The project of this thesis has been to examine the results of the development of the reputation and concept of the historical figure of Horatio Nelson as symbol of masculinity from nearly the beginning of the myth-making and mythologizing in the nineteenth century to the present. There have been several studies recently that examine Nelson the myth, Nelson as legend, Nelson as hero: they study the process of the development of this character. As a result of the mythologizing the history of Horatio Nelson is likely lost. However the memory of Nelson a very different thing and the focus of this thesis has been reinforced through commemoration throughout the two centuries since his death coming to a logical conclusion in 2008. This was done in both the public sphere (in the form of monuments) and in the private sphere (Nelson was merchandised) with the logical result in the first part of the twenty-first century being a manifestation of Nelson in fan culture on the internet. He has now been essentialised, extrapolated, and used in a wide variety of ways to navigate masculinity by both genders.

The project of this thesis has been to examine the results of the development of the reputation and concept of the historical figure of Horatio Nelson as symbol of masculinity from nearly the beginning of the myth-making and mythologizing in the nineteenth century to the present. There have been several studies recently that examine Nelson the myth, Nelson as legend, Nelson as hero: they study the process of the development of this character. As a result of the mythologizing the history of Horatio Nelson is likely lost. However the memory of Nelson a very different thing and the focus of this thesis has been reinforced through commemoration throughout the two centuries since his death coming to a logical conclusion in 2008. This was done in both the public sphere (in the form of monuments) and in the private sphere (Nelson was merchandised) with the logical result in the first part of the twenty-first century being a manifestation of Nelson in fan culture on the internet. He has now been essentialised, extrapolated, and used in a wide variety of ways to navigate masculinity by both genders.

In this thesis I survey the terrain of digital interactions between youth, corporations and pop culture texts in order to complicate current visions of participatory culture. I argue that popular images of the empowered young users of a new digital democracy need to be complicated by asking questions about the politics of digital participation: about whose voices are heard, about where attention is centred, about how interactivity is defined, about who is rewarded for creative labour. The opening chapter introduces key issues within a critical examination of digital participation, including commodification, user agency and intellectual property. It also outlines my methodologies and my choice of research site – namely internet television, and the proliferation of corporate and youth practices around digitized television texts. The next two chapters provide case studies that identify and evaluate not only the interactions between corporate producers and young users, but also the power relations between the two. First, I analyze young women‘s video remixes of the program Gossip Girl. I consider the remixes as gendered texts that contribute new aesthetics and concerns, even as they reproduce dominant interpretations of contemporary girlhood. I also consider the distribution of the videos on YouTube, noting how their circulation simultaneously challenges corporate ownership and creates profit and promotion for those same corporate owners. Next, I examine interactions around the The Colbert Report. Focusing on the program‘s official discussion boards, I demonstrate how young fans have taken up Stephen Colbert‘s invitation to join in the parody by creating a vibrant, dialogic and rowdy community that has frequently come into conflict with Comedy Central producers. In their attempts to address these conflicts and create alternative spaces of their own, these young people gesture towards larger tensions over the control of public digital dialogue. The final chapter draws on my research and experience as a teacher to consider how these case studies might help us to frame our own educational projects. I call for a digital literacy curriculum that provides both a place for students to reflect on their daily activities within mediated environments and the opportunity to experiment with digital production.

In this thesis I survey the terrain of digital interactions between youth, corporations and pop culture texts in order to complicate current visions of participatory culture. I argue that popular images of the empowered young users of a new digital democracy need to be complicated by asking questions about the politics of digital participation: about whose voices are heard, about where attention is centred, about how interactivity is defined, about who is rewarded for creative labour. The opening chapter introduces key issues within a critical examination of digital participation, including commodification, user agency and intellectual property. It also outlines my methodologies and my choice of research site – namely internet television, and the proliferation of corporate and youth practices around digitized television texts. The next two chapters provide case studies that identify and evaluate not only the interactions between corporate producers and young users, but also the power relations between the two. First, I analyze young women‘s video remixes of the program Gossip Girl. I consider the remixes as gendered texts that contribute new aesthetics and concerns, even as they reproduce dominant interpretations of contemporary girlhood. I also consider the distribution of the videos on YouTube, noting how their circulation simultaneously challenges corporate ownership and creates profit and promotion for those same corporate owners. Next, I examine interactions around the The Colbert Report. Focusing on the program‘s official discussion boards, I demonstrate how young fans have taken up Stephen Colbert‘s invitation to join in the parody by creating a vibrant, dialogic and rowdy community that has frequently come into conflict with Comedy Central producers. In their attempts to address these conflicts and create alternative spaces of their own, these young people gesture towards larger tensions over the control of public digital dialogue. The final chapter draws on my research and experience as a teacher to consider how these case studies might help us to frame our own educational projects. I call for a digital literacy curriculum that provides both a place for students to reflect on their daily activities within mediated environments and the opportunity to experiment with digital production.

