The Greta Thunberg’s Phenomenon and Technology of Mediatization of Ecological Protests

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the mediatization technologies, the theatricalization of politics, and the penetration mechanism of mass culture into politics using the example of 2019’s bright phenomenon - Greta Thunberg and her «climate strikes». In this case, various aspects (political, sociopsychological, international, environmental, and ethical) are viewed and need analysis. However, the study of the interaction between the modern information environment and digital natives (generation Z), and the latest tools of modeling mass consciousness is of particular interest. Hybrid forms including elements of mass culture, communication strategies, manipulation technologies, and role-playing avatars present, nowadays, a serious threat to conservative politics. These politics present poorly calculated schemes of latent influence on mass consciousness. «Greta Thunberg - an angry girl in the struggle for the Earth» is a beautiful story, well created and produced with all modern social technologies, efficiently embedded in the world political agenda. A year after its appearance, it is a lever of pressure on high politics, a tool for man aging mass consciousness and a role-playing avatar for young people from 10 to 20 years old and, what’s more, a rooted sociocultural meme. The complexity of the study of this topic is due to the relative freshness of the case, its interdisciplinary character, and most importantly, its incompleteness. The final case can be modeled in different aspects, depending on the creativity of the «producers» behind the project. However, in the heyday of social media «in the global village» such hybrid entities will appear again and again. If, until recently, the most labile and manipulative audience was young people and students, in a short term society may face a «revolution of children» led by Hameln Pied Piper through social networks.