Group 8 / Politics and Popular culture

onvergence presentation final1Presentation Transcript

• 1. Politics and PopularCulture 
• By : Sara Q./ Fred/ Sara T./ Rodrigo
• 2. What is Popular CulturePop Culture is the cultural activities orcommercial products reflecting, suited to, oraimed at the tastes of the general massesof people
• 3. Presidents & Pop CultureRonald Reagan- first actor to become president
• 4. President William ClintonBill Clinton- first president to play an instrumenton national televison
• 5. Pop Culture Icon Barack ObamaShepard Fairey’s “Hope” posterMerchandise sales from his 2008campaign totaled $37 million Spent $6.7 million formerchandise in 2012 campaignvs Romney’s $1.7 million
• 6. TelevisionSince the invention of the television in 1927, ithas become a hub for themes in popular culture
• 7. Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live’s political skits on SarahPalin in 2008 had a huge impact on how peopleviewed the vice presidential candidatehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdDqSvJ6aHc
• 8. Controversial Politics in Social MediaFacebook’s usage of screening technology thatmonitors chats for words and phrases and usageof vulgar languageLouisiana state law requiring sex offenders to listtheir status on Facebook
• 9. Photoshop for Democracy By: Jenkins The New Relationship Between Politics and PopularCulture draws a connection between grassroots fan Jenkins movements to the 2004 political campaign, examining how politicians and political activists have applied the tools and activities of fans to their own work. He uses this analysis to implicitly argue for a communal action that incorporates news media and entertainment. Referring to the 2004 campaign, Jenkins claims that “ Popular culture shaped how the public processed and acted upon political discourse” (219). Spring of 2004, a group called True Majority Action released a video depicting George W. Bush being fired by Donald Trump. The video was a compilation of video clips from The Apprentice, and instances where Bush has been on television looking shocked. True Majority Action was a group that strives to increase voter participation in the 2004 election, and support a progressive agenda. True Majority Action used competition to stir an emotion in consumers.
• 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fKPKhXFxs4&feature=player_embeddedTrue Majority Action gave them a platform to express theirattitude towards Bush’s previous administration, which isan example of participatory culture.The increase in participation, collective intelligence, andmedia convergence shouldn’t be taken as a revolution byany means; it is a shift in the way the publiccommunicates in the “global” community. Throughexperimentation of technology, popular culture shapedconventional politics, parody news shows informed theyouth, all of which encouraged the entire country to takeaction.
• 11. The Revolution will not be televised We are currently standing on the threshold of a new era in history, revolutionary events are occurring as we speak, by products of the participatory media culture we are all a part of. Jenkins quotes "The political role of the Internet is expanding without diminishing the power of broadcast media"(225). For example, This revolutionary invention in the history of convergence culture is called the "blog”, which is a form of personal and subcultural expression involving summarizing and linking to other social networking sites such as Facebook, or twitter and other outlets.
• 12. Bloggers of course are not withouttheir own set of flaws. "Bloggersmake no claims on objectivity;they deal often with rumors or justpersonal opinions.Blogging may on one level befacilitating the flow of ideas acrossthe media landscape; on otherlevels, they are ensuring an evermore divisive political debate.Despite these thoughts, blogsmay single handedly be the mostinfluential tool in popular mediaculture as well as being thedriving force being grassroots ofcommunication.
• 13. Fans, Consumers, CitizensAn example of “popular culture” would be the “30sec Bush video”contest, an effort to encourage people around the world to make theirpolitical voice heard; using their own creativity to explain why “Bushshould not be elected” (230).In a democracy, every citizen has their own say on the leader of thecountry. Therefore, activists, fans use Photoshop (a graphics softwarepackage) to manipulate images and create their political statements.These images were very powerful, since they often took a pop cultureidea and spun it to make a political statement. The ease of distributionthe internet allowed, made it possible for your voice to be heard acrossthe world.Photoshop Democracy became part of the “popular culture” becauseimages send a much stronger message across than words ever could.The “Photoshop” movement influenced young Americans to be moreconscious and involved in politics/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVdTzPEYvH4&feature=player_embe
• 14. Entertaining the Monitorial CitizenMonitorial Citizen: A citizen that is nolonger “fully informed” due to howcomplex and fast-changing the world istoday. This results in Media being themain source of information about specificevents going on around the world.
