Video Art and Culture: Music Videos

The following essay was written for an assessment in Video Art and Culture

 

Come Into My Mad World:

 Exploring Existential Isolation through

the work of Michel Gondry

 

Video art and mass culture have always had a complex relationship. One platform that straddles the blurred line between art and commerce is music videos. They converge art, short film, advertising and micro narrative to create a specialised aesthetic and emotional sensibility (Weir 2004). Music videos provide visual artists an ability to explore social themes with a mass culture audience. Michel Gondry is a visual artist renowned for his unique aesthetic style, and rose to international fame through music video collaborations. Gondry’s music videos for Protection by Massive Attack (EMI), Mad World covered by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules (Sanctuary) and Come Into My World by Kylie Minogue (Capitol Records) are united by the theme of existential isolation. Before deconstructing these videos, it is important to explain the elements of music videos, to contextualise the theme and briefly reflect on Michel Gondry’s creative style.

 

Music videos arose from commercial interests. They were recognised by recording companies as a complimentary form of advertising that could be produced faster and generally cheaper than band touring (Weir 2004, 38). The launch and subsequent mass popularity of the MTV Channel in the 1980s and 1990s firmly entrenched this medium as a vital component of the music industry. It has also provided a mass media platform for video artists, allowing a dynamic meshing of video art and mass culture. According to Weir (2004, 39), “[artists are] plugging into the global distribution networks… an exponentially expanded public… Their responses to music video draw on alternating currents of irony, nostalgia, critique, camp and celebration, and develop the genre further in an art context, whether citing music video style, commenting on its form, or challenging our perceptions of the relationship between music and images.”

A music video is comprised of two elements, a song and images that combine to create an audio-visual text. Whilst both elements can be assessed separately as song and images, they only truly exist as a music video when experienced together (Gabrielli 2010). As a whole, then, they combine to create greater, or multiple, meanings than as individual elements. From this arises the concept of synaesthesia: the interweaving of sound and image is what fundamentally defines music video and constitutes its direct sensory appeal (Weir 2004, 40).

According to Gabrielli (2010) there are five aesthetic functions of the image. Firstly, the images may “paraphrase the verbal text of the song,” the images tend to be fairly literal visuals of the song title or lyrics, such as Nightswimming by R.E.M (Jem Cohen, 1995). Secondly, the images can “[facilitate] the comprehension of the lyrics,” often appearing as subtitles or lettering that may explain the lyrics or meaning of the song, No Surprises by Radiohead (Grant Gee 1997) for example. “Creating a further reading perspective of the song,” is the third function, where the images may develop independently from the content of the text. This often, but not exclusively, occurs with dance/techno music where there is minimal verbal text, such as Revolution 909 by Daft Punk (Roman Coppola 1997). The fourth function of the images with respect to the music is “to direct the expressivity of the song by creating a specific, guided atmosphere.” This provides the images with the power of altering how an individual may perceive the song. Finally, the images may “create matches with given parts of the song,” referring to how the visuals synchronise with the sound to provide visual punctuation. This visual punctuation may be shown by hearing and seeing drums being played, but it may also be shown through other visual motifs such as the various dancers in Michel Gondry’s video for Around the World by Daft Punk (1997).

 

 

The technology that has facilitated modern mass culture has for decades endured academic criticism. One of these criticisms is that of existential isolation, or “Alone Together” (Turkle 2011): in contemporary Western society, there is a cultural phenomenon where individuals, while inhabiting the same space, often feel isolated from others, or disconnect themselves to be ‘in a world of their own.’ This phenomenon emerged into mainstream debate with the proliferation of mobile media devices such as the iPod and smart phones; however it has existed in critical media studies theory for some time. Williams (1974, 19) describes it as “mobile privatisation.” The argument revolves around how society’s perpetual preoccupation with ‘being connected’ has changed how we multitask. This ultimately has instilled “multi-lifing”: a form of escapism where people, who maintain multiple identities (lives), ‘escape’ from their current or ‘real’ situation (Turkle 2011). There is a concern that technology has become an “architect of intimacy… connectivity offers the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship,” (Turkle 2011). The music videos for Protection by Massive Attack (EMI), Mad World covered by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules (Sanctuary) and Come Into My World by Kylie Minogue (Capitol Records) are united by the theme of existential isolation. Protection explores the isolation of individuals in the setting of an apartment unit. Mad World reveals emotional isolation and disconnection from the rest of society. Come Into My World suggests how the pop music industry is associated with promoting isolation through the fantasy created by glamour.

