“Smooth Criminals”: Mimicry, Choreography, and Discipline of Cebuano Dancing Inmates

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (S1) ◽  
pp. 197-202
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Perillo
Keyword(s):  
Music Video ◽  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Filipino Diaspora ◽  
Security Consultant ◽  
Epistemological Shifts

On July 17, 2007, Byron Garcia, Cebu provincial security consultant, uploaded the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center inmates' performance of Michael Jackson's iconic, record-breaking music video “Thriller,” which has gained enough popularity to be ranked You-Tube's fourth all-time favorite video. I ask how 1,500 Cebuano prisoners performing “Thriller” hold the global gaze so captive? Also, how do issues of sexual, racial, and cultural desire and anxiety inform “Thriller” in both content and reception? I analyze the filmed “Thriller” dance in Cebu in order to open up its ambivalent success as explicated through issues of mimicry, choreography, and reception. I argue that “Thriller” takes part in a century-long conversation on Philippine representation, discipline, and imperial meanings. What subjects are formed through this experiment designed to literally choreograph discipline onto “deviant” bodies? Finally, when situating this user-generated spectacle in the contexts of Filipino diaspora, postcolonialism, and bakla performance, what epistemological shifts do we make from the gaze-spectacle binary?

Zombies and Prisoner Rehabilitation

2020 ◽  
pp. 30-52
Author(s):  
J. Lorenzo Perillo
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Exercise Program ◽  
Music Video ◽  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
Gang Activity ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Prisoner Rehabilitation

This chapter looks at how, in 2007, 1,500 inmates in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) went “viral” with their online rendition of Michael Jackson’s music video “Thriller.” Representing an exercise program aimed at building teamwork and reducing gang activity through dance, the CPDRC’s “Thriller” circulated as performance-based proof of prisoner rehabilitation. This chapter argues that central to the production’s worldwide popularity are narratives of discipline, colonial choreography, and the alterity of Wenjiel Resane, the cross-dressed leading lady. It situates the dance in relation to the African American original, the actions of the prison administrators, and ideologies of Filipino mimicry. This chapter examines how neocolonial and market-oriented reforms fundamentally influenced the social construction of Filipino Otherness presented in the dance and thus shaped its popularity in unexpected ways.

Celebrating the Chinese International Speech, Language, and Hearing Association: A Week of International Engagement

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Elizabeth McCrea ◽  
Lemmietta McNeilly
Keyword(s):  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
Inaugural Meeting ◽  
International Engagement

This article is a companion piece to the article summarizing the history and development of the Chinese International Speech, Language and Hearing Association and describes the authors' attendance and participation in the inaugural meeting of the association. It summarizes the content of the meeting and describes a visit to The Little Tiger Rehabilitation Center in Sonjiang, a suburb of Shanghai. The authors' travel experiences in China are also described.

Viewing music videos: Emotion and viewer interpretation

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. Preston ◽  
Michael Eden
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Music Videos ◽  
Music Video ◽  
Mediating Factors ◽  
Comparative Media

Abstract. Music video (MV) content is frequently measured using researcher descriptions. This study examines subjective or viewers’ notions of sex and violence. 168 university students watched 9 mainstream MVs. Incidence counts of sex and violence involve more mediating factors than ratings. High incidents are associated with older viewers, higher scores for Expressivity, lower scores for Instrumentality, and with video orders beginning with high sex and violence. Ratings of sex and violence are associated with older viewers and lower scores for Instrumentality. For sex MVs, inexperienced viewers reported higher incidents and ratings. Because MVs tend to be sexier but less violent than TV and film, viewers may also use comparative media standards to evaluate emotional content MVs.

After the Rehabilitation Center

1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott A. Krause
Keyword(s):  
Rehabilitation Center

Gaze behavior of pre-adolescent children afflicted with Asperger Syndrome

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Wiklund
Keyword(s):  
Asperger Syndrome ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviors ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Straight Ahead

Asperger syndrome (AS) is a form of high-functioning autism characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction. People afflicted with AS typically have abnormal nonverbal behaviors which are often manifested by avoiding eye contact. Gaze constitutes an important interactional resource, and an AS person’s tendency to avoid eye contact may affect the fluidity of conversations and cause misunderstandings. For this reason, it is important to know the precise ways in which this avoidance is done, and in what ways it affects the interaction. The objective of this article is to describe the gaze behavior of preadolescent AS children in institutional multiparty conversations. Methodologically, the study is based on conversation analysis and a multimodal study of interaction. The findings show that three main patterns are used for avoiding eye contact: 1) fixing one’s gaze straight ahead; 2) letting one’s gaze wander around; and 3) looking at one’s own hands when speaking. The informants of this study do not look at the interlocutors at all in the beginning or the middle of their turn. However, sometimes they turn to look at the interlocutors at the end of their turn. This proves that these children are able to use gaze as a source of feedback. When listening, looking at the speaker also seems to be easier for them than looking at the listeners when speaking.

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