Foreign Otherness in Japanese Media. Exploring the Japanese self through the images of Latin America

Foreign Otherness in Japanese Media analyzes contemporary Japanese society by examining the ways in which Japanese media portrays Latin America and therefore how Japanese readers construct their idea of it. Offering a detailed methodology and results from field research, and based on concepts such as otherness, cultivation analysis and the theory of the autopoietic social system as a framework, this book considers the impact of mass media on the construction of non-dominant foreign cultural subjectivities in Japan, and explores the dynamics of otherness in the country. As such, it is apt for scholars in Japanese studies, media studies, and anyone interested in the interaction between foreigners or Latin Americans and Japan, or in relations between mainstream society and minority groups.

Who Gets to Be in The Guild?

While media studies have frequently assessed the importance of representation, research in this area has often been siloed by institutional and methodological norms that define academics as “gender”, “race”, or “class” scholars, rather than inclusive scholars of all these and more. This paper thus responds to recent calls for more intersectional work by simultaneously addressing the overlapping representations of race, gender, and gamer identity, and their relation to Lorde’s concept of the mythical norm, in the popular webseries, The Guild (YouTube, 2007-2013). Via a detailed, inductive thematic analysis of the show’s two characters of color, Zaboo and Tinkerballa, we find a doubly problematic intersection between standard “gamer identity” tropes and gendered Asian/American stereotypes. The show forecloses on its potential to be truly diverse and reinforces the oppressive, marginalizing practices it tries to mock, suggesting that gaming culture will not change until we address its intersecting axes of power and exclusion. This research also demonstrates how the constructed identity of media audiences-- in this case, stereotypical “gamer” identity-- can exacerbate and reaffirm existing power disparities in representation. We suggest that media scholars remain attentive to the intersecting articulations of media consumer and individual identities in considering how representation can influence systems of inclusion and exclusion, as well as viewers’ lived outcomes.

Kūniškos mediacijos: biomedijos šiuolaikinėje kontrolės visuomenėje

The aim of this article is to present, discuss and critically reflect the emerging in media studies notion of biomedia, which refutes the alleged dichotomy between technology and the body. In the broadest sense, biomedia can be construed as a particular way of mediation whereby the media directly affect and transform the biological dimension of the body and vice versa. The article opens with the discussion of the context in which biomedia emerge – the societies of control (G. Deleuze). In the this first part, the genesis of the concept of biomedia is discussed, as well as two conceptual paradigms – epistemological (E. Thacker’s “dark media”) and ethical (M. Fuller, A. Goffey’s “gray media”) are presented. In the second part, the nexus between biomedia and the cyberbiopolitical regime is highlighted, as well as a peculiar form of biopower, functioning through biomedia – neuropower (W. Neidich) is presented. Ultimately, two potential resistance lines (negative and critical) are examined.

Media formats of post-drama theater

The article is devoted to the study of the question of the existence of post-dramatic performances in the modern media environment, in particular, the media formats of site-specific performances are studied. The purpose of this study is to identify the mechanisms of interactivity, performativity and immersiveness in the media formats of post-drama theater. The article raises the question regarding the meaning of the media format concept used in media studies in its connection with theatrical practices. The basic components of the concept of media format are the technical characteristics and focus on the target public. The chosen methodology allows us to characterize the technical capabilities of modern media formats for creating the effects of performativity, interactivity and immersiveness. The empirical basis of the research is the podcast The Theater of Everyday Life. Site-Specific Performances for Everyday Places and Routes in the mobile application Yandex Music and performances in the application Mobile Art Theater. The article draws conclusions concerning the influence of technical and verbal means of interaction used in mobile applications and in VR performances on the emergence of the effects of performativity and immersiveness in the minds of the audience. It is pointed out that the mechanics of the performances under consideration are connected with the concepts of A. Artaud and H.-T. Lehman, in particular, draw a conclusion about the role of the audience in such performances.

Posthuman Media Studies

In connection with emerging scholarship in the digital humanities, media genealogy, and informational ontology, this paper begins the process of articulating a posthuman approach to media studies. Specifically, this project sheds new light on how posthuman ethics, ontology, and epistemology can be applied in order to develop new methodologies for media studies. Each of these approaches builds upon the foundation of an informational ontology, which avoids the necessity for pre-existing subjects that transmit messages to one another within a cybernetic paradigm. Instead, a posthuman paradigm explores methods that include counter-actualization, modulation, and counter-memory. Posthuman media studies emphasizes the need for experimentation in developing new processes of subjectivation and embraces an affirmative posthuman nomadic ethical subjectivity, linking true critique to true creation.

Introduction

The Introduction chapter lays out the book’s key arguments, historical and theoretical background, and methodology. By arguing that queer biographical films are biopics, this book asserts that media studies scholars and film critics have failed to appreciate the biopic’s rich queer legacy. The chapter includes discussions of the biopic’s biomedical history and use as a teaching tool in public school classrooms before demonstrating why the biopic might be attractive to queer filmmakers and audiences during the AIDS era and emergence of New Queer Cinema. Through understanding the queer biopic as a biopic, this book reorients the way we understand the biopic genre itself.