Popular culture representations of food- A deeper analysis

In my previous blog post , I introduced food futurology, future food trends and some pop. culture representations of food futurology. This blog post will show how my ideas have developed and detail my research – exploring the accuracy of these pop. culture representations, and what they reveal.

Food is of the upmost importance to human survival, thus explaining our fixation and obsession with it and every single process involved in bringing it to our mouths. Food is often seen as a reflection of our quality of life ….

“Malnutrition in all its forms is closely linked, either directly or indirectly, to major causes of death and disability worldwide. The causes of malnutrition are directly related to inadequate dietary intake”… “which is responsible for perpetuating a generational cycle of poverty” (UNICEF 2006 & WHO 2013).

In this way it is easy to see why we have many fears for the future of food industry.

The tensions and fears about the future of the food industry are played out within popular culture. The common themes emerging within pop. culture representations of food are:

• Genetic modification
• Ownership/domination of multi-national corporations
• Over-consumption
• Standardisation
• Mass-production
• Loss of ‘art’ and culture
• Decay of environment/poor living conditions
• No freedom
• Robot superiority
• Enhanced human experience

But how accurate are these representations?

It is difficult to predict what the future of food innovation may include, but using the development of innovations within the past century alone, we can evaluate the accuracy of pop. culture representations.

Genetic modification

Currently, genetically modified foods are developed – and marketed – because there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer of these foods. The genetically modified food crops currently on the market are mainly aimed at an increased level of crop protection through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased tolerance towards herbicides (WHO 2014).

In this way, we can see that genetic modification of food production is already quite commonplace, and popular culture representations are an exaggerated version of the processes already in place. (See Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory below).

Ownership/domination of multi-national corporations

Monsanto (among a handful of large corporations) have begun to take control of the world’s food supply by ensuring that farmers sign agreements ensuring they will have to buy new seed every year from Monsanto (see article).

“Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.” (Barely & Steele 2008)

In this way the ownership and ‘domination’ of the food industry represented within popular culture is based on some truth. ( See Demolition Man below)

Over-consumption

Obesity has become a “severe public health crisis. Experts agree that as more and more obese children become obese adults, the diseases associated with obesity, such as heart disease, cancer, and especially diabetes will surge. That will mean a lot of sick people” (Griffin 2016). This epidemic is due to over-consumption and lack of exercise and affects a large percentage of people all over the world (Heart Org. 2016).

In this way the popular culture representations are a dystopic projection of our future, based on current health projections. (see Wall-E below).

Mass-production

The American food industry is largely defined by mass production (as is many other Western country’s) (see article) and has been since the turn of the 20^th century.

“Consistency has become a hallmark of fast food – in each chain, restaurants look alike and meals taste the same… no matter which restaurant you visit. The food itself is mass produced in a factory and then frozen…. the factory adds artificial and natural flavors to the food to make sure it all tastes the same. The employees in different restaurants follow the same instructions for cooking, dressing and packaging the food.” (Wilson 2015)

Food production has moved to using more industrialized methods of mass production in order to radically transform the entire chain of production (Contois 2016). We’ve seen many new innovations to mass-produce food, including an automated device makes 400 gourmet burgers from scratch every hour and requires no human interaction (see here).

These methods of mass production are not dissimilar to those depicted within popular culture representations. (See Cloud Atlas below)

Decay of environment/poor living conditions

The current food industry and methods of production do have a large impact on the environment (see Kroyer’s article) as represented within popular culture. Representations like Soylent Green and Blade Runner do have some basis on our current food industry. But with food futurology and food innovations, we can see this problem be reduced, and eventually ‘solved’. Innovations like vertical farming and Hydroponic, Aquaponic and Aeroponic farms can help to prevent further damage to our environment and help support our growing population sustainably. As Iseman (2014) said, “it feels in many ways like we’re just beginning to learn how best to grow food”.

In this way the popular culture representations are a dystopic projection of our future, in a future without new food innovation and technology introduced to solve these problems. (See Soylent Green and Blade Runner).

No freedom

Our individual food choices are actually the result of the social and economic environment of which we live. The average person within the ‘First World’ has become almost totally disconnected from their food supply.

“Our industrial food economy is led by an increasingly small group of transnational food conglomerates and buffeted by corporate-influenced government policies… Because of their enormous financial and political resources, corporations and the government agencies that regulate them have an enormous influence over our food choices and the information we receive about them” (Simon, 2011).

“There is no absolute right to consume… any particular food.” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Libertas Institute 2011)

In this way, the lack of freedom depicted within popular culture representations is based on our current society. (See Mad Max below, and again Soylent Green)

Enhanced human experience

We have already seen many innovations to enhance the human experience with food, for example the use of genetics to design diets to fit individuals’ nutrigenetic profile (see here). We have also seen Shepherd apply his Neurogastronomy research to trends in nutrition, dieting, and obesity, especially the challenges that many face in eating healthily. He has analysed the human perception of smell and flavor and their relationship to the neural basis of consciousness. Neurogastronomy will eventually lead to food advancements that can appeal to individual emotion, food preferences, and cravings.

In this way, food innovations can in fact enhance the human experience. This is somewhat reflective of the representations within popular culture. (see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Star Trek below)

What do these representations reveal?

Popular culture is a space in which to share the ideas of everyday people, and an analysis of the representations within popular culture can reveal deep-seated anxieties and fears common to many individuals. These representations symbolise our anxieties about:

the environmental effects of our current food industry (represented within the pop. culture visions of dystopia, decay and degradation), loss of individual control and freedom of food choices (represented within the pop. culture visions of evil mega-corporations, autonomous manufacturing and mass production), the loss of all that is ‘natural’ within the food industry (represented within the pop. culture visions of genetic modification and involving machine-oriented, automated processes), overconsumption and consumerism (represented within the pop. culture characterisations of greed, obesity and over-indulgence), the unknown (represented within the pop. culture reflections on virtualisation and genetic modification), and an ultimate fear of the human condition (represented within the pop. culture depictions of robots and alien species).

Are these anxieties justified?

After researching the accuracy of popular culture representations and what they reveal, I began to think about whether these anxieties surrounding food futurology are justified- and decided it would be interesting to explore this aspect within the scope of my report, and alongside the themes outlined within this post.

References:

Barlett, D & Steele, J 2008, ‘Monsanto’s Harvest Of Fear’, The Hive, <http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/05/monsanto200805>.

