The ‘Renaissance’ of Physical Media

Recently, I bought an analog camera. This may be uninteresting and insignificant to photographers, adamant hobbyists or older folk, but I was so positively excited to place the film capsule in its spot and hear the click of an imperfect memory. With phone cameras that encourage perfectionism and unlimited attempts to achieve an ‘instagramable’ shot, it feels refreshing to let things be – though it's not the most efficient or even cost-effective option. This resurgent affection for older and more physical media has been evident in recent trends on the Internet, as many are purchasing digital cameras, seeking a vintage feel to their photographs. This has led me to ponder; how come we once again yearn for tangible media?

The most obvious argument, I feel, is the nostalgia of a supposedly less complicated time. Gen Z grew up in a world with the mammoth that is the Internet just growing its tusks. The humble beginnings of Youtube and other social media platforms had a sense of unfilteredness and experimentation – something that is rare in today’s optimised climate. Moreover, most of our childhood photos were still taken on digital cameras, belonging in photo albums that deliberately encourage one to sit down and reminisce. Whether or not these times were in truth more simple than now is a whole other matter of debate, but the simple memory of this time urges many to want to include features in their lives that transport back to a feeling of innocence and freedom.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing pressure to compete with technological advancement, our generation seeks an outlet for these anxieties. AI slop has clogged our feeds, which in turn has ignited a want to connect with human-made content. Some pose a hopeful perspective that humans still have a place in the world, as AI is unable to replace the human soul, emphasising our role in creating meaning. It can be interpreted that this is exactly what physical media gives us: meaning. The very pursuit of being in the moment and taking a picture to then develop said photos later allows the user to directly engage with the memory, unlike with the immediate product of using a phone camera. Moreover, physical media returns control and human agency that continues to be usurped by AI.

The worries of the youth are further stimulated by the seismic waves of negative news in the media. With unemployment levels high, genocidal wars, failing democracies, the unattainability of homeownership, and the climate crisis, stepping into adulthood seems slightly daunting. Clay Routledge expresses that nostalgia is actually a “future-oriented behaviour,” helping us deal with current troubles and giving hope for the future.2 Routledge specifically focuses on the admiration for the offline era that Gen Z were not a part of, but seek stability from. It could be that some think of the legacy of old media, hoping that current creations will also follow the same trajectory some day. The youth clearly still engage with current trends and tend to meld vintage aesthetics with new ones, creating something quite unique. This indicates that the affections toward the past are not only about glamorising ‘the old days,’ but improving upon them. Furthermore, the re-emergence of physical media is an escape from the chaos as well as a sort of manifestation for a better future.

The trend of tangible media can be further interpreted as a countercurrent against capitalistic ‘efficiency’ mindsets. Most things that are not geared toward maximum profit, practicality or ‘progression,’ are seen as pointless. We tend to give less value to irrational or emotionally fulfilling things as these usually do not drive us toward a concrete and immediate goal. The increased interest in vinyl records or printed photographs may express a need to slow down and escape from the demand of a goal-oriented culture, as the most logical option would be to use our technological devices to give us the same result within seconds. However, it is important to note that this constitutes a largely western perspective, where this culture is predominant. What cultures do have in common is loneliness as an actor that is often prompting nostalgia. Perhaps younger people feel estranged from the Internet and the lack of attention to the abstract notions of being human. Furthermore, Routledge notes that nostalgia is often seen as unproductive, however is indeed a source of comfort. An increasing focus on practicality thus is pushing people to find new outlets, perchance as an act of rebellion. Ironically, the purchase of physical items is combatting the system that is built on consumption.

Now, I look at my camera and it is not just a silly step back in time when my hands were smaller and the ownership of a fidget spinner was paramount. Rather, my affections towards it are a messy web of nostalgia, frustration, hope, and disillusionment. I choose to look at this ‘Renaissance’ with optimism, seeing this as a rediscovery and exploration of what it means to be human in a miniscule form. If you have not jumped on this band-wagon yet, I suggest you try it. Pick up an old camera, rummage through old CDs or just read a newspaper, you might be delightfully startled by the friction underneath your fingers.

References

Sedikides, Constantine and Tim Wildschut. “Nostalgia across cultures” Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology 16, (2022): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/18344909221091649

Routledge, Clay. “Why Gen Z Is Resurrecting the 1990s” New York Times, August 24, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/opinion/gen-z-technology-nostalgia.html

Wooding, Mark et al. “How Ai Slop will Spark the Next Human Renaissance,” Published March 2026, After Skool, video, 11:40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iT9HbaRwfM&t=148s

Blooming Relationships:The Discursive Art of Disquieting One’s Blood

One of the things I love the most about my grandmother, besides the stories of the time before the port’s expansion, is hearing her recite old proverbs. I was on a call with her not too long ago when I purposely mentioned that the spring equinox was getting close, secretly hoping for her to drop one of her usual sayings, and it worked. As expected, I heard her say, “la primavera, lasangre altera.” In English, the idiom translates to “spring disquiets one’s blood,” and it refers to the season’s tendency to energize, bring change, and compel us to pair up.

Perhaps the saying has a point. Indeed, sometimes I feel like everyone gets into a relationship in the spring. Some studies [4] blame this on seasonal peaks of sexual hormones and the increase in day length. I see the value of the evidence, but that just can’t be the whole truth. Surely, there must be something more to the nerve-wracking, impossible, but ultimately fascinating dilemma of whether or not to double-text, other than the identification of fit mates. Many biological and evolutionary theories of interpersonal relationships tend to neglect the social and contextual forces that influence the way we connect [3]. There’s a magic to meeting and getting to know someone, whether romantically or otherwise, that just cannot be attributed to neural activity and primitive instincts. The early stages of any relationship always feel to me like an exciting game of moves and countermoves in which people make meaning together, negotiate values, and tentatively build the ties that bind us together. Somewhere between the very first instances of awkward small talk and the point of losing oneself in late-night conversations, we engage in a process of transformation and sharing through language.

