Break The Internet, Not Conventions

On the 12th of November 2014, Paper magazine hit the internet as a bomb after publishing a picture of Kim Kardashian on their cover, taken by renowned photographer Jean-Paul Goude. The cover photo was accompanied by a series of (semi)nude pictures in which Kardashian shows off her oiled-up body looking directly in the camera and an article that is supposed to be a view into the mystery that is Kim Kardashian. Only 34 years old and Kim was already a well-known television personality. Goddaughter of football player OJ Simpson, her entry into fame began with the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians. After the success of the show, Kim posed for Playboy and continued her way towards fame, making media appearances and participating in films, series and TV shows. Growing in her role as celebrity, she saw the opportunity to venture into the business world by launching several products, becoming a successful entrepreneur. Kim's fame and beauty were not the only reason for all the fuss generated by Jean-Paul Goude’s photo. In this post we will further investigate the different ways Kim Kardashian’s image impacted the media, relating aspects such as eroticism, feminism and exotism.

Never was a campaign so openly directed at going viral as the ‘BREAK THE INTERNET’ cover photo of Kim Kardashian. Immediately, social media exploded with the images being shared by admirers and critics alike. As Paper Magazine touches upon this in the article, Kim Kardashian represents a new kind of fame, created by social media, that demands ‘agreeable omnipresence’. Kardashian takes the notion of reality celebrity to a new level, because ‘being is her act’. As Paper Magazine points out Kardashian ‘is variously seen as a feminist-entrepreneur-pop-culture-icon or a late-stage symptom of our society's myriad ills: narcissism, opportunism, unbridled ambition, unchecked capitalism’. Not only was the image shared on social media, it was also recreated by an astounding number of people through various media outlets and thus recontextualized. Some tried to follow the original as closely as possible, but there were also images that created a dialogue with other cultural tropes like Disney and the Simpsons. This way, the image created a network of recreation, recontextualisation, and reappropriation.

The Paper Magazine photo shoot spiked and reaffirmed Kim Kardashian’s omnipresence in the media and the debate about her person and image was rekindled with a new vigor. And so her shoot provoked a lot of reaction. One of the critiques that is often heard on the Break the Internet image is that Kardashian displayed her sensuality in order to profit from it. Through this she degrades both herself and women in general, because there is no well thought concept behind it.

Many people criticized Kardashian for objectifying herself and thus ‘perpetuating a culture where women are seen only as sexual beings’. Many criticisms focus on traditional feminist concepts like the ‘male gaze’ (originally introduced by Laura Mulvey). However, Kardashian’s shoot can also be interpreted in another feminist view. In opposition to the traditional feminism from the 1960s and ’70s a new wave of feminism argues that women shouldn’t deny pleasure to fight against the male dominance but, in contrary, be at a perspective where women can embrace and explore their sexuality without being coined negatively. The phrase “Do-me feminism” was used by Tad Friend from Esquire to describe the group that fought for this cause. In an heterosexual relationship, women then shift from being a victim harassed by bullies to recognizing a sexual life. Kardashian’s attitude might be explained by this logic. She recognizes her own sexuality and chooses when and how to display it. She decides to show her nudity. In this sense, she is no longer a victim of the male gaze, but a woman taking control. However, the photographer Jean-Paul Goude chose to recreate his image of Grace and it was not Kardashian herself who decided this. It is through Goude’s gaze, who is a white middle-aged, heterosexual man from western Europe, fitting every aspect of the patriarchy, that we see Kardashian. The male gaze, framing the image and creating the perspective, is forced upon the viewer. In this way we are not looking at an image of Kardashian breaking the norm, but her not fitting into it.

