This thesis examines the perceived role of democratization and participatory culture for contemporary film criticism and film festivals, aiming to understand the significance of TikTok and other social media platforms for the industry. For that purpose, film critics and film festival representatives from across Europe and various career stages and ages are interviewed to study how they perceive the developments of film criticism in the age of social media to let them create their own narrative. The findings were then discussed in light of participatory culture, gatekeeping theory, and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, and cultural capital. Results show that participatory culture enhances the diversity in film discourse and provides younger audiences with entry points into film culture, while also leading to information overload, a lack of filters, and discourse toxification. The line between film criticism and film promotion blurs online, with critics calling for better labeling. As film content on social media shows more characteristics of film promotion, it is not regarded as film criticism by critics. However, it is still considered a valuable asset to the media landscape and film culture. Rather than TikTok and its participatory practices, critics perceive industry dynamics and the crisis of the news media as threatening to their profession. Furthermore, the purpose and role of film critics as gatekeepers are strongly debated amidst the rise of participatory culture. Academic discourse around the topic lacks both the study of TikTok’s relevance for film criticism and qualitative research on how critics and industry professionals perceive the situation. Despite the limitations of interview research, including representation, subjectivity, and quantification constraints, this thesis makes a valuable contribution to both academia and the industry due to nuanced data insights and implications for future research. These include research focusing on other industry players, the audience, and content.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-69601 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Penn, Marlene |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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