Sofie Van Bauwel

Commenting on pictures: Teens negotiating gender and sexualities on social networking sites:

This inquiry shows how youths negotiate sexualities and gender when commenting on profile pictures on a social networking site. Attention is given to (1) how discourses are constituted within heteronormativity, and (2) how the mediated nature of the SNS contributes to resistance. Using insights from cultural media studies, social theory and queer criticism, self-representations in SNSs are viewed as sites of struggle. A textual analysis is used to show how commenting on a picture is a gendered practice, continuously cohering between the biological sex, performative gender and demanded desire. Although significant resignifications are found, they are often accompanied by a recuperation of heteronormativity. Therefore, this inquiry argues for continued attention to current contradictions in self-representations.This inquiry shows how youths negotiate sexualities and gender when commenting on profile pictures on a social networking site. Attention is given to (1) how discourses are constituted within heter...

Slashing the Fiction of Queer Theory: Slash Fiction, Queer Reading, and Transgressing the Boundaries of Screen Studies, Representations, and Audiences

The popularity of slash fiction, a productive strand of fan fiction in which same-sex television or film characters are subversively made into queer subjects, has grown in recent years. The practice of queer readings, which is about repositioning texts outside the borders of heteronormativity, very much resembles some of the basic premises of queer theory, the post-structural theory that contests strict categorical views on gender and sexuality. Unfortunately, slash fiction as well as audience reception practices do not appear to be high on the agenda of queer film theorists. This article argues that queer-sensitive audiences cannot be ignored in research on queer representations and reception in media studies. Moreover, the authors argue for a multidisciplinary approach that includes queer theory frameworks and insights from audience and reception studies as demonstrated by queer readings of non—queer-coded texts such as slash fiction.

YouTube: A Political Advertising Tool? A Case Study of the Use of YouTube in the Campaign for the European Parliament Elections 2009

Political campaigns are made to attract the attention from citizens. The beginning of its adaption is linked to the appearance of the social media and user-generated content. Since the number of users of social network sites in Europe constantly grows, 2009 was the first time that these websites were used in political marketing purposes for the European Parliament elections. This is an exploratory study of the nature and extent of video-based social media, studied through the content analysis of YouTube videos created for the electoral campaign for the 2009 European Parliament elections by 13 political parties from four EU states. Results have shown the specificities of political advertising on the YouTube, a raising interest in social media among citizens in Europe, and the development of this way of campaigning.

Queer resistances in the adult animated sitcom.

This article studies the representation of queer characters and themes in the contemporary adult animated sitcom. We argue that even though popular culture is often assumed to reiterate and consolidate the discourse of heteronormativity, adult animated sitcoms create space for queer resistance. Since the genre draws on postmodern strategies of representation, we argue that queer resistance is subversively articulated through instances of pastiche and parody. It is embedded in content that is both complicit with and critical of the heteronormal. Through a textual thematic analysis of Family Guy, this case study illustrates how postmodern textual strategies create deconstructionist instances that expose and subvert the hegemony of heteronormativity.

Media literacy and audiovisual languages: a case study from Belgium

This article examines the use of media in the construction of a “new” language for children. We studied how children acquire and use media literacy skills through their engagement in an educational art project. This media literacy project is rooted in the realm of audiovisual media, within which children’s sound and visual worlds are the focus of inquiry. Using an ethnographic approach, we examined the engagement in the project of participating children, and we analyzed how they used this “new” discourse as a tool to express themselves. Our analysis focused on how the project was received by children, and on the potential for educational media art projects to stimulate media knowledge. Connaissance raisonnée des medias et langages audio‐visuels: une étude de cas en Belgique Cet article étudie l’usage des medias dans la construction d’un nouveau langage pour les enfants. Nous avons étudié la façon dont les enfants acquièrent et font usage de compétences liées à la connaissance raisonnée des medias en s’impliquant dans un projet artistique éducatif. Ce projet sur la connaissance raisonnée des medias s’enracine dans les médias audio‐visuels au sein desquels les mondes visuels et sonores des enfants font l’objet de notre enquête. En ayant recours à une approche ethnographique, nous avons examiné l’implication dans le projet des enfants qui y participaient et nous avons analysé la façon dont ils utilisaient ce nouveau discours comme instrument de leur propre expression. Notre analyse a mis l’accent sur la façon dont le projet a été reçu par les enfants et sur le potentiel des projets artistiques reposant sur les médias éducatifs pour stimuler la connaissance des medias. Medienkompetenz und audiovisuelle Sprachen: Eine Fallstudie aus Belgien Dieser Artikel untersucht die Nutzung von Medien in der Entwicklung einer “neuen” Sprache bei Kindern. Wir untersuchten wie Kinder Medienkompetenzen bei ihrer Auseinandersetzung mit einem pädagogischen Kunstprojekt erwarben und verwendeten. Dieses Medienkompetenzprojekt basierte in dem Bereich der audiovisuellen Medien, wobei die auditorischen und visuellen Welten der Kinder im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung standen. Durch die Verwendung eines ethnographischen Ansatzes untersuchten wir, wie sich die an dieser Studie teilnehmenden Kinder mit dem Projekt auseinandersetzten. Wir analysierten zusätzlich, wie die Kinder diesen “neuen” Diskurs benutzten, um sich selbst auszudrücken. Unsere Analyse konzentrierte sich darauf, wie das Projekt von den Kindern aufgenommen wurde, sowie auch auf das Potenzial von pädagogischen Medienprojekten für die Förderung von Medien‐Wissen. Alfabetismo mediático y los lenguajes audio‐visuales: un estudio de caso de Bélgica El presente artículo examina el uso de los medios en la construcción de un nuevo lenguaje para los niños. Hemos estudiado como los niños adquieren y aprovechan sus competencias en alfabetismo mediático cuando se involucran en un proyecto artístico educativo. Este proyecto de alfabetismo mediático está arraigado en el reino de los medios audiovisuales en el cual los mundos sonoros y visuales de los niños son el foco de la presente encuesta. Utilizando una metodología etnográfica, hemos examinado la implicación en este proyecto de los niños participantes y analizado como aprovechaban este « nuevo » discurso como una herramienta para expresarse. Nuestro análisis enfoca la manera de acoger el proyecto por parte de los niños y el potencial de los proyectos artísticos basados en los medios educativos para incentivar el conocimiento de los medios.This article examines the use of media in the construction of a “new” language for children. We studied how children acquire and use media literacy skills through their engagement in an educational art project. This media literacy project is rooted in the realm of audiovisual media, within which children’s sound and visual worlds are the focus of inquiry. Using an ethnographic approach, we examined the engagement in the project of participating children, and we analyzed how they used this “new” discourse as a tool to express themselves. Our analysis focused on how the project was received by children, and on the potential for educational media art projects to stimulate media knowledge. Connaissance raisonnee des medias et langages audio‐visuels: une etude de cas en Belgique Cet article etudie l’usage des medias dans la construction d’un nouveau langage pour les enfants. Nous avons etudie la facon dont les enfants acquierent et font usage de competences liees a la connaissance raisonnee des medias en s’imp...

