Culture , pp. 64–71.

Cultural Consumption Theory 107 Hammersmith, Holly. “The 10 Richest Fashion Icons.” GOBank- ingRates, 10 Sept. 2015, www.gobankingrates.com/net- worth/richest-fashion-icons-louis-vuitton-net-worth- vs-ralph-lauren-net-worth/. Harris, Paul. “Worlds Apart – the Neighbourhoods That Sum up a Divided America.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Sept. 2011, www.theguardian.com/world/2011/ sep/18/bronx-manhattan-us-wealth-divide. Jones-Steward, Connie. “The Effects of Commodification on the Arts and Artists of Hip-Hop Culture.” Scholar Works, 2012, scholarworks.csun.edu/bitstream/han- dle/10211.2/2573/chasing_paper_cjsteward.pdf;se- quence=1. Rose, Tricia. “A Style Nobody Can Deal With: Politics, Style and the Postindustrial City in Hip Hop.” Popular Culture, pp. 401–413. Sanchez, Karizza. “How Rappers Became the Most Import- ant Fashion Ambassadors.” Complex, Complex, 20 Oct. 2016, www.complex.com/style/2016/08/rap- pers-as-new-fashion-ambassadors. Terry, Lea. “ASAP Rocky Net Worth.” Bankrate, Bankrate.com, 26 May 2017, www.bankrate.com/lifestyle/celebrity- -money/asap-rocky-net-worth/.

108 Cultural Consumption Theory “You Eat What You Are,” The Newsfeed, Marshall McLuhan and Build-It- Yourself Restaurants

by Ian Laughbaum

Cultural Consumption Theory 109 Blaze Pizza was founded communication.”4 Additionally, in 2012, after Wetzel’s Pretzels in specific relation to television: founders Rick and Elise Wetzel “Television demands participa- entered a Chipotle Mexican Grill tion and involvement in depth of and asked, “Why can’t we do The Whole being…This charge of this to pizza, do what Chipotle the light brigade,” meaning the did to the burrito or Mexican myriad of instantaneous media food?”1 Customers select a pizza technologies that proliferated in crust from three options, select the 20th century, “has height- a sauce type from four different ened our general awareness of options, select any combination the shape and meaning of lives of cheeses from seven options, and events to a level of extreme and then select their toppings sensitivity.”5 As of 2001, it had from a list of exactly thirty op- sold over one million copies.6 tions.2 As of February 14, 2019, Instagram was initial- the restaurant had 316 locations ly released on October 6, 2010. in 42 states and five countries.3 The app enables users to post Marshall McLuhan pub- images with captions, which lished The Medium is the Massage: appear to users their followers An Inventory of Effectwith Quen- in their “newsfeed,” a space tin Fiore in 1967. Amongst their in which users see every post major insights in the work was made by those they follow. that “Societies have always been Facebook and Twitter have the shaped more by the nature of the same “newsfeed model.” As media by which men communi- of June 20, 2018, Instagram cate than by the content of the had over one billion users.7