Contois, E 2016, ‘Timeline of the Modern American Food System’, Food Systems History, <https://foodsystemhistory.wordpress.com/timeline/>.

Iseman, L 2014, ‘Space-Age Gardening: Aquaponics, Hydroponics, and Aeroponics’, MakeZine, <http://makezine.com/2014/05/02/space-age-gardening-aquaponics-hydroponics-and-aeroponics/>.

Simon, M 2011, ‘Food Politics’, Eat Drink Politics, <http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/about/resources/food-politics/>.

UNICEF 2006, ‘Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition’, UNICEF, vol. 4, <https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_33685.html>.

WHO 2013, ‘Essential Nutrition Actions: Improving maternal, newborn, infant and young child health and nutrition’, World Health Organisation,<http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/infantfeeding/essential_nutrition_actions/en/>.

WHO 2014, ‘Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods’, World Health Organisation, <http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en/>.

Image: http://www.TimTim.com

Speciesism and the Media

“’Speciesism’ is the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals.” – BBC (2014)

 

Speciesism is essentially discrimination and moral relevance based on species membership. Speciesism can be compared to the struggle of non-white people to be given the same rights as white people.

Extreme speciesism is “the idea of human superiority to the extreme of saying that the most trivial human wish is more important that the vital needs of other species… for example a pure speciesist would argue that it’s ok for animals to be cruelly treated and killed to provide fur decorations for human beings to wear.” (BBC 2014)

What does this have to do with the media?

Communication is such an important factor in the speciesism argument, influencing our opinion on whether animals are a drastically different species to humans and whether it is justifiable to treat them poorly.

But what Barclay (2014) discusses is that we don’t like to think about the process that the meat takes from the paddock to our plate.

• The stories that aren’t represented-
  • meat and eggs used to be luxury items. What was once a delicacy is now a staple food
  • we don’t see the poor conditions the animals are made to endure
  • the deliberate framing within the language used in the media representations- ie pork chops, bacon, etc.
  • the animal is not associated with its product in advertisements- ie. we don’t see cows being milked cows, they are seen roaming pristine green pastures

The vast majority of meat-eaters find animal suffering disturbing and confronting, yet we continue to eat animals and animal products. Thus the media filters what consumers are shown as not disrupt their meat eating habits. Consumers become “viscerally outraged” when we are shown the atrocities of the meat industry, yet it is a consequence of our everyday choices.

Our perceptions of animals are externally motivated and flexible; we change our perceptions of animals to fit and compliment our behaviours. To downplay the paradox of eating meat we need to “downplay the mental lives of animals”. Thinking about animals as beings makes them morally relevant.

Van Kleeck (2016) has helped us to understand the media’s “conceptual framework that positions non-human animals as lesser beings here for our consumption”. He explains that the fundamental problem with the media’s representation of animals is that they “assume, reinforce, and depend upon the premise that non-humans are… inextricably, objects within the human food system, and thus they emphasize the details of treatment over the ethics of use”. The example below is just one example of this, referring to egg-laying hens as the ‘non-humans’:

As Peter Singer (2009) has revealed, humans are not very different from animals.

But as Masterman-Smith (2014) concludes, “the role of the media in reproducing anthropocentric cultures and ideologies that perpetuate the oppression of other animals in various ways” enables us to continue to indulge in practices that cause harm to animals without feeling guilty.

Looking the future…

• Is there a way to recognise animals as subjects with agency- without turning them into humans?

• If we can give non-human personhood to corporations (ie. give person status to corporations), could we not give it to animals?

• Why do we treat some animals as if they have more value than others?

[Barclay presents an interesting podcast on this question. Link here ]

 

Reference List:

Barclay, P 2014, Speciesism, podcast, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, viewed 27 March 2017, <http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2014/11/bia_20141113_2005.mp3>.

BBC, 2014, ‘The ethics of speciesism’, BBC, viewed 27 March, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/rights/speciesism.shtml>.

Masterman-Smith, H 2014, ‘Reproducing speciesism: a content analysis of Australian media representations of veganism’, Charles Sturt University, https://www.tasa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Masterman_Smith.pdf

Singer, P 2009, The Ethics Of What We Eat, online video, 14 December, viewed 26 March, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHzwqf_JkrA>.

Van Kleek, J 2016, The Inescapable Speciesism of “Progressive” Media, Striving with Systems, weblog post, 27 December, viewed 27 March 2017, <https://strivingwithsystems.com/2016/02/27/the-inescapable-speciesism-of-progressive-media/>.

The other… representations of suffering in the media

For those that are not suffering, we encounter suffering through the media. But how is this suffering presented and represented within the media? Is it presented at all? As outsiders how do we begin to understand what it is like to experience this suffering?

The common critique on representations of suffering are that the media presents spectacles designed to make the reader feel sad and feel the sweetness of having shown empathy. Threadgold’s (2015) article critiques the inherently distorted presentation of disadvantage by the advantaged,

Utopian critiques of representations of suffering claim they are presented to give power to victims, raise awareness of suffering and provide a witness to those struggling. Alcorn’s (2015) article notes that whilst many representations of suffering exploit its subjects, poverty is a little-understood issue that deserves attention. But what happens when the media fails to present the suffering at all? This is what happened recently with Uber drivers in India.

The suffering of Uber drivers in India:

I have just recently spent five weeks living in a rural village just outside Bangalore, India and have witnessed first-hand the suffering of Uber drivers. This is an excellent example to explore the ways in which those suffering are misrepresented within the media…

When Uber decided to expand into the Indian market, it offered high incentives and high payments (surge pricing). People gave up their jobs and took to driving for Uber in the hope of making more money for their families. These people were struggling to make ends meet with their current income and hoped that Uber would alleviate some of their struggle.

After Uber had attracted enough drivers the organisation cut all driver incentives and raised the fares it charged passengers. In some rides drivers were earning as little as 10 percent of fare income whilst ride fares had risen to 1.5 rupees per minute of travel from 1 rupee (Shah 2017). At this point, drivers were making less than they needed to support their families, whilst Uber was making more profits. Uber drivers were now making less than auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, and had reduced demand for their services. It was at this point that Uber drivers across India decided to strike- to encourage Uber to be accountable for their actions, to increase driver payment and provide better working agreements. Most Indian Uber drivers have this as their primary job, and were thus sacrificing their main source of income in return for the hope of better income to support their families. Those that did not strike were those who simply could not afford to make this monetary sacrifice, and continued to drive during the strike to ensure their families could survive.

