Popular Culture Industry Research Articles

상업영화 공동제작 네트워크 내재성(Network Embeddedness)과 흥행 성과 간 역 U자형 관계 탐구

In this study, we analyze the impact of embeddedness in co-production networks within the film industry on the commercial success of movies. We aim to determine whether the success in the popular culture industry, particularly in the film industry, is attributable to the network characteristics of suppliers. To this end, drawing on insights from network theory and related prior research, we propose a set of hypotheses regarding the relationship between the structural embeddedness within the network among film production companies and their box office performance. To test these arguments, we collected detailed information on feature films shown in US box offices from IMDB, resulting in a dataset of 2,752 movies for analysis. We utilized network constraint as an indicator of network embeddedness, Employing OLS regression analysis, we confirmed an inverted U-shaped relationship between network constraint and box office revenue, as hypothesized. However, we also found that this relationship varies depending on the characteristics of the movie. In the case of movies with high artistic quality, multiple genres, or large production budgets, we observed a mitigation in the pattern of the inverted U-shaped relationship. The results of our study indicate that while network embeddedness at a moderate level provides movie production companies with ease of access to resources and information, excessive embeddedness can hinder creative diversity and innovation. Our research offers valuable insights, emphasizing the importance of maintaining balance and diversity in supplier networks for the healthy development and sustainability of the cultural and arts industry.

Research on the Entertainment Marketing Challenge of HBO

With the development of the global entertainment industry, film and television productions are increasingly branded as commodities in today’s cultural consumption market. Viewing film and television have become an important part of people’s daily and cultural lives, it is particularly urgent to explore the development status and future trends of streaming brands. As a producer of mainstream film and television culture, HBO has grown across media and expanded its brand across the U.S. and international television landscape, where it is now a full-service content provider of original and iconic programming with a unique brand. Although it is generally believed that the birth of HBO changed the world, cable television has also changed how the network continues to shape popular culture and television industry, leading the way in reforming audiovisual consumption patterns, HBO is now facing increasingly serious challenges. This paper focuses on how HBO successfully promotes its programming, the problems that have arisen while expanding its brand in the U.S. and international television landscape and attempts to explore the optimization possibilities of its improvement policy and make recommendations.

Pengaruh Citra Tubuh terhadap Budaya Konsumsi pada Perempuan

Women view their bodies more negatively than men and this affects their body image. Body image is a person's evaluation of his physical appearance, other people's perceptions of his body, and how his body is adapted to these perceptions. This paper will focus on discussing the arguments about how women's body image affects their consumption culture. The research method used is literature study of secondary data from book sources, online journal articles, and data published on the internet. It was found that the construction of the ideal body in society was shaped by the capitalist popular culture industry and supported by the mass media. This construction creates a standardization of the definition of ideal beauty. Not only that, the patriarchal culture that places women as symbols of beauty that fulfills aesthetic functions in the household also influences their consumption culture. In addition to being the market object of capitalism's products, women are also the main consumers of products that are believed to help increase satisfaction with their body image, such as beauty, fitness, health, and fashion products.

Shall We Dance? Defining Sexuality and Controlling the Body in Contemporary Indonesia

This article examines how Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, came to define sexuality for its general population once intimacy was brought into the public sphere. However, its Islamic version had predominantly been based on interpretations pushed by politically hardline Islamist groups. The influence of this lobby (to be referred to as belonging to the stream of ‘conservative Islam’) grew steadily after the downfall of the Suharto regime in 1998 and culminated in the passage of an antipornography law ten years later. Focusing on the definitions of sexuality and pornography forwarded by these groups, this article analyses their limitations as well as the power contestations behind the passage of the antipornography legislation. It argues that such narrow interpretations of sexuality have had a marked impact on the nation, in particular the curtailment of its popular culture and creative industry. This has resulted in the arbitrary persecution and banning of cultural products considered to violate Islamic morality and propriety. The condemnation of dangdut singer Inul Daratista, and her ‘drill dance’, is one of many examples of such suppression.