Conversations change us in subtle ways. They teach us the workings of the world; what is acceptable, admirable, and repulsive. In the context of new friends, they open a fascinating world of possibilities. In the context of dating... well, they become an equally fascinating minefield. Discourse, or, in other words, the social practice of making meaning through language, highlights the performativity of speech [1]. This is not to say that all forms of communication are means of manipulation, but that speech is not just a representation of our thoughts. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a difference between adding two or three exclamation marks at the end of our messages, and humor wouldn’t exist. Language doesn’t just describe; it does. It performs by showcasing different versions of ourselves and by subtly instilling action [2]. The date who tells me not to worry about it when I ask her, “However, can I pay you for tonight’s drinks?” isn’t just being reassuring; she’s flirting with me. Just like my comments about the spring equinox aren’t just about the passing of the seasons, they are a subtle request to connect and find familiarity through tradition. It becomes impossible not to get excited about meeting others once you realize all the different ways a conversation might take us, and how much we can learn from one another. Perhaps the saying has a point, after all. Perhaps spring does disquiet one’s blood, and perhaps we should all expand our horizons beyond romantic relationships, play the conversation game, transform, and be transformed.

In the end, I always find it somewhat funny, because my grandmother has never been outside the Canary Islands, and one could argue that it’s almost always spring at home. I don’t say this, though. I tell her about the flowers in the Netherlands, and the curling of my lips gets bigger once she says she’s surprised at how quickly I got used to the rain. I know she’s not just commenting on the weather; she’s letting me know that I’m changing, being transformed. It makes me think about all the nerve-wracking, impossible, but ultimately fascinating people I interact with every day, and I come to realize that perhaps it’s almost always spring for me as well.

References

[1] Billig, M. (2009). Discursive psychology, rhetoric and the issue of agency. Semen, 27. https://doi.org/10.4000/semen.8930

[2] Edley, N. (2001). Unravelling Social Constructionism. Theory & Psychology, 11(3), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354301113008

[3] Miller, R. (2014). Intimate relationships. McGraw-Hill Education.

[4] Shanmugam, D., Espinosa, M., Gassen, J., van Lamsweerde, A., Pearson, J. T., Benhar,

E., & Hill, S. (2023). A multi-site study of the relationship between photoperiod and ovulation rate using Natural Cycles data. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 8379. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34940-z

One Day

At the Honours Review, we celebrate the power of interpretation. We recognize that our themes unfold differently when viewed through different eyes, and aim to capture it in full.

Here, we share with you two such interpretations. In this poem submission by Lia Calancea, we see her unique vision of the future. Accompanying the piece, one of our artists, Gyanu Lewe was inspired to collaborate with Bart Kuipers to craft a soundscape for an immersive reading experience. This innovative fusion of poetry and sound embodies the very spirit of collaboration that defines our publication.

Join us for the full unveiling of "Unlocking Tomorrow" on June 26th at the Honours Festival!

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Would you like to write for the blog? Contact honoursreviewrug@gmail.com stating who you are and what you would like to add!

Perhaps one day, you’ll wake up and breathe

Realizing the air you inhale is spaceless

And the disinterested time of numbers is timeless

Your consciousness will transcend the realms of humanity

Your teguments will intermingle with the cell that entraps you

Your skin will be made of marble

And the Interiors you inhabit will be fabricated out of your skin

You’ll wake up in a world where the organic and the inorganic fuse

Where technological singularity threatens human exceptionalism

Where humans have entered a new stage of existential morphism

Or maybe one day, you’ll wake up and breathe

Realizing the air you inhale is lightweight and devoid of pollution

Due to geo-engineering and global alignment

You’ll realize you’ve overcome cancer, surpassed your human timespan,

And lived fifteen more decades of happiness

Due to nanotechnological advancements and human genome editing

You’ll realize you can sing impeccable notes and paint mesmerizing landscapes

Climb unreachable hills and outstretch the latitude of the earth

In just one day – by taking the technocratic oath

One day you’ll wake up in a different body

The body your kids will carry throughout the centuries

The body that will either transcend mortality

Or be lost to oblivion in an utter act of brutality

One day, you’ll wake up in a different world

In a world trapped in an evolutionary state of progress

What will that world look like?

The question is yours to address.

The Case of Babymetal: Negotiating Authenticity and Diversity

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

If you haven’t heard the name of this Japanese band by now, you have three albums to catch up on, the last one (Metal Galaxy) released less than a year ago. Formed in 2010 by three young women, Babymetal connects the worlds of Japanese pop (J-pop) and heavy metal, of ‘cuteness’ and aggression, of idol culture and its subversion; all within a genre they call kawaii metal [1]. Besides presenting a strikingly new, hybrid sound, the trio – currently duo- and the mixed reception of their work provide a potent ground of theorizing the negotiations of authenticity and diversity among metal fans today. With a few exceptions [1], however, it appears that the Western academia has not yet caught onto the case, despite the group’s global appeal confirmed by their World Tours and 2019 top position on Billboard’s Top Rock charts (as the first Asian group in history) [2]. While metal fanbases question whether Babymetal can be qualified as metal at all and whether it is “authentic”, we can in turn ask: what do such questions reveal about the “rockist ideology” [3] in its diversifying transition of the modern age?

“Rockism” has been described by Philip Auslander, a prolific performance studies scholar, as the rock-centric ideology defining authenticity in popular music. As described in his book Liveness, rock culture establishes its authenticity through dismissing or Othering the inauthentic “pop” products of the music industry: the music that does not tick the boxes of “instrumental virtuosity, original songwriting, social criticism, a stance of anger/alienation”, and primarily, of liveness embedded in the believable “spontaneity” of rock iconography. [3]

Although its aggressive guitars and rapid drums might sometimes make the instrumentals of Babymetal sound hardly distinguishable from its Western metal counterparts, the lyrics, performance, and background of the band prove questionable to anyone assessing them with the rockist lens. The elements criticized most frequently are Babymetal’s association with the (often exploitative) idol industry and produced mainstream popular music more broadly. A number of commenters on metal forums have claimed the band to be “mediocre, barely even. Total manufactured”, an “irritating cashgrab”, “overproduced, soulless modern crap” [4]; while others, including the metal vocalist Rob Zombie and KORN frontman Jonathan Davis, defended Babymetal (“They roll harder than you” [5]; “I thought I'd seen it all, but after I saw them, like, 'Wow! This is pretty intense.'” [6]). In the meantime, some hail the duo as “feminist role models” [7] (with lyrics that “engage with messages of positivity and self-empowerment – especially as they concern girls and young people more generally” [1]) and an opportunity for the positive racial-ethnic diversification of the genre. 

