Laughing & disability : comedy, collaborative authorship and Down Under Mystery Tour

This thesis is an exploration of representation, authorship and creative collaboration in disability comedy, the centre piece of which is a feature-length film starring, co-created and co-written by three intellectually-disabled people. The film, entitled Down Under Mystery Tour, aims to entertain, and be accessible to, a mainstream audience, one that would not normally care about disability or listen to disabled voices. In the past, the failure of these voices to reach audiences has been blamed on poor training, marginal timeslots and indifferent audiences. But this project seeks an alternative approach, building collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people to express voice, conceive, construct and produce a filmed narrative, and engage willing audiences who want to listen.

“That you would post such a thing implies that you are a despicable human being”: spectatorship, social media, & the struggle for meaning in disability performance

Artists with disabilities working in Live Art paradigms often present performances which replay the social attitudes they are subject to in daily life as guerilla theatre in public spaces – including online spaces. In doing so, these artists draw spectators’ attention to the way their responses to disabled people contribute to the social construction of disability. They provide different theatrical, architectural or technological devices to encourage spectators to articulate their response to themselves and others. But – the use of exaggeration, comedy and confrontation in these practices notwithstanding – their blurry boundaries mean some spectators experience confusion as to whether they are responding to real life or a representation of it. This results in conflicted responses which reveal as much about the politics of disability as the performances themselves. In this paper, I examine how these conflicted responses play out in online forums. I discuss diverse examples, from blog comments on Liz Crow’s Resistance on the Plinth on YouTube, to Aaron Williamson and Katherine Araneillo’s Disabled Avant-Garde clips on YouTube, to Ju Gosling’s Letter Writing Project on her website, to segments of UK Channel 4’s mock reality show Cast Offs on YouTube. I demonstrate how online forums become a place not just for recording memories of an original performance (which posters may not have seen), but for a new performance, which goes well beyond re-membering/remediating the original. I identify trends in the way experience, memory and meaningmaking play out in these performative forums – moving from clarification of the original act’s parameters, to claims of disgust, insult or offense, to counter-claims confirming the comic or political efficacy of the act, often linked disclosure of personal memory or experience of disability. I examine the way these encounters at the interstices of live and/or online performance, memory, technology and public/private history negotiate ideas about disability, and what they tell us about the ethics and efficacy of the specific modes of performance and spectatorship these artists with disabilities are invoking.

Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news : the produsage of citizen journalism

Debates over the role and relevance of what has been described as citizen journalism have existed at least since the late 1990s; positions have ranged from the fulsome dismissal of such bottom-up journalism activities (and indeed, almost all user-led content creation) as being part of a new "cult ofthe amateur" (Keen, 2007) to nearly equally simplistic perspectives which predicted citizen journalists would replace the mainstream journalism industry within a short timeframe. A more considered, more realistic perspective would take a somewhat more moderate view. Aided by circumstances including the long-term financial crisis enveloping journalism industries in many developed nations, the creeping corporatization and politicization of journalistic activities in democratic and non-democratic countries alike, and the largely unmet challenge of new, Internet-based media fonns, citizen journalism (as well as other parajournalistic media, including TV comedy such as The Daily Show) has been able to make credible inroads into what used to be the domain of journalism proper.

Catherine or Kate : the tertiary spaces of collaboration, performance and humour in contemporary art

The traditional model of visual arts practice is one that privileges highly individuated and predominantly material investigations and outcomes. This approach overlooks and devalues the formal and informal dialogues and collaborations that take place in the process of making art. This Masters research project considers how the experience of working in collaboration can generate a new model for thinking about practice-led methodologies in visual arts. It aims to do this by mapping out and elaborating on the processes and approaches to making that fellow Masters student Catherine Sagin and I have come to use in our alliance as ‘Fiona Mail’, ‘Catherine Sagin’ and ‘Catherine or Kate’ respectively. The fluidity of our collaborative moniker is one example of the way this project creatively explores and re-assesses the implications of collaboration. Drawing upon the contextual frames of conceptual art, performance art, and comedy this research looks at the significance of and possibilities for working as a collaborative duo.