Representations of their struggle:

There were many articles published that completely ignored the drivers’ struggle and suffering, focusing instead on how hard it is to order an Uber trip. See the headlines, excerpts and images below for examples:

“Cab strike partially called off… commuters who have been facing hardship in hiring cabs for the last three days, may have some respite from tomorrow.”-  Times of India.

There were many articles that portrayed the drivers as aggressive, ignorant, and again, ignored their struggle. For example:

“Uber drivers are just an unhappy lot in this country” – Mashable

Quartz headline

“Uber drivers in India have joined the worldwide commotion in slamming the ride-hailing service for not treating them as employees. Drivers with Uber and its local rival Ola refused to end their strike against the company for a fifth day”- Mashable

Image depicting the drivers in aggressive poses whilst protesting pay decreases in order to feed their families

Even Uber failed to represent their struggle on their website and media releases. On the Uber India website there are no profiles or stories of Indian drivers, there are only stories from drivers whose lives are much more than Uber driving and do not depend on Uber for their family’s sole income.

What do these misrepresentations tell us?

Each representation is one-sided and omits so many parts of these Indian drivers’ stories.

Representations of suffering in the media are deliberately designed to present characters in certain ways. The representation of Uber drivers in India fails to depict the “grinding, living depression” experienced by those suffering (Hall 2016). There are many stories waiting to be told to audiences that will appreciate them, but yet the media are unwilling to present them?

If we do not see the suffering, does that mean it does not exist, and we can escape the obligation to help? Are these misrepresentations designed to distance privileged readers from the suffering itself?

This contemporary example allows us to see where misrepresentations may exist, and the people they ignore. As we now understand, it is important to reflect and think critically about the media representations, especially on issues of great importance.

Moving forward, we need to “shift the way communities are portrayed and media is produced, advocate for communities to be brought into the conversation about how they are represented” if we want to bring awareness and understanding to those in suffering. “We need to co-create stories with our partner communities, and build avenues for us to listen to their voices” (Reboot 2013).

 

Reference List:

Alcorn, G 2015, ‘Struggle Street is only poverty porn if we enjoy watching, then turn away’, The Guardian, viewed 22 March 2017.

Balachandran, M 2017, ‘Uber and Ola drivers in India are now aggressively demanding better pay and working conditions’, Quartz, viewed 22 March 2017, <https://qz.com/908802/uber-and-ola-drivers-in-india-are-now-aggressively-demanding-better-pay-and-working-conditions/>.

Hall, R 2016, ‘#BCM310 – Poverty Porn’s Poor Audience’, Unicorn Dispatches, viewed 22 March, <https://unicorndispatches.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/bcm310-poverty-porns-poor-audience/>.

PTI, ‘Cab strike of Ola, Uber drivers called off partially in Delhi-NCR’, Times of India, viewed 22 March 2017, <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/cab-strike-of-ola-uber-drivers-called-off-partially-in-delhi-ncr/articleshow/57113527.cms>.

Reboot, S 2013, ‘Poverty Porn and a new way to regard social impact’, Good, viewed 22 March 2017, <https://www.good.is/articles/poverty-porn-and-a-new-way-to-regard-social-impact>.

Shah, A 2017, ‘Analysis: Uber reviews India leasing scheme as driver incomes drop – sources’, Reuters, viewed 22 March 2017, <http://in.reuters.com/article/uber-tech-india-idINKBN16V05N>.

Singh, M 2017, ‘Uber just can’t seem to keep drivers happy in its fastest growing market’, Mashable, viewed 22 March 2017, <http://mashable.com/2017/02/23/uber-ola-strike-bangalore-india/#V06ng5FWuOqX>.

Singh, M 2017, ‘Uber’s refusal to treat its drivers as employees now receiving backlash in India’, Mashable, viewed 22 March 2017, <http://mashable.com/2017/02/14/uber-ola-drivers-strike-india-delhi/?utm_cid=a-seealso#eEaI.78vtmq3>.

Threadgold, S 2015, ‘Struggle Street is poverty porn with an extra dose of class racism’, The Conversation.

Futurology of food

To the human race food is everything…

“Although taste is often understood as a biological experience, it can also be seen as a social or cultural phenomenon; an aesthetic, a sociological, economic and anthropological concept referring to cultural patterns of choice and preference. Food is something we all have in common. No matter what we eat or don’t eat; we make personal, cultural, societal, political and aspirational decisions with everything we buy, grow and consume.” – Dr Morgaine Gaye (Food Futurologist)

Food is a large part of our culture, and ultimately determines our survival. As we continue to see rapid technological advancement, the future of the food industry also continues to advance.

“food is at the center of almost everything that is interesting about the future” – Boysen 2015

 

Where is it going?

As food innovation continues we are working toward the reduction of food waste, improving sustainability of food practices, and increasing food production for a growing population.

This American Museum of Natural History article explores the potential solutions that could revolutionise our food production systems and potentially solve our future food production and sustainability issues.

We have already seen the development of innovations including 3D printing of food, the farmbot, virtualisation of food engineering, a drive-in supermarket, genetic testing to design diets suited to our personalised genetic makeup, automated machines that make 400 hamburgers per hour, and so much more….

And it is difficult to predict what the future of food innovation may include.

Why does the future of food matter?

 

Food innovation has always been important, and Bush’s article is evidence of this.

“Of what lasting benefit has been man’s use of science and of the new instruments which his research brought into existence? First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence.” (Bush, 1945 p.1)

With the expanding world population and current food industry practices, it will eventually be impossible to sustain human life on our planet (Grayson, 2007).

The future of food matters more each day that issues like malnutrition, the increasing gap between rich and poor, environmental change, natural resource scarcity, unprecedented population growth, etc. continue to worsen (Rutton 1993).

It is now increasingly important that we develop sustainable food production and improve access to sustainable food sources if we want to continue to sustain and improve life on earth (and prevent the complete destruction of the planet).

Food historian Polly Russell recorded an interesting podcast that talks about the way in which society has always worried about food production, and why it is important.

How is the futurology of food represented and presented within popular culture?