 

 

Michel Gondry is a video artist who is renowned for his thoughtful and visually unique style of music videos. He has worked with Björk, Daft Punk, The White Stripes and Beck, among many others. Gondry’s works often explore the convergence of dreams and reality, conscious and unconscious states (Hirschberg 2006), which invoke the audience to question their perceptions, not just of reality but what a music video should be. Gondry understands the appeal of disorientation, of the audience’s not immediately understanding what it is seeing. As explained by Hirschberg (2006), “He gets impatient when the events unfolding in a narrative are too organized, too emotionally tidy”.

Gondry has said of his work (Hirschberg 2006), “When I first started making videos, I didn’t understand the English lyrics. So I looked at the rhythms, and I replicated an abstraction, which made my videos closer to what the musicians usually meant in the beginning. I could never be exact in my work, and that was a good thing.” Gondry’s aesthetic style (Hirschberg 2006), is “a hybrid of imaginative fiction and emotional reality.”

The music videos for Protection by Massive Attack (EMI), Mad World covered by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules (Sanctuary) and Come Into My World by Kylie Minogue (Capitol Records) are united by the theme of existential isolation. They are also unified by Gondry’s signature use of a single continuous shot and use of visual leitmotifs.

Despite creating these videos prior to the mobile media device explosion that began with the first generation iPod (which was released in 2001, but still an emerging trend in 2002), Gondry has achieved a thoughtful and touching exploration of the human experience of isolation.

 

 

The music video for Protection (Gondry 1995) begins with the camera following a man and child into an apartment block. The video is a single continuous shot, with the camera moving between various rooms, mostly depicting a variety of domestic situations, but also include Tracy Thorn singing to the audience. The camera eventually finishes following the man back out and into his car, hovering on the empty child’s seat in the back. The various situations appear to be unremarkable and mundane. However, the viewer catches glimpses of the man dropping off his child, and how the child negatively interacts with her new guardian.

Gondry’s imagery in Protection has managed to thoroughly explore the theme of existential isolation. The first reading shows how the visuals paraphrase the verbal text of the song. Through including the scene of the father, his child and the mother, Gondry has provided a visual narrative that reflects that of the lyrics. The lines:

I know you want to live yourself
But could you forgive yourself
If you left her just the way
You found her

You’ve got a baby of your own
When your baby’s gone, she’ll be the one
To catch you when you fall

suggest a relationship that, while producing a child, has soured, and now they are learning to move on with their lives. However, through implicating the neighbours in the apartment block, particularly how little anyone is aware of the couple’s relationship, subtly shows the viewer how isolated we are in our own lives from those around us. The fact that the relationship has not been visually highlighted or singled out helps to anchor the depiction with realism. In this way, the video has also managed to create a further reading perspective of the song.

The song Protection is about the need for feeling safe and to heal from emotional wounds. The gentle, fluid camera movements, coupled with the subdued action reinforce this mood. Here juxtaposition on the theme of isolation is created: while everyone else is isolated (be that intentional or unintentional) from the former family, the members of the family need isolation in order to gain a sense of safety and healing.

 

Gondry’s (2001) video for Mad World is filmed from the roof of a building, looking down upon a group of people on the footpath. As the audience watches, the people move around and form shapes, including a face, stick figure, house, boat, car, dove and a dog. The movement of the people appears hectic at first, and then almost magically form a clear, animated figure. The camera pans up to the roof, where Gary Jules is singing and watching the people below, and back again. The video finishes by panning up the opposite direction to where Michael Andrews is playing the piano part of the song.

This cover of the Tears for Fears song Mad World is an incredibly sombre version, stripped down from electro pop to acoustic piano, ’cello and minimal vocal effects. The cover was recorded originally for the movie Donnie Darko, a psychological thriller, and emphasised the mood of eeriness and sadness in the film. Gondry’s video, however, gently shifts the mood of the song away from the eerie and more towards suggesting a disconnection rather than sadness. Again Gondry has employed very smooth, fluid and continuous camera movement to lend a more realistic feel to the scene. The theme manifests itself as focusing on how an individual may feel isolated from the world around them. The lyrics lament how “I find it hard to tell you / I find it hard to take / when people run in circles it’s a very, very / mad world, mad world.” The visual of the people flowing from shape to shape emphasise the lament. The fact that Gary Jules is watching the scene below him, apparently by himself at first reinforces the sense of isolation, especially during the second verse, “Went to school and I was very nervous / no one knew me, no one knew me.”

The Mad World video, ten years later, seems an uncanny premonition for the emotional isolation Turkle (2011) describes in her research on the social effect of mobile media devices in the wake of the digital age.

 

 

Come Into My World (Gondry 2002) was shot in Paris, and is a continuous shot that follows Kylie Minogue as she walks around a traffic intersection. Around her the streets thrive with activity, with Kylie at once observing the activity and walking as though oblivious to it. There is a clear visual leitmotif: corresponding to the repetitions of the refrain, the same long take is repeated seamlessly. Each time the chorus starts, we see Kylie in almost the same position as the previous round, repeating similar movements, while another image of her enters and joins in acting out the same path she previously took. By the end of the video, there are four versions of Kylie and four sets of the street life all carrying on oblivious of the others.