Seriously playful : the uses of networked spoof videos in China

This thesis examines online spoof videos in China. It shows the relationship between user-created content and change and how such videos are impacting on social memory. In the West, we are witnessing two outstanding trends in media. On the one hand, media are turning more "demotic" (Turner, 2006) and "participatory" (Jenkins, 2006), whereby lay audiences use popular media for identity formation, representation and association, reconfiguring the media and cultural landscape, and rendering invalid the old paradigm based on the dichotomy of audience and author, creator and consumer, expert and amateur. On the other hand, in both mainstream media and user-creation online there is a trend towards "silly citizenship", with comedy, send-ups and spoofs that used to reside in the margin propelled to the central stage in both pleasure and politics (Hartley, 2010), as is shown in the rising popularity of the Daily Show, Colbert Report, and spoof videos in elections ,e.g. the 2008 presidential election in US (Gray, Jones, & Thompson, 2009; Tryon, 2008). User generated content—and spoof subcultures—is now much a debated phenomenon in China. However, with different political (one party rule and censorship) and cultural (media regarded mainly as instrument for education and social stabilization instead of a critical fourth estate) configurations, will the social and cultural impacts of the two trends in the West be as the same in China? If not, what will be the specificities in the China context? The project starts with a historical review of popular culture and user-created content in China, before turning to spoof videos and looking at how they are produced and shared, travel and diffused on the Internet, and how the communities and sub-cultures forming and emerging around spoof videos are changing the overall cultural landscape in China. By acting as a participant observer in online video sharing sites and conducting face-to face as well as online interviews, I identify lead users and creators of spoof videos and the social networks emerging around them. I call these lead users "skill hubs" and their networks "liquid communities", foregrounding the fact that their appeal doesn’t come from their amicable personality, but rather from their creative skills; and that the networks surrounding them are in a permanent flux, with members coming and going as they see fit. I argue that the "liquidness" (Bauman, 2000) of these communities is what makes them constantly creative and appealing. Textual analysis of online videos, their comments and derivatives are conducted to tease out the uses that that can be made of spoof videos, namely as phatic communication, as alternative memory and as political engagement. Through these analyses I show that spoof videos constitute not only a space where young generations can engage with each other, communicate their anger and dissatisfaction, fun and hope, and where they participate in socio-cultural and political debates, but also create a space where they can experiment with their new skills, new ideas, and new citizenship. The rise of spoof videos heralds the beginning of a trend in popular culture in contemporary China towards the "canonization of the jester" and the dethroning of the establishment. I also argue that a historical perspective is needed to understand the current surge of use creativity and user activism in China, and that many forms of popular media we experience today have their antecedents in various stages of Chinese history. The entrenched "control-resistance" binary is inadequate in interpreting the rich, flux and multilayered Internet space in China.

The right to choose an assisted death : time for legislation?

The legal framework that operates at the end of life in Australia needs to be reformed. • Voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide are currently unlawful. • Both activities nevertheless occur not infrequently in Australia, in part because palliative care cannot relieve physical and psychological pain and suffering in all cases. • In this respect, the law is deficient. The law is also unfair because it doesn’t treat people equally. Some people can be helped to die on their own terms as a result of their knowledge and/or connections while some are able to hasten their death by the refusal of life-sustaining treatment. But others do not have access to the means for their life to end. • A very substantial majority of Australians have repeatedly expressed in public opinion polls their desire for law reform on these matters. Many are concerned at what they see is happening to their loved ones as they reach the end of their lives, and want the confidence that when their time comes they will be able to exercise choice in relation to assisted dying. • The most consistent reason advanced not to change the law is the need to protect the vulnerable. There is a concern that if the law allows voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide for some people, it will be expanded and abused, including pressures being placed on highly dependent people and those with disabilities to agree to euthanasia. • But there is now a large body of experience in a number of international jurisdictions following the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia and/or assisted suicide. This shows that appropriate safeguards can be implemented to protect vulnerable people and prevent the abuse that opponents of assisted dying have feared. It reveals that assisted dying meets a real need among a small minority of people at the end of their lives. It also provides reassurance to people with terminal and incurable disease that they will not be left to suffer the indignities and discomfort of a nasty death. • Australia is an increasingly secular society. Strong opposition to assisted death by religious groups that is based on their belief in divine sanctity of all human life is not a justification for denying choice for those who do not share that belief. • It is now time for Australian legislators to respond to this concern and this experience by legislating to enhance the quality of death for those Australians who seek assisted dying.

China’s new creative strategy : the utilization of cultural soft power and new markets

