Popular Culture Research Articles

Why Do We Fear The Robopocalypse? Human Insecurity in The Age of Technophobia

The paper aims to determine where exactly fear of intelligent machines is located in the narrative layers embedded in science fiction film stories based on the intelligence explosion hypothesis. The analysis departs from the assumption that the Robopocaliptic narrative, a science fiction narrative depicting the dystopian future of human–robot relationship, is constitutive of the irrational technophobic stance widespread in the public opinion of today’s postindustrial societies. As narration plays an essential part in our daily reflective and social practices, we are naturally inclined to look for narrative structure in popular culture, particularly in film, the most popular form of visual art, and the easiest one to consume. Nine science fiction films have been selected as relevant empirical evidence: The Invisible Boy (1957), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Westworld(1973), Futureworld (1976), Demon Seed (1977), Blade Runner (1982), The Terminator (1984), The Matrix (1999), Ex Machina (2015). The Robopocaliptic narrative interwoven with the themes of the analysed films uncovers four recurrent ideas or messages that create robotophobia: redundancy of the human race, moral indifference of robots, robots as emotional abusers, and the loss of control over one’s own mind and body. The author proposes that these four ideas or messages mirror four layers of fear, all pointing to a meta-fear: the fear of rejection to be recognised and treated as a morally worth human being. In conclusion, the author suggests that Axel Honneth’s concept of recognition opens a plausible avenue to clarify the roots of the fear of the Robopocalypse.

Curating Community behind Barbed Wire: Canadian Prisoner of War Art from the Second World War

Though often under-represented in the official and national narratives and in Canadian military historiography more broadly, the intimate and personal lived experiences of Canadian prisoners of war (POW) during the Second World War can be found in archives, photography collections, and collections of war art. In an attempt to see past the mythologised versions of POWs that appear in Hollywood films, best-selling monographs, and other forms of popular culture, it is through bits of ephemera—including wartime log books and the drawings carefully kept and sent home to loved ones along with handwritten letters—that the stories of non-combatant men and women who spent their war as POWs, can be told. Together, Canadian POWs created and curated community and fostered unconventional family ties, sometimes called “emotional communities”, through the collection and accumulation of drawings, illustrations, paintings, and other examples of war art on the pages of their wartime log books while living behind barbed wire. This article uncovers some of these stories, buried in the thousands of boxes in the George Metcalf Archival Collection—the textual archives—at the Canadian War Museum (CWM) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Cinema Narration as Oral Performance: DJ Afro and East African Media Practices

ABSTRACT This article examines cinema narration in Kenya, a practice that involves artists known as DJs working with audiences in specific socio-cultural contexts. This study uses ethnographic methods to analyse the work of one such practitioner, DJ Afro, and the reflections on his performance by two sets of audiences in Eldoret and Narok respectively. For this purpose, three Hindi films in DJ Afro’s repertoire have been selected: Magadheera (2009, directed by S. S. Rajamouli), Bullet Raja (2013, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia) and Shadow (2013, directed by Meher Ramesh). The choice is influenced by DJ Afro’s audiences’ responses to his narration and to the genre of the films. The analysis of DJ Afro’s oral texts is done using relevant theories of oral performance and popular culture. The article makes two linked arguments. First, in Kenya, cinema narration has evolved into one of the genres of popular culture. Second, this performance may have been initially understood as translation of meaning for local audiences, but it also works as an oral narrative performance involving local performers and their audiences, and in this process the meanings produced are determined in relation to local texts and contexts.

Ozark matters: implications about Black lives

By referring to the White settler post-racial imaginary of the USA, this article examines the slippage, transferability, and political interplay of racial representations into an analysis of the character of Ruth Langmore, a White adolescent woman portrayed in the Netflix series Ozark (2017–2022). Establishing the history of popular culture in the USA as emergent from Blackface, I argue that Ruth is coded, through an eschatological association, fashion styling, and ambient sound, as Black at various points throughout the series. I analyse screengrabs from pop culture and quotes from the showrunner, executive directors, and musical director to demonstrate that the destruction of the Black body is inherited, restricting the survival of Black and Indigenous peoples. Readers are advised that this article contains spoilers about the series Ozark (2017–2022).