Bashed or supported, the discourse surrounding Babymetal encompasses the spectrum of old rockist ideologies of authenticity and today’s increased importance of representation. The questions posed towards the band reflect wider issues that the originally Western-male genres such as metal face in the times when diversity comes to the fore, and when elitist stances of the past are called into reconsideration. However, the discussion is more problematic and complex than what is has often been reduced to: namely, open-minded metal fans versus, in Rob Zombie’s blunt phrasing, “grumpy old f*cks” [5]. While it is certainly true that Babymetal’s image is empowering in terms of their alternative expressions of femininity and the ways they subvert the Western rockism with J-pop influences, the duo remains tied to the Sakura Gakuin idol group and the Amuse talent agency, produced entirely by Key ‘Kobametal’ Kobayashi, with the overwhelming majority of the lyrics and the music not written by the girls, who state clearly that they had no interest in metal prior to forming the band [8]. The concern of possible “inauthenticity” might hence intersect with or diminish the values of “diversity” and subversion. If the duo doesn’t write its own songs, how feminist are their lyrics really? If their artistic direction was determined mainly by capitalist commercial necessities, how non-conformist can it get- and how exploitative could it potentially be for the young girls involved? 

Similar questions are often posed in regards to the Western pop music industry, pointing to what Auslander and others called the romantic rock ideology becoming adapted to all popular music [3]. The distinction between art and commerce, apparent in the firm high/ low culture boundaries of the past, has not disappeared completely and continues to be based on whether the primary drive of the music creation is “art for art’s sake” or a function such as entertainment or sales [9]. The combination of a genre normally associated with rockist “authenticity”: metal with the openly produced, commercial J-pop idol culture is bound to spark controversy. However, the mass success Babymetal has been experiencing by far can prove that the discourses of rock/ metal authenticity in its traditional meaning, albeit still alive, are not essential to most (even Western) audiences anymore. Rockism has entered its transitional period, and arguably, nowadays it might be representation, empowerment, and subversion of conventions (in both sound and performance) that encourage listeners to value bands; whether they ‘write their own songs’ or not. 

References

[1] Plourde, Lorraine. “Babymetal and the Ambivalence of Cuteness.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, May 2018, pp. 293–307.

[2] Rutherford, Kevin. “Babymetal Becomes First Asian Act to Rule Top Rock Albums Chart”. Billboard, October 2019. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8540112/babymetal-metal-galaxy-no-1-top-rock-albums. 

[3] Auslander, Philip. Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture. Routledge, 1999. 

[4] Metal-fi. “BABYMETAL: Good, bad, or holy hell?”. Retrieved from http://www.metal-fi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=434&sid=00661afb997adc299191e3079912a2a0.

[5] Brooks, Mike. “Only Grumpy Old Fucks Could Be Mad about J-Pop Metal Band Babymetal”. Dallas Observer, September 2019. Retrieved from https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/is-babymetal-the-future-of-heavy-metal-11764339.

[6] Blabbermouth. “KORN Frontman Says BABYMETAL Is 'Entertaining As Hell,' Calls Japanese Band's Critics 'Closed-Minded'”. Blabbermouth.net, August 2017. Retrieved from https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/korn-frontman-says-babymetal-is-entertaining-as-hell-calls-japanese-bands-critics-closed-minded/.

[7] Asencio, Jenny. “5 Rational Feminist Role Models in Pop Culture”. Medium, January 2018. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@jennyasencio/5-rational-feminist-role-models-in-pop-culture-74844b423cba.

[8] Robson, Daniel. “Babymetal: 'I've never been in a moshpit. I think I'd get smashed to bits'”. The Guardian, November 2014. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/07/-sp-babymetal-interview-japanese-metal-pop.

[9] Frith, Simon. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Harvard University Press, 1996.

The Seed in a Blank Mind: Understanding Creativity

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

I have to admit… Ever since I was asked if I would like to join the Honours Review team of writers, I thought “Oh yeah! The opportunity I have been waiting for to express my creativity and ideas”. Guess what… It didn’t happen. Every time I have to write about a new topic, my mind goes blank and I feel like all my creativity is gone or it never existed and the reality I used to know was fake.

I wonder, is it just me when I am put on the spot, or does this happen to everyone?

As you may already suspect, a writer’s block is one of the most common conditions one can suffer from. By definition, it is “the condition of being unable to create a piece of written work because something in your mind prevents you from doing it” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020) [1]. However, this condition may somewhat be extended to all arts, drawing, painting, writing, dancing, composing, et cetera, taking the designation of a creative block.

The mechanisms and strategies to overcome this condition are spread online and I am not going to extrapolate about them. Often I ask myself, though, how are those daily shows still going? You may argue, there is a team of thinking brains combined to work together for a final product. Still, it is done daily! Furthermore, you can consider all the YouTubers and influencers who are producing daily or even weekly content so we can be entertained, brain-dead just sitting around in our couches. Do they have a list of potentially good ideas or do they improvise as they are going? These are the questions I can think of when I have to come up with a new topic to write about. But first things first, what is the creative process, after all?

The creative thinking process is still not entirely understood by science but myths, such as the distinction between right or left brain thinkers being more rational or creative respectively, have been proven to be wrong [2]. It is the communication between both hemispheres that determines the final response to certain stimuli. Some of the more rational people may also be part of the more creative ones. I would dare to say that being creative is somehow a rational process, which can be worked on and developed further by each one of us. In the simplest way, creativity is a four-step cycle which can be stimulated, consisting of (i) generation of a problem and gathering of facts about the matter in discussion, followed by (ii) defining the problem and troubleshooting, then (iii) evaluation of all hypotheses and planning. Finally (iv) the acceptance of the “idea” [3]. For the most attentive, you might have noticed this particular cycle is essentially the same as the Scientific Method [4].

Regardless of the similarities of both methods, the conditions or situations in which the thinking paths arise can be quite distinct. Some of the most promising hypotheses in Science are the result of pressure, either by peers, supervisors, sponsors, time, among others; or by literature reviewing or even by having scientific conversations with friends. In a final analysis, some of the “light at the end of the tunnel” in research comes from strong brain activity. On the other hand, creative, artistic ideas usually pop in our minds when the brain activity is at the lowest: when we are relaxing, listening to music, taking a shower, or even drinking [5]. The way I understand it, in a caricature way, is that when we allow our “main brain” to rest, our subconscient is able to wander around our mind and reach realms otherwise inaccessible to the imagination. In reality, this process is directly related to the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger acting as a neurotransmitter, often characterized as one responsible for the feeling of pleasure [6]. It is also associated with the ability to focus, learn, and mood changes. Previous studies have shown that a dysregulation in the dopamine flow within different areas of our brain can not only affect the distractibility status but the generation of new thoughts - through the combination of old known information, for instance - and the capacity to retain them and evaluate them critically later [7].