Come Into My World is a standard pop music love song. A surface reading of the lyrics reveals an invitation a prospective lover to begin a romance with the singer, specifically asking, “Come into my world.” However, the visuals suggest and reinforce a variety of meanings. The bustle of the street aid in engendering an energetic mood that reflects the pop beat, but the fact that the looped Kylies do not acknowledge each other raises questions over perceptions of reality. The glamour of the pop music industry is sometimes criticised for the unreal fantasy world that it creates for celebrities. The video suggests that “my world” is one of self-absorption; it is almost completely detached from what is occurring around her; it is a literal visual representation of “multi-lifing”. The way isolation is explored in this video is a departure from Protection and Mad World. Whereas the first and second music videos explore the emotional isolation an individual may experience while yearning to connect with others, Come Into My World suggests how pop music and mass culture may isolate individuals from their own empathy. Gondry’s visually rich video positions the audience to question how Kylie, as a symbol for mass culture, interacts with others and her own self.

 

Music videos provide a unique opportunity for visual artists to explore cultural themes with a mass audience. The synaesthesia of melding audio and visual elements to create new meanings is a powerful form of direct sensory and emotional appeal. Michel Gondry is a video artist with creative ability to make engaging videos with subtle explorations of cultural themes, such as existential isolation. The Protection, Mad World and Come Into My World music videos are unified by this theme and each in their own way explore a different facet of the human experience of isolation.

 

References

Gabrielli, Giulia. 2010. “An Analysis of the Relation between Music and Image.” In Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video, edited by Henry Keazor and Thorsten Wübbena, 89-109. Bieletold: Transcript Verlag.

Gondry, Michel. 1995. “Protection.” YouTube video, posted March 6, 2009. Accessed October 15, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epgo8ixX6Wo&ob=av2e

Gondry, Michel. 2001. “Mad World.” YouTube video, posted January 8, 2006. Accessed October 15, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

Gondry, Michel. 2002. “Come Into My World.” YouTube video, posted October 10, 2007. Accessed October 15, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErU5hKT2KMs

Hirschberg, Lynn. 2006. “Le Romantique.” The New York Times, September 17. Accessed October 21, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/magazine/17gondry.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Turkle, Sherry. 2011. “Alone Together.” TEDxUIUC video, posted February 19. Accessed October 4, 2011. http://www.tedxuiuc.com/TEDxUIUC/Talks_Sherry_Turkle.html

Weir, Kathryn. 2004. Video hits: art & music video. Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery.

Williams, Raymond. 1974. Television: technology and cultural form. London: Fontana.

Worlds of Consumption: Consumerism, Consumer Cultures and World of Warcraft

Introduction 

 

 

Contemporary media studies accepts the fact that consumption is a part of the everyday lifestyle and routine of individuals in Western Cultures (Slater, 1997, 8). The role it plays in our lives has been the focus of heated debate, particularly how mass production and  information and communication technologies have given rise to mass culture; and the possible effects, both positive and negative, that this culture may have on present and future generations. The studies of consumerism and consumer cultures have sort to understand how new technologies are influencing cultural attitudes and behaviours, and vice versa. A historical explanation from the Frankfurt School frames consumption as a negative influence, one that distracts and devalues individuals who are unfortunately part of the “duped masses” (Adorno and Horkheimer 1944). On the other hand, liberal explanations describe consumption as a means of self-expression, and give individuals agency over their consumption practices (Slater, 1997). The computer gaming industry, particularly Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft (WOW), is a prime forum for exploring the merits of both sides of consumption.

 

Consumerism, according to Gabriel and Lang (1995, in Net Industries), is the “collection of behaviours, attitudes, and values that are associated with the consumption of material goods.” Individuals use goods and services as a means of determining their social status, as well as define social movements. Central to this is consumer cultures, which examines the different ways that people use and engage with commodities, rather than the objects themselves. Slater (1997, 8 ) defines it as “…a meaningful practice of the modern world; and it is more generally bound up with central values, practices and institutions which define modernity, such as choice, individualism and market relations.”

 

Theory Context

 

 

According to Adorno and Horkheimer (1944), “The fusion of culture and entertainment that is taking place today leads not only to a deprivation of culture, but inevitably to an intellectualization of amusement … Amusement itself becomes an ideal, taking the place of the higher things of which it completely deprives the masses” (perhaps this essay is complicit in this?). Despite being published more than sixty-five years ago, the concerns raised over the extent ‘leisure’ activities preoccupy our attention (and wallet) are prevalent today. The computer and video gaming sector of the entertainment industries has experienced exponential growth during the last couple of decades. In Australia, research by the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (2008) has shown:

• The gaming industry in Australia is estimated at $2.05 billion
• 88% of Australian households have a device for playing computer games
• 84% of Australians aged 16-24 play computer & video games

This demonstrates the degree to which computer games have become part of mass culture and consumption in Australia alone.