Representation of women and work in the most popular series in the UK and Spain

This study provides a portrait of the occupational roles in the series most watched on the generalist DTT channels in the United Kingdom and Spain. The media representations of gender role attitudes in the workplace, especially in fiction, influence the popular culture and social imaginary of the audiences. In this context, the study of the series with the largest audience is important to discover the patterns that these fictions show about work environments. This article analyzes 40 popular series broadcasts on generalist television channels in the United Kingdom and Spain. A sample of more than 400 characters reveals the representation of women and men in the workplace, highlighting the similarities and differences regarding job profiles, leadership, and prestige. The comparison between both markets allows us to find relevant concepts on the current representation of women and work. While in the UK the differences are minor, the results in Spain confirm the differences between male and female characters associated with various aspects of the workplace such as the prestige and positioning of the most qualified jobs.

Post-human Bodies in Atwood’s Oryx and Crake

This paper analyses the human bodies as a site of both aesthetics as well as politics in post-human turn in the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Questions related to what is a body, who controls it, and what relation does it have to morality at techno-science culture share a negotiation between machine and morality. After the advent of popular culture, the concept of body as cogent and self-bounded entity is blurry one as the discourse of ‘what is a beautiful body’ reflects a growing concern with different approaches of body aesthetics. As seen the novel, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, we see Crakers— the genetically modified humans as an outcome of Crake’s aesthetics and politics. Jimmy’s father’s involvement in Pigoon Projects designed with the intention of providing human organs for transplantation and Crake’s involvement in creating Crakers—whom Crake had programmed to die at 30 open a new avenue for discussion regarding human identity. Such dimension of body aesthetics is precarious leading to ethical question as progress in science does not only enhance body, it also poses a threat to humanity in entirety. This research is qualitative and interpretive in nature. So, as a researcher, I have brought theoretical insights related to trans-humanism and post-humanism developed by Fukuyama, Braidotti. In the paper, I conclude that though new version of body aesthetics poses a threat to the world itself, it helps to understand how humans have co-evolved with other companion species. Thus, it contributes on the discussion of literary engagement and literary understanding of post humanism.

Recounting Mussolini: the narrative of Fascism between memory and popular culture

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, softened and positive portrayals of Fascism have become established in public debate in Italy. A key feature in this process of defascistization has been the reduction of Fascism to the cult of the Duce. This article examines how this narrative has emerged, focusing not on the politics of memory but instead on the role of the culture industry, public debate and the media. It examines three distinct but related phenomena: the ‘Mussolinization’ of Fascism in public narrative as promoted by television and other mass media; the transformation of the electoral system and political language, marked specifically by the shift from the centrality of the collective to that of authoritative and charismatic individuals; the prominent place of the figure of the hero in the popular culture.

Neoliberal Feminism and Political Leadership: The Representation of Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein in Popular Culture

Building on a long tradition of studies on the intertwining of politics and popular culture, the article examines the representation of the two Italian political leaders of the moment, Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, offered by women’s magazines. The study focuses in particular on two interrelated aspects: on the one hand, the extent to which the discursive strategies to talk about the leaders, their personal lives, careers and ideas contribute to strengthen the contemporary hegemony on feminism; on the other hand, the discursive strategies used to represent the leaders through a frame of competition typical of the neoliberalism. Indeed, we refer to the most recent trends in feminism research, contested among post-feminism, neoliberal feminism and celebrity feminism. Within this framework, we examined whether and how female political leaders can become icons of life, style and power in a way that is functional to the neoliberal narrative. The critical discourse analysis conducted on eight Italian women’s magazines over the course of a year makes it possible to highlight some results that contribute to the reflection on neoliberal feminism and female leadership. In particular, leaders are presented through argumentative strategies of genealogism, exceptionalism and compensation: the ways in which magazines justify their position of power refer to family relationships and character qualities, emphasizing the characteristics closest to the neoliberal model and overshadowing all others, including political ideas. Rather, leaders are deradicalized and depoliticized to favour instead a reassuring narrative in which women have broken the glass ceiling. In that way, women’s magazines renounce representing women leaders for their ideas and ideologies, and instead focus on their unique mark of difference: their gender.