In retrospect, the process of generating new ideas, even though well-studied, conceptually is still a mystery (at least for me). From a blank mind to a brilliant idea seems to be quite a complex mechanism, and not only the creation is quite abstract, but I also wonder, what makes a good idea? The distinction between a normal idea and the one we end up choosing to keep for our task is, perhaps, a result of a careful analysis of the advantages and disadvantages, its fitness to the surrounding environment and, lastly the ability to make it happen.

With the thoughts shared here, I cannot stop myself from being transported into the Dreams’ World and think about the movie Inception (2010). There, the adopted premise is that planting an idea in someone else’s mind is theoretically possible through a kind of sleeping hypnosis. Would this fictional idea be possible in our reality? And which implications would it have?

References

1. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/writer-s-block

2. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-have-great-ideas-more-often-according-to-scienc-1476608430

3. Basadur M, Runco MA & Vega LA. (2000) “Understanding How Creative Thinking Skills, Attitudes and Behaviors Work Together: A Causal Process Model”. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 34: 77-100. doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.2000.tb01203.x

4. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-fair/steps-of-the-scientific-method

5. https://lifehacker.com/science-explains-why-our-best-ideas-come-in-the-shower-5987858

6. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-dopamine#1

7. Boot N, Baas M, van Gaal S, Cools R, & De Dreu CKW. (2017) “Creative cognition and dopaminergic modulation of fronto-striatal networks: Integrative review and research agenda”. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 78: 13–23. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.04.007

Underground music: a genre, a statement, or a judgement?

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

Whether online, in record stores, in music magazines, awards, or even daily fan conversation, the terms such as “underground” and “alternative” are increasingly used for the classification of music releases. Either used in combination with other genres to describe a certain music style (“alternative rock”; “underground dance music”) or even functioning on their own, the underground and alternative are understood as self-evident by many. The common definition is simple: alternative/ underground is simply not a part of the mainstream. In academia, however, as early as 1996 popular music genres (as a whole) were called under scrutiny for their unstable boundaries, constructed, marketing-oriented and agreement-based nature. [1] As umbrella terms often encompassing a variety of genres based on broad criteria, the terms “underground” and “alternative” can be questioned even more so. If the core nature of such music styles lies in their implicit or explicit opposition to mainstream music rather than any similarities of conventions, technical elements, or instrumentation, then defining the underground/ alternative becomes nearly fully extramusical: based on the context, politics, or values that the bands choose to communicate. Where are the borders of the underground/ alternative music world and what requirements one needs to fulfill to qualify? Where is the mainstream in music? Despite the simplicity of its broad definition, the underground/alternative music remain contested categories, described as carrying a variety of implications by various scholars and critics; and often bands become described by alternative based on radically different or even increasingly contradictory sets of rules.

The underground as obscure

One possible difference between the underground and the mainstream music styles lies simply in the reach they have. The alternative is not supposed to be readily available, supported by the mainstream media or concerting in large arenas: it would rather be small-scale in both production and distribution, limited to the dedicated fans who found it through own searches or by recommendation. While this appears to be clear-cut enough, the emergence of online media blurred the distinction. Asking “Where is the musical underground in 2017?”, The Guardian described that the definition of the underground as “music that – by default or design – existed on the margins, with the bare minimum of exposure in conventional media” such as radio and TV was functional historically. [2] Nowadays, however, it is YouTube and social media which “are infinitely more important in promoting music and anyone can upload to them”. [2] While access to alternative/ underground music is certainly easier in the internet era, we must not make the mistake of erasing obscurity from the markers of this umbrella genre. Among others, the readily available radio/ Billboard charts, the trending section of YouTube or curated Spotify ‘hit’ playlists continue to play a role in boosting the popularity of chosen musical styles and their most well-known representatives. If those channels would be regarded the modern mainstream distributors, it would still be possible to say that underground music has less obvious media presence and can be rather found in more obscure (although still easily accessible with a click) areas of the internet (personal blogs, forums, or smaller personal playlists for instance). Effectively, it might be not the accessibility of the internet that puts the “obscure alternative” into question; but rather, the popularization of such music styles. With self-named “alternative” frequently making it into the radio or Billboard charts and popular awards such as Grammy mainstreaming the Best Alternative Music Album winners, one can ask whether (as Mark Fisher argued) under late capitalism “'alternative' and 'independent' don't designate something outside mainstream culture; rather, they are styles, in fact, the dominant styles, within the mainstream”. [3]

The underground as counterculture

In addition to their obscure nature, early definitions of underground frequently contained elements of independence from the cultural industry, rebellion, or counterculture. Kai Fikentscher described the term as “denoting a context in which certain activities take place out of a perceived necessity for a protected, possibly secret arena that facilitates opposition, subversion, or delimitation to a larger, dominant, normative, possibly oppressive environment” [4], Stephen Graham mentioned “principles of improvisation and outsider DIY organization and politics” [5] as distinguishing the underground, and The Guardian placed “cosying up to big business” and deals with the cultural industry at odds with the values of alternative music [6]. To many, listening to the underground continues to mean a statement of resistance: whether to the political system, the dominance of the Big Three labels (Universal, Sony, Warner), or the formulaic pop conventions. Yet, it would be a mistake to equate the underground/ alternative with counterculture: a simple search for definitions online yields results that confuse this distinction as well. The diversity of genres included by it ranges from the inherently political anarcho-punk/ riot grrrl/ queercore born from marginalized groups to the decidedly apolitical or even associated with high art genres such as math rock/ progressive rock/ free improvisation. While the latter group can still be seen as rebellious in a way (towards simplicity and the accepted conventions of popular music, in this case), few common elements can be identified between the two. Finally, “independence” of alternative is not free of doubts either: coming back to The Guardian’s guide, today instead of the major labels “brands have colonised the world of non-commercial music”- a large part of the ‘underground’ is becoming commodified. [6]

The underground as… elitism?

