"A vallási élet elemi formái"-tól "A média rítusai"-ig: durkheimi fogalmak a kommunikációelméletben

Author(s): Eszter Bartha / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 18/2012

The essay gives a critical review of The Rituals of the Media by Lajos Császi. It seeks to showhow the Durkheimian sociology of religion can be applied to the modern communicationtheory and what perspectives such a combination can store for sociology. The mediahas a significant impact on the formation of public opinion; therefore, its rituals deservea special attention. However, the opinion forming power of the media depends on thesocial structure and the movement of the masses. Today even ordinary people can broadcastInternet TV-programmes and we have not even mentioned the technical possibilitiesoffered by the various social network sites. It is not only the technical competence, whichdetermines whether a given opinion will remain embedded in a narrow subculture or itsucceeds to move the masses, which was a well-loved catchword of the 20th century

"Celownik nieszczęścia"

Reprezentacje doświadczenia utraty w kulturze współczesnej

Author(s): Małgorzata Okupnik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

Death and mourning in the modern world are taboo subjects. However, in recent years a lot of works inspired by experience of loss have been released. In this essay two works are analyzed: the book "He died on me" ("Umarł mi") by Inga Iwasiów and the film "33 Scenes from Life" ("33 sceny z życia"). In both a secular version of experience of death and loss of a close person is presented. Mourning experienced in the urban atheistic area is detached from spirituality and sacrum. Therefore we can speak about a specific paradigm of loss of spirituality in the face of death of close people.

"Do You Have Any Empties?"

Bottle Collectors’ Interactions in Public Spaces in Zagreb

Author(s): Dino Vukušić,Stephanie Stelko / Language(s): English Issue: 39/2016

This paper describes the practices of people who collect discarded bottles and cans during public events in Zagreb, Croatia, which they return to recycling centers in order to receive a bottle deposit needed to supplement their low incomes. In addition to an ethnographic section in which we briefly describe this underrepresented aspect of everyday life in Zagreb, we address the symbolics at play in bottle collectors’ interactions among themselves and with "bottle providers" – people who gather in public spaces and consume drinks from bottles and cans. In so doing, we describe how the presence of a marginalized social group becomes visible in public spaces.

"Dr House" - gra i semiologia

Author(s): Zbigniew Kloch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2012

The paper describes how the characters of House, M.D. interact and relate to each other; it also discusses the role played by specific, semantically charged means of constructing narration. On one hand, the show largely maintains the model of a conventional medical drama, on the other, it deconstructs many of the characteristics inherent in the genre. The paper also attempts to explain the show’s huge popularity (for a certain time in the United States alone it reached 27 million viewers) achieved in spite of going beyond what an average viewer would expect, primarily by the show’s construction and by evoking ideas outside a classic medical drama.

"From medium to meaning". O propagandowych środkach wyrazu w filmie "Triumf woli" Leni Riefenstahl

Author(s): Małgorzata Laskowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2020

The main purpose of this paper is to determine the most frequently used propaganda forms of expression in the film Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl. This research target may be presented in the form of the following questions: Which propaganda forms of expression have been used in the film? Which symbols have been used to convey the message in Leni Riefenstahl’s film? The answers to these questions will be interpreted in the context of Stewart M. Hoover’s theory “from medium to meaning.” Its author paid attention to the essential question: To what extent do media convey meaning? To what extent do they give meaning to a phenomenon? Analogically, a question may be asked, with reference to Riefenstahl’s film: to what extent her film might have given meaning to the Nazi propaganda? What was the role of cinema in Adolf Hitler’s policy and in popularising his views? The article is a review paper. Its indirect goal is to draw attention to the transfer of meaning in audiovisual communication.