1 Sam Oches, “Pizza’s cles/2019-04-01/saudi-aramco- Arms Race,” QSR Magazine, makes-a-lot-of-money September 2013, https://www. 4 Marshall McLuhan and qsrmagazine.com/growth/pizza- Quentin Fiore, The Medium is s-arms-race the Massage: An Inventory of 2 Blaze Pizza, “Menu,” Effects, (Corte Madera: Gingko accessed April 3 2019, https:// Press, 2001), 8. blazepizza.com/menu/ 5 McLuhan and Fiore, 3 Leslie Patton, “LeB- The Medium is the Massage, ron’s Blaze Charts IPO Path 125. With Deliveries, 500-Store 6 McLuhan and Fiore, Target,” Bloomberg News, The Medium is the Massage, February 14 2019, https://www. back cover. bloomberg.com/opinion/arti- 7 Ashley Carman, “Ins- 110 Cultural Consumption Theory These three statistics line the actual ideological chang- don’t seem to mean much, even es that accompany the transition when placed next to each oth- from television to social me- er. However, it becomes clearer dia, in much the same way that when we ask these questions: McLuhan traces the ideological since McLuhan was unable to see changes from pre-alphabetic the birth of the newsfeed for- societies to alphabetic societies, mat—popularized by the social and then alphabetic societies to media platforms of Instagram, television societies. McLuhan Facebook and Twitter—what can argues that “aural” societies, we infer about the ideological ones where the primary medi- changes that have occurred in um is sonically based such as the transition from television speech, radio, and television, to social media as our primary are “in acoustic space: bound- apparatus of content delivery, less, directionless, horizonless, and in what objects can we find in the dark of the mind, in the that change evidenced? In oth- world of emotion, by primor- er words, can a “McLuhanist” dial intuition, by terror.”8 By framework applied to the anal- contrast, visual societies, ones ysis of the social media news where the primary medium is feed help us understand cultural visually based such as books and practices that extend beyond the now, phone screens, is “uni- consumption of content, per- form, continuous, and connect- haps even to our consumption ed…[as] rationality and visuality of food? With these questions have long been interchangeable in mind, it becomes possible terms.”9 The argument follows, to argue: using a McLuhanist then, that visual societies have framework, it can be seen that an inherent focus on the indi- the rise in popularity of build- vidual, since only one pair of it-yourself style restaurants eyes can land at a time on a book such as Chipotle and Blaze Pizza or (usually) a phone screen. The from the early 2010s to our cur- aural society is instead commu- rent moment at the end of the nity-focused, as sound cannot decade are directly related to the be placed in a specific space, and ideology created by the structure so neither can a single human of the social media newsfeed. identity be perfectly placed to To start, it’s best to out- a body with complete accuracy. With the transition from books tagram now has 1 billion users worldwide,” The Verge, June 8 McLuhan and Fiore, 20, 2018, https://www.theverge. Medium is the Massage, 48. com/2018/6/20/17484420/insta- 9 McLuhan and Fiore, gram-users-one-billion-count Medium is the Massage, 45. to electronic media like televi- and Instagram stories allude sion in the twentieth century to the fact that we spend the during the shift from a visual majority of time on our phones to an aural society, McLuhan with the sound decidedly off. argues that “we now live in a The individuality of global village...a simultane- the visual society is alive and ous happening. We are back in well within the structures of acoustic space. We have begun the phone as a medium. The again to structure the primordial awkward positioning required feeling, the tribal emotions from to watch a YouTube video with which a few centuries of liter- friends all at once and passing a acy divorced us.”10 It should be phone around to show everyone noted, however, that McLuhan seated at a table a meme, each conveniently ignores cinema, point to the fact that the phone is as the most popular communal designed to be most efficient for visual experience of modernity. private use. Television sets don’t The supposed transi- require passwords to use them. tion from visual to aural society For the argument pre- brought on in the twentieth cen- sented herein, however, the tury, however, has been reversed most important shift between by the phone screen in the twen- the television society to our ty-first century to bring us back newsfeed society is the col- to a visual society. Despite its lapse of what McLuhan terms capabilities as an audio-visual the “allatonceness” of electronic medium, those of us with the media.11 In the time before TiVo, capability to see and hear choose to look at a television set at any to look at our phones much more given time meant that you were than we choose to look and lis- witness to the content of the ten. There’s a reason we call it channel playing at the exact same “screen time” instead of “screen time as everybody else looking and headphone” time when re- at every television set tuned to ferring to the temporal length that station. There is connection that we spend using our phones. there, solidarity, and a dissolu- Isn’t it a little suspicious that tion of individuality. We might most people’s phones are set to call the experience of witnessing vibrate-only instead of playing content in the newsfeed then, a ringtone when we’re texted as “allaccessiblebutstatistical- or called? The inclusion of the lyalmostimpossibletowitnessa- common phrases “sound on” or tonce-ness.” The newsfeed is “make sure you have your sound a space for personal curation of on” on Facebook video captions content, as opposed to the com- 10 McLuhan and Fiore, 11 McLuhan and Fiore, Medium is the Massage, 63. The Medium is the Massage, 63. 112 Cultural Consumption Theory munity spectatorship of content gorithm, and so it’ll never make in a television society. To a cer- its way onto your newsfeed tain extent, you select what’s since it’ll never be suggested on your newsfeed, and personal to you. Even choosing amongst tastes and the infinitely com- the pages that are suggested to plex nature of social relations you through these algorithms practically ensures that you and doesn’t give you much power as anyone else will not follow the a consumer. Whether you prefer exact same people on Instagram, to follow Vice or The Guardian, the or have identical friends lists only difference is the ad money and liked pages on Facebook. from your clicks either goes to Even if a hypothetical Person A one corporate board or another. and Person B were to purpose- This has everything to do fully align their, say, Instagram with modern, popular restaurant follows to be identical, the algo- structure. The “personal” cura- rithms that generate the order tion of the social media news- of the newsfeed, which in recent feed serves as the fundamental years have been explicitly non- model for the curation of your chronological as a default, have burrito at Chipotle, your pizza an almost impossible chance of at Blaze Pizza, and your poke lining up perfectly. Your news- bowl at PokeCeviche. You are feed is yours, not the commu- deliberately in charge of using nity’s, and so is the phone the apparatuses of these restau- screen you view it through. rants, which is the ingredient This supposed personal bar and those behind the bar as- curation, however, is decidedly sembling your food, to curate the undercut by the modalities of content that you receive while modern capitalism. Though you operating the apparatus, which are fairly unrestricted in who you is the ingredients you choose follow on Instagram or friend molded into a burrito or pizza on Facebook based on who you or anything else. It is an entirely know in “real life,” this does not different psychological expe- extend to pages, media person- rience to, for example, order a alities and companies that you chicken burrito off of a menu decide to follow. The algorithms that reportedly contains white used by Facebook, Twitter and rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, Instagram all have a stake in sour cream, cheese and lettuce, deciding who should and should than it is to go through the line not be popular and hence, your and instruct your “burrito ex- suggested profiles to follow. pert” that you’d like your burrito Perhaps a page you’d love to see to contain chicken, white rice, content from on Facebook does pinto beans, pico de gallo, sour poorly within the platform’s al- cream, cheese and lettuce. In a