From this perspective of pleasure and feminism working in parallel, we change to another view that is more emotion-related when related to women’s position under a male-ruled society. According to Robin James, there is a traditional idea of ‘good girls’ that was propagated by a white supremacist patriarchy that is based on fragility (James, 2013:80). It forces on women the concept that their fragility doesn’t allow them to have their own intentions. Going beyond that, James argues that now this perspective has evolved to the idea that ‘good women’ will realize this ‘damage’ and overcome it through resilience. Important to her train of thought is that this overcoming has to be shown to the world and therefore is displayed as a spectacle. In this sense, resilience doesn’t mean a challenge to the dominant hegemony, but an affirmation of it. It is the discourse of a white supremacist patriarchy that keeps women in their place: a place of spectacle. Following James thoughts, how could we interpret the critique Kardashian received stating that she objectified herself with the Paper Magazine photo shoot? Is it in line with the traditional idea of fragility and the overcoming process? As an example of damage James points to “the negative body image that women internalize from the media” (James, 2013:84). Coming back to Kim Kardashian’s image, if she had a more activist profile and a performance less focused on her physical attributes that would actually challenge the strength of patriarchy by showing an unresolved issue. Following James, Kardashian has a damage as a woman which could be for example the negative body image. So from this point of view Kim’s sensual figure is practicing resilience because she is showing off her body proudly, overcoming the damage that she as a woman has. When asked about objectifying herself she mentioned the Paper magazine cover and agreed that media shows women in degrading images. But she also said that she feeds off the power from voluntarily objectifying herself: “I do what I need to get done”. She displays this overcoming by posing (semi)nude in Paper Magazine. The image is a deliberate intention to capitalize and get value under white supremacist patriarchy and neoliberal capitalism (a recognition of post-feminism), but still perpetuates the dominant hegemony in this process. As Kardashian followed this process of overcoming, the cover photo is the way she shows the world the process is done: ‘Look, I Overcame!’. That is the moment when resilience is performed explicitly, legibly, and spectacularly (James, 2013:88).

But the white supremacist patriarchy also scapegoats supposed ‘inferior’non-bourgeois subcultures like working-class black men and Muslims, among others. From this idea Kim Kardashian’s image received another kind of critique. Blue Telusma from The Grio, calls to attention that the photo is a recreation of an earlier photo that Goude took of his at-the-time girlfriend Grace, reflecting his fascination with ethnic minorities. This photo was published in Goude’s book Jungle Fever with other pictures depicting, for example, Grace in a cage growling animal-like at the camera. Telusma emphasizes the suggestive name and points out that just because Goude and Grace were lovers at the time, it doesn’t mean these pictures aren’t racist. On top of this, the pictures call into mind images of Saatjie Baartman, who was exhibited as a human zoo attraction in the 19th century because of her exotic appearance, mainly her large buttocks (a state defined as ‘steatopygia’). In this way Kardashian takes advantage of several hundreds of years of black female exploitation. It’s interesting that when looking for the term ‘steatopygia’ in Google images, the search provides lots of images of the referred primitive cultures but also includes images of Kim Kardashian.

Related to all these exotism, we already mentioned Kim’s photo as a re-creation from a previous photo and Jean-Paul Goude ‘Male Gaze’, a concept where the camera gives the male protagonist more power; or a way that shows women as objects through exposing close-ups of their body. This brings the possibility that Jean-Paul Goude’s gaze as a male could surpass his gaze as a photographer to make Kim’s image more suitable to white supremacist patriarchy. This didn’t happened with exact close ups, but for sure such a talented photographer could bring this concept with other techniques using light, composition and production. All these ingredients, including Kim’s shining body, hair design and jewelry could definitely give a huge contribution in this achievement. Actually, if we take a closer look to Kim’s hair, it resembles some women feather hats and even bring remembrance of exotic tropical birds. On the neck, the pearls disposed circularly over and over also references to oriental exotic tribes. The oily body, gloves and black dress just finish the work, completing the vision of a luxury pack. Once more the eroticism play an important role but this time it seems that is not Kim Kardashian’s merit.

It appears that Kim Kardashian’s reputation is beyond physical attributes. As mentioned before, she showed the talent to profit from her celebrity life and at the beginning of 2015 her fortune was estimated at $53 million. This condition relies on several factors but is clear that the way she behaves and depicts herself is a mandatory aspect in the mediation of her success as an actress and entrepreneur. It is clear that the controversies will not end and the control on subjects like eroticism, feminism and exoticism will continue to be a negotiation between Kim Kardashian, women in general, and the media.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.

Thesis proposal

Deconstructing the message; how powerful is the active audience?

Literature

James, Robin. "Look I Overcame ." In Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism, by Robin James, 78-124. John Hunt Publishing , 2015.

Henry, Astrid. “Not my mother’s sister: generational conflict and third-wave feminism”, by Astrid Henry. Indiana University Press, 2004.