"I’m a poor lonesome cowboy and a long way from home…": српски документарни филмови о гастарбајтерима

Author(s): Marija Krstić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2013

In this paper I will analyze Serbian documentary films about guest workers dating from the last decade of the 20th and the first decade of the 21st century, using the perspective of visual anthropology. I question the popular cultural notions about guest workers in films Весеље у Ждрелу (A Celebration in Zdrelo) by author Kamenko Katic, Звона позне јесени (The Bells of Late Autumn) by author Zoran Milenovic, Кад је Милорад удавао ћерку (When Milorad Gave His Daughter in Marriage) by author Vladimir Milisavljevic, Странац тамо, странац овде (A Foreigner There, a Foreigner Here) by author Sandra Mandic and 242 метра живота (242 Meters of Life) by author Novica Savic. The films deal with a number of issues: the economic aspects of guest workers’ lives, their liminal character, the issues of the second and third generations of guest workers, going away "temporarily" to work, and religious rituals. Even though the films were made recently, they all follow the lives of Vlach and Serbian, or rather Yugoslav guest workers who left to find temporary work abroad in Western Europe in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This serves the purpose of avoiding to deal with contemporary reasons for emigrating from Serbia and thus the possible critiques of current regimes or policies in power at the time the films were made.

"Jaunais reālisms" kā postmodernisma problēma

Author(s): Jelena Celma / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/2006

This article is an attempt to understand a new tendency of postmodern art. It is called " New Realism", which differs entirely from classical realism.The artisctic experience of today shows that art puts a special emphasis on the things when things are presented only as they are. This open belief in the world has been born as the opposite of a simulation and a game. And it requires for a special intensity of reception.

"Language-Culture" Dychotomy in Formation of the Mental Sphere of Ethnic Consciousness and Specificity of National World Perception

Author(s): Vasyl Dmitrievich Shynkaruk,Svitlana Vasilivna Kharchenko,Inna Yakivna Zavalnyuk / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Purpose of the study. The purpose of the proposed article is to clarify the essence of "language-culture" dichotomy, outlining the specificity of the interconnection and the interaction of its components in the projection to the mentality of the reception of national constants. Methodology of the study. The methodology of the research is based on the ideas of anthropocentricity (V. von Humboldt, O. Potebnya, E. Sepir, B. Whorf, M. Heidegger, etc.) and the main provisions of linguocultural studies, which confirm the necessity of studying language and culture as a space of interiorization and exteriorization of mental representations of linguistic and cultural knowledge (L. Wittgenstein, S. Yermolenko, V. Labov, V. Uzhchenko, H. Yavorska, etc.). The cultural-semiotic method, the method of synchronous sections and the systematic approach have formed the basis of the research strategy. The scientific novelty. "Culturelanguage" dichotomy plays a leading role in shaping the mental sphere of the ethnic consciousness and defines and shapes the specifics of the national worldview. It has been confirmed that the most active verbal symbolization as a factor of national-cultural selfidentification manifests itself in the spheres of semasiology and onomasiology. But the peculiarities of implementation at the syntactic level in the superficial structure of the semantic components of the deep structures of the sentence are the inherent features of the syntax of the national language, which constructs the human mentality and, in part, its cultural self-consciousness. It has been observed that the processes of cultural uplift, national revival, development of the Ukrainian literary language are interdependent and mutually conditioned. Conclusions. Thus, the "culture - language" dichotomy appears as two similarly organized sign systems that function equally, are fundamentally related. An important factor in the formation of ethnic culture is the language that captures, preserves and translates the ways of categorizing and conceptualizing the world and the internal reflexive experience of the people. The linguistic consciousness of the people appears as a form of its cultural expression, of civilization, in the conditions of world globalization, and the phenomenon of language is the identification code of the ethnic consciousness, of the mentality and specificity of the national world perception.

"MJESTO SJEĆANJA" ILI IZBORNA KAMPANJA? ANALIZA SADRŽAJA HRVATSKIH MEDIJA PRIJE PARLAMENTARNIH IZBORA 2015.

Author(s): Marko Mustapić,Ivan Balabanić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 3/2018

After a brief theoretical consideration of the cultural memory and political communication in electoral campaigns, this paper analyses statements of politicians during the 2015 Croatian parliamentary campaign. The main goal of the paper is to establish the manner in which events and happenings from modern Croatian history and the various ‘collective memories' surrounding them were present in the media excerpts analysed. Research of excerpts from the leading Croatian media outlets (daily newspapers, TV stations, web portals) was performed through content analysis. The results show that excerpts including political communication about modern historical themes were present to a significant extent, and that discussions of these topics were most often provoked by the largest political parties, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). On the level of general conclusion, it can be claimed that the electoral campaign largely became a "site of memory" where further political conflicts surrounding historical issues were generated, while discussions of solutions to numerous social problems were neglected.