Lastly, it is necessary to question the value judgements carried (often perhaps subconsciously) in the classifications of underground and alternative music. Besides the counterculture element, Stephen Graham pointed to “aesthetically challenging or complex” as a distinguishing quality of underground music [5], and the research by Gamaliel Percino, Peter Klimek, and Stefan Thurner supported a correlation between the decreasing ‘instrumentational complexity value’ and increasing sales of music styles [7]. Within the underground communities, one can often find a pressure for “originality” and “authenticity” regarded as the markers of music quality. Those constructed terms are sometimes what leads to the perception of the underground as “better” or more “art-like”, echoing the privileging of Boltanski and Thevenot’s Inspired Value world (the principle of creativity as crucial in art) [8] and the XIX century expressive individualism (the cult of artist as a genius) [9]. While this is certainly not true for every underground music fan, often the “alternative” genre prefix signifies a mildly elitist tendency to detach from the core culture perceived as too well-known/ commercial - as such, it might be means to elevate oneself above the tastes of the majority: to the domain of art that cares about the ‘real’ artistic expression first and foremost.

 Conclusion

With the variety of possible classifications and blurred boundaries between the underground and the mainstream, dubbing a band “alternative” is a construct carrying a lot to be unpacked. From expressing obscurity and rebellion to a veiled value judgement, underground music styles have different levels and certainly are not homogeneous. All in all, how one chooses to describe their music on the line between alternative and mainstream might tell you more about their extramusical priorities than their music taste. When dealing with the ‘underground’ or ‘alternative’ music then, it is always interesting to ask: what does calling this band “underground” really imply?

References

1. Frith, Simon. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Harvard University Press, 1996.

2. Petridis, Alexis. “Where is the musical underground in 2017?”. The Guardian, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2017/oct/09/where-is-the-musical-underground-in-2017.

3. Fisher, Mark. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?. Zero Books, 2009.

4. Fikentscher, Kai. "You Better Work!": Underground Dance Music in New York. Wesleyan University Press, 2000.

5. Graham, Stephen. Sounds of the Underground: A Cultural, Political and Aesthetic Mapping of Underground and Fringe Music. University of Michigan Press, 2016.

6. Aroesti, Rachel. “No alternative: how brands bought out underground music”. The Guardian, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2017/oct/16/no-alternative-how-brands-bought-out-underground-music-timberland-red-bull.

7. Percino, Gamaliel et al. “Instrumentational Complexity of Music Genres and Why Simplicity Sells”. PLOS One, 2014.

8. Boltanski, Luc and Thévenot, Laurent. On Justification: Economies of Worth. Translated by: Catherine Porter. Princeton University Press, 2006.

9. Madigan, Patrick. “Expressive Individualism, the Cult of the Artist as Genius, and Milton's Lucifer”. The Heythrop Journal, vol. 54, no. 6, 2013.

All was no longer well: Fix-it fanfiction through the years (Part 1)

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” [1] Chances are, you remember quite well when and where you read this sentence for the first time. It might have marked the end of the Harry Potter-era, but started a seemingly endless supply of fix-it fic: fanfiction that addresses a – according to the author – unfathomable error in the original work and tries to set it straight. Especially the final Harry Potter book has lead to an innumerable amount of such works. Yet, Harry Potter is far from the only franchise inspiring fanfiction writers all over the world to fix their predecessor’s errors. How has this genre developed over the years?

Back in the days

The term ‘fanfiction’ first emerged in 1939, though it was then still used for amateur science fiction stories. It did not acquire its current meaning until the 1960s, when fan-written stories started appearing in so-called fanzines: magazines produced by fans of a certain franchise, notably Star Trek. Despite the fact that the term is relatively young, the concept of fanfiction is anything but. Coming up with new stories inhabited by characters and places from existing literary worlds is probably as old as the art of storytelling itself. Before the fan-age, these would simply be called ‘unofficial sequels’ or ‘pastiches’. Long before the internet or even fanzines would emerge, people wrote and read countless unauthorized stories set in the worlds of Sherlock Holmes or Jane Austen’s novels. But the oldest fanfictions we still know today are probably the Iliad and the Odyssey, as long as you believe in the theory that Homer wasn’t one guy, but instead a collective (in which case you might still debate the rather vague boundaries between using legends as source material and ‘actual’ fanfiction). And even then we’ve probably not reached the beginning: fanfiction most likely has its roots in the oral tradition. [2]

Whatever its exact history may be: an ages-old storytelling phenomenon suddenly got a name halfway through the last century. This had everything to do with the new-found concept of copyright. Now not only the works were appreciated as copyrighted material, but also their characters and the world in which the story takes place. Apparently this gave rise to a need to distinguish stories that make use of these pre-existing elements from stories that uses a more original setting. [2]

But did these early fanfictions also count as fix-it fic? In order to answer this question, we will need a solid definition first. Seeing as every fanfiction already changes something about the original work, fix-it fic must have some special quality to the change. I argue that this has everything to do with intent: someone writing fix-it fic will have one main goal, namely set straight something that they think is not right in the original work. That does not seem to be the case for the works in Spockanalia, generally considered to be the earliest source of written fanfiction. [3] The stories here are more like ‘unofficial sequels’ like those long before them: stories that add to the universe of the original work, without changing what happens in the canon[1] work itself.

Later the Star Trek-fandom would produce one of the fundamental parts of modern fix-it fic: slash fiction, which is fanfiction focusing on romantic and/or sexual relationships between characters of the same sex. This didn’t happen in Spockanalia (which is somewhat regrettable, given the title), but in 1974 in the fanzine Grupi. [3] Slash fiction would only be considered to be fix-it fic is the author of the fanfiction deems the choice not to bring these characters together in the original work to be a mistake. Although same-sex relationships have become increasingly more common in the different media types that usually inspire fanfiction writers, it took a long time to get there. Fanfiction has for a long time served as an important platform for both the telling and consummation of queer stories within our storytelling culture, especially when these places were scarce in the more mainstream original works. But not all slash fiction inherently belongs to this category: some has just been written because there is an audience for it, or simply because the author thought it would be interesting to write about an improbable couple.