Oppositional gaze or revenge? A critical ideological analysis of foreignness and foreign identities in Nollywood feature films

The media, including popular media such as music and films, often generate conversations about different spectrums of society. Due to an overabundance of imagery and sounds from the media, including television, film, advertising, social media and the internet, audiences are constantly bombarded with stereotypes and ideologies about other races and identities. As an exponentially growing popular culture industry, Nollywood – the Nigerian movie industry – positions itself as a source of knowledge and popular discourse about issues emanating from the continent and other places. With this growth, Nollywood seems to have been given a spot in the political circle of identity politics, giving it the power to represent the ‘Others’. This study interrogates the theme of identity construction in African films by focusing on the ways in which some select Nollywood films of the early and late 2000s and early 2010s frame and construct foreign races and foreign societies, using critical ideological analysis and the framework of critical race theory. Representations and portrayals of difference in the analysed movies could be serving some ‘revenge’ of sorts, transgressing age-long representations of Black people in Blaxploitation films. The multiplex representations as seen in the analyses serve the primary purpose of such stereotypes: to reproduce and to reaffirm prejudices that over time become naturalized and normalized. The study thematically specifies the significant use of labels, stereotypes and certain orthodoxies that aim to frame and characterize foreign societies in popular Nigerian films and suggests some broader implications of the findings.

Deracialisation or Body Fashion? Cosmetic Surgery and Body Modification in Japan

ABSTRACT Although all forms of body fashion, from ancient to modern, entail a degree of manipulation, the styles found among Japanese youth are often construed by older Japanese and outside critics as nothing more than contamination from Euro–American beauty ideology. Yet we are missing something if the only interpretation we imagine is failed imitation of foreign bodies. Japan’s own thriving media and popular culture industries are potent sources for youth body styles and fashions. This article points to ways that beauty experimentation should be viewed as much more than a simplistic type of deracialisation. Young people playfully critique notions of gender and racial homogeneity through their body modification and cosmetic surgery projects. These new body forms represent an undermining of the ethnic homogeneity their parents endorsed and reified. They relate to notions about individualism which in turn are tied to easily available beauty technologies. In addition, different zones and features of the body may have different cultural histories. Body traits that will be explored (eye shape, eye colour, hair colour, skin tanning) are discussed in terms of their own complex histories and associated beauty ideologies.

Theorizing TL esthetics: Forming a femme gaze through yes or no 2.5

After a long fight, same-sex marriage in Taiwan became legal on 24 May 2019. This milestone does not however address the hegemony that exists inside queer communities, namely, the idea that femininity is the excluded other in gay communities and that femmes are perceived as potential traitors within Taiwanese lesbian society. Such misogynistic ideologies render queer communities less democratic and egalitarian than imagined. This paper coins the term “butchiarchy” as part of an analysis of the Thai lesbian film, Yes or No 2.5 (2015), a box-office hit in Taiwan, in order to reveal the hierarchical structure pervasive within lesbian communities. While reinforcing a butchiarchal norm, the film also mobilizes a femme gaze that plays with the scenes depicting the ambivalent affection between the two butch characters, which echoes the BL (Boys’ Love/Yaoi) fever that has swept the popular culture industry in East Asian countries. To distinguish from BL, this paper intends to adopt the term “TL,” as T stands for butch in East Asia, to describe the concept of “Butches’ Love,” which differentiates from BL that emphasizes Boys’ love. By rethinking terms through which femme is represented as well as experienced, this paper points out how, on the one hand, femme is constantly abjected in order to affirm a constructed lesbian sexuality that problematically recognizes butch as the priori lesbian agent. On the other hand, the femme gazes troubles the butchiarchal surveillance that denies homosexuality in femmes and thus creates a possible scenario that recognizes the operative power of the sub-minority.

Kabbalah, and the Popular Culture Industry: Exploring Identity and Spiritual Satisfaction

Todays popular culture is a part of global culture. Kabbalah, a form of popular spirituality derived from orthodox Jewish mysticism has gained popularity because of its association with the activists and celebrities in the pop culture industries. This paper examines the influence of this organization, which is still mysterious, through the public image of the spirituality of pop culture actors who became followers of Kabbalah and express their identity in the implied meanings contained in music and lyrics of the song and as the media to express those feeling, thought, or social and religious experince, also how popular culture as a criticism of religious institutions. In strengthening and deepening this research, will applies social and phenomenological approach as my theoretical framework to make a deep analysis in this topic. This study is important to give alternative perspectives to pop culture and the media as inseparable linked to identity, culture, politic, religion and gender which is related to common society nowadays.