 

          World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online role-play game (mmorpg), released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. It is based in a fantasy world, where players can create an avatar, and chose to play on dedicated story or role-playing based servers, player vs player and player vs environment (Blizzard Entertainment 2011).  As of July 2011, WOW was reported to have over 11.1 million subscribers worldwide (Cifaldi 2011). With the game’s permeation through mainstream media, it has been plagued with alarming articles revealing extreme examples of the detriment excessive gaming can have on individuals (Newscore 2011), as well as the growth of virtual markets and ‘gold farming’ (Jin 2007), but curiously there have also been studies on the apparent positive aspects as well, such as possible correlations between WOW and business management (Forbes.com 2010; Reeves, Malone and O’Driscoll 2008).

 

Contemporary consumer culture attitudes tend to arise from two main schools of thought. The Frankfurt School, established in the 1920s as the Institute of Social Research and championed by Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse, drew heavily upon Marxism to discern the workings of mass culture and its apparent lack of political and moral depth (Featherstone 2007). Central to their theories is the premise that modern consumerism produces a homogenous mass culture, which threatens individuality, causes alienation and a breakdown of social structures, and stunts individuals’ ability to think creatively (Featherstone 2007). Individual consumers of mass culture are assumed to be passive, distracted and unable to critically analyse, an assumption which has fuelled a large body of literature surrounding media effects theories and media moral panics (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994). Computer gaming, from a Frankfurt point of view, would not only be a distraction from more important pursuits, but engenders antisocial behaviours, commodity fetishism and a lack of creativity through outsourcing individuals’ imaginations.

 

In contrast to the Frankfurt School, liberal views of consumerism and consumer cultures attempt to understand not just what people are consuming, but how they are consuming it. The act of consumption may be used to create and shape identities, as well as construct lifestyles, and how we affiliate with or distinguish ourselves from different groups (Featherstone 2007).  Liberal assertions about computer games may include evidence of the wide demographics of participants and how what function they play in their lives, the fact that most users are able to discern the difference between virtual and real lives and the potential use as a form of adult play, and finally how game stories can provide stimulus for innumerable fan generated content.

 

The Question of Alienation

 

 

One of the major criticisms of mass culture from the Frankfurt School (and Marxism) is that mass culture produces alienation. The concept states that the broad and impersonal nature of mass culture leads to a breakdown of traditional social structures (such as local communities and families) and produces isolation (Adorno and Horkheimer 1944; Featherstone 2007).  It is reasonable to apply this concept to the issue of gaming and antisocial behaviour. The literature surrounding the potential effects of addiction (Weinstein 2010), sedentary lifestyle (Primack 2009) and engendering aggression and violence (Sigurdsson et al 2006) is gaining recognition, and one could argue is evidence supporting how computer games are contributing to the alienation of those individuals who distract themselves with the apparent frivolity of games. There have even been cases where WOW players have suffered serious social and health problems, even death (Newscore 2011).

 

However, whilst some studies have exposed the potential dangers, others have disputed not only their validity but explored what positives can be gleaned from computer games. Research by Nardi (2010), spanning several years and two countries, uncovered demographic and motivational data that challenges the nerd stereotype. Nardi’s results included families, blue and white collar workers, physically and socially active people, as well as those with disabilities. Friends played with friends, and with strangers. Far from causing alienation, Nardi (2010) found that the guild (community) structures in WOW facilitated social interaction, and in many cases augmented players’ otherwise active lives. Some guilds form through friendship, others based upon playing styles, politics, sexuality, and so on (Nardi 2010). It could be argued, “the [guild] that plays together stays together.” A liberal consumer culture assertion would point this out as an example of individuals utilising the online nature of WOW to expand their social interactions.

 

Other research addressing aggression, violence (Olson, Kunter and Warner 2008) and the ethics of computer games (Sicart 2009) have demonstrated how gaming may be used as forms of adult (or child) play, depending on the level of agency a player chooses to employ. The virtual world provides an environment for adolescents to explore different roles and social situations, particularly those involving conflict, rules and consequences, and dealing with negative emotions (Olson, Kunter and Warner 2008). Another positive influence, particularly for role-playing games, was the motivation and encouragement to think creatively to solve problems (Olson, Kunter and Warner 2008; Sicart 2009).