This book examines different aspects of Asian popular culture, including films, TV, music, comedy, folklore, cultural icons, the Internet and theme parks. It raises important questions such as – What are the implications of popularity of Asian popular culture for globalization? Do regional forces impede the globalizing of cultures? Or does the Asian popular culture flow act as a catalyst or conveying channel for cultural globalization? Does the globalization of culture pose a threat to local culture? It addresses two seemingly contradictory and yet parallel processes in the circulation of Asian popular culture: the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization that turns subjects such as Pokémon, Hip Hop or Cosmopolitan into truly global phenomena, and the local derivatives and versions of global culture that are necessarily disconnected from their origins in order to cater for the local market. It thereby presents a collective argument that, whilst local social formations, and patterns of consumption and participation in Asia are still very much dependent on global cultural developments and the phenomena of modernity, yet such dependence is often concretized, reshaped and distorted by the local media to cater for the local market. Contents: Introduction: Asian Popular Culture: The Global (Dis)continuity Anthony Y.H. Fung Part 1: The Dominance of Global Continuity: Cultural Localization and Adaptation 1. One Region, Two Modernities: Disneyland in Tokyo and Hong Kong Micky Lee and Anthony Y.H. Fung 2. Comic Travels: Disney Publishing in the People’s Republic of China Jennifer Altehenger 3. When Chinese Youth Meet Harry Potter: Translating Consumption and Middle Class Identification John Nguyet Erni 4.New Forms of Transborder Visuality in Urban China: Saving Face for Magazine Covers Eric Kit-Wai Ma 5. Cultural Consumption and Masculinity: A Case Study of GQ Magazine Covers in Taiwan Hong-Chi Shiau Part 2: Global Discontinuity: The Local Absorption of Global Culture 6. An Unlocalized and Unglobalized Subculture: English Language Independent Music in Singapore Kai Khiun Liew and Shzr Ee Tan 7. The Localized Production of Jamaican Music in Thailand Viriya Sawangchot 8. Consuming Online Games in Taiwan: Global Games and Local Market Lai-Chi Chen 9. The Rise of the Korean Cinema in Inbound and Outbound Globalization Shin Dong Kim Part 3: Cultural Domestication: A New Form of Global Continuity 10. Pocket Capitalism and Virtual Intimacy: Pokémon as a Symptom of Post-Industrial Youth Culture Anne Allison 11. Playing the Global Game: Japan Brand and Globalization Kukhee Choo Part 4: China as a Rising Market: Cultural Antagonism and Globalization 12. China’s New Creative Strategy: The Utilization of Cultural Soft Power and New Markets Michael Keane and Bonnie Liu 13. Renationalizing Hong Kong Cinema: The Gathering Force of the Mainland Market Michael Curtin

Sun, sea, sex, sand and conservatism in the Australian television soap opera

A recent issue of Young People Now (November 1995) mentioned the new (UK) television soap opera Hollyoaks by Phil Redmond, which raises the issue of the role of ‘soap operas’ (hereafter referred to as soaps) in the daily lives of young people. The term ‘soap’ originates with the sponsorship of radio and television programmes by companies such as Proctor and Gamble who in America in 1932 used a daytime radio domestic comedy, The Puddle Family to advertise Oxydol, a washing powder. The first British television soap was The Grove Family (BBC 1954-7) was followed by Emergency Ward Ten (ATV 1957-67), Coronation Street (Granada Television 1960-present) and Eastenders (BBC 1985-present). Australian soaps are especially popular in Britain and of potential interest to those who work with young people, because they have a high proportion of youthful looking actors and actresses and frequently depict scenes involving young people and apparent ‘real’ teenage dilemmas. On one level it may be commendable that actors who are young(ish) somewhere between the ages of 14 and 25 play roles that are ostensibly about young people and their alleged problems. However, the casting of young, largely unknown, actors reflects more the political economy of soaps in their relative cheapness and dispensability, rather than any genuine attempt to create an oppositional text for, about and by young people (Paterson 1986).

Aha! The return of Alan Partridge

Throughout a long and occasionally distinguished career first as a television sports correspondent, then chat show host (dramatically ended by the accidental homicide of a guest live on air), then rebirth as a radio presenter at North Norfolk Digital, Alan Partridge has navigated the stormy waters of the British media landscape, now achieving mainstream success on the big screen with a starring role in Steve Coogan’s Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney, 2013). A man who in his desperation for a television series of his own once sank so low as to pitch a show called Monkey Tennis to the BBC finally finds his inner hero in a film which, while presenting mainly as comedy, also contains a biting critique of trends in the British media with which all journalists and media practitioners in general will be familiar. Alpha Papa is a nostalgic, elegiac riff on the pleasures and values of local radio the way it used to be, exemplified by North Norfolk Digital’s stable of flawed, but endearing jocks – Wally Banter, Bruno Brooks, Dave Clifton (who in one scene recounts the depths to which he sank as an alcoholic, drug addicted wreck—“I woke up in a skip with someone else’s underpants in my mouth. I can laugh about it now …”), and Pat Farrell. 50- something Pat is sacked by the new owners of North Norfolk Digital, who in their efforts to transform the station into a “multiplatform content provider” going by the more Gen Yfriendly name of Shape (“the way you want it to be”), wish to replace him with a younger, brattish model lacking in taste and manners. Out go records by the likes of Glen Campbell and Neil Diamond (“You can keep Jesus Christ”, observes Partridge after playing Diamond’s Sweet Caroline in a demonstration of the crackling radio repartee for which he is by now renowned, “that was the king of the Jews”), in comes Roachford. Pat, grieving his dead wife Molly, finally snaps and turns the glitzy media launch of Shape into a hostage siege. Only Alan Partridge, it seems, can step in and talk Pat out of a looming catastrophe.