Websites

http://www.alternet.org/story/103035/%22do-me%22_feminism_and_the_rise_of_raunch

Minecraft: the Best Videogame LEGO Never Made

Starting from early development stages the Swedish indie-hit Minecraft has been compared to the LEGO toys and franchise (Duncan, 2011). Although Minecraft doesn’t have direct visual connections to the popular Danish toy, like the two-by-four block or the mini-figure, many pointed to the similarity in the game’s mechanics and playing experience. The open possibilities of the LEGO bricks, their core content and development of original series have been driven to the background after the company's decision to focus more on licensed content, like Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter. This was reflected in the development of LEGO video games, which since 2006 were outsourced to Warner’s daughter company TT Games. In this blog we will focus on the development of Minecraft and how it filled in the gap after LEGO’s new market strategy up from the early 2000’s. On the basis of this analysis lies Aaron Smith’s article Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the Digital Age.

First, let's address the elephant in the room. Although Smith never explains the reasons behind LEGO’s financial decline, starting in the 1990’s, he reveals the fact that the arrival of electronic gadgets started to became a competitor, driving children’s attention. Until this point in time the sales of the LEGO brick were the company’s biggest source of income, as stated by Smith. Left out is the fact that, up from this point, LEGO lost its patents to their characteristic bricks, first in the U.S. and later in the E.U. as well. Losing their monopoly position on this niche in toys, LEGO started focusing on other’s licensed material, which were still protected under copyright laws. In the trend of horizontal integration, their internally produced video games soon followed. This strategy defines the way a whole cross-medial layer of the production chain is owned and deployed by a single company. Deviating from their multi-genre games, LEGO, in collaboration with TT Games, now focused on a single concept game model. This game model depicts the different franchises it licensed, which results in similar games with different characters and visuals over the years.  

Although LEGO tried (and failed) to incorporate the real life building experience into their games with the ‘Creators’ series, the newer installments don’t seem to have any of these mechanics. Then comes a small Swedish indie-developer called Mojang. Starting on the project on his own, founder Markus “Notch” Persson begun the development of a small side-project dubbed Minecraft. This RPG (role playing game) was met with overwhelming positive feedback and grew out to be one of the bestselling indie-games of all time. Praised for its open world and open ended gameplay, Minecraft soon build-up a large fan base. This group, like a modern online community befits, started to share, reinvent and remix the original content. Modding as one of those applications serves as ideal example for this cases for its ‘spreadability’.

As posed by Edmond (2014) ‘”spreadable” texts are defined by “good, compelling content” and a textual openness that encourages remixing’. The ability of users to become creators and share their newly made content contributes to the success on the initial product, according to her text. Smith also refers to this term to indicate the success of LEGO Star Wars (Smith, 2011: 6): a stage where the user can break character’s hierarchy and create his own stories. By adjusting the way Minecraft looks and works, the modding community had allot of freedom exploring the boundaries of what the game had to offer. Some mods made references to other cultural products, visually, but also mechanically. Modders would mimic other games, movies and even artworks and Minecraft gave them all the freedom to do so.

Smith juxtaposes spreadability with the idea of drillability, the way the audience is encouraged to immersive him/herself into the exploration of the core mythology (Smith, 2011:  2). Jason Mittell, who coined the term, saw this practise as so-called forensic fandom (Smith, 2011: 6). This is also recognizable in Minecraft. Apart from the modding community, Minecraft also had a large number of fans practicing the latter. Its community created a lot of narrative input, although the original game had no story-elements. A number of these even ended up in the game itself as an Easter egg, inside joke or final content, which brings us to the next point.

Minecraft was never a truly finished product. Running as a beta for almost two years, the game had enough time to try out different features and let the audience have a say in its development. This grassroot approach saw the audience, or users, as an important resource and adjusted the product according to their wishes. The game’s enormous success let to big attention on the global market, leading to Microsoft’s takeover of Mojang (and thereby Minecraft) for the record sum of $2,5 billion. This event is, in it’s own right, an example of corporate convergence in the case of Microsoft. By incorporating or merging with companies like Mojang it reaches bigger production capabilities, audiences and moreover the rights to their already successful products. LEGO, following their new business strategy, took a comparable route. By working with Time Warner they hoped to use flow of mass media content and float along with its current.

Do you think that the market gap LEGO left behind is perfectly sealed? Well, LEGO certainly didn’t let Minecraft get away with all the success. By releasing a new series based of Minecraft, LEGO tapped into their hype, now selling various licensed Minecraft-models in stores all over the world. The irony even goes a bit further now LEGO develops a new video game which shows allot of similarities to Minecraft according to numerous bloggers, who use the same arguments once used by other to compare to opposite (Etherington, 2015). Maybe Minecraft is the game LEGO should have made in the first place, but this only shows the influence of market trends, corporate strategies and great unpredictability of it all.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.

Thesis proposal:

Who sells better, the tortoise or the hare?

Global Convergence Between San Fransokyo And The Swiss Alps

In November 2014 Disney Studios released their new animation adventure Big Hero Six, a movie about a special bond between a big, soft, inflatable robot called Baymax and Hiro Hamada, a young brilliant robot maker. Together they team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes (imdb.com). What makes Big Hero Six special is not just the message it conveys that intelligence is your greatest superpower but also the amalgam between Japanese and American culture. The film is set in a fictional city called “San Fransokyo”, a mash-up of Tokyo and San Francisco. They kept many of San Francisco’s familiar landmarks in the film, the Embarcadero and Coit Tower for instance, but close-ups of the streets recall Tokyo’s Shimbashi, Kanda and Ueno districts. (www.japantimes.co.jp) As you can see in the movie's stills, Disney's animation team created a world in which Asian and American influences are converged into one new global culture. Much to the happiness of many people who feel like they are living in a global village, rather than in one particular country or culture.

This transcultural flow of popular culture that inspires new forms of global consciousness and cultural competency (Jenkins, 2006:156) is what Jenkins coins as 'Pop Cosmopolitanism'. He mentions the interplay between two forces; that of corporate convergence; and Grassroots convergence (Jenkins, 2006:155). In the case of Big Hero Six, the latter bottom-up pull of grassroots convergence is applicable here. The grassroots intermediaries play a big role in shaping the flow of Asian cultural goods into Western Markets (Jenkins, 2006: 162) and Big Hero Six is the example par excellence in which global convergence give rise to a new cosmopolitanism. The fictional city of San Fransokyo embraces its cultural difference and escapes the gravitational pull of local communities in order to enter a broader sphere of cultural experience (Jenkins: 155). This interplay between cultures is not without reason. Disney, a western company, incorporates popular elements of Japanese culture in the west, to appeal more to the western audience on the one hand. While on the other hand they use this relation to appeal more to the eastern or, more specifically, Japanese audience. Disney hits two birds with one stone by using a grassroot approach instead of collaborating or merging with an eastern producer. Producer Roy Conli calls the move a “love letter to Japanese culture” (www.japantimes.co.jp). A “thank you note” might be a more apt metaphor according to Olivia Waring. Walt Disney Animation Studios owes a great deal to Japanese audiences, who accounted for 29% of the international revenue from Disney’s Frozen. The Disney franchise in general commands a wide following in Japan (www.asiamattersforamerica.org).

However, it is not just The West that is appropriating from the East, it goes the other way around as well. Another piece in the children's film and television genre deems useful as an example of global convergence. Heidi, Girl of the Alps is a 1974 Japanese anime series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880). (www.imdb.com) This classical piece of Swiss children's literature was adapted into the popular Japanese anime that reached stardom in Asia, Europe and Latin America where the anime was dubbed in multiple languages. This shows the great interest the audience has in global media convergence and the power grassroots intermediaries have in the entertainment industry. 

Returning to our western example of Big Hero Six, apart from the demands made by an audience that is thirsty for eastern media, there are opportunities to maximize profits. As we know, this is a very known field for western film industries. Once the movie is released, the market is filled with products in a variety of forms and this move requires horizontal integration that are categorized as cultural synergies (Vaughan, 2011). ‘The process of exploiting cultural synergy extensively creates an accompanying intertextuality that exists beyond the original property’  (Vaughan, 2011: 177). Seen from the perspective of the film industry, it is a way to enlarge their audience. Seen from the audience’s perspective, this commodification turns into a extended experience, that matches just perfectly with the above mentioned grassroots convergence as a continued effect.

These are just two examples of the many blending processes of global media convergence that are currently happening. According to Michael Latzer, media convergence refers above all to the blurring of boundaries between the different medias and particularly, telecommunications and mass media. (Latzer, 2013:123) Consequently, the uniformisation of this sector as a global media sector is creating a new digital creative economy by the interplay of technical, economical, socio-cultural and political factors. (Latzer, 2013: 128,129) In this way, by the digitization, the intensity of innovation, the liberalization and the globalization, our society is reshaping to become a kind of global village with different cultural features: “an organization of diversity rather than a replication of uniformity” (Jenkins quoting Ulf Hannerz, 2006: 155) where the cosmopolitans, as he calls the new consumers of this digital creative economy, embrace cultural difference in order to enter a broader sphere of cultural experience. 