Tracing female gamer identity. An empirical study into gender and stereotype threat perceptions

Women often deem to be outside game culture resulting in a low gamer identity profile. A nuanced and detailed examination of how gender identity and threatening experiences tap into their play practices has hitherto been lacking however. The present study fills this gap by examining how female players express a gamer identity and how this relates to perceptions of threat and stigmatization. Based on a large-scale survey directed at female players, a statistical model is specified taking into account how respondents attribute a gamer label to their self-concept. Results suggest that the cognitive, evaluative, and affective dimensions of female identity predict gamer identification in distinct ways. Moreover, rather surprising, perceptions of stereotype threat and stigma consciousness are positively related to women’s gamer identification. An opposite relation is however observed for women’s awareness of being stigmatized by male players.

Diasporic Film Cultures from a Multi-level Perspective: Moroccan and Indian Cinematic Flows In and Towards Antwerp (Belgium)

How and to what extent are diasporic film cultures influenced by power structures and power shifts? This question is addressed in a twofold case study of Moroccan and Indian film structures in the city of Antwerp (Belgium). The analysis presented here is based on 27 semi-structured interviews with experts such as distributors, exhibitors, social workers, and programming managers. The research results, uncovering a complex model of multileveled power structures, demonstrate that developments in diasporic film cultures are not only dependent on homeland production, but are also crucially influenced by local actors, who determine those developments to a large degree. It is further demonstrated that networks of both legal and informal/illegal transnational and transdiasporic circulation play crucial, intertwining roles. The case studies thus show how diasporic media consumption and film in particular can only fully be grasped when attempting to understand the tension between local environment, its position within transnational networks, and homeland industries.

The good, the bad or the queer: Articulations of queer resistance in The Wire

Although the representation of queer characters has grown significantly in contemporary western television, most of the popular fiction series are still dominated by hegemonic heteronormative discourses. However, this article demonstrates how the critically acclaimed series The Wire, through its subversive articulations of queer characters, resists heteronormativity. This implies that the series can be read as a defiance of an essentialist, hierarchical and oppositional way of thinking. Our textual thematic analysis reveals how the series uses both deconstructive practices that expose the way heteronormative practices function, and reconstructive practices offering counter-discourses that transgress societal assumptions about gender, sexuality and identity.

Bollywood and turkish films in Antwerp (Belgium): two case studies on diasporic distribution and exhibition

Abstract This article, a contribution to the thriving scholarship on the engagements between homeland media and diasporic audiences, breaks new ground through a comparative, political economy inspired analysis of two case studies with transnational implications. First we describe the theatrical distribution and exhibition of homeland films towards/by their diasporas, focusing on Indian and Turkish film structures in one location, the Belgian city of Antwerp. Interviews with 45 key players, participant observation and complementary archival research allow us to reconstruct how privately organised film screenings were substituted by commercial initiatives. Further analysis exploring the relations between local exhibitors and transnational distributors evaluates these structures against the background of global media industries’ developments in terms of power and transformations, such as increasing competition.

The ignored audience: A multi-method reception study on children and television news in Albania

Children are not considered to be an appropriate audience for news coverage based on their presumed lack of emotional maturity, critical thinking and proper knowledge. This article challenges these views by presenting the opinions of children aged 10–15 who report having watched broadcast news nearly every day. Additionally, the views of adults aged 25–62 are investigated. Children contest to the ways they are being portrayed by the news media and demonstrate their need to be considered as active participants in the public sphere, which is presented by the news media as an exclusive domain for adults.