• 15. “The Work of Art in the Age ofMechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin In this essay written in 1936, he argues that mass-production and mass-circulation would have a profoundly democratic impact. He claims that mechanical reproduction ruins the “aura” surrounding art works. Relating this to popular culture, he also claims that people would rather offer judgment on sports teams and Hollywood movies that on artworks in museums. “Does making politics into a kind of popular culture allow consumers to apply fan expertise to their civic responsibilities?”
• 16. Pew Foundation Statistics (2004) & Jon KatzIn 2000, 39% of respondents regularly got campaigninformation from newscasts.In 2004, the same number had fallen to 23%.In the same period of time the percentage of people under theage of thirty who received campaign information from comedyshows had grown from 9% to 21%.This study showed that young people got information fromentertainment media instead of news media.Jon Katz : He argues that as early as 1994 young people felt that entertainment reflected their perspective on current events.
• 17. The Daily showDuring the 2004 Democratic and RepublicanNational Conventions, Comedy Centraloffered more hours of coverage than otherleading news channels such as ABC, CBS,NBC.They claim that people that watch this showare more interested in the presidentialcampaign.Jon Stewart(The Daily Show) vs. TuckerCarlson(CNN’s Crossfire) Carlson apparently wanted Stewart to tell jokes and promote his book, but he refused to play that role. Stewart charged the news program with corrupting the political process.
• 18. Playing Politics in Alphaville Alphaville One of the oldest and most densely populated towns in “The Sims Online” In 2004, after releasing the game online there was a great demand and the game quickly gained popularity. There was an online election to see who would control the imaginary’s town government. A 20 year old was running against a middle-schooler. Alphaville’s presidential elections attracted national and even international media attention. At the end the older guy won the elections but the newspaper “Alphaville Herald” published a transcript of an internet chat session that suggested that the election process may have been rigged from the very beginning. They came to the conclusion that even in play, American democracy felt broken.
• 19. The Making of Citizens(2000) In this book, David Buckingham examines the factors that tend to discourage young people from consuming news. Children find the language of politics unfamiliar. They feel powerless in their everyday lives. They have difficulty imagining having political power.
• 20. Vote NakedIn this final section of this chapter, Jenkinsfocuses on the connection that it will take forpeople to be comfortable with politics.He describes the “vote naked” campaign as away for everyone to be more fully engaged withthe elections.It is all about conducting the most public ofactions within the privacy of our own home.He concludes by saying that if we want to bridgebetween red and blue America, we need to findthat kind of common ground and expand upon it.
• 21. The Politics of ParticipationIn 2004 Al Gore helped launch the cable networkCurrent.Its goal was to “encourage the active participation ofyoung people as citizen journalists.”In support of this network, Gore stated, “We are aboutempowering this generation of young people in the 18-34 population to engage in a dialogue of democracyand to tell their stories of what’s going on in theirlives, in the dominant medium of our time. The Internetopened a floodgate for young people, whose passionsare finally being heard, but TV hasn’t followed suit.”The network’s aim was to give young people avoice, and to democratize television.
• 22. What is “Democratizing Television?” Jenkins suggests that to democratize television, (just one example ofmedia convergence), a network would have to be democratic in thefollowing: Content: focusing on the kinds of information that a democratic society needs to function Effect: mobilizing young people to participate more fully in the democratic process Values: fostering rational discourse and a stronger sense of social contract Process: expanding access to the means of media production and distribution The New York Times’ Marshall Stella said, “..television began as a one way street winding from producers to consumers, but that street is now two-way. A man with one machine (a TV) is doomed to isolation, but a man with two machines (a TV and a computer) can belong to a community.”
• 23. Jenkins on ConvergenceConvergence doesn’t depend on any specific mediumIt represents a paradigm shift – a move from medium-specific information to information that flows across manychannels of mediaIt supports increased interdependence of communicationsystems, and at the same time, multiple ways of accessingmedia contentIt enhances the complex relationships between corporatemedia and participatory culture
• 24. Despite the idealistic idea to “democratizetelevision” as a way to empower thepublic, convergence also just makes sensefor the media industry.Convergence creates multiple ways ofselling content to consumersIt cements consumer loyaltyIt changes the way people think of theirrelationship to mediahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
• 25. Questions1. How do you feel about your relationship withmedia and media convergence? Do you like beinguber-connected, or do you sometimes think it’s toomuch?2. How do you feel the Internet, namelyFacebook, Twitter and blogs affect your feelingsabout politics?3. What role do you think President Obamaspresence in popular culture played in winning himtwo terms in office?