This thesis examines the traditions of textual interaction that impact the forms of reading engaged in with fanfiction. This thesis continues by exploring how self-insertion fanfiction functions as a medium through which authors express their reading of the text primary through the emotional impact of the text through wish fulfillment, and the interaction of their cultural moment and the text. Furthermore, it argues that self-insertion fanfiction is a mode of literary critique in which the author acknowledges the effect of a mediated world on their perception of self and reality. Through this recognition of a constructed self, the author rejects the attractiveness of objective analysis, allowing them to critique the work from their subject position influenced by the text.

In this thesis, I examine the use of Twitter by NHL athletes to determine how and in what ways professional hockey players’ personal and professional identities are shaped by their use of this medium. I explore the current cultural moment surrounding the lives of NHL athletes, focusing on the increasingly blurred line between their private and professional identities. By grounding my analysis of their Twitter use in a new labour context that is academically situated betwixt the literatures on media studies, celebrity culture and identity presentation, I show that participation in this medium allows both athletes and fans to actively reshape their own and each others’ identities, constructing a new set of standards for professional hockey players that takes into consideration the heightened demand for access to the behind-the-scenes of their lives. The ability of professional hockey players to interact with fans and media on Twitter is also creating new types relationships and producing new discourses for the typical hockey player identity, and the labour this career involves. Finally, through interviews with NHL players, I draw out their motives for using Twitter, their understanding of the impact of their interaction with fans on the perceptions those fans have of their professional identity, and their desire for work-life balance as their professional and personal identities seemingly merge on Twitter in a postmodern labour context fuelled by heightened celebrity culture. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-04-27 14:50:32.902

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on September 3, 2009). Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): John Parrish-Sprowl. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83).

Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" series is, arguably, one of the most important American literary works of the early twenty-first century. Evaluating this work w/r/t multimediality and simultaneous multiliteracy, emotions and affective states, friends and their informal economies, and the role of active fandoms in current artistic production, this thesis seeks to explain why "Scott Pilgrim" has found such deep resonance with a generation of kids growing up at the time of publication.

Title: “We are everywhere” – an analysis of the discourse surrounding AIK football club on social media   The purpose of this study is to discern what the discourse surrounding Swedish football club Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) and its fans look like on the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This is done by examining every post by AIK on these platforms and the fan response to each post. The opportunities for clubs such as AIK to communicate directly with its fans has increased greatly with the invention of social media, and this breakthrough in communication has also had the added effect of allowing fans to much easier voice their own opinions. Thus, we are presented with an area of communication that represents an interesting object of study.   The method used is based partly on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffes theory on discourse analysis and partly on Roland Barthes theory on myths. Both theories offers some tools for analysis and when combined provides the opportunity for in-depth study. The results show that the discourse is largely centred around nodal points such as “Love”, and “the Club Emblem”. Through these AIK communicate the importance of itself to its fans and gives them a reason to “be a part of something greater”. Some of the myths found such as the “Family myth” or the “Hero myth” adds to this notion. However, the supporters don’t always agree with AIK which is why another major theme in the discourse was their “Criticism”. The supporters could also be found arguing among themselves about what being an AIK-fan meant which exposed the “True-fan myth”. Through all of this the study found sign of an underlying importance of active participation within the fandom, which enhanced the experience of being a supporter.   Key words: AIK, discourse analysis, fandom, supporter, myth, nodal point, communication, football

What motivates extreme pro-group action, such as heroism and self-sacrifice on the battlefield? Despite much scholarly attention in recent years, the question is yet to be fully explained. Recent research suggests that shared dysphoric experiences are one way of generating identity fusion, a visceral sense of 'oneness' between individual and group that has been shown to motivate willingness to fight and die for the group. Using two special populations - British and Brazilian football fans - this thesis investigates the causes and consequences of fusion. Football fan cultures are diverse, globally popular, and ripe for examining intergroup conflict. This thesis focuses on two related components of the 'shared dysphoria pathway' to fusion: emotional arousal (e.g. watching one's team suffer a particularly bitter defeat) and the sense of 'self-transformativeness' that ensues from intense, shared experiences. Across four studies, it is shown that for some individuals, sharing the agony of defeat can be emotionally and physiologically arousing to such a degree so as to transform their sense of personal identity. In turn, this leads to a more porous boundary between group and individual identities, i.e. individuals become 'fused' with their groups. Fused people are documented as engaging in some of the most extreme and potentially dangerous social behaviours we know. Two related consequences of fusion are examined: extreme pro-group action and outgroup hostility. Football hooliganism is a persistent, global problem, which is addressed in a fifth study. This thesis refutes past work suggesting that hooligans are social misfits, instead contending that hooligans are especially fused to their group and motivated to defend their 'brothers-in-arms', which results in outgroup violence. These findings suggest that a more thorough understanding of the causes and consequences of fusion could conceivably impact a great many areas, perhaps most importantly conflict resolution and policies relating to intergroup conflict.