"My Heart's Anna"

Intimacy, Affect, and Cosmopolitanism among Chinese Volunteers Abroad

Author(s): Pál Nyiri / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

In Europe, youth volunteers are a small segment of a growing and increasingly diverse Chinese presence. Currently limited to Eastern Europe, including a handful in European Union member states such as Hungary and Poland, Chinese volunteers may later participate in domestic volunteering projects in Western Europe as well. As elsewhere, volunteering is linked to other ways of mobility. Studying abroad can be a stimulus to volunteering and vice versa; volunteering is typically accompanied by experiences of sightseeing and nature tourism that are shared with other young Chinese (tourists, students and expatriates). Yet it also represents a potentially new, more compassionate modality of engaging with the unfamiliar. This is significant against the background of the rapidly changing power relations between Europe and China, analyses of which often portray Europe as a hapless target of Chinese greed or manipulation.

"Nacionalni heroj" u domaćoj naučnofantastičnoj književnosti

Author(s): Ivan Đorđević / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Appearance of heroes from national history/mythology in Serbian science fiction prose is characteristic for last two decades of the 20th century. Karađorđe Petrović, Prince Miloš Obrenović, Prince Marko (Marko Kraljević) and other national heroes entered the Serbian SF stage simultaneously with processes of returning to tradition which were characteristic for the wider social context of Serbia of that time. Primary goal of this paper is to determine ways in which those heroes are represented in Serbian genre literature, with premise that a "national hero" is in fact a social and cultural construction determined by historical and political context. Symbolical recollection and "fishing" of national heroes from a historical/mythological "pool" in this particular domain of popular culture is discussed from the aspect of their positioning, re-contextualization and revalorization with regard to the sociopolitical reality of culture in which such literature emerged.

"Namćori" iz komšiluka: predstavljanje starosti u domaćoj televizijskoj reklami

Author(s): Ljubica Milosavljević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2010

This paper is the result of a three-month monitoring of Serbian television commercials which aimed to study the way elderly people are represented in the media. Elderly people appear in only six commercials, more often as a functional part of a series than as protagonists. Yet in spite of the small number of commercials in which they appear, it is easy to identify the stereotypes which are translated from a social paradigm into the sphere of the media. The stereotypes on which commercials are based belong for the most part to the corpus of negative stereotypes of elderly people as hopelessly behind the times, feeble, lonely, irritating, cantankerous, etc. Some positive stereotypes are also evident, but they are mostly limited to a perception of elderly people as kindly givers of useful advice. It is interesting to note that the "cantankerous people next door" are as a rule anonymous elderly people, as are those "lost in time and space", who are mostly elderly women. In contrast, those who let their careers and images be associated with a certain product, in order to pass on their great experience and knowledge, are as a rule famous persons. Just as it is possible to make a distinction between commercials depending on whether or not the products advertised are targeted at the elderly – which they rarely are – and whether elderly people appear in leading or supporting roles, in order to make viewers laugh or annoy them, so it is possible to distinguish between the "real-life principle", which involves the translation of the society’s dominant attitudes into commercials, and "commercial reality", which either makes old age invisible or "masks" it so that it is pleasant to the eye. The reason that old people are absent from television commercials or are mostly represented in a negative light is to be found in the low purchasing power of this age group, but also in the fact that advertising in Serbia developed practically overnight, and therefore has not always been able to follow foreign advertising trends, which treat the elderly as a worthy target audience for commercials.

"Night with the General" - a Democratic Documentary

Author(s): Michał Piepiórka / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2014

The film is one of few examples of political documentaries produced in Poland after 1989. It is not limited to merely outlining the political argument over General Jaruzelski’s decision to impose martial law. Although it concerns events in Polish history, it is not a historical documentary, as it brings forth present-day political conflicts that have arisen around historical events. Trying to reconstruct this current political argument, Zmarz-Koczanowicz reaches for a method developed in the 1970s by the so-called “Kraków School” led by Krzysztof Kieślowski. ^e “talking heads” method was meant to help documentary filmmakers in the Polish People’s Republic reach what the person in the street actually thought and avoid the distortions of propaganda. For Kieślowski, however, the overriding aim was conciliation and an attempt to understand both sides of the political barricade - the authorities and the vox populi. His attitude, according to the terminology suggested by Chantal Mouffe, was a post-political one striving for an agreement through a rational dialogue. Zmarz-Koczanowicz’s aim, however, is different: she is intent on showing a clash of different hegemonies that do not strive for consensus. Their agonistic argument, played out in the political register, rather than a moral one, is a guarantee, according to this Belgian philosopher of politics, that democracy will continue to exist.