The tensions and fears about the future of the food industry are played out within popular culture. Post WWII society developed an intense fear of technology and its effects on the future. This saw the expansion of the Science Fiction genre, containing many different dystopic representations of the future. It is within science fiction texts that we were first exposed to mainstream representations of cyberculture, and can view the many varied representations of the future of food.

The ‘Future of Food’ is a documentary released in 2004 that voices the negative impact and disagreement with the technological advancements in the food industry, and the fears for future dependence on food corporations. The film is a “far-reaching polemic against genetically modified foods” produced in fear of genetically engineered products (Holden 2005). Like this non-fiction text, many films, television series and books also portray far-fetched representations that represent this societal fear.

 

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1971 film uses the Chocolate Factory as a dystopic representation of the overconsumption and genetic modification of food products. The characters who overindulge in the modified, futuristic experience painful punishments (which has symbolism designed to transfer to reality).

Proving that representations of the futurology of food continue to exist within contemporary popular culture, The Hunger Games film (and novel), and Buzzfeed YouTube series have depicted representations not dissimilar from those in the past. Both ‘The Hunger Games’ novel and film present a narrative about a future we are encouraged to fear. Green (2008) has read into the authors depiction of “Katniss’s intelligence and accumulated knowledge about edible plants and hunting become an advantage over the better-fed, stronger kids with wealthy patrons who can send them medicine or weapons.”

This Buzzfeed YouTube video is an edited reel of people trying ‘futuristic food’. The video shows us the types of ‘nutritious’ food that we could be eating in the future in response to depleting resources- and the overwhelmingly negative reactions to it.

 

There have been (and continue to be) many more popular culture representations of the future of food, most notably:

• Soylent Green (1973, film)
• Star Trek (1979-> films and television series)
• Blade Runner (1982, film)
• Back to the Future (1985, film)
• Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions (2002, TV series)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005, film)
• Wall-E (2008, film)
• Cloud Atlas (2012, film)
• Demolition Man (film)
• The Martian (2015, film)

 How accurate are these representations, and what do they tell us?

So, how will I present my research on this topic?

I will write a research report that explores the futurology of food, future food trends, representation of food futurology within popular culture, how accurate these are and what they reveal. Ultimately my report will examine the similarities and differences between the representations of food futurology and its realities, and examine why these representations exist and what we can learn by examining them.

This report format will enable me to organise and present different aspects of the topic in an objective manner and provide clear and concise information on this fascinating topic!

Reference List:

Bush, V 1945, ‘As We May Think’, The Atlantic, <https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/>.

Grayson, R 2007, ‘Unsustainable food production—its social roots and remedies’, Permaculture Australia, weblog post, 5 June 2007, viewed 20 March 2017,

<http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/2007/06/05/unsustainable-food-production-its-social-roots-and-remedies/>.

Green, J 2008, ‘Scary New World’, The New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Green-t.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share>.

Holden, S 2005, ‘When Food From the Laboratory Leaves a Bitter Taste’, The New York Times, <http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/movies/14food.html?_r=0>.

Rutton, V 1993, ‘Population Growth, Environmental Change, and Innovation: Implications for Sustainable Growth in Agriculture’, in Population and Land Use in Developing Countries, National Academy Press, pp. 124-156.

The selfie – a tool for redefining a woman’s worth?

The selfie is both a cultural artefact and social practice. As an artefact it “initiates the transmission of human feeling in the form of a relationship”, and as a practice it “can send different messages to different individuals, communities, and audiences” (Senft & Baym 2015, p.1589).

Walsh & Baker (2016) attribute the increasing popularity of self-generated digital photographic portraiture (‘selfies’) to the rise of social media platforms and affordability of camera phones.

Senft & Baym’s article outlines the debates and extremist reactions to selfies and their cultural meaning. Many continue to portray selfie-takers as vacuous, self-absorbed, vain and narcissistic, whilst others claim selfies are a powerful tool to empower minorities. Within this blog post, I will examine the use of selfies as a tool for redefining a woman’s worth.

Women in the media:

Within this patriarchal society, women are encouraged to strive for unnatural, unattainable standards of beauty. The media has always been saturated with images of hyper-sexualized, submissive, and beautiful women. This is extended to gender discrimination and double standards in many aspects of a woman’s daily life. Within our discourse, a women’s worth is entirely determined by her appearance and this has great effects on all aspects on her daily life. This discourse is reinforced through popular culture, media and marketing; all of which contain representations of women and gender that are problematic [see images below].

Society’s beliefs about women and attractiveness are defined within the media’s representations of women. Studies have found that young women have been influenced by the mediated images of exceptionally thin models, which can have long-term psychological effects (Engeln-Maddox, 2005).

How can the rise of the selfie change this?

Examples of selfies with positive messages for women:

Courtney Mina (a plus size woman with Lipedema) posts selfies online encouraging every woman to love her body, feel beautiful, and express confidence freely no matter your size or level of health. [read more about her here]

Constance Hall is a mother of three that takes selfies to raise awareness of body acceptance issues, including her struggle with bulimia when she was younger and what most post-baby bodies look like (Ingram 2016). [View her Instagram here]

In contrast to the messages that dominate the mass media, these selfies are sending a completely different message. These images are essentially telling women that societal expectations of beauty are unattainable and unrealistic. Social media platforms provide a place for inspiring and motivational images and sequences that are telling women that they are more than their appearance. These ‘selfie-takers’ are ultimately sending a positive message to women within a society saturated with negative ones; harnessing the selfie as a tool to send their own powerful, feminist messages (Bates, 2016)

As Bissel and Rask have explained, selfies can become a tool to influence the way women “perceive beauty and attractiveness in themselves and in others” (p.643)- inspiring society to think differently about what is defined as ‘beautiful’.

The selfies that fill these women’s social media profiles have a powerful effect within society. These selfies are working to subvert the media’s representations of women and beauty. By posting images that are outside of the traditional standard of beauty, these women are working to change the discourse and encourage dialogue on perceptions of female beauty.

Conclusions:

The selfie is a tool that has the potential to encourage social progress and change. It has the power to be an empowering and uplifting activity to make a real difference to the discourse surrounding women’s appearance.

However, Senft & Baym (2015, p. 1597) encourage us to remember that “celebrating all selfies as empowering makes as little sense as denigrating them all as disempowering”. Whilst some people will post pictures of themselves to advocate for greater social change, others will do it to show off themselves. Whilst some women will post their natural, makeup-free selfies, others will post digitally retouched, professionally made-up selfies – and there will always be both.