 

Commodity Fetishism

 

 

The alienation theory also raises the idea of commodity fetishism. This concept addresses concern over how consumers create artificial values for products, sometimes to a level of fanaticism to their apparent value or image. Marxism reflects on how through alienation consumers’ attention and energy is displaced from “proper” pursuits, such as politics and education, onto objects that do not truly have value (Adorno and Horkheimer 1944; Featherstone 2007). It is impossible to deny that WOW has been fetishized. Consumers ‘buy’ into the often expensive fantasy world (mainly through subscriptions), and even purchase virtual items with real money; to the degree that WOW, among other online games, now have “virtual economies” where virtual objects are traded for real money (Jin 2007). “Gold Farming” (Jin 2007) has spawned from this, where individuals are ‘playing’ WOW and selling their characters when they reach a high level. While the Frankfurt School may be mortified by this activity, a more liberal approach may consider these individuals as virtual entrepreneurs exploiting a niche market. By industry standards, WOW has also lasted an extremely long time. Since its launch in 2004, it has released three ‘expansion sets’, as well as regular patches that alter how the game operates (Blizzard Entertainment 2011). However, one could argue that it is still essentially the same product.

 

Alienation Affecting Imagination?

 

 

The third criticism of mass culture is how it stunts individuals’ ability to think creatively. The continual consumption of the same game, regardless of how many patches WOW releases, is the continual consumption of the same set of rules and constructed reality, without any genuine expansion or creativity required from the player. Computer games are by design constructed realities with clearly defined rules and boundaries. Drawing on the arguments of the fetishism of WOW and how it may cause alienation, it seems fair to suppose the consuming nature of the game could stunt an individual’s creativity through the continual demand that they think within specified boundaries.

 

The reality, however, is far from this. WOW, as with many other games, is more than just the game itself. Notably, the huge existence of fan generated content, in the form of fan sites, fiction, art and forums that provide feedback about the game to the designers (Blizzard Entertainment 2011).

 

Tools of Expression and Affiliation

 

 

Liberal consumer culture theories highlight how consumption may be used a tool of self-expression and a means of distinguishing subcultures. One of the most fundamental components of role playing games is character customisation. In this respect, WOW is a decent standard, with twelve races to choose from (with the Cataclysm release), male and female, facial features, hair, ten different classes, etcetera (Blizzard Entertainment 2011). Character customisation is a prime example of how players may chose to represent themselves through their avatar/s, thus providing a means not only of expression, but adult play as well. As mentioned earlier, the guilds in WOW may be formed based on a number of factors. They may begin as groups of friends, or people with a particular playing style, even political affiliations or player sexuality (Nardi 2010). WOW players in general are often viewed as a subculture in itself, but the game in many ways also acts as a virtual meeting place for players who identify with other subcultures. Liberal consumer culture would view these players as agents who engage with the game, and use it as a forum both for adult play and as a virtual community space.

 

Wrap-up

 

 

In summary, consumption practices are often characterised through two opposing views. Firstly, The Frankfurt School frames consumption as a negative influence, one that causes alienation, commodity fetishism and limits genuine individual creativity. Secondly, the liberal perspective frames individuals as agents of consumption, utilising it as a form of self-expression, and to affiliate with and differentiate from subcultures.

 

Both perspectives have valid arguments for various aspects of the world of World of Warcraft. Rather than weighing them up and casting a black and white answer, it would be prudent to take the arguments on their own merits as addressing specific issues that relate to WOW, and computer gaming in general. The key conclusion is that maintaining a balance, through reflection and sense of perspective, will allow individual consumers to maintain a sense of agency, and resist falling into the “duped masses.”

 

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References

 

Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer. 1944. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” In The Consumer Society Reader, edited by Juliet Schor and Douglas Holt. 2000, 3-19. New York: New Press.

Blizzard Entertainment. 2011. “Game – World of Warcraft”. Accessed September 9, 2011. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/

Cifaldi, Frank. 2011. “World of Warcraft Subscriptions Continue to Decline, Though More Slowly.” Gamasutra Blog. August 3, 2011. Accessed September 8, 2011. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36351/World_of_Warcraft_Subscriptions_Continue_To_Decline_Though_More_Slowly.php

Featherstone, Mike. 2007. “Chapter 2: Theories of Consumer Culture.” In Consumer Culture and Postmodernism, 13-27. London: Sage.

Forbes.com. 2010. “Entrepreneurs Get An Edge Playing Videogames.” Accessed June 1 2010. http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/28/world-of-warcraft-entrepreneurs-technology-wharton.html

Goode, Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda. 1994. Moral Panics: the social construction of deviance. Oxford: Blackwell.

Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia. 2008. Interactive Australia 2009. Gold Coast: The Centre for New Media Research Bond University.