Cultural Consumption Theory 113 traditional menu, you accept the has ever had to order a pizza for form of the food as it is given a large group (which is most of to you, just as you might accept us) can attest, pizza ordering is that Family Matters is on ABC at traditionally a matter of intense 7PM. In the newsfeed-inspired cooperation, compromise and style popularized by Chipotle, community building. Dietary there is no predetermined form needs and wants are dire to the “given” to you, you must cu- matter, polls based on prefer- rate it for it to exist in the first ences must be made and, in the place, just as you might decide end, the village decides together at any time to watch any episode what kind of pizza is acceptable of Family Matters on YouTube. for all. All of this is dissolved in Even if someone else were to personal pizza ordering. Each order a burrito with the exact individual can have no concerns same ingredients as yours, they for all else present in the “pizza would not be the same burri- party,” as personal curation cre- to, despite the fact that if were ates isolated pizzas, fundamen- you to order them off of a pre- tally designed not to be shared. determined menu, you would Of course, the hidden narrow- say the two of you “ordered the ness and cultural work done in same thing.” Instead, you got a the social media newsfeed is burrito with the same things in it, present at the ingredient bar but the two burritos as whole as well. Chipotle’s inclusion objects are ideologically distinct of chorizo but not, say, lengua from one another. Even if the or cabeza implies that certain two of you were to go on your forms of Mexican cuisine are phone and see the same Kim appropriate for their vision of Kardashian post, followed by the a popular restaurant, and some same BuzzFeed post, followed are not. The supposed ethos of by the same Frank Ocean post, Blaze Pizza that you can get any- you wouldn’t say you “have the thing you want on a pizza, but same newsfeed,” but rather that the ingredient bar lacks collard it coincidentally had the same greens and chicken feet, choos- posts in it. Both your burrito and ing instead to have arugula, corn your newsfeed are created by the and twenty-eight other options. act of individual curation itself. There are of course physical lim- There is perhaps no greater itations to an ingredient bar that symbol of the downfall of Mc- necessitates choice that don’t Luhan’s hypothesized “global necessarily exist on social me- village”12 than the build-it- dia platforms, but these choices yourself pizza. As anyone who provide a simulation of infinite McLuhan and Fiore, personal curation that, in its era- 12 sure of specific kinds of foods, The Medium is the Massage, 63. 114 Cultural Consumption Theory carries political ramifications. it bluntly, I’m not saying social Is this, perhaps, unnecessar- media newsfeeds are the reason ily polemical? Yes, but it be- the kind of restaurants talked hooves us to remind ourselves about herein are popular, but to that sometimes when shooting ignore the possibility would oc- for the polemic, we can find clude us both from a rich avenue the humbler truths along the of media analysis and an angle way. I’m not here to make an to understand the institutional authoritative declaration that position of popular restaurants. the structure of the newsfeed is After all, if we really do “con- the only reason that Blaze Pizza sume” media as many have has 316 locations, but thinking suggested, we need to delve through this assertion can help into the way media affects the us see that not only do ideologies things we literally consume to affect obvious elements such as get a fuller picture of the ide- films or music, but they are also ologies operating in our lives. instrumental in building insti- Though it’s certainly true that tutions that we may think of as “you are what you eat,” maybe innocuous or isolated from influ- it’s true that “you eat what you ence by media structure. To put are” more often than we think.

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects.Corte Madera: Gingko Press, 2001. “Menu.” Blaze Pizza. Accessed April 3, 2019. https://blazepizza. com/menu/ Oches, Sam. “Pizza’s Arms Race.” QSR Magazine. September, 2013. https://www.qsrmagazine.com/growth/pizza-s- arms-race Patton, Leslie. “LeBron’s Blaze Charts IPO Path With Deliv- eries, 500-Store Target.” Bloomberg News. February 14, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti- cles/2019-04-01/saudi-aramco-makes-a-lot-of-money

Cultural Consumption Theory 115 116 Cultural Consumption Theory Once again, thank you staff, peers, pro- fessors and readers for being a part of Fo- cus Media Journal!

Digital Theory 117