Ästhetik(en) der Pornographie

2021 ◽  

Pornography has long been an omnipresent phenomenon in both everyday and popular culture: representations of sexualities and the sexual body (the suffix ‘-graphy’ refers to this depictive and staging character) through language, signs and images can be found at any time and in any culture, but since the 20th century, of course, especially in photography and film. Over the centuries, specific writing strategies have emerged in order to escape censorship, and representations characterised by a ‘male gaze’ have been established—aesthetics of pornography that tread a narrow line between being ‘artfully’ erotic and ‘wickedly’ obscene. With contributions by Tatiana Ageeva, Hans Richard Brittnacher, Philip Jacobi, Katharina Kohm, Norbert Lennartz, Christian Lenz, Swantje van Mark, Jonas Nesselhauf, Wieland Schwanebeck and Sabine Sielke.

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
Yvonne Chireau

Relationships between religion and comics are generally unexplored in the academic literature. This article provides a brief history of Black religions in comic books, cartoons, animation, and newspaper strips, looking at African American Christianity, Islam, Africana (African diaspora) religions, and folk traditions such as Hoodoo and Conjure in the 20th century. Even though the treatment of Black religions in the comics was informed by stereotypical depictions of race and religion in United States (US) popular culture, African American comics creators contested these by offering alternatives in their treatment of Black religion themes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 019145372097545
Author(s):  
Juan Luis Toribio Vazquez

While the term ‘nihilism’ has become increasingly widespread throughout the past two centuries, not only in academic discourses but in popular culture more widely, there is a surprising lack of consensus regarding its specific meaning. This is perhaps owing to the myriad contexts in which the word has appeared since its inception, which range from specialized works of philosophy to an array of mass-cultural products. This article overviews the emergence and development of the term ‘nihilism’, in order to clarify some of the principal reasons for its prevalence and ambiguity. Having discussed the word’s origin, the article scrutinizes its significance in the early work of Friedrich Nietzsche, who was largely responsible for its popularization, and overviews some of its major appearances throughout the 20th century, in order to show that while Nietzsche stands as the iconic founder of discursivity on nihilism, posthumous uses of the word deviate sharply from his own determinations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-67
Author(s):  
Ekaterina B. Kriukova ◽  
Oxana A. Koval

The article presents a survey of the 20th century intellectual quests related to the problem of the author and her status. The question of authorship becomes a key issue in the modern era for both philosophy and literature. On the one hand, both fields reflect upon the authorship as their own intrinsic principle, on the other hand, both literature and philosophy question the privileged position of the author as the sole meaning-maker. The undertaken comparison of the original interpretations of the prominent 20th century thinkers allows us: (1) to demonstrate how the ideological content of the concept itself has changed, the author being labeled as a co-participant, producer, collective subject, function within discourse, non-reader, and witness; (2) to introduce different strategies of understanding the author’s figure, depending on the chosen point of view; (3) to trace the logic of the transition from the modern to the postmodern through the explication of relations between the author and the character (M. Bakhtin), the author and his work (W. Benjamin), the author and popular culture (T. Adorno), the author and the discourse (M. Foucault), the author and the letter (M. Blanchot), and the author and the Other (G. Agamben).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-242
Author(s):  
Daria O. Martynova ◽  
◽  

Analyzing the evolution of the iconography of such a phenomenon as mesmerism in the second half of the 18th — mid-19th centuries, the author shows that the scenario of modern hypnotic representation and its gestures were established by mesmerists in the second half of the 18th century, followers of the parascientific theory that caused discussions and intrigued doctors and artists for centuries. Analyzing the development of the iconography of mesmeric seance, the author identifies two waves of popularity of this subject: the first wave in the 70–80s of the 18th century and the second wave during the first decade of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Such a duration is due to the fascination with the supernatural and inexplicable, reflected in various styles and trends. In this article, the author tries to show how the development of the iconography of the mesmeric seance provoked the appearance of the hypnotist or magician trickster, who became integrated into popular culture that later began to mark the majority of hypnotic actions, spiritualistic sessions or miracle shows. The author also illustrates how the image of a “controller” in the face of a man formed and confirmed the paradigm of a powerless, mysterious and controlled woman. As a result, it is concluded that hypnosis and mesmerism became common theatrical spectacles in the 20th century, cultivating the power of men (patriarchal society) over an exhausted woman, which is reflected in the works of Georges Méliès, Alfred Hitchcock, and even in the comic book Wonder woman.


Author(s):  
David M. K. Sheinin

During the Cold War, there were thousands of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) sightings in Argentina (in Spanish, Objeto volador no identificado or OVNI). The mainstream media reported on many of them. In a field termed ufología, some events were explained scientifically or somewhat scientifically; most were not. These sightings and their stories lived on in a culture of thousands of OVNI aficionados and their literatures, frequently spilling into larger popular cultures. OVNI culture disrupts chronologies. It offers a picture of Cold War Argentina that breaks with longstanding popular and academic chronologies that stress a dictatorship-versus-democracy binary. That binary is real. However, OVNI culture superimposes an often-neglected Cold War chronology on the mid- to late 20th century. OVNI stories and their cultural consumption evolve and vary not with reference to violent Argentine political and historical change, but in the context of a larger transnational Cold War culture in an Argentine context. Hallmarks of OVNI culture in Argentina include the enormous influence of U.S. popular culture, as well as references to apocalyptic nuclear weapons, and unscientific notions of psychoses in explaining late-night sightings of spacecraft and extraterrestrials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Barnes

This article questions the critical appraisal of Six as a feminist musical and as a step forward for gender equality within the British theatre industry. When the show is viewed through a feminist lens, it is clear that, far from challenging the meanings of gender in popular culture, Six reproduces them with demeaning stereotypes that conform to the ideals of the male gaze. I conclude that the positive critical reaction to Six owes more to a need within the theatre community to have a successful British musical than to the merits of the show itself, and a wariness on the part of critics in a post-Weinstein era to be seen to question the artistic quality of a female-centric show that women clearly experience as empowering.


Bosniaca ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Maša Miloradović

Na primeru nedavno uspostavljene saradnje između Narodne biblioteke Srbije i Zadužbine Milana Mladenovića; jugoslovenskog muzičara i pesnika poslednjih decenija 20. veka; pokazan je model udruživanja tradicionalne baštinske ustanove i privatne institucije u oblasti zaštite kulturne baštine. Posvećena je pažnja načinima na koje se memorijalizuju i muzealizuju ličnosti i pojave iz nedavne prošlosti iz domena “popularne” kulture. Ukazuje se na neophodnost aktivnije uloge tradicionalnih ustanova u “otkrivanju” baštine; proširivanju na netradicionalne oblike stvaralaštva.--------------------------------------------Place of the Popular Music in the System of Cultural Heritage Protection – The Example of Cooperation between National Library of Serbia and Milan Mladenović EndowmentThe Example of recently established cooperation between National Library of Serbia and Endowment of Milan Mladenović (Yugoslav poet and musician from the last decades of 20th century) shows a model of joining traditional heritage institution and a private endowment in the area of cultural heritage protection. Attention is paid to the ways of memorialisation and musealisation of personalities and phenomenons of the past in the domain of “popular” culture. The more active role of traditional institutions in “discovering” heritage is needed; as well as action towards coverage of wider range of non-traditional cultural creations.


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