Jin, Ge. 2007. “Chinese Gold Farmers in MMORPGs.” YouTube video, posted March 12. Accessed September 4, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEegohRPsqg

Nardi, Bonnie. 2010. “My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft: Excerpts.” First Monday 15(7). Accessed May 1, 2011.   http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/3064/2574

Net Industries. 2010. “Defining Origins of Consumer Cultures.” Accessed September 9, 2011. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6480/Consumer-Culture.html

Newscore. 2011. “Chinese man dies after three day gaming binge.” News.com.au, February 23. Accessed September 5, 2011. http://www.news.com.au/world/chinese-man-dies-after-three-day-gaming-binge/story-e6frfkyi-1226010435060

Olson, Cheryl, Lawrence Kunter and Dorothy Warner. 2008. “The Role of Violent Video Game Content in Adolescent Development: Boy’s Perspective.” Journal of Adolescent Research 23(1): 55-75.

Primack, Brian. 2009. “Video Games: Play or ‘Playlike Activity’.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine 37 (4): 379-380.

Reeves, B, T. Malone, and T. O’Driscoll, 2008. “Leadership’s online labs,” Harvard Business Review Online. Accessed June 1 2010. http://www.hbr.org

Sicart, Miguel. 2009. The Ethics of Computer Games. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sigurdsson, Jon Fridrik, Gisli Gudjonsson, Atli Bragason, Elsa Kristjansdottir and Inga Sigfusdottir. 2006. “The roles of violent cognition in the relationship between personality and the involvement in violent films and computer games.” Personality and Individual Differences 41: 381-392.

Slater, Don. 1997. Consumer Culture and Modernity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Weinstein, Aviv. 2010. “Computer and Video Game Addiction – A Comparison between Game Users and Non-Game Users.” American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 36: 268-276.

Plastics Challenge

The following video is from a performance art project I took part in during September and October of 2010. It was in response to the environmental issue of the ever increasing amount of waste plastic accumulating in the Pacific Ocean.

The Plastics Challenge consisted of two tasks conducted over two weeks.

Week one – keep all the plastic (typically disposable) that you use – take pictures of it, write down where it comes from and how it’s making you feel.

Week two – find alternatives to the plastic you normally use

The Plastics Challenge aimed to achieve two things. Firstly, we wanted to become aware of our own plastic consumption practices, and learn about alternatives. Secondly, to encourage others to try their own Challenge, and find out how easy it can be, with a little thought.

I encourage everyone to try their own Plastics Challenge.

I would like to thank the other members of the team for the awesome experience!

Jade Baker

Lizzy Hart

Rachel Mellers

Rebecca Fu

It’s not what you know…

It’s who you know – and how you speak to them.

Many fellow students (such as Jess Monk 2011) are concerned and excited about their futures in the creative industries, and rightly so. Gill’s research into job security and satisfaction in New Media exposes the stark reality that careers in this industry are ones of a balance between insecurity and freedom. 

Castells ( 1999, 401) believes that, “The Project, around which a network of partners is built, is the actual operating unit of our economy.” The fluidity of project based work is the defining characteristic from Gill’s research, but their temporal nature may not be as daunting as many critics claim.

David Rickard (2011) blogged on the role of the esteem economy in this industry; the old saying of “it’s not what you know, but who you know.”

To my mind, the reality is both.

The age of information places an emphasis on the need for branding oneself (Russell 2011). Whilst encouraged to cultivate versatile skills, media students need to compete and work with those with specialised skills. New Media studies are designed to focus on big picture issues.

How can you stand out?

Since New Media lets everyone have a voice, either you shout louder or individualise your voice.

A worthwhile example is Morgan Spurlock’s The greatest TED talk ever sold (2011).
https://ted.com/talks/view/id/1114

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Castells, M. 1999. ‘An Introduction to the Information Age.’ In The Media Reader: Continuity & Transformation, edited by Hugh Mackay & Tim O’Sullivan, 398-410. London: Sage.

Gill, Rosalind. 2007. Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.

Monk, Jessica. 2011. “Chasing Passion of Play?” New Media Musings Blog, May 1. Accessed May 2. http://jessicamonkkcb206.blogspot.com/2011/05/chasing-passion-or-pay.html

Rickard, David. 2011. “The Most Important Economy Doesn’t Deal with Money,” Walkmyownpath Blog, May 2. Accessed May 3. http://walkmyownpath.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/the-most-important-economy-doesnt-deal-with-money/

Russell, Zoe. 2011. “Online Branding of the Psyche,” Bloggingnewmedia Blog, April 4. Accessed May 2. http://bloggingnewmedia.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/online-branding-of-the-psyche/

Spurlock, Morgan. 2011. “The Greatest TED Talk Ever Sold.” TED Talk video, posted April 6. Accessed April 30. http://blog.ted.com/2011/04/06/the-greatest-ted-talk-ever-sold-morgan-spurlock-on-ted-com/

An (virtual) apple a day…

…keeps the doctor away…

Surges in the proliferation of health information and services online has sparked grave concerns for the future of health and wellbeing, both in an individual and societal sense; concerns including New Media as a source of heath (mis)information (Wyatt, Harris and Wathen 2008).