Jin Yong’s Method of Imagining China

Does the popular martial arts (wuxia) genre compromise Jin Yong’s literary representation and historical reflection, or, on the contrary, does it provide him with new modes and methods to portray an imagined China? Would his politics of writing reshape and even revolutionize the martial arts tradition, or were the latter’s innovative and creative potentials tamed or undermined by the rule and force of the commercialized market and popular culture industry? This article understands Jin Yong’s method of imagining China as a chivalric topography, close to a “situationist psychogeography,” and examines its vocabulary, grammar, and employment in terms of (1) four major geographical coordinates that anchor his wuxia world—Jiangnan region and the south, the Central Plains, the peripheries or frontiers, and the imperial capitals; (2) the gratitude and vengeance—be it political or personal, public or private—between Han Chinese and non-Han peoples, and between the knights-errant and the political sovereign; and (3) his chivalrous imagination intermingled with folklores and tales, (un)official histories, and cultural memories to stimulate reflections on China’s past for contemporary readers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and a global Sinophone world.

The political economy of global memory: Shared memory of global conflict in Captain America: The First Avenger

Recent scholarship explores the possibility of a global collective memory in which networked individuals transiting national, class, and ethnic boundaries create commonality from shared difference. Yet, the public past’s representation remains influenced by powerful entities such as governments and corporations, and resources made available, particularly by the popular culture industry, will likely shape globally shared memories. This study documents an instance of commercially mediated global memory, showing how Captain America: The First Avenger revised the original comic’s World War II backdrop to appeal to global audiences who would have been dire enemies during the period the film depicts. Scholars positing cosmopolitan memory might agree there is value in representing the world coming together to defeat a common enemy. Yet the film also relativizes historical depravities by claiming that real historical actors are not as bad as they seem and by suggesting that such acts are not truly ours but rather visited upon us by non-human strangers.

TRANSNATIONAL TRANSLATION OF TAIWANESE AND INDONESIAN TRADITIONAL STORIES FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

In order to interact and work with diverse communities in this deeply interconnected world and to help solve such global issues as human rights abuse, ecological damage, economic poverty and extremism, we need to continually recognize and exchange values/perspectives across cultures and boundaries. Border-crossing is a complex but necessary web of interactions and dependencies among nations to create global peace and justice. Taiwan-Indonesia border crossing is insufficient, given that no formal diplomatic relation exists between the two countries excepting the informal such as trade and investment, people-to-people relations, education and popular culture industry. Taiwan and Indonesia similarly shared long history of nationalism, anti-communism, and democratization, but it remains under studied how these historical comparisons are reflected through literature. This paper will argue that transnational translation of literature can connect and define both nations better so as to enhance global connectedness. Thus, the crossing of the cultural boundaries by Taiwanese and Indonesian co-cultures through the translation of diverse literary works may give hope for future development of a mutual, emphatic understanding of each others cultures.DOI:https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.2018.010209

A Study of Body Painting Illustration Using Sibijisin (12 Gods of the Korean Zodiac) and Obangsaek: Focusing on dragon, tiger, rabbit and rooster

In the 21st century, industry trends have rapidly shifted from knowledge-based IT to the cultural content industry. Therefore, it’s been necessary to create a differentiated brand based on national identity. With the explosive growth of the K-beauty industry, Korea’s cosmetology industry has spread globally. Under these circumstances, the Asia Beauty Festival has evolved into a global cultural content platform for the popular arts and culture industry, which targets the spread of the beauty of Korea around the world. This study attempted to introduce Korea’s traditional beauty after analyzing the aesthetic elements and symbolic meanings of sibijisin (12 gods of the Korean zodiac) and Obangsaek through body painting illustration and to boost the significance of Korean folklore. As a result, sibijisin, a fruit of Korea’s tenacious faith and philosophy, was applied according to the symbolic meaning based on its color images. In addition, it displayed a strong messaging effect by expressing sibijisin on the human body in a realistic manner as well as being a good option for advertising Korea’s traditional beauty. It was shown that certain advantages can be found in the makeup industry only with artistic value and differentiated communication through performances. As pre-draft concept, in addition, illustration creates a certain form in a rapid and precise fashion, helping users improve their skills and build self-confidence. It is anticipated that there would be further attempts to build competitive advantage through the convergence and recreation of diverse industries that focus on Korea’s traditional beauty and characteristics and to further develop Korea’ beauty and culture industry.