"Novi val" kao anticipacija krize

Author(s): Ines Prica / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 13/1990

In this essay the concept of »new wave« is related to the concept of »crisis«, on the basis of accordance of the main topics that have emerged out of these two different kinds of cultural discourse. The very term »new wave« indicates the period of the beginning of eighties characterized by the specific cultural expressions bounded with the phenomenon of the youth subculture in Yugoslavia. Although initiated by impulses from other cultures (first of all by the phenomenon of anglo-american punk), the »new wave« expression has elaborated the considerable segment of local reality. For example, the concept of »New primitivism« on one hand, and the »Neue Slowenische Kunst« on the other, have developed their symbolic activities playing with a stereotype of the two main cultural identities that »cross« the Yugoslav space: on is »Balkan«, »oriental«, the other is »European«, »western«. Modified in numerous ways, but loosing its stylistic, ironical quality that characterized its sub-cultural elaboration, this stereotype has become the leit motiv of the later explanation, even official, of the political crisis in Yugoslavia. In a similar way, the »new wave« activity, partially leaned on the western formula in creation of music, art, images and life styles, has anticipated the destruction of the myth of originality and uniqueness of our culture. What was then considered to be an »epigone«, a »dishonest imitation of the West«, hardly a decade later has merged into the common desire for »entering Europe«, which has characterized the discourse of crisis.

"Po co tyle hałasu". Polski komiks muzyczny

Author(s): Jadwiga Lelek,Konrad Sierzputowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2019

This article is the result of research on the condition of Polish musical comics. The basis of considerations are the comics of Marcin Podolec: Smoke and Fugazi Music Club, two works of Krzysztof Owedyk: Blix and Żorżet and You will be frying in hell, as well as the worst comic of the year by Maciej Pałka and Only calmly Bartek Glazy. The text aims to show the relationships between Polish popular music and comics. Draws attention to the ways of presenting musical subcultures and individual portraits in comic culture. It also introduces the role of memory and nostalgia in the construction of illustrated musical stories in which the real order mixes with the imaginary. The article points to the common points of these works and takes into account the most important shortcomings of all six comics. It highlights the marginalization of the role of women, both in the creative process and the discussed cultural texts. Using the theories of Jacques Ranciere and Robin, James raises the question of male dominance in the Polish music comic, while shedding light on the Polish music scene.

"Quelli che stanno in cima alle scale". Nozioni minime e qualche riflessione su: 1956 e dintorni nella cultura e letteratura polacca

Author(s): Luigi Marinelli / Language(s): Italian Issue: 2/2008

Credo si possa esser d'accordo sul fatto che i totalitarismi restano tali finché riescono a mantenere il loro appiglio, o meglio forse dire "artiglio", appunto, totale sulle società che controllano.

"Shojo". Dziewczyny, kultura i komiksy

Author(s): Natalia Kućma / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2019

This article analyzes shōjo culture and shōjo girls as a participants and creators of this culture. The first part of the article presents the history of girls' schools from the beginning of the 20th century and the ideal of a good wife and wise mother (ryōsai kenbo). The second part focuses on the issue of the "privileged body" of shōjo (girl), which is on the edge between the body of a child and a woman, a boy and a girl. Shōjo manga, as comics addressed to girls, have evolved since the 70s, when women began to create them. At the end I examine aesthetic traits and „the aesthetics of sameness” as tools to create emotional involvement of readers. Shōjo culture is the Japanese version of girl power.