Seft & Baym’s article explains that although the act of taking, uploading, viewing, exchanging or commenting on images cannot empower (or disempower) someone, it can facilitate their empowerment. Whilst we may not be able to say that posting or viewing a selfie is empowering, we can conclude that it is contributing to the discourse – and thus can contribute to the way in which women are viewed and represented within society.

 

References:

Bates, L 2016, ‘Are selfies empowering for women’, The Guardian, viewed 11 March, <https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/04/are-selfies-empowering-for-women>.

Bissel & Rask 2010, ‘Real women on Real beauty’, International Journal of Advertising, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 643-648.

Engeln-Maddox, R 2005, ‘Cognitive responses to idealized media images of women: the relationship of social comparison and critical processing to body image disturbance in college women’, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 24, no.8,
pp. 1114-1138.

Ingram, L 2016, ‘’Kim and I have really similar curves’: Mummy blogger Constance Hall posts a copycat of THAT Kardashian naked selfie’, Daily Mail Australia, viewed 11 March, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3486717/Constance-Hall-posts-naked-selfie-emulating-Kim-Kardashian.html>.

Senft & Baym 2015, ‘What Does the Selfie Say? Investigating a global phenomenon’, International Journal of Communication, vol. 9, pp. 1588-1606.

Walsh, MJ & Baker, SA 2016, ‘The Selfie and the transformation of the public-private distinction’, Journal of Information, Communication & Society, pp. 1-19.

Images:

http://meganradicalromance.blogspot.com.au/2009/12/ideal-woman-impossible-feat.html

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/05/28/1153/

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/04/the-selling-of-masculinity/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPavc_Xgg4R/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BO4VHI5FxKq/?hl=en

The culture of Japanese cooking and culinary through the ‘Cooking with Dog’ Series

Natalie:

Cooking with dog was born in 2010 after its producer returned from LA where he spent years working in the film and TV industry. He wanted to continue working in this field and found that he loved using English to promote Japanese culture.

Japanese cooking shoes or washoku are traditionally presented by men. The univocal types of men showcased in traditional Japanese cooking shows embody three elements – authority, power and possession.

Traditionally, If women want to compete, they need to embody these too.

However, cooking with dog’s host, simply known as Chef, is a timid, sometimes awkward, non-vocal host. This is where Dog comes into the show. He is a poodle named Francis who provides confidence to Chef as well as narrating the show in English.

His voice is actually a Japanese man, speaking English doing a French accent; which, as you can imagine is quite hard to understand at first. However, this adds a very retro vibe to the channel because Francis talks in a high-pitched voice which I find is reminiscent of a childhood television show, similar to Sooty.

The show was voted in, as one of the top 100 Best YouTube channels in 2015 with 30% of its viewers originating from America. The channel showcasing cooking that ranges from traditional Japanese cuisine to more Westernised meals – such as a Christmas cake – but always with an oriental edge.

Chris:

From my initial thoughts of the traditional Japanese delicacy ‘kiri-tanpo’, I highlighted the resource friendly ingredients adding to its somewhat bland nature. Further research indicates the immense pride the Japanese have in their food, claiming it to be tastier and healthier than any of their neighbors’ cuisines. The Japanese are known for using very fresh ingredients in their cooking. They prefer using fresh, seasonal foods for their meals, buying it the same day it will be cooked. These simple, homegrown and resource friendly ingredients such as rice, water and seeds, form a unique pallet that differ from the oily Chinese stir-fries and greasy American hamburgers that most of us are accustomed to. This is the reason why many would view Japanese cooking as bland. Japan’s healthiness is almost as well-known as its food – the country’s obesity rates are among the lowest in the world: in 2003 only 3.2% of the population was considered obese, compared to 9.4% in France, 14.3% in Canada and 30.6% in the U.S (Japan Today, 2010). In the centuries following the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the 6th century, laws and imperial edicts gradually eliminated the eating of almost all flesh of animals and fowl. This has influenced a much larger emphasis of a vegetarian type diet, mostly revolving around vegetable crops, soy-bean products and especially rice – an ingredient that remains the vibrant core of native Japanese cuisine. The simple rice based snack seen in the video ‘Kiritanpo’ showcases a classic example of the culture found with Japanese foods.

Another interesting aspect of the cooking method revolves around the complexity of the preparation, as it seemed way to time consuming for what it’s really worth. This can really be put down to the deep-rooted and proud customs of using the traditional Japanese cooking utensils such as bamboo skewers and rolling sheets to prepare their meals. Although the technology exists that will no doubt speed the process and efficiency of cooking, its hard to diminish the traditional methods of cooking, already cemented in the culture of Japanese food.
The Japanese are also famous for their skill in arranging food so that it looks beautiful. The intricate shaping, mashing and rolling of the rice – not to mention the perfectly long bamboo sticks to mold the cylinder shape suggests the importance of presentation in Japanese cooking. Chakaiseki ryori (the cuisine of the tea ceremony meal) is a method of presentation recently popularized in Japanese cuisine and especially mainstreamed in overseas restaurants with the colourful plates and attractive bite sized meals (Web Japan, 2011). It’s a common thought that presentation is almost as important as taste, as the process of eating a traditional Japanese meal is one of an overall experience, rather than just sitting down and smashing through 20 pieces of sushi. Your surroundings around you add to the atmosphere of the meal, as does the strategic placement of food items on the plate.

Renee:

My first experiences with cooking shows was when I used to go to my Pop’s house after school each day and sit down and watch Huey’s Cooking Adventures. Huey always used to wear a long-sleeve button up shirt, and use Viva paper towel excessively when plating up his dishes (which I later came to understand was product placement to promote). Cooking with dog is so very different to this experience…

My initial reaction to the channel was as the Japan Times (2015) have written:

“Cooking with dog. Could it literally mean, cooking a dog? How about cooking for canines? Or, is it some weird code for cooking fetishes somewhere on the deep Web?”

From my experience, cooking shows are usually non-fiction (a professional, tv-trained chef talking us through the preparation of a meal) OR a cooking contest of some sort (ie. todays primetime hit show Masterchef). This is why I found the concept of Cooking with Dog so weird. I’ve now come to understand that the cooking competition show was a genre the US borrowed from Japan after the success of the Japanese TV show Iron Chef (Lombardi, 2014), but Japan also have many television series in which cooking and food are the central element of fiction. In these series the chefs have become main characters. As Lombardi (2014) has noted, the focus on culinary detail within these Japanese dramatized cooking shows reflects an obsession with the quality of food that isn’t seen in America, reflecting the fact that it is not a part of this Western culture.

