Collective identity, or a sense of ‘we-ness’ in relation or contrast with one another, is a crucial feature of social activism. Especially considering the rise of intersectional movements in today’s era, it is important to look into the role of collective identity in shaping online movements. This article intends to unravel the relations of collective identity in the Twitter activism #PapuanLivesMatter that emerged in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter. Thirteen tweets that carry the hashtags #PapuanLivesMatter and #BlackLivesMatter, either separately or together, were analyzed. The theory of appraisal from Martin and White was applied to identify how the tweets enact relations of collective identity by looking into the implicit and explicit evaluation of the text that relies on positive and negative classifications. The results show that the relations of collective identity in #PapuanLivesMatter during the rise of #BlackLivesMatter are congruent at the broad level and divergent at the group level. At the broad level, #PapuanLivesMatter and #BlackLivesMatter address the same issues and collectively work toward raising awareness for discrimination against black lives. Although #PapuanLivesMatter still maintains its representation of discrimination at the group level, it propagates ideologies and objectives that are exclusively directed for West Papuan causes, namely ethnic discrimination and political self-determination.
A song can manifest itself as a critical instrument in the vast socio-political atmosphere. Often times a song conceals its real meaning within layers of linguistic elements and through visual communication. Upon the release of Childish Gambino’s This is America (2018), the music video has been assumed widely assumed to contain semiotic elements that criticize the injustice politics of race in America. To dig deeper into this assertion, we use Machin’s Lyrics Analysis (2010) and Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar approach (2006) to analyze the illustrated semiotic elements. Both frameworks are two Multimodal Discourse Analysis approaches that explore interdisciplinary analysis in the discourse-oriented research. This article finds that Gambino does question the practice of black discrimination through gun and police violence in present America by utilizing distant words and excessive gestures in his visual communication as a diversion. They are purposefully placed to gain a profound observation from the audience, and thus able to spark a conversation regarding the issue in a greater scale. Furthermore, it is found that This is America applies comical aspects in the visual elements as a layering device. Through humorous semiotic elements, Gambino is discovered to highlight the commodification of black art in his music video.
The release of Oli London's Plastic Is Fantastic (2021), which talks about his fantasy of plastic surgery, has been extensively criticized. One of the reasons is that his music video was released during Pride Month, a month when the LGBTQ community advocates for their rights for gender equality, followed by other videos and tweets declaring his post-surgery transition to "non-binary" and “Korean.” To dig deeper into this assertion, this study combines Fairclough's (2003) three-dimensional theory as the framework and Machin's (2010) semiotic analysis to examine the song lyrics, visuals, and sociocultural background, thereby contributing to the Multimodal Discourse Analysis studies. This study intends to investigate the construction of gender and identity in Plastic Is Fantastic, the underlying power systems present, and how the power systems subvert gender and Korean identity. Research shows that the lyrics and visuals are connected with Korean identity due to the usage of Korean in the songs and the performer's androgynous appearance and behavior throughout the video. These practices produced problems, especially when his plastic surgery-related social media activity was stirred up by mass media as he consistently equated and exploited his trans status with other minority groups, such as Koreans, LGBTQ, and transracial people. Thus, the subversion of gender and identity is present since identity production is commodified.
Humor is one of the most used mediums for overcoming the dominant power in society. One type of humor, Black Humor, was initially used by the Black community to speak their voice regarding the racism they face every day. However, it showed that even the most powerful tool could also act as a double-edged sword for its users. In this research, we analyzed three advertisements made by Archie Boston circa the 1960s that took the symbolism of the Ku Klux Klan, Uncle Sam, and slavery and turned these symbolisms into objects of humor. Using Kress and van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design, Barthes’ visual semiotics, and incongruity theory by Goldstein and McGhee, these advertisements were analyzed and then critically associated with the theory of Institutionalized Racism. The results revealed that these advertisements showed affiliation with how stereotypes are identified through symbolism by using humor and visual images. Therefore, these advertisements perpetuate negative stereotypes of the Black community by making Black people seem complicit in and supporting the racist acts that the symbols perpetuated.
Nowadays, there has been a new trend in the video game industry to unleash the stereotypical female characters as a response to the increasing criticism toward gender equality in the video game industry. Life is Strange is one example of video games that challenges typical female characters who are usually described as powerless and objectified. However, such a progression has not amended the problematic female representation completely within its narrative. By using the concept of hegemonic masculinity, this paper discusses the ambivalences in Life is Strange in challenging stereotypical female representations. The result of the analysis shows that although Life is Strange successfully subverts the female physical representation through its design, the narrative still perpetuates hegemonic masculinity by means of sacrificial heroine and lesbianism eroticization.DOI:10.24071/ijhs.2019.030102
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