Indeed, media convergence, by the transcultural flows of popular culture is forming a global awareness in the consumers’ mind and opening them to alternative cultural perspectives as we have already seen in the given examples. The mixture between Western and Japanese popular culture give birth to a new global culture, enriched by its diversity which correspond to the new expectations of the cosmopolitans.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.

Thesis proposal:

Grassroot empower consumers and new shapes of entertainment industry

Literature

Michael Latzer (2013), ‘Media convergence’, in: Ruth Towse & Christian Handke (eds.), Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar

Henry Jenkins (2006), ‘Pop Cosmopolitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence’, in: Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York & London: New York University Press

Nathan Vaughan (2011), ‘Maximizing Value: Economic and Cultural Synergies’, in: Janet Wasko, Gragham Murdock & Helena Sousa (eds.) The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell

Websites

http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/10/big_hero_6_baymax_san_fransokyo.jpg (September 14, 2015)  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ (September 13, 2015)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2245084/?ref_=nv_sr_1 (September 13, 2015)

Kaori Shoji (December 17, 2014) Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6′ reassembles Japan without the ‘cultural cringe’ The Japan Times http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/12/17/films/disneys-big-hero-6-reassembles-japan-without-cultural-cringe/#.VfVAPBGqqkp (September 13, 2015)

http://media.tumblr.com/6938be5ce9d7341a2176efe9c8104587/tumblr_inline_nf01byvrMP1t4rdhz.png (September 13, 2015)

Olivia Waring (November 19, 2014) Latest Disney Release Billed as a “Love Letter” to Japan Featured in: Asia, Japan

http://www.asiamattersforamerica.org/japan/latest-disney-release-billed-as-a-love-letter-to-japan (September 14, 2015)

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6b/ca/43/6bca4309e92e815e0593e62f03838b6b.jpg (September 14, 2015)

New Eyes: An Industry In Flux

Society experienced a fundamental change with the emergence of the PC, the Internet and the smartphone. The Internet is so embedded in our culture that some fear society would fall into chaos if it were to disappear. Fortunately, we are not trying to make such gloomy predictions here. We want to discuss how this change has led to the need for a new way of looking at culture, or, to be more specific, media. We’ll be discussing this through the case study of Google in order to connect the quotidian to the theoretical and back to the practical. As we analyse Google, we will also be making a contribution to the debate on the approaches and research agenda in media studies.

The starting point for this analysis is characterising the influence of Google. Google as a company has an operating income of 8.3 billion US dollars and around 35,000 employees. Google as a search engine processes 24 petabytes of information every day. To put that into perspective: you would need to turn 1.2 million trees into paper to print this amount. Google has even become a verb. But Google is much more than a search engine. First and foremost it’s an advertising company. However, in 2014 the company spent $5 billion on the acquisition of other companies. According to an analysis by CBC News, it is likely that Google will be investing in the Internet of things, and ‘establishing a network of connected devices in the home and elsewhere that use Google technology.’

Now, why is it so important to emphasize the reach of Google? Firstly, we want to stress how much a service like Google has become embedded in our culture and how this embedment will probably increase as Google roots itself in every household. Secondly, we want to show that when we are looking at a segment of the media, it is important to be able to look at it in all its facets. As Timothy Havens et al. point out in ‘Critical Media Industry Studies’, the majority of critical media studies research has focused on audience and text, and left the industry out of the equation (2009: 234). Furthermore, the research on media as an industry has mostly been done from a political economic approach (2009: 234). To give some counterweight to this macro-level perspective, they argue for some of the micro-level view of cultural studies (2009: 234). The foundation for the approach that they propose is Stuart Hall’s ‘incorporation of Gramsci’s theorization of the ideological struggle for cultural hegemony and Foucault’s emphasis on the fluidity of determination’ (2009: 242).

How does this macro-micro-level relationship relate to our case study Google? Some of Google’s services can be used to create content (a post in Google+, a video on YouTube, or an AdWords advertising). Users are not only capable of producing media, but also of receiving and exchanging media from other users. From a cultural studies perspective the audience has a lot of power within this relationship because they seem in control of the content and the way they choose to perceive it. That’s quite an empowerment, but what if we look at it from a political economy perspective? As the considerations made by Timothy Havens et al. related to Gramsci’s analysis of power indicate, users are in fact under larger constraints of a media industry. First, Google servers are not exempt from failure: in 2012 Gmail suffered an international failure that affected its users. Second, in social media users are inserted into a framework that is constantly subject to imperative changes. Ideological, political and economic considerations have their effect on the content of users (for example censorship of nudity, violence, and copyright infringement). This shows that a complex back-and-forth power process is at work here.

More theorists argue for an approach that combines cultural studies and political economy. The article ‘Bridging the Mythical Divide’ by Natalie Fenton resounds in Havens et al.’s plea. She argues for a union between these two approaches as well (2007: 8). Fenton tries to show what advantages both perspectives have to offer and how they should be combined: ‘The struggle over meaning takes place between the process of production and the act of reception – both of which are determined by their place in a wider social, political, economic and cultural context and both of which are subject to constraints.’ (2007: 25).

Jonathan Sterne takes Havens et al. and Fenton’s argument to heart in his essay ‘There Is No Music Industry’. He shows how research has focused on a narrow view of the music industry (2014: 50). Sterne argues for the acknowledgement of ‘music industries’ and advocates a broader view on the involved parties (2014: 52). Sterne urges us to take a step back and implicitly asks us the same as Havens et al. and Fenton: to take on a view that incorporates political economy and cultural studies approaches.

Coming back to Google, we’d like to bring one more sympathiser of this train of thought into the mix. In ‘Culture, Technology, Cultural Techniques - Moving Beyond Text’ Krämer and Bredekamp try to break through the discourse of culture-as-text (2013: 23). They do not go so far as to state what culture should be seen as from now on, but their notion of culture is very helpful when looking at a phenomenon like Google.

As we know, behind the screen and the interface we see, a search in Google involves a mathematical algorithm made by engineers. In the same way as the Turing machine example used by Krämer and Bredekamp, Google manages a cognitive dimension. Krämer and Bredekamp’s argument that science and mathematics “facilitate the congruence of culture and the symbolic” is thus very helpful when we’re trying to understand a case such as Google as a cultural phenomenon.

In order to be able to understand the world we live in today, we need new perspectives and new ways of defining what it is we’re researching. This requires us to take a step back and critically ask ourselves if we’re looking at these phenomena in the right way or if we’re missing something. We should be able to zoom in on the details and be aware of processes of representation, subjectivity, discourse and meaning, while at the same time keeping in mind the political, social and cultural context.

Such a perspective might help us answer questions about the direction Google and, consequently and interchangeably, society are heading. Something both Havens et al. and Krämer and Bredekamp stress, is that the industry Google is a part of is in flux (Havens (2009: 250), Krämer and Bredekamp (2013: 23)). The boundaries between different segments prove to be ambiguous as industries are constantly evolving. This calls for a similar approach in research in which we should enter with new eyes and an open mind.

Google and social media corporations break theoretical bias within media studies.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.







Literature

Fenton, Natalie (2007), ‘Bridging the Mythical Divide: Political Economy and Cultural Studies Approaches to the Analysis of the Media', in: Eoin Devereux (ed.), Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates. London: SAGE, pp. 7-31.

Havens, Timothy, Lotz, Amanda D. & Tinic, Serra (2009), ‘Critical Media Industry Studies: A Research Approach’, in: Communication, Culture & Critique 2, pp. 234-253.

Krämer, Sybille & Bredekamp, Horst (2013), ‘Culture, Technology, Cultural Techniques – Moving Beyond Text’, in: Theory, Culture & Society 30 (6), pp. 20-29.

Sterne, Jonathan (2014), ‘There Is No Music Industry’, in: Media Industries Journal 1 (1), pp. 50-55.


Websites

Page, Vanessa (May 20, 2015), ‘The Top 6 Companies Owned by Google’, Investopedia. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/052015/top-6-companies-owned-google.asp (September 3, 2015).

S.n. (s.d.), Computer School. http://www.computerschool.org/computers/google/ (3 September, 2015).

Stunt, Victoria (February 19, 2014), ‘Why Google is buying a seemingly crazy collection of companies’, CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/why-google-is-buying-a-seemingly-crazy-collection-of-companies-1.2537110 (September 3, 2015).

S.n. (s.d.) 'Gmail suffers international failure', The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9735562/Gmail-suffers-international-failure.html. (September 3, 2015).