The decision for chef to speak Japanese, and for Francis (the dog) to speak English was a deliberate one.

As I first watched the episode, I thought- Is this show a way of repackaging Japanese cultural products for a Western audience? Is the producer teaching the audience to prepare healthy and delicious Japanese-inspired recipes for dinner to challenge long-standing cultural stereotypes? Why was this show created?

After further research, I have now come to understand that this show was originally created for a Japanese audience, using an English-speaking narrator to also allow viewership from a Western audience and promote Japanese culture.

This video stars an average female chef with no television experience, cooking for the camera in her own kitchen. I was initially shocked by her clothing choices. Western female hosts are usually one extreme or the other; those ‘cooking for the family’ rarely mention cooking professionally and are often dressed in casual clothes, usually with an apron (e.g. Julie Goodwin), and those cooking “flirtatiously” are attractive women wearing fashionable, often revealing clothing (e.g. Nigella Lawson). Cooking with Dog’s ‘Chef’ is presented as an average Japanese woman encouraging us to overlook the female appearance, and focus on the cooking (and of course, the dog). Looking back I can see that the way I am prone to judge a woman’s personal presentation is a reflection of my own cultural and societal norms.

Within Japan, “the female presence tends to be overshadowed by that of the male”. As a consequence, viewers are apt to perceive the ‘chef’ as a male role and, logically, see men as culinary authorities” (Counihan 2013, p. 126). Counihan suggests that females are presented as less sophisticated or elaborate, seen as “sweet”, soft or decentered. This is a direct contrast to Western cooking show hosts like Nigella with reputation as a cooking sex symbol that uses not-too subtle sexual innuendos in every episode.

However, this show challenges conventions by presenting the idea of a female chef as an expert. My own experience with Western cooking shows dominated by men dressed formally has led me to view Cooking with Dog as an effort at reconstructing the role of the female- showing the audience that this chef can in fact be an expert receiving admiration from a global fan base. It is through this autoethnographic experience that I was able to examine the this Japanese cultural product through the lens of my own cultural experience.

References:

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKxOXFeC5Rw

Counihan, C 2013, Food and Culture, Routledge, New York.

Japan Today, 2010, ‘How well founded is Japans gastromic pride’, Published Feb 9. 2010, Viewed Oct 18. 2015 <https://www.japantoday.com/…/how-well-founded-is-japans-gas…>

Web Japan, 2011, ‘Japanese Food Culture’, Published 2010, Viewed Oct 18. 2015 < http://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/36JapFoodCulture.pdf>

Lombardi, L 2014, https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-food-dramas/

O’Donoghue 2015, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/05/22/food/dog-days-cooking/#.WAXkqrShDzJ

Revisiting Japanese Game Shows

Using autoethnographic methods to reflect on my initial experience with Honmadekka will allow me to understand Japanese cultural experience. By drawing from, and expanding on my personal experience I will uncover common cultural assumptions and how they affect our understanding.

“the world of Japanese game shows is best known as a technicolored whirlwind of half-naked bodies, sadomasochistic physical challenges, and the occasional whimsical bunny rabbit head. In short, any reasonable person would assume they couldn’t be real.” (Huffington Post)

Game shows first begun when television broadcasting in Japan started in 1950.To begin with, these game shows were ‘tame’, but became more complex as time went on.

Takeshi’s Castle (launched 1986) was the first Japanese game show to receive global syndication. This show’s contestants were regular people (unlike the celebrities that compete in most other Japanese game shows), and the show was produced to look like contestants were forced into competing; creating the first of many global misconceptions- that these shows were torturous.

Shortly after, the clash of Japanese cultural representations emerged. Japan was portrayed as almost ‘prude-ish’ with their censorship/banning of R-rated films, whilst on the contrary there was an abundance of sexually explicit pornographic game shows.

As evident by the sheer number of articles, youtube comments and popular opinions, Western countries have interpreted Japanese game shows as “crazy”, “wacky” and “weird”. These shows are stereotyped as weird shows in which producers force contestants to do strange things purely for the audience’s benefit. Before having watched any Japanese game shows myself, I bought into the stereotypes and assumed that these crazy shows were an accurate representation of Japanese culture. The premise of all the Australian game shows I have watched was everyday people completing tasks to win money. As I watched Honmadekka I was confused as to what the point of the game was, and why the contestants were all comedians.

Looking back, I am now able to see how my personal experiences have shaped my initial response to Honmadekka (and Japanese game shows in general). Whilst I didn’t initially understand the comedic elements of the show, I didn’t understand that the show is purely for entertainment- as unusual as this may seem, there doesn’t have to be a winner in Japanese game shows. I have now come to understand that the very unusual Japanese game shows are not common, and certainly not appreciated by the large majority of Japanese people. Looking back has enabled me to realise that while Orientalism still exists, there will still be attempts to stereotype and ostracize Japanese cultural products- and Western interpretations cannot always provide accurate representations.

“Even though shows featuring physical punishment and nudity were popular, there were also plenty of Japanese people outraged by them.”(the Atlantic)

In my initial observations I highlighted the way in which the women were laughed at, patronized and lusted for. I questioned the way in which the game show portrayed women’s worth, their roles and possible objectification. Above all, I wandered how this sexism could exist within a contemporary society.

Japanese women are portrayed as submissive within a patriarchal Japanese society (Boscaro et. al). My reaction serves to highlight this ‘Western/foreign’ (mis)interpretation that exists and is perpetuated by the media.

Hofstede’s Power Distance value dimension shows that Japan is a borderline hierarchical society (however, not as hierarchical as most other Asian cultures). This means that they are conscious of hierarchical power and status, but this does not dictate all behaviour. Generally speaking, Japanese people believe that all individuals in society are not equal, but this unequal power distribution is not expected and accepted by all. This can be applied to the position of women within society, enabling us to understand that if women are treated as unequals of lower status; this is not widely accepted.

Whilst Orientalism still exists within the mass media, there will continue to be attempts to ostracize Japanese cultural behaviour. Some Western responses to Japanese game shows are constructed to stereotype Japanese culture. Although Japan is a socially conservative society with somewhat pronounced gender roles, the reality that exists within Japan is very different from the enduring stereotypes that are presented within Western media. Although women may presented and interpreted as submissive, they are self-determined individuals much the same as in Australia.

