This thesis argues that contemporary visual media culture is characterised by unique forms that enable and increasingly demand qualitatively distinct viewing relations. I offer historical and theoretical explorations of various media technologies and genres, and propose that todays visual culture may be described as participatory, primarily in the sense that its modes of address function to blur the line between the production and consumption of imagery. Furthermore, I suggest that these participatory relations, underpinned by real time media, are productive of performative subjects composed, under the prevailing media imaginary, of increasingly individualised exchanges. Thus, I argue that the phenomenon of media participation must be considered in relation to defining characteristics of contemporary capitalism namely its user-focused, customised and individuated orientation. Organised in terms of historical, theoretical and generic sections, two opening chapters establish, respectively, the technological and theoretical context of the inquiry, preparing for four subsequent chapters concerned with media genres. Chapter 1 argues that contemporary media are home to new image forms that are, as a result of their participatory and networked character, more performative than merely representational. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of indivisualisation referring to participatory visual environments in which the performance of the individual viewing subject is crucial to the nature of the viewing relationship. Drawing on a wide range of media theorists including Jonathan Crary, Margaret Morse, Lev Manovich and Manuel Castells, as well as contemporary sociologists Ulrich Beck and Zygmunt Bauman, I make a connection between the personalised address and coextensive temporal performances characteristic of participatory media and a pervasive social demand for compulsory, ongoing self-transformation. Performative subjectivity, I argue, is the logical counterpart to real-time screens, and its prevailing mode is individualised. The remaining four chapters seek to elaborate and substantiate the dynamics of participation and indivisualisation by exploring a series of exemplary real-time media genres,news media, reality entertainment media (reality television and webcams), computer games, and media art. As these chapters demonstrate by a breadth of example, what is at stake in contemporary realtime media may be nothing less than our relation to mortality and otherness.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of English with Cultural Studies, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-228).

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-75). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 42 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-25).

abstract: Research literature and popular press articles were reviewed to uncover the influences and viewer pleasures received from watching reality television. A close semiotic analysis of the reality television program, Teen Mom, was conducted. The semiotic analysis looked at the characters, the structure of the show, and the show's use of graphics and audio to understand the show's influences on viewers. An analysis of the Teen Mom website and online forum was also conducted. Seventy-one viewer posts and 403 viewer responses were analyzed to uncover viewer reactions to the show. The results were significant in three ways. First, the producers of the show claim the show is meant to educate viewers on the effects of teen pregnancy. The analysis found that while the show sends educational messages, it also contradicts itself by glamorizing teen pregnancy. Second, the analysis of the online forum revealed the formation of close online communities among Teen Mom viewers. Third, the website analysis provided evidence of viewer pleasure resulting from voyeuristic and social comparison tendencies. It is plausible that Teen Mom viewers engage with the show for the opportunity to observe parts of other people's lives they would not normally be permitted to see. At the same time, viewers evaluate themselves in comparison to the Teen Mom cast members. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication Studies 2012

In recent years, many reality television formats have been transplanted into China and have become top-ranked shows under the influence of the Korean Wave. In order to unravel the complexity of propaganda in popular culture, this thesis focuses on analyzing China's adaptation of transnational television formats in central and private stations. I excavate how China tries to unify the nation and build the party-state's hegemonic status by way of disseminating political messages in popular media, as well as the state's governance of the influences of globalization and foreign ideas in domestic productions. I also put forth that foreign ideas conveyed in recent formats shed light on issues in China such as class and ethnicity, audiences' ambivalent reception of propagandist programs, and the exportation of China's formats. The genre of reality TV, including production and reception, discloses tension and collaboration between state and commercial TV, the local and the global, and within the Chinese community.

The struggle for cultural intelligibility can be clearly articulated through intersections between race, class, and socioeconomic status. Judith Butler demystifies the societal symbols responsible for denoting gender through a discussion of a stable “reality” in relation to performativity. When superimposed over Butler’s gender work, class stratifications and their relevance to cultural intelligibility reflect similar concerns presented in Butler’s work. In this work, I argue that through subversive use of black female archetypes presented by Patricia Hill Collins, strategic language, and flamboyant displays of tangible wealth, characters on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta consciously perform class to resist the policing of social boundaries and to highlight their position within liminal social spaces. However, as a result of their performativity, these women violate the liminal space by patrolling class boundaries from within their social circle.

Despite the detrimental effects of aggression, Reality Television is replete with portrayals of female direct and indirect aggression for the sake of entertainment. Direct, physical and verbal aggression may be easy to identify but indirect aggression can be circuitous and subtle such as gossiping and exclusion from the group. Victims of indirect aggression can experience long-term psychological repercussions such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and self-abusive behaviour. Exposure to indirect relational aggression on Reality Television has also been shown to increase physical aggression in its viewers. Combining three theoretical frameworks this study draws on social cognitive theory, cultivation theory as well as feminist frameworks. Female adults were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews discussing their perceptions and influence of Reality Television clips portraying female aggression.

This thesis offers a feminist analysis of the gendered public discourses surrounding notions of talent, authenticity and containment. Using two of the most polarizing stars in North America – ‘Snooki’ and Kim Kardashian – the author offers an analysis of how both hard and soft news frame our everyday understanding of women’s public work. Textual analyses of news articles demonstrated that displays of sexual power were most undermined by the media while attempts to venture beyond the reality television texts were contained. On the other hand, the news media were more likely to use positive framing when women were seen to be fulfilling more traditional roles such as wife and mother. The empirical research approach provides an original framework which can be applied to other female public figures to examine how such ideological and gendered discourses shape our understanding of women’s work as well as, more generally, women’s roles in our society.