 

One of the major currents in this debate is that both power differentials and responsibility have shifted away from patriarchal and collective to patient/user and individual (These follow on from my blog about New Media Empowerment).

There is an endless supply of information now available to laypeople that once were only available to medical professionals. We as consumer/patients may research symptoms, treatment plans, medicinal and lifestyle, etc information as a means of educating ourselves (assuming we have the skills to discern between reliable and unreliable information) (Lewis 2006). This in turn has led to a change in the discourse of wellbeing responsibility. Societal attitudes are shifting towards individuals learning and correctly managing their lifestyles (Lewis 2006), as a means to prevent/minimise the risk of becoming ill and therefore avoiding the costly (time, financial, stress) process of treatment.

 

In many ways, this can be a positive thing – there is a chronic shortage of medical professionals, and if we are able to correctly self-diagnose, this relieves some of the burden on G.P.s… Remember the old adage: prevention is better than cure.

 

Lewis, T. 2006. “Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria?” Media, Culture & Society 28 (4): 521-539.

Ryan, Peter. 2011. “Freedom and Responsibility,” Digimediastudent Blog, March 26 2011. Accessed April 8. https://digimediastudent.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/21/

Wyatt, S., Harris, R. and Wathen, N. 2008. “The Go-Betweens: Health, Technology and Info(r)mediation”. In Mediating Health Information: The Go-Betweens in a Changing Socio-Technical Landscap, edited by Sally Wyatt, Nadine Wathen and Roma Harris, 1-12. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

How much do I owe you?

Thanks for your time…

 

In contemporary media studies, there is a fundamental concept that people living in modern, post industrialised countries are living in a media life. The idea here is that our lives are lived in rather than with the media that is present in our lives (Deuze, cited in Deuze 2011, p. 138) – the immediacy of technology that informs our everyday life (public/private, local/global, individual/collective) have become so prevalent that we have ceased to monitor their effect on our lives (Deuze 2011, p.137).

However, it is important to step back and assess our immersion in media.

Davenport and Beck (2001) explored an important adjunct to the media life – the increasing growth of an “attention economy”. Common sense tells us that our time is valuable, in many ways it is the most important resource we have. If we run with this and say that attention is a currency; the fact that mobile phones, email, social networking, etcetera, have become so pervasive and ubiquitous in our lives means that our attention is continuously being competed for – whether from friends, family, strangers, businesses, charities and so on. Commercial advertising assaults us with the demand for our money; but more importantly, have they already made us spend?

Time is money, as they say. If you can’t buy my time, I won’t buy your product.

Amie and Qian’s blogs are also worth a read for their takes on the concept.

 

References

Davenport, T. and Beck, J. C. 2001. “A New Perspective on Business”. In The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Boston: Harvard Business School Press: 1-15.

Dueze, Mark. 2011. “Media Life”. Media, Culture & Society 33 (1): 137-148.

Milton, Amie. 2011. “Caught in the media rip”. My-Take blog, April 3. Accessed April 4 2011. http://amie-milton.blogspot.com/2011/04/caught-in-media-rip.html

Shen, Qian. 2011. “Week 5”. Qian Shen blog, April 3. Accessed April 4 2011. http://qianshen.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-5.html

Freedom and Responsibility

A person’s identity is something that they construct (Goffman, 1959, see also Pearson 2009). During the selection process, we accrue social, cultural and political capital through the people, entertainment and ideologies that we identify ourselves with (see Monk 2011). With capital comes power – we are able to influence our friends, relatives or strangers depending on how our personal and professional capital contribute to our constructed identity – with reason and logic we may influence people’s thoughts, through emotion and trust we may change their hearts (Osborn & Osborn 1988).

New Media has been heralded as providing the channels that will lead to a revolution in an individual’s empowerment. Empowerment that exists because: anyone can be an author/content producer, everyone has a voice, and that everyone is entitled to speak (see Rickard 2011 for examples). These are commonly held beliefs, but what is the reality for New Media use around the world? In Australia, we are allowed to exploit New Media to express our concerns, ideas and beliefs. In nations with autocratic governments the freedom to share opinion is throttled, and so suffocates the germination of political capital more effectively than simply blocking access to outside information (Shirky 2011). Regardless of where one lives, there also arises the question of accountability – who is the gatekeeper for transparency, accountability and credibility of media content? Who is the discerner of truth?

As an ‘empowered’ individual, you search for the truth because you want to make informed decisions. You want to be politically enfranchised. You want to be able to say, “I believe that what I am doing is right.”

So who is the gatekeeper?