The fetishing and sexual stereotyping of East Asian women is rooted in violence and war, and this continues to be reimagined by mainstream media and entertainment. Although this game show may not be feeding into the fetishes and sexual stereotypes of East Asian women, my reaction stemmed from my previous experience with these misrepresentations in Hollywood films the past.

“Harajuku Girls is all about Japanese girls dancing silently behind Gwen Stefani, who took in a whole diverse Japanese culture, and barfed up submissive Japanese women who never speak.” [see article here]

Throughout my childhood Hollywood film and media portrayal of Asian women as an “exotic, Oriental feature in the background” – now when I view texts with Asian women in them I am unconsciously thinking back to my experiences with these texts and overthinking to the point where I imagine these objectifications and patriarchal representations where they may not even exist.

I originally thought the representation of women was backward and concerning, but a comparison with Australian game shows indicates remarkable similarities. Within Australian game shows (e.g. Deal or No Deal) women are often objectified, and used for their looks. The way in which I reacted to Honemadekka shows that I have distanced myself from Japanese culture and given in to common cultural stereotypes. I have shown this by disassociating myself with the representations that also exist within Australian game shows.

Objectification of women in Australia’s ‘Deal or No Deal’

Looking back I can re-examine aspects of the film that re-enforced my position as a cultural outsider. Whilst watching the game show I was very confused as to why they were focusing on using behaviour to “seduce” the men.

After much research I have now come to understand that Japanese people have a very different style of communication. According to Hall’s cultural dimensions Japan is a high context culture, meaning they use much non-verbal communication and Japanese people often have reserved, inward reactions.

Kopp explains it perfectly:

“Western communication style relies heavily on words.  We expect communicators to be clear, precise, and skilled in expressing themselves verbally.  We value people who have good presentation skills and are good at discussing and debating… Japanese communication relies less on verbal manipulation, and more heavily on non-verbals.  Words are important, but so are body language, gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions, posture, and non-word sounds“

Japanese people use silence as a communicative technique and generally avoid physical contact with people they do not have close relationships with (familial or friendly) (Oknen 2016). Whilst Western styles of communication value verbal self-expression, Japanese styles of communication value the implicit messages expressed through non-verbal communication. As a rule, people have less control over the non-verbal messages they send and it is therefore a more emotional response, valued highly among high-context cultures like Japan.

This explains why my understanding of flirting, comedy and communication in general was challenged. Having now done further research, I can see that the non-verbal behaviours demonstrated in the game show are highly significant. By showing her armpit, carefully adjusting her leg placement and posture, the woman was indeed “using her behaviour to seduce” (without any of the negative connotations that I initially drew from this phrase).

Having being socialized and educated within a low-context culture I can understand my initial confusion and misunderstanding. I can now see that my own culture dictated the way in which I would experience this Japanese culture. Only able to draw from my experience and internal valuing of explicit, verbal communication I was unable to completely understand the intentions of the characters or comedic elements of the game show. With hindsight, I can see that my expectations have been constructed by the communication styles I’ve been exposed to. Looking back I can see how this has affected my entire experience with the game show.

Unlike my initial reaction to many elements of the game show, my commentary of Kato’s features was simply descriptive. This shows that I can relate, and am familiar with the casting of beautiful women on game shows.

Example: Deal of No Deal, a show I used to watch every afternoon, which always has beautiful women carrying the briefcases

The parallels between my reaction to men obsessing over Kato (incredibly beautiful by Japanese standards) and the casting of beautiful women in Australian game shows highlights the universality of the pursuit for the societal definition of beautiful. Japanese women desire to be thin, pale-skinned and achieve the perfect even-toned soft, poreless skin. Contemporary manifestations of Japanese beauty stem from history; the working-class would be tanned, whereas the nobility would have pale skin. Whilst Japanese women are striving to achieve these standards, Australian women are obsessed with achieving the perfect tanned, slim physique.

As I look back on this remark I can see similarities between the Australian (or ‘Western’ more largely) ideas of beauty. Whilst Japanese ideals of beauty may be different that those in Australia; Japanese women (like Australian women) are engrained to believe that a slim figure is desirable (Miller 2006). It appears that the obsession with ‘thin’ is a global epidemic, permeated by the global existence of capitalism.

By comparing the idealizations of feminine beauty, it is now evident that there are patterns that transcend national boundaries. My personal comparisons show that despite the differences between Japanese and Australian culture, women all over the world are striving to embody their society’s standard of beauty. Like this article, Honemadekka is a reminder that standards of beauty affects women all over the world, and this is not limited to those living in the West. Women feel pressured to look a certain way, as defined by society and mass media. My reaction to Honemadekka’s Kato and connections with Australian representations proves that this is a global issue that transcends cultural boundaries.

With research, I can see that my original response feeds into contemporary issues. There are many misinterpretations of Japanese culture saturating the Western media, influencing popular opinion- especially those uneducated in Japanese culture. Whilst watching the film I distanced myself from the characters and the comedic purpose. I was originally amazed that the representation of women could be so backward, but after further research and comparison I can see that Japanese women are treated not unlike Australian women. Given the history of Orientalism, it is not uncommon that I reacted critically to the game show episode. I hadn’t been exposed to these Japanese culture or communicative styles before watching the film, and this explains why I held my original views. Whilst I did connect my experience with watching Australian game shows throughout my childhood, I unconsciously chose only to think critically about the Japanese cultural product.

Everyone has different assumptions about the world we live in, and it is by analysing our responses that we’re able to clearly see this. It is through the process of autoethnography that I am able to see my response to a Japanese cultural product as a reflection of my cultural identity.

 

References:

Boscaro A, Gatti F, Raveri M, Rethinking Japan: Social sciences, ideology & thought, pp. 164-173

Hofstede G 2001, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations.  Second Edition, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.

Oknen 2016, http://www.onken.com/classroom/internationalmanagement/Japan/Nonverbalcommunication.html

The Atlantic 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/the-misunderstood-history-of-the-wacky-japanese-game-show/281825/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/media/ten-questions-andrew-okeefe/story-fna103qq-1226519142197?nk=5877056183691493205f744739f08803-1474018134

 

 

Japanese Game Shows

Digital Asia

For my individual research project I wanted to look at

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･Japanese game shows･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

My experience with Japanese game shows is limited to western interpretations like this. I want to know if they really are as crazy as everyone’s making them out to be. I want to take a look at the audiences, practices and industries around Japanese game shows and ~ as a female Australian ~ my interpretation.