Pawns in Their Game: Bob Dylan’s Celebrity Persona in Dont Look Back

Documentary film craft in the mid-twentieth century, like many other arts at the time, evolved aesthetically around the notions of “truthfulness” and “honesty” in the depiction of their subjects. Simultaneous with these artistic innovations was the ascendency of a commercial popular culture industry that often appropriated aesthetic ideals of authenticity to construct celebrity narratives. This article examines the constructed celebrity persona of Bob Dylan in D.A. Pennebaker’s American cinéma vérité production Dont Look Back. Utilizing a critical theory approach based on the philosophy and political economy of celebrity aura, it addresses questions of directorial subjectivity, celebrity self-consciousness and the contemporaneous subject/audience interface within a larger discussion of the intentionality of celebrity construction as part and parcel of films and other media dedicated to documenting the rise of pop superstars. While Dont Look Back attempts to reify Dylan as a rebellious voice speaking the social concerns of his audience, the film also testifies to the commodification of such stars by a 1960s corporate media machinery whose ultimate intentions were not necessarily so public-spirited.

TRANSNATIONAL TRANSLATION OF TAIWANESE AND INDONESIAN TRADITIONAL STORIES FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

In order to interact and work with diverse communities in this deeply interconnected world and to help solve such global issues as human rights abuse, ecological damage, economic poverty and extremism, we need to continually recognize and exchange values/perspectives across cultures and boundaries. Border-crossing is a complex but necessary web of interactions and dependencies among nations to create global peace and justice. Taiwan-Indonesia border crossing is insufficient, given that no formal diplomatic relation exists between the two countries excepting the informal such as trade and investment, people-to-people relations, education and popular culture industry. Taiwan and Indonesia similarly shared long history of nationalism, anti-communism, and democratization, but it remains under studied how these historical comparisons are reflected through literature. This paper will argue that transnational translation of literature can connect and define both nations better so as to enhance global connectedness. Thus, the crossing of the cultural boundaries by Taiwanese and Indonesian co-cultures through the translation of diverse literary works may give hope for future development of a mutual, emphatic understanding of each other’s cultures. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.2018.010209

TRANSNATIONAL TRANSLATION OF TAIWANESE AND INDONESIAN TRADITIONAL STORIES FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

In order to interact and work with diverse communities in this deeply interconnected world and to help solve such global issues as human rights abuse, ecological damage, economic poverty and extremism, we need to continually recognize and exchange values/perspectives across cultures and boundaries. Border-crossing is a complex but necessary web of interactions and dependencies among nations to create global peace and justice. Taiwan-Indonesia border crossing is insufficient, given that no formal diplomatic relation exists between the two countries excepting the informal such as trade and investment, people-to-people relations, education and popular culture industry. Taiwan and Indonesia similarly shared long history of nationalism, anti-communism, and democratization, but it remains under studied how these historical comparisons are reflected through literature. This paper will argue that transnational translation of literature can connect and define both nations better so as to enhance global connectedness. Thus, the crossing of the cultural boundaries by Taiwanese and Indonesian co-cultures through the translation of diverse literary works may give hope for future development of a mutual, emphatic understanding of each other’s cultures. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.2018.010209

‘There’s a Starman waiting in the sky’: Mourning David #Bowie on Twitter

This article analyses Twitter responses to the death of musician David Bowie as an inroad to a discussion about characteristics and functions of Twitter in the mediated relationships between celebrities, fans and the popular culture industry. The study focuses on questions regarding the nature of the Twitter community, types of emotions as well as expressions of fan creativity and the composition of online mourners. To this end, it provides a broad analysis of all tweets with #Bowie in the first 48 h after Bowie passed away ( N = 252,318) and in-depth, quantitative and qualitative analysis of tweets with 100+ retweets ( N = 130). Results show high levels of retweeting and a limited number of tweets retweeted exceptionally often, suggesting a Twitter ‘elite’ leading the online mourning. This elite consists predominantly of media figures, celebrities, artists and music industry representatives rather than ‘regular’ individuals and fans, resulting in limited expressions of parasocial relationships. Besides being conduits of expressions of grief and information exchange, tweets focus on positive affirmation in tribute to Bowie’s work. Results confirm that Twitter provides a virtual gathering of mourners who are (presumably) looking for recognition of loss and for expressions of support.