Engaging, persuading, and entertaining citizens : mediatization and the Australian political public sphere

This paper draws upon public sphere theories and the “mediatization of politics” debate to develop a mapping of the Australian political public sphere, with particular reference to television. It discusses the concept of a “political public sphere,” and the contribution of both non-traditional news media genres, such as satirical television and infotainment formats, to an expanded conception of the political public sphere. It considers these questions in the context of two case studies: the Q&A program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and its uses of social media and interactive formats to engage citizens, and the comedy program Gruen Nation, also on the ABC, which analyzed the use of political advertising to persuade citizens during the 2013 Australian Federal election.

Using digitally distributed vulgar comedy to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development

Focus groups show that young men do not have available to them the same resources to learn about healthy sexual development as do young women. A collaborative project led by a leading provider of sexuality education aimed to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development by using a genre that focus groups showed they favoured - vulgar comedy. This project raised two important issues. First, comedy is ambivalent - it is by definition not serious or worthy. This challenges health communication, which traditionally favours the clear presentation of correct information. Second, vulgarity can be challenging to the institutions of health communication, which can be concerned that it is inappropriate or offensive. This article addresses these issues and reports on the materials that emerged from the project.

The Craic

Synopsis and review of the Australian feature film The Craic directed by Ted Emery, and starring Jimeoin.

The Interview: Schnarking, Knob Jokes and the right to cause gross offence

Discussion of censorship and media freedom in the context of The Interview. A few weeks before the murderous attack by Islamic extremists on the satirical journal Charlie Hebdo, the Hollywood dream factory had its own encounter with would-be censors. The Interview (Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, 2014), as everyone with an interest in culture and current affairs cannot fail to be aware of by now, is a comedy in the “grossout” tradition exemplified by commercially successful movies such as Ted (Seth MacFarlane, 2012) and Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011). Their humour is a combination of slapstick, physical comedy, and scatological jokes involving body fluids and the like— hence the “gross”. The best of them have been very funny, as well as bordering on the offensive (see Ted’s scene involving prostitutes, a foul-mouthed teddy bear and the entertainment value of someone taking a dump on the living room floor). They have often been controversial, as in the Farrelly brothers’ Me, Myself and Irene (2000), starring Jim Carrey as a schizophrenic police officer. At their most outrageous they have pushed the boundaries of political correctness to the limit.

Bits and bumps: Understanding gender in contemporary physical comedy

This study investigates how the gender of a performer affects the way they produce physical comedy in a theatrical context, framed through Kristeva's theory of abjection and Butler's notion of gender as performance. As a thesis by creative work, it produced an original piece of theatre, The Furze Family Variety Hour, which featured a male/ female comic duo, where the female performer enjoyed an equal share of the punch lines. The study generates a new understanding of how the body operates in physical comedy, namely, a system of bodily registers, as well as a new understanding of the female grotesque comic body.

The culture wars of climate change

Of late, there has been a growth in cultural expression about climate change – with the rise of climate fiction (‘cli-fi’); art and photography responding to changes in nature; musical anthems about climate change; plays and dramas about climate change; and environmental documentaries, and climate cinema. Drawing comparisons to past controversies over cultural funding, this paper considers the cultural wars over climate change. This article considers a number of cultural fields. Margaret Atwood made an important creative and critical contribution to the debate over climate change. The work examines Ian McEwan's novel, Solar, a tragi-comedy about authorship, invention, intellectual property, and climate science. After writing a history of Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway have experimented with fiction – as well as history. This article focuses upon artistic works about climate change. It analyses James Balog’s work with the Extreme Ice Survey, which involved photography of glaciers under retreat in a warming world. The work was turned into a documentary called Chasing Ice. It also considers the artistic project of 350.org 'to transform the human rights and environmental issues connected to climate change into powerful art that gets people to stop, think and act.' The paper examines musical storytelling in respect of climate change. The paper explores dramatic works about climate change including Steve Waters' The Contingency Plan, Stephen Emmott's Ten Billion, and Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling and Hannie Rayson’s Extinction. The paper also examines the role of documentary film-making. It also considers the cinematographic film, Beasts of the Southern Wild. Such a survey will enable a consideration of the larger question of whether creative art about climate change matters; and whether it is deserving of public funding.