Autoethnography seeks to describe and systematically analyse personal experience in order to understand cultural experience. It’s a way of writing about another culture from the perspective of your own.

In writing autoethnography, we look at other cultures and how we make sense of them, using this to unpack our own cultural understanding and assumptions. Writing from personal experience and reflection enables us to look back and discover deep-seated cultural assumptions.

As a female Australian, my global consumption of East…

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Drink 3L of water daily- Documenting my behaviour change

I have decided to drink three litres of water per day as my social marketing activity. By undertaking this behaviour change process, I will improve my own personal health and body functions. I want to experience and document the benefits first-hand, and demonstrate this to the others. I plan to experiment with different motivational techniques and discover which work best for me. Obviously I will face different obstacles and issues every day that will challenge me in drinking three whole litres a day, but I hope to document these and find strategies to overcome them.

A reflection on the first two weeks…

Two weeks after beginning the challenge, I realised that it will be more difficult than I originally anticipated. To begin with, I was travelling back from the US and was stuck on a plane for 12 hours. It was too difficult having to constantly get up and use the bathroom; needless to say, I did not achieve my daily goal. Once back at home I quickly realised that drinking this amount of water each day was not a habit, and would require constant effort [see Aug. 13 tweet].

By the end of the first week I begun avidly searching the internet for motivational pictures and people to follow who would remind me to drink more water. I actually found that some of my overseas friends happened to be sharing images of healthy eating motivations [see Aug. 16 tweet] and I felt I wasn’t alone in wanting to change my drinking behaviours. I also found that carrying my water bottle everywhere meant that it was easily accessible, and it became a reminder.

I was originally struggling to remember how much water I had actually drank, so I decided to download a water-intake tracking app [see Aug. 17 tweet]. This seemed to help, as it provided me with a visual representation and percentage of how I was progressing each day. On the first day of using the app I did make progress and achieved my goal of drinking a whole three litres. However, as the second week of the challenge continued I slowly drank less and less water each day, even failing to meet my goal by 40% on the 20^th of August. I seemed to be so preoccupied with university assignments and working that my daily goal was neglected. In this second week I noticed that when I was too distracted to concentrate on drinking enough water in the morning, it became too difficult to make up for this in the evening.

Looking back at my struggle over the past two weeks I’ve become even more determined to accomplish this goal every day. I believe that having practiced drinking more water each day I can make this become a daily habit. I believe that once I begin the pattern of consecutively achieving this daily goal, it will be easy to continue the pattern.

Revisiting ‘State of Play’

In my previous post I used Ellis, Adams and Bochners’ concept of autoethnography to record my own experiences with an East Asian text, the film State of Play (2013). As Ellis, Adams and Bochner explain, in order to write an autoethnographical account we’re required to recognise “patterns” of cultural experience and describe these patterns. In writing autoethnography we need to write about our own personal experience with another culture, and use this in order to “understand our own cultural experience”. My previous post details my initial response to a Korean cultural experience, and I will now re-examine it to critically evaluate my assumptions…

State of Play is a documentary following professional gamers as they compete in the Korean eSport industry. My initial response to the film can be read here.

In my previous blog post I stated that I was immediately hesitant to watch the film, as I knew from the outset that I wouldn’t enjoy it. Immediately I’ve distanced myself from the film and this can explain why I felt so emotionally disconnected from the characters. Watching the film in a tertiary educational setting caused me to be disinterested before it had even begun. I’ve immediately positioned myself away from the story, the characters and the industry. Because of this, I began to question the legitimacy of the gaming ‘profession’ and the respect they’ve earned.

“I had no idea that they could actually make real money or have a career playing video games.” (me)

“Not only is being a gamer a career, but there is an entire industry built around them?” (me)

“I’m pretty amazed that people actually sit cheering in a room whilst they compete in video games in real time.” (me)

Looking back I can re-examine aspects of the film that may have re-enforced my position as a cultural outsider. The fact that I had to rely on subtitles to understand the entirety of the film should be taken into account. I also found the cityscape to be something I’d never experienced before; the smog and grey city seemed almost unrealistic.

In hindsight I am now rethinking why I had a negative attitude towards the film. Whilst viewing the film I felt my traditional understanding of what a successful, professional career ought to look like challenged. Before watching the film I never thought that gaming could be a real profession, or that gaming was a professional industry. However I found the idea of social media influencersto be perfectly conceivable (Adi 2015).

Why is this? And why am I only making this comparison now?

My daily use of social media, and my understanding of contemporary marketing practices mean that I understand and approve of social media marketing and those that make a living from posting pictures. I now see that my personal experience and interest shapes the way that I have rationalised this.

Originally I found that this film challenged my perceptions, but why should it have???

During the film I drew comparisons between professional gaming and professional football. I found that I could appreciate the work and commitment that young footballers make to get where they are, but not that of young gamers.

“I’m now beginning to draw comparisons between eSports and the world of football. These kids start young, practicing 10-12 hours a day to get drafted into teams.” (me)

I can now see that my personal experience with social media and football, and the normality of both of these within my own community have shaped my responses. I personally had no experience or interest in gaming, and have never participated in conversations about the industry before – and this ultimately caused my initial dismissal of professional gaming, ‘eSports’. I can now see that I drew parallels between gaming and football in order to comprehend the industry, but even then I thought that footballers had a more legitimate profession.

With research, I can see that my original response feeds into contemporary debates. There are hundreds of thousands of articles, webpages and forum debates on whether competitive gaming should be respected, and whether competitive gaming should even be a profession. Whilst watching the film I stereotyped these professional gamers as nerds with little social skills wanting to just play games for a living. I was originally amazed that gaming was a professional industry, but after reading an old forum post from years ago I can see how they earn their respect. I hadn’t been exposed to these opinions or debates before watching the film, and this explains why I held my original views.

Everyone has different assumptions about the world we live in, and it is by analysing our responses that we’re able to clearly see this. It is through the process of autoethnography that I am able to see my response to an Asian film as a reflection of my cultural identity.

References:

Screenshots from the film; State of Play, 2013.

Google search ‘social media influencers, the profession’ results.