Demanding Respect: A Case Study About Black Female Sexuality in Popular Culture Focusing on Beyoncé Knowles

As our cultural values and political environments shift over time, we must always be unearthing new perspectives and constantly study how our recent past can inform our future. When Lea Trageser began studying women and gender studies, she realized that even present-day superstars and phenomena can be used to better understand age-old concepts like feminism and sexuality. “I was finally able to merge three of my passions,” says Lea Trageser, remarking on her inspiration to research black female sexuality. Through the lens of popular culture, Trageser conducted a case study of Beyonce Knowles and her journey to controlling her sexuality. As a long-time Beyonce fan with interests in female sexuality and popular culture, Trageser says once she found out that it was possible to delve into those aspects together, she pursued it. Trageser will graduate in May 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in human development and minor in women’s and gender studies. She plans to attend graduate school to study sex therapy. Her research is both theoretically unique and familiar, as she applies traditional feminist theory combined with a colorful analysis of the career and sexuality of Beyonce Knowles. She breaks down the history of black female sexuality in popular culture, drawing comparisons between artists of different races and illustrating how black females can take charge of their sexuality. Much of her analysis discusses an individualized perspective of how women can personally control their sexuality and how they are sexualized through their artistic expression. “If someone else is in charge, then it’s not their power so it’s hard to respect them,” said Trageser, elaborating on the importance of a woman taking control of her own sexualization and her own sexual expression. Her research focuses on black feminist themes such as queer theory and intersectionality, but what is unique about her work she says, is the idea of reclamation. Beyonce, through the production and release of her 2013 self-titled album, reclaimed her sexuality when she created and distributed the entire album on her own terms, firing her father as a manager, releasing the album without announcing it, and filling it with explicitly sexual lyrics and accompanying music videos. While Beyonce has been largely criticized for her work on the album, Trageser said that her work actually commanded respect from her peers and her fans by taking control of her sexual expression and the presentation of her music. For Trageser, the topic of owning one’s sexuality and controlling one’s own sexualization transcends discussions of Beyonce Knowles or Madonna; these are struggles that can be applied to all women. “You can apply this to almost any popular culture industry. Acting, modeling, anything where women are objectified and sexualized,” she said, further pointing out the topic’s applicability to social movements like the Slut Walk and other sexual assault prevention and awareness campaigns. While Trageser hopes to continue studying sexuality as she moves on from Virginia Tech, she says that she will likely continue to apply what she’s learned about popular culture in her studies, especially since popular culture so often in uences issues of female sexuality.

Turkish Series: Products of Popular Culture and Tools for Inclusive Globalization

The thoughts and experiences of people consist of meanings and while sharing these meanings people share their cultures. Globalization is the concept that increases the mobility of these meanings and cultures. Understanding culture, globalization, and international relations is critical for the future of not only governments, but also for people and businesses. Going beyond the classical definitions of globalization and creating a bond between this concept and popular culture is one of the aims of this paper. The main target is to analyze the rise of Turkish series by taking this relationship as the base. There are various interpretations for globalization and culture because these are not narrow, strait jacket concepts. Therefore this paper aims to present a fresh and understandable approach to the relationship between globalization and popular culture by using Turkish soap operas as the case study. According to this paper, besides the dominant cultures, other cultures too, contribute to the popular culture industry. In this context the impact of Turkish series in diplomacy is discussed. Today one of the biggest wars of humanity is making globalization a constructive power for the people all around the world. Therefore this paper is important because it underlines the value of the inclusive character of globalization. Thus in this work it is underlined that in today’s world which leisure became the basis for the modern lives; popular culture must be used to bring an inclusive character to globalization for embracing all the humans around the world.

New Readings of American Expats in Paris

More than fifty years after his violent death in 1961, Ernest Hemingway remains a writer of gigantic proportions. He has a faithful following among high school and university readers, bolstered by a popular culture industry of Hollywood adaptations, biopics, documentaries, and fictionalized expat films: most recently, Hemingway and Gellhorn (2012), an action-packed film starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman; Woody Allen’s summer blockbuster comedy Midnight in Paris (2011); Greta Schiller’s documentary Paris Was A Woman (1996); and Alan Rudolph’s The Moderns (1988). What could three new expat books—two of them volumes of largely unpublished letters by Hemingway and by Sylvia Beach, along with a new fictional portrait of Hemingway’s first marriage to Hadley Richardson—possibly add to this rich reputation? In a word, plenty, as newly published sources become available, and as the women contributors to Modernism move from the sidelines into the limelight, claiming their own experiences and reconfiguring American identity in post-war Paris. The combined insights of these three books are manifold and will resonate for years to come.

A brand new future? Cool Japan and the social imaginary of the branded nation

The Cool Japan slogan has been in circulation for ten years, and has been discussed from the points of view of popular culture and creative industries, as well as nationalism and nation-building. Studies focus mainly on Japan itself or the Japanese influence in Asia and elsewhere. This article adds another perspective by focusing on the Cool Japan project in relation to the transnationally circulating practice of nation branding.