"Suszyć, skruszyć, zmielić, zważyć". Kino gatunków a filmy z Panem Kleksem

Author(s): Radosław Pisula / Language(s): Polish Issue: 15 (22)/2016

Polish genre cinema in the time of Polish People’s Republic was in stagnation due to the sociopolitical situation. Limited access to the thriving foreign film industry suppressed a natural evolution within the genre cinema. However, the liberalization of stagnant and overly politicized rules in the communist film industry brought change in the 1980s.The government used to saw movies as a way to sell propaganda in the country. This cultural revolution was marked by the appearance of a new generation of directors, similar in some ways to American New Hollywood; rise of a VCR market and laxity of political restrictions.One of the best representatives of this progression is the Mr. Kleks movie trilogy. Adaptations of Jan Brzechwa’s cult book series: Academy of Mr. Kleks (1983), The Travels of Mr. Kleks (1985), Mr. Kleks in Space (1988). All of theme were directed by Krzysztof Gradowski. The series is a perfect example of a genre-melting pot. Something unprecedented in the Polish cinema.Although there are many radically different conventions in the story, the narrative is very coherent. The release of the first installment clearly marks the beginning of the transformation in the Polish film industry.In the article, I will present the ways in which the film genres are functioning in the Mr. Kleks movies and analyze how these highly original productions were part of a turbulent period of transformational change in communist Poland.

"The Message of Protest”: Artistic Expressions of Punk / Hardcore Subculture Ideas

Author(s): Reda Šatūnienė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2008

Nekomerciālā panku / hārdkora subkultūra izveidojās no britu pankiem un amerikāņu hārkora 20. gadsimta septiņdesmito un astoņdesmito gadu mijā. Galvenās panku / hārdkora subkultūras iezīmes iemieso pankroka brīvības, kritiskās domas un vienlīdzības principus. Lietuvā daudzas jauniešu subkultūru paražas ienāca pēc valsts neatkarības atjaunošanas 1990. gadā. Raksts pievērš uzmanību nekomerciālās panku / hārdkora subkultūras idejām un vērtībām, kādas ietvertas lietuviešu trafaretu mākslā. Raksta empīriskais materiāls ir savākts, pateicoties atbilstošai metodoloģijai un kvalitatīvam (etnogrāfiskam) lauka pētījumam, kas veikts 2005.-2007. gadā. Raksta autore secina, ka panku / hārdkora subkultūras idejas - protestēšana pret "Sistēmu", ekonomisko un politisko uzkundzēšanos, patērētājfilozofiju, konformismu un starptautiskajām aliansēm - izpaužas trafaretu mākslā. Tā atklāj globālās un vietējās sociālās, politiskās un ekonomiskās aktualitātes.

"Tjetri" në krijimtarinë e Agollit

Author(s): Anila Mullahi / Language(s): Albanian Issue: 35/2017

In the period before the 1990s, in the context of a strong tradition of socialist realism literature, the positive heroes were placed in the center of the literary world; those that were created according to a standard model. They were developed in a linear way and often were incompatible with the internal logic. The tendency to create "social characters" caused the extinction of the particular and loss of curiosity. The characters of these works appear without any dilemmas, without great twists, without spiritual breaks, without vacillation for the life, the world or the human existence. Near the positive character are the others, who worship them or they want to resemble to the heroes; while on the other side, opposite them are the antagonists, the enemies.In Agolli's works, besides these two groups, are those characters that are seen as "weird", “irregulars” or "incorrect". They are not negative characters because they are not "enemies" but they are not even positive characters because do not resemble the standard example at all. This kind is considered as "the other", and actually this is what it is deep inside the unconscious of the author.“The other” is an individual who is perceived by the group as someone who does not belong, as different in an essential way. The group sees themselves as the norm and judges those who do not meet the norm elements. “The other” can have many forms, in the case of Agolli appears as one who is not indoctrinated. He is not interested about politics, but either he is interested in objecting it. His non-inclusion and non-ideology make him different. They reveal an essential feature that differs from others; speak openly and directly and do not have the veil of deceit in front of their eyes and they see the reality as it is, without idealizing it.In some cases at Agolli’s characters, "the other" is ultimately subjected to the group's norm, but also their existence as being different, makes Agolli's works distinct from the others. One form of "the other" can be considered Commander Rrapo in the novel "Commissar Memo" or Mato Gruda in "The Man with the Cannon".There are other cases where Agolli's "the other" it may be someone who shows great passion for life. A way to enjoy life with all the pleasures that it brings, through humor, eating, drinking, dancing, women, as it is Cute Babulja in the novel "The Ark of the Devil". Such a man with great love for life and the pleasures that life brings is not in line with the positive hero “whose character is shaped among the great difficulties". Agolli's literature work is filled with atypical characters, with special features, with individuals in conflict with the society norms, which consists in alienation from the principles of the official frame method.