Women, Film and Politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran 1979-2005; A Perspective from Learning from Experience and Performance Theory

Images in popular culture provide essential information about the socio-political situation and the self-realisation of gender roles in society. The transformation of women characters in Iranian films after the 1980s has occupied a certain space in scholarship, however everyday self-experiences in the streets and its relation to self realization and women figures are barely included into the analysis. Based on learning from experience, affect and performance theory, this paper focesses on two prominent female stars of Iranian cinema: Niki Karimi and Hediye Tehrani as image transformers in a period of cultural evolution and the smile of women that fades away from the streets. The analysis begins with a general examination of the interaction between politics and culture through the main currents in Iranian cinema. In this part, a periodization of the post-revolution era in Iran is presented through cultural products, especially Iranian films such as the religious era, the war and post-war era, the pastoral era, and the critical era. The last part compares two famous women's images, Niki Karimi and Hediye Tehrani, and shows how this periodization helps to understand the changes in women’s self realization and body politics in everyday life after the revolution.

Artificial Intelligence and the question of creativity: Art, data and the sociocultural archive of AI-imaginations

Increasingly artificial intelligence (AI) is employed by artists for creative purposes. At the same time, AI causes significant concerns among creative professionals in terms of copyright violations and possible job loss. To understand how it may be possible to (co)create with AI this article will enter into conversation with Indian artist Harshit Agrawal who is both a designer with Adobe and an artist who works with AI for creative purposes. Introducing the concept of the sociocultural archive comprising AI imaginations as they have featured in popular culture, this article suggests that when we seek to understand how we now live, work and create with AI in the ‘present’, we must also interrogate how this was once envisioned in the ‘past’. This will facilitate a more productive approach to AI for the ‘future’.

Exploring debates over “boys love” media in the Philippines: from misogynistic backlash to queer emancipation

ABSTRACT As a genre originally emerging from Japanese women’s popular culture and developing into a transnational phenomenon, debates over “Boys Love” (BL) media have increased in recent years. Within this article, we explore debates over BL through a case study of its reception in the Philippines, situating our analysis within the broader context of the Philippines’ heteropatriarchal culture. Drawing upon critical discourse analysis of traditional and new media discussions responding to the rise of BL fandom in the Philippines and qualitative interviews with 31 LGBTQ+ fans of BL, we reveal tensions between those who view BL positively and negatively. Through a feminist and reparative queer reading of our data, we contrast cisgender gay men’s dismissal of the genre as always already problematic due to its emergence from women’s culture with LGBTQ+ Philippine fans’ positioning of BL as an emancipatory media genre that combats homophobia. Ultimately, we argue that attempts by certain critics in the Philippines to downplay the queer emancipatory potentials of BL emerges from a misogynistic rejection of the contributions of women to Philippine queer culture. We conclude by calling for a more nuanced appreciation of BL’s queer interventions which recognises the genre’s deconstructive force.

What’s in the African name? “Shaka Zulu:” a European invention to destroy African identity

ABSTRACT Some scholars and media outlets, because they are preoccupied with tarnishing Shaka Senzangakhona’s African identity have, in their quest for profit and popularity, replaced Shaka’s surname, Senzangakhona, with a false substitute- Zulu. The works of E.A Ritter, Joshua Sinclair, Carolyn Hamilton and Richard Spilsbury, although they provide insightful comments about Shaka Senzangakhona’s military and political achievements, have paraded a misguided title, Shaka Zulu, which is a blatant attack on Shaka Senzangakhona’s identity. Thanks to Thomas Mofolo and Mazisi Kunene, we now know about the military genius of Shaka and that t Shaka Senzangakhona and not Shaka Zulu founded the Zulu. Despite these cues, scholars and media outlets casually inter-change the names Shaka Zulu and Shaka Senzangakhona as if both names are the same. Our thesis is that Shaka Zulu is a European invention driven by popular culture and profit to perpetuate the misguided notion of Shaka Senzangakhona as a cruel person and to destroy his African identity.

Stars, Anti-Stars, Anti-Star-Stars

The phenomenon of stars and celebrities in media cultures – and especially in popular music cultures – seems to be omnipresent. At the same time, there is an astounding lack of analysis and research on these media personalities and personas, and international celebrity studies only recently a developing new field. Similarly, these kinds of observations are still very rare especially in German sociology as well as communication, media, culture and popular music studies. In this article, I therefore want to concentrate on the foundations of studying stars and celebrities within the attention economies by undertaking a theoretical transmedia-cultural framing of media personas and suggesting a typology. This ensuing typology of stars, anti-stars, and anti-star stars – especially within popular music cultures – demonstrates how stars and celebrities and their quantities and qualities of success and peer-group specific values coming form programs of (media and music) culture can serve as persona-seismographs of socio-cultural change between tradition and innovation.

Theopolitical police: BOPE, Christianity and popular culture in Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT This article centres on contemporary mergers between state security practices, popular media and religion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It discusses the actions and the representations of BOPE – Batalhão de Operações Especiais da Polícia Militar do Rio de Janeiro – the special operations battalion of the military police of Rio de Janeiro, to show how this unit frequently employs Christian symbols and practices to legitimate violence at the border between the legal and the illegal. BOPE’s religious iconography is amplified by movies, memes, toys and popular clothing. BOPE’s military pop-culture can best be regarded as theopolitical because such a perspective underscores the fact that different Christian symbols and practices, derived from Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism, produce incoherent political theologies that are fuelled by bottom-up innovations and institutional legacies.

Humble AI for 22nd century medicine

Humble AI for 22nd century medicine

From DIY Avantgardism to Icons of German New Wave: Einstürzende Neubauten and the Legacy of “Ingenious Dilletants”

ABSTRACT Originating from the avant-gardist part of Berlin’s “ingenious dilletants” of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Einstürzende Neubauten have been playing a significant role in Western popular culture for more than 40 years. This article investigates Einstürzende Neubauten’s reception and legacy-building process by using ethnographic field research and documentary analysis. The analysis focuses the dimensions of musical traditions and innovations within the Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) movement, the artistic and philosophic approach of the “dilletants” as well as the social and local context of Berlin during the times of Cold War.

Submissive housewives, unfaithful spouses, dysfunctional marriages and violence: the portrayal of gender roles and marriage in Moroccan jokes

ABSTRACT This paper examines Moroccan marital discourse as portrayed in popular culture, specifically jokes that circulate orally and online. Our analysis focuses on fifty jokes related to husbands, wives, and marriage. We employed content analysis for the entire dataset and critical discourse analysis (CDA) using Van Dijk's ‘socio-cognitive’ method for a subset of jokes. The study reveals prevalent stereotypes and societal views on husbands and wives, with a special emphasis on the role of women in Moroccan marriages. These views represent shared ideologies, influencing how individuals in society think, speak, act, and interact. The humour reflects marital conflicts, infidelity, and misogyny as commonplace. Several jokes normalise violence and animosity toward wives. The selected jokes predominantly depict women as passive, insecure, nagging, and reliant on their husbands, who are the primary breadwinners. Women’s contributions to the family are typically limited to motherhood and cooking, and their concerns are shown to be trivial. Negative portrayals of wives, a prevalence of jokes in which females are engaged in infidelity, and reinforcement of traditional gender roles demonstrates a societal concern with regulating the female body and maintaining patriarchy.

Medical and Societal Implications of Tattoos: From Ancient Traditions to Modern Risks and Removal Challenges

Tattoos, an ancient form of body art with roots dating back 5000 years, have evolved from cultural markers to mainstream symbols of self-expression. While historically significant figures like Amunet and Captain James Cook contributed to tattoo lore, modern celebrities like David Beckham and Kat Von D have propelled tattoos into popular culture. However, alongside their rise in popularity, tattoos also bring health risks. Research indicates that up to 67% of individuals with tattoos experience complications, with infections, allergic reactions, and scarring being common concerns. Moreover, tattoos can exacerbate existing medical conditions, particularly in individuals with diabetes, heart conditions, or immunosuppressive disorders. Individuals who are pregnant or breastfeeding face additional risks due to physiological changes affecting wound healing and immune response. The chemical composition of tattoo ink, especially in complex styles like tridimensional matryoshka tattoos, poses further health concerns, including heavy metal toxicity and infection risks. Adequate safety measures, including choosing reputable artists, proper aftercare, and thorough pre-tattoo screening, can mitigate these risks. Prompt medical intervention is crucial in severe complications, emphasizing the importance of awareness and precaution in tattooing. Additionally, tattoo removal methods come with their own set of risks and considerations, with laser therapy being the primary choice but not assuring complete removal.

’n Feministiese ondersoek na Bettina Wyngaard se misdaadfiksie

The recent discourse on black feminism in Afrikaans literature is strongly influenced by powerful and activist-oriented writers like Ronelda Kamfer, Lynthia Julius, and Veronique Jephtas. With their poetry and public statements, they have shaped the feminist discourse significantly. However, the recent discourse on feminism in Afrikaans largely overlooks the contributions of certain black Afrikaans women writers. Bettina Wyngaard, a black Afrikaans woman novelist, attempts to disrupt this silence and through her literature and opinion pieces, she advances an alternative feminist stance. This article focuses on Wyngaard’s contribution to the recent feminist discourse and the ways in which she asserts her voice within the debate. In this article I refer to three of her crime fiction novels, namely Vuilspel (Foul play) (2013), Slaafs (Slavishly) (2016) and Jagter (Hunter) (2019). I analyse these texts in attempt to examine the feminist ideology underlying her literature. I argue that Wyngaard chooses crime fiction, a genre traditionally dominated by white males, in attempt to sanction her voice within the feminism debate in Afrikaans. In this article, I examine Wyngaard’s crime fiction within the context of third wave of feminism, which engages with popular culture as a tool for critique and to promote feminist ideology. I explore the feminist consciousness and ideology in Wyngaard’s novels and the ways in which she challenges established patriarchal conventions in crime fiction as a genre. I employ Anne Cranny-Francis’ framework in the feminist value of crime fiction to examine the feminist themes in Wyngaard’s work.

Enchanted Backburner: Channeling Taylor Swift and Niki on Cegil Identity

This study chooses a transnational perspective to understand the practice of American culture in Indonesia. As this study discussed identity formed in social media and involved popular music singers, the theories applied in this study are the theories of identity, youth culture, new media, and popular music from the popular culture approach. In examining this study, the content analysis method was applied. After reviewing primary and secondary sources and find suppported theories for the data, it is find that the cegil identity is channeled through Taylor Swift and NIKI’s musicality due to the interconnection of youth culture and new media in treating popular music. The star and stardom of Swift and NIKI influence people's perspectives on their songs. The cegil community likes their lyricism in descriptive, imaginative, and poetic songs. Global access and media allow Spotify and X as the mediums to communicate and participate for cegil to express their feelings. They were also the place where the cegil term was coined. The last factor is a youth culture that treats music as the soundtrack of life and hence sees songs as a medium to express themselves.