Empowerment means two things: the freedom to exercise your rights, and the responsibility to find your own truth.

References

Goffman, E.  1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.

Monk, J. 2011. “Identity in the Age of Musical Voyeurism,” New Media Musings Blog, March 19. Accessed March 25. http://jessicamonkkcb206.blogspot.com/2011/03/using-music-to-shape-identity-and.html

Osborn, M. & Osborn, S. (1988). Public speaking. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Pearson, E. 2009. “All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance identity in online social networks,” First Monday 14 (3).

Rickard, D. 2011. “How New Media has Changed Our Entertainment Consumption,” Walk My Own Path Blog, March 21. Accessed March 25. http://walkmyownpath.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/how-new-media-has-changed-our-entertainment-consumption/

Shirky, C. 2011. “The Political Power of Social Media,” Foreign Affairs 90 (1): 28-43.

The New Media Amusement Arcade

How has new media changed the way we consume our entertainment? Initially this may seem to have a straightforward answer, but there are important implications that ripple further than just entertainment consumption. To answer this question, it is necessary to break it down into further questions.

Firstly, what is new about new media? Leong (2011) explains in her lecture there are three parts to this: Artefacts, Practices (performances) and Social Organisation/Arrangements.

Artefacts include desktop computers, but more importantly mobile devices, i.e. phones and other devices with internet browsing.

Practices of consuming content have changed because of proliferation of mobile devices. The ability to consume TV, music and other entertainment via online channels means that we can consume what we want, when we want, with whom we want and however we want (Leong 2011). Levy (2006) touches on how iTunes has achieved this in the music industry, and Turnbull (2010) argues that consumers may form connections with others with similar taste to a deeper level because of the participatory nature of new media.

Social arrangements have also changes: how we are exposed to new content occurs through tools such as Facebook’s ‘like’ function, playlists on LastFM, and aggregate sites such as Digg.

Another way of saying this would be to say new media has changed our consumption three fold. Through accessibility – access to new entertainment forms through wider exposure. Connectivity – connecting to others on a global scale who also share similar taste. Contribution – blurring the distinction between content producers and consumers, labelled “prod-users” by Bruns (2006).

References

Bruns, A. 2006. “Towards Produsage: Furtures for User-Led Content Production”.  In Sudweeks, Fay and Hrachovec, Herbert and Ess, Charles, Eds. 2006. Proceedings Cultural Attitudes towards Communication and Technology pp. 275-284, Tartu, Estonia.

Leong, S. 2011. “KCB206 The New Media Amusement Arcade: Week 3 lecture slides.” Accessed March 12, 2011.http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/.

Levy, S. 2006. The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 21-41.

Turnbull, S. 2010. “Imagining the Audience.” In The media & communications in Australia, edited by Stuart Cunningham and Graeme Turner, 65-78. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Working (living) from home with walls of glass

The topic for week two, Performing Me: Maintaining Visibility on the Social Stage, is about the implications of the expression or projection of self via New Media. In particular, concerns are raised regarding issues such as:

• the construction of identity,
• mediated dependency, and
• blurring of public and private spaces

(Leong 2011).

The construction of identity refers to the image of ourselves we project into the public arena (Goffman quoted in Pearson 2009). Mediated dependency refers to when an individual becomes  reliant on New Media as a form of, not only expression of,  their actual identity (Thompson quoted in Leong 2011).  Lastly, the implication of the blurring between public and private is encapsulated by Pearson’s (2009) use of the metaphor, “The glass bedroom.”

The themes of construction of identity and the glass bedroom mesh together with important outcomes for individuals and the corporate world. Elser’s article Social Media: The New CV (2011) examines how social networking site (SNS) profiles impact on employment opportunities. The main discussion is about the use of SNS profiles by recruitment companies/departments in deciding a potential employee’s suitability. “Potential employers are now using candidates’ social profiles to see if their lifestyles and core values reflect those of the organization and, ultimately, to identify any red flags,” (2011, 109).

Many companies would argue that the intrusion into personal life is necessary because recruitment and training are costly exercises and SNS profile investigation is, “simply risk mitigation” (2011, 111). However, the question arises, what are the implications for an individual’s work/life balance and therefore wellbeing? Justin Hiller of Social Recruitment 360 (Elser 2011, 112) believes that, “If a company values work/life balance as part of its ethos, using Facebook [to keep tabs on employees] contravenes that.”

Also check out Morgan’s blog re: SNS and identity theft

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References

Elser, D. 2011. “Social Media: The New CV?” Virgin Blue Voyeur 114: 107-112.

Leong, S. “KCB206 performing me: Week 2 lecture slides.” Accessed March 12, 2011.  http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/.

Pearson, E. 2009. “All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks” First Monday 14 (3). Accessed March 12, 2011. http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2162/2127