Masked men: hacktivism, celebrity and anonymity

Abstract

In her 1991 article 'Signs of Melodrama' Christine Gledhill provocatively claimed that the Hollywood star system descended from the stage melodrama's 'drive to realise in personal terms social and ethical forces'. The disguise is a melodramatic convention, concealing the true personality revealed in the narrative, as the melodrama reveals hidden moral truths. Approaching contemporary celebrity through this dramatic mode, this article considers the unmasking of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden in three recent films, We Steal Secrets, The Fifth Estate and Citizenfour. In true melodramatic style, the films' presentation of state violence and surveillance is rapidly displaced by moral studies of these three 'hacktivists'. Drawing on melodrama and genre studies as a methodological approach to studying these films, I trace the mask back to Alan Moore's anti-melodrama V for Vendetta. This article proposes celebrity studies would be well served by paying closer attention to the political efficacy of celebrity's opposite: anonymity.

Conspiracies, Ideological Entrepreneurs, and Digital Popular Culture

“…It is based on being unknown but knowledgeable, necessitating anonymity while holding the melodrama of potential unmasking. As such, Q illustrates the political efficacy of anonymity (Merck, 2015). In the context of Deep State conspiracies, Q's anonymity adds to the mystery.…”

“…While Jones' celebrity is based on the personal, Q's celebrity status results from the elusive as basic celebrity appeal. Indeed, the celebrity appeal and power of anonymity and of the (physical or symbolic) mask has a long history (Merck, 2015). Turning a feature of its media platform of choice into a tool, Q's celebrity is based on the anonymous nature of imageboards like 4chan that obscure contributors' identities while allowing for a consistent, if anonymous, identity across posts.…”

‘Imagining others more complexly’: celebrity and the ideology of fame among YouTube’s ‘Nerdfighteria’

“…This is because their ordinary, yet unique, individuality that is 'made manifest' on their YouTube channel also is the basis upon which all other YouTube, celebrity or fan, celebritification depends. A comparison with another internet culture of self is helpful to clarify this pointthe hacktivism group Anonymous (Coleman, 2014;Merck, 2015). The power of their mask and anonymity for hacking is also a sacrifice (Coleman, 2014:16); it is a sacrifice of "individualism itself, the selfpromotion that melodrama and its cultural heirs effectively underwrite."…”

The Masks We Wear: Watchmen, Infrastructural Racism, and Anonymity

“…The Watchmen TV series, with some exception, treats anonymity as a form and critique of power. Merck (2015) uses another work by Moore (2015), V for Vendetta , to trace the use of anonymity in comic books, contending, “The disguise is a melodramatic convention, concealing the true personality revealed in the narrative, as the melodrama reveals hidden moral truths” (272). Merck connects this to the work of Coleman (2013), saying that Moore’s work anticipated “the importance of anonymity and privacy in an era when both are rapidly eroding for citizens” (2).…”