Мистецьке шоу: маніпуляція мистецтвом чи мистецтво маніпуляції?

Abstract

The word "show" has long and firmly established itself in the modern media space and our everyday life. The scientific discourse uses not only constant expressions like show business, but also fairly new ones, including show industry, show politics, show discourse, show civilization, show content, show didactics. All these "doubles" imply the active introduction of show technology into the relevant social-cultural spheres.Most researchers trace the show's historical path from ancient sights, and its biological prerequisites boil down to "social imprinting" — an innate tendency to copy the behavior broadcast by a leader. Let's agree that traditional sights have always shown a form of mass communication, and therefore directly related to the mass consciousness of the participant-viewer.Researchers choose different criteria to define the concept of "show": characteristic features of any spectacle in general, postmodern specificity, communicative component, sociocultural features, ontological dimensions. Such a panorama of approaches testifies not only to the magnitude and versatility of this phenomenon, but also to its deep penetration into all spheres of society. This is due to the show technology mentioned above.Undoubtedly, the leading broadcasting channels are television and the Internet, as they show the highest degree of visualization of retransmitted information. Even those art shows, which are filmed in stage (concert) conditions and are already spectacular in their origin, acquire in their screen embodiment new powerful features of interactivity, emphasized expressiveness.Show-technology, which allows to manipulate the attention of the viewer, involves the temporary distraction of the viewer from the pivotal, main theme due to the shift of emphasis towards minor elements, phenomena, events. Such clique of the show is determined by its structural fragmentation, a peculiar "injection of novelty" from everywhere, a kaleidoscopic impression, a constant violation of "unbreakable" rules. An interesting paradox is observed: in order to keep the viewer's attention, the show must always divert it from the bar to additional, parallel levels, but to do so with an increased degree of expressiveness. Such expressiveness is provided by media resources, using the maximum degree of visualization, outrageousness, sensationalism, simulation. In fact, a media frenzy, boom, information fever is created around people or events that do not attract attention by themselves.A successful, popular show becomes such because it shows the viewer unmet needs — in love, respect, self-esteem, involvement in social-cultural activity, awareness of belonging to a certain social group, self-expression, rest and entertainment, emotional relaxation — and satisfies them.In its highest manifestation, this "viewer orientation" turns into a powerful show-anchoring technology. This psychological term means a conscious or, more often, unconscious, installation that engages a person (the anchor itself), fixing in it a strong conditional reflex connection. In an art show, it is often a forced memorization of certain images or symbols, the repetition of which will cause the person a specific emotional response that the manipulator needs. It is clear that such anchoring makes it possible for the anchor viewer to control it further. Using powerful methods of psychological influence on the audience of the show, such as suggesting, imitating, pressure under the guise of persuasion, show technologies thus become a powerful means of shaping the viewer's worldview and perception, the leverage of manipulating his consciousness and affection.The whole set of show technologies (discussed above and others) in action can be represented as a conditional scheme of the process, the leading feature of which will be increased manipulability at each subsequent stage: information about — popularization — advertising — propaganda — information terror.The global penetration of show technology into almost all spheres of public life that we are witnessing today makes the scientific discourse around the phenomenon of showmanship possible.The fast pace of showmanship and the powerful activation of show production are explained by two interdependent factors: on the one hand, show technologies are aimed at manipulating the viewers and making certain changes in the minds of the communication subjects (through "addicting" the viewer to a particular TV show), on the other — the viewers themselves manipulate the makers of the television product in some way (with their interest, lively interactive participation, high viewing rating), stimulating the continuation of their favorite shows in the coming seasons and creating new ones. Such interdependence leads to the fact that the entertaining and hedonistic functions of the art show gradually lose their primacy, and the stage involves managing the consciousness of the viewers and the multi-vector manipulation of their interests and appraisals, emotions and mood, and in general — the public position.