Fanfiction in the internet age

Fanfiction might precede the internet, but it could not grow to the global phenomenon it is now without it. Where before fan stories could only be shared on a small scale, internet pages provide spaces where fans can share their enthusiasm and fantasies. Initially, the differences with the fanzines were only minor: fandoms[2] had their own websites and communities, allowing them to remain relatively small and close-knitted. However, this changed when the first collective websites emerged, importantly fanfiction.net. This would prove to be a quintessential change for fanfiction readers and writers alike: no longer the different fandoms lead a more or less isolated existence. Instead, a more or less overarching culture emerged, with unwritten rules, customs and trends.

These internet archives of fanfiction provide a wealth of information about the ways fans interact with the stories they consume. For example: how did fix-it fic change through the years? Perhaps Harry Potter can tell us a little more about that. With over 813,000 stories on fanfiction.net and over 222,000 on archiveofourown.org (which has gained much popularity over fanfiction.net in recent years), it is probably the biggest fandom in history. For comparison: the second biggest fandom on fanfiction.net is Naruto (~429,000 stories) and on archiveofourown.org Harry Potter only gets superseded by the Marvel universe (~399,000) stories, which actually consists of a wide array of movies, tv-shows, and comics about a large cast of superheroes and the even broader category of K-pop (~260,000 stories). Furthermore, the first Harry Potter fanfiction on fanfiction.net was published as early as 1999, which allows us to look back into twenty years of fanfiction history.

So get your time-turners ready for a little trip down the history of Harry Potter fanfiction. In part 2 of this blog, we will see how the genre of fix-it fic has developed within this world of witches and wizards.

Bibliography

1. Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. London: Bloomsbury.

2. Hellekson, K., & Busse, K. (Eds.). (2014). The fan fiction studies reader. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

3. Spockanalia. Available on https://fanlore.org/wiki/Spockanalia

4. Grossman, Lev. (2011). “The Boy Who Lived Forever”. In Time.com. Available from http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-2,00.html

Footnotes:

[1] Canon is everything that happens in the original work and is deemed by the (fan) community to be part of the fictional world.

[2] Fandom: the community of people who are fans of a certain franchise, work or artist.

Fragility, Pride, and Historical Legacies in Isao Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies" (1988)

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

Directed and produced by Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is an animated movie telling a story of war, grief, and tragedy. During an attack on their village two children, Seita and Setsuko lose their mother. Their father is a soldier in the Japanese army, currently fighting in the Second World War, so the children decide to temporarily stay with their aunt. However, as time passes, the aunt begins to treat Seita and Setsuko as if they are unwanted intruders in her household. As a result of their relative's attitude and lack of compassion, the children proceed to run away and move in an abandoned bunker which they try to transform into a home. As the story unfolds, it portrays Seita and Setsuko's experiences while dealing with post-war reality – hunger, illnesses, and loneliness.

Many analyses focus solely on the literal historical aspects of Takahata’s film, however, I believe that for a substantial reading of the story it is crucial to consider the symbolism incorporated into it. Multiple elements included in the movie carry figurative meanings that ought to be acknowledged in order to precisely grasp the essence of the movie. For the purposes of this text, I have selected three notably prominent motives: the notion of fragility, patriotism and historical legacies, and the motive of pride. Nevertheless, it is necessary to also include a disclaimer at this point in the text – this paper is written with complete awareness that the film features multiple more distinct themes that could potentially alter interpretations discussed in further parts of the text.

Fragility

The notion of fragility is one of the most pronounced themes present in Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies, and the title itself is already a suggestion of possible interpretations and readings. As stated by Mario Vargas Llosa, “though we virtually take it for granted, the title (...) is often one of the first clues to the quality and direction of the reader’s conceptual involvement and properly should be considered integral to the frame of the work.”. Although in this statement Llosa is referring to titles of novels, I find it equally applicable in the field of film analysis. In the case of Takahata’s movie, overlooking the meaning of the title and its implications for the analysis would most likely result in degradation of the whole interpretation. To further explore this notion in a clear manner, it is vital to provide a brief explanation of the plot of fragments of Grave of the Fireflies. At the very beginning of the movie, two main characters are introduced. Seita and Setsuko, or rather their ghosts, come out of a can that is laying next to Seita’s body. They are accompanied by a swarm of fireflies. Multiple times throughout the movie, the fireflies are described as beautiful but fragile creatures; they are one of the very few beautiful things in Seita and Setsuko’s life which mostly consists of trying to escape the war and its consequences. Following this thought, as well as taking into consideration the plot of the whole movie, one can assume that the titular fireflies refer to the main characters and their struggles in Japan torn by war. Similarly to the insects, the children are fragile and cannot endure the difficulties that they have to face in their everyday fight for survival. They metaphorically light up with appropriate for their age optimism and hope for the future, and they try to fend for themselves; however, it does not last long, as the lifespan of a firefly is very short. Alike the literal light of a firefly, the figurative light glows in the children intensely yet briefly - the reality breaks Seita and Setsuko’s spirits and it weakens them physically. At some point in the movie, Setsuko asks her brother “Why do fireflies have to die so soon?” but her question is left without an answer.

Pride

Although it is not as prominently and obviously its component as the notion fragility, another important element in Grave of the Fireflies that is significant for a clear understanding of the movie is the concept of pride. This particular notion is present in various forms within the movie. First of all, pride is a sort of a catalyst for Seita to take care of his sister by himself after their mother died. Their father is in the army and Seita gets into an argument with a relative they stay with for a short time so the children end up homeless and on their own. As an older brother’s duty, Seita has to protect and take care of his little sister. He genuinely does his best to find shelter and get food for himself and Setsuko. In his efforts, he even starts stealing and he gets badly beaten up, though in front of his little sister he puts on a mask and convinces her that everything is fine. However, as time goes by and Seita does not succeed in providing food enough for both of them, Setsuko becomes malnourished and sick, and as a result, she passes away. As much as Seita tried to take care of his sister, it was his pride that firstly became the reason why they left their relative’s house. It was also pride that stopped the boy from getting real help when Setsuko got sick; instead, he claimed that as the older brother who should be able to look after his younger sibling he had the situation under control. Nevertheless, it is not clear if Seita really believed so, or it was only wishful thinking that he maintained as a coping mechanism to deal with the position the children were unable to escape.

Historical legacies

The ending scene of Grave of the Fireflies presents the third theme mentioned in the introduction which is the notion of historical legacies. Since the movie is inspired by real events that took place during the Second World War, the themes of patriotism, obligations to the state and to the society, fight for the common good, etc. are very present throughout the whole movie. However, for the sake of this article would like to focus on the ending sequence and its meaning in terms of the notion of historical legacies. In the last shot of the film, Seita and Setsuko’s ghosts can be seen peacefully sitting together on a bench on top of a hill. So far the story took place in what looked like a rather rural area of Japan - mostly small villages and fields. In this case, the setting seems to have changed quite profoundly. As Seita and Setsuko look down from the hill, the landscape on the other side appears in front of them. However, instead of seeing simple countryside scenery, it is a large city that emerges before the siblings. I find this particular scene especially relevant in the discussion about historical remembrance. The urban landscape rises on top of buildings destroyed by war, both literally and figuratively. It signifies the need to keep in mind the historical foundations that contemporary Japan is built on, but this message does not apply only to Japan. It can be seen as a suggestion for all viewers who grew up in countries that experienced military conflicts in the past to remember and respect the history of their countries because in many cases it was the ancestors’ fight for freedom, their resistance, and sacrifices that allowed for the construction of a stronger society. However, at the same time, it is also a reminder that many innocent people such as children like Setsuko and Seita lost their lives, which is undeniably a significant element of the notion of historical legacies.

Final thoughts

Being a depiction of a tragic story of two children trying to survive in a country torn by war, Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies is an example of a movie that portrays the notions of fragility, pride, and historical legacies as universal themes. Although this article offers multiple starting points for discussions regarding these topics, the three aforementioned motives are only some of many more possible perspectives that can be considered while interpreting this movie. I believe that it is crucial not only to take into account literal meanings of the symbolic elements incorporated in the movie, but also to consider their figurative, more universal significance of the components examined in this text.

References

1. Rossman, Charles, and Alan Friedman. Mario Vargas Llosa: A Collection of Critical Essays. University of Texas Press, 1978.

2. Takahata, Isao. Grave of the Fireflies. Studio Ghibli, 1988.

Additional materials:

1. Interview with Isao Takahata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRl0sjwx5Ac.

2. A short story by Akuyuki Nosaka: Nosaka, Akiyuki. "A Grave of Fireflies." Japan Quarterly 25.4 (1978): 445.

Climate Change: a reality creating plastic seas. True or false?

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

Climate change: a topic dominating everyday discussions worldwide. In fact, THE topic of the present day. But first things first: What is Climate Change? Is it real or “fake news”? How will it affect our daily lives? Too many questions, not enough time. As a natural science student, I feel that the perception of this topic is a bit different when compared with ‘normal people’. Here, I propose to lead you through the story of Climate change, through my perspective. We’ll look deep into what it is Climate Change, the real risks on our ecosystems, what has been done to fight it and, lastly, which alternatives to secure the future of our planet could be taken.

Introduction - Hello my name is...

Contrarily to what most think, Global warming and the so feared Greenhouse effect are natural processes occurring throughout the eras. Periods of extreme heat followed by ice ages happened multiple times. However, what makes the present warming period different from all the rest is that this one is aggravated by us, humans. Its inevitability is almost undeniable, but the rate at which it occurs could have been mediated, controlled. 

In essence, Climate Change is a broad concept, not definable per se, but explained by a set of alterations related to the climate. Among them, ozone depletion over Antarctica; increase of the sea level, of the CO2 or methane emissions, of the global mean temperature; mass extinction of several species all over the world and moreover, extreme climatic calamities (hurricanes, fires or floods). 

Naturally, humans in general tend to consider themselves as the most intelligent beings, the ones upper in the food chain, the most powerful ones. Therefore, all resources should always be available to be explored in any way. However, this is not how it works; the planet Earth is the home of countless species: animals, plants, fungi, and infinite bacteria. The coexistence of us all is fundamental for the equilibrium of the ecosystems and the ability to share the same environments for distinct resourced must be achieved.  

What have we done? And mostly, what can we still do?

Regarding the ozone depletion over Antarctica, several measures were taken in the last decade. For instance, efficient use of energy, the 3R’s strategy – reduce, reuse and recycle – and the decrease of aerosols use. Fortunately, the damage of the ozone layer in the stratosphere was partially reversed. On the other hand, all the other consequences are yet to be solved, and by each passing day, the severity of them tends to rise.      

The increase in sea level comes as a direct consequence of the increase in global temperature. The glaciers are melting and species such as polar bears, sea lions, seals are struggling to survive in a changing environment. Not only the lack of physical land to inhabit is a threat to their survival, but also the absence of prey limits their existence. Therefore, there is a need to explore other territories, compromising their own survival. An example is a polar bear found in Siberia in June 2019 [1] which was weak and undernourished. Another perspective of the same side of the coin is the disruption of the balance of salt/freshwater and the accumulation of carbon dioxide within seawater. As known, the sea is the major regulator of the air and its associated characteristics, molecules, temperature, humidity. Most of the toxic compounds released by human activities such as industry, cars, intensive farming, and livestock units are captured to the sea. This is an apparently irrelevant function of the sea, however with catastrophic consequences. Marine life is being highly damaged by this unbalance: part of the existing corals is irreversibly lost and, similarly to what happens inland, the species must adapt to new, more favourable environments, thus, there is a migration process linked with these changes (usually towards the North). When we associate the salt/freshwater disturbance, the accumulation of CO2, and the increase of water temperature with an intense fishing activity and not enough laws or plans to protect the wildlife, it is clear that these ecosystems are being over explored and disturbed in a way which the consequences are yet to be fully understood. 

On top of all, humans still choose to dispose of their waste in the wrong places. Unfortunately, sooner or later, everything ends up in the ocean, and not only fishes but also birds, turtles, and other invertebrates are affected. Activities from illegal washing of oil tanks on the open sea or discarding of untreated residues from factories into rivers to dropping of cigarette tips on the floor or the overuse of non-reusable plastic are avoidable. Currently, there is a plastic island laying on the Pacific Ocean and that is not even the worst problem. The microplastics ‘swimming’ around the ocean are undetectable by the human eye, however, very hazardous to marine life.  

Solutions are needed! In fact, various alternatives are already in place. They can be consumer-directed, such as the use of personal metal straws, the sale of toothpaste without an involving card box, bulk selling or the fee applied for plastics bags in supermarkets. Even changes in the daily diet, by decreasing the ingestion of meat and fish, replacing them by vegetables or other substitutes, already compromises livestock units, which are responsible for the release of methane, a ‘toxic’ molecule, to the atmosphere. But large-scale approaches are also being used worldwide. Recently, a team of students improved a bacterium, Ideonella sakaiensis, reported in 2016, able to turn plastic into water by a two-step reaction [2;3]. Boyan Slat, a Dutch young inventor, who at the age of 18 started the company Ocean Cleanup, aiming to eliminate plastic pollution by 70% on the Pacific Ocean by 2025. Basically, it consists of a pipeline on the surface of the sea, seen from above, moving with the natural currents. Underneath there is a ‘skirt’ that traps the plastic [4]. In Copenhagen, there is a facility that, among several actions, burns out the waste from the city and converts it to electric energy, powering several households – Copenhill [5]. Furthermore, there are numerous brands trying to act sustainably and transforming waste into new products [6-10] or using more sustainable raw materials or biodegradable plastics, for instance, created in massive bioreactors.  

Conclusion - take your own responsibility

It is more and more essential for each of us to take responsibility into our own hands and change the little things in our day-to-day life. A small change by each of us means 7 billion small changes… If we don’t act fast, the ‘blue planet’ maybe a little less colourful. We are still on time to reverse the effects described above, either by valuing waste, i.e. convert waste materials into more useful products including chemicals or fuels, by using ‘greener’ energy sources, by changing our eating and shopping habits, or overall, by being more conscious about our ecological footprint. 

References

1. https://www.publico.pt/2019/06/19/p3/noticia/urso-polar-exausto-avistado-siberia-percorrer-centenas-quilometros-1876921 [Accessed at 06.11.2019]

2. https://www.popsci.com/plastic-eating-bacteria/ [Accessed at 06.11.2019]

3. https://www.ubergizmo.com/2019/06/scientists-bioengineer-bacteria-eat-plastic-turn-to-water/ [Accessed at 06.11.2019]

4. https://time.com/5389782/boyan-slat-plastic-ocean-cleanup/ [Accessed at 06.11.2019]

5. https://www.archdaily.com/925966/copenhill-the-story-of-bigs-iconic-waste-to-energy-plant [Accessed at 06.11.2019]

6. https://www.zouri-shoes.com/

7. https://delphiseco.com/

8. https://www.macrebur.com/

9. https://www.econyl.com/

10. https://www.rizboardshorts.com/

Birds of a Feather: How TV Fandoms End up as Twitter Echo Chambers

Disclaimer: The contents and opinions of this blog post do not represent the views or values of Honours Review as a publication.

In today’s social media dominated world, platforms like Twitter are not only there to allow users to express themselves in 280 characters. On a scale achievable only by a multi-billion company, people can now turn to tweeting as a way of connecting over-shared preferences for their favourite media, with television emerging as the winner. Here is where we see the emergence of a golden rule: fans of the same TV programs prefer opinions which support their own (4). This phenomenon, known as opinion homophily or echo chambers, deserves attention as the number of fandoms increases in this triumphant TV era of content streaming platforms like Netflix. But why exactly do TV fandoms on Twitter have a tendency to form homophilic echo chambers? 

The Power of Hashtags

Perhaps the most apparent link between online fandoms and homophily is the way Twitter’s technological affordances – the media platform’s characteristics determining what users can and cannot do – make it easy for TV fans to connect with similarly-minded people. Functions such as likes, retweets and mentions allow fans to start a friendly chat with a fellow fan whose opinions they find agreeable (10). What’s more, some affordances can be used to broaden online interactions from dialogues into conversations by involving other fandom members. A like or a retweet is limited to displaying individual support of a Twitter message. Referring to someone by their @username, however, invites responses not only from the mentioned user, but also from the fan audience as a whole (3). As fans seek out similarly-oriented comments within these responses to reassure themselves in their opinions, fandom echo chambers are created. 

Twitter’s filtering tools, like hashtags and user-blocking, also allow fans to avoid opinions they know they would disagree with. As a result, the hashtag as a keyword-filtering feature often ends up polarising the fandom by visibly dividing it into fan armies defending their favourite TV couples or characters. Twitter discourse on the show Game of Thrones, for example, is visibly divided into supporters of the main characters who might end up on the coveted Iron Throne. Name-based hashtags – #DaenerysTargaryen, #JonSnow and #NightKing – trend on Twitter like clockwork every time a new episode is aired, with their respective supporters largely ignoring the content marked by the other side’s hashtag. Additionally, according to research by Bruns and Burgess (1), hashtags can cultivate homophily within themselves as the top opinions can become known and followed fandom-wide. Isolating themselves even further, some Twitter users also remove the potential for others to directly speak against their views: taking advantage of the “increased control given to consumers by the new media” (4), fans can actively block their opposition to form uninterrupted echo chambers. 

Friend or Follower?

Beyond technological features, user-constructed social networks on Twitter are the backbone of discourse spaces where fan opinions can be expressed unopposed. Research suggests that users primarily use social media to maintain real-life friendships and only secondarily to generate new ones (8). This implies that an individual’s fandom related activities are often witnessed first by their close acquaintances. Receiving agreement or even a simple lack of counter-arguments from their “inner circle” then provides a sense of approval to the fan, empowering them to spread their views to the rest of the fandom. Thus, friendship bonds contribute to the creation of personal online echo chambers.

The social ties between members of TV fandoms can range from personal to anonymous as fans impose an opinion to be echoed by their followers. These followers are people who have chosen to see the fan’s every post, retweet and mention in their timelines. Accordingly, the fan’s mental perception of them becomes the individual’s “imagined audience” which does not necessarily represent the actual reality (6). In fact, investigations like Litt and Hargittai’s 2016 study have revealed that online social media users commonly imagine their audience simply as “people who they thought would like or agree with their posts” (5). This perceived lack of opposition leads many TV fans to format their opinions as if they are the only valid ones, inviting online homophily. 

Echoes Across Time and Space

With friends, followers or alone, the immediacy of viewing a beloved TV show as it is broadcasted and simultaneously commenting about it via Twitter often leads to reactive homophily among live-watching fans. Multitasking by using a phone or computer while watching TV, known as second-screen viewing (9), results in many fandom tweets being posted while the episode is airing. These emotionally charged reactions frequently exhibit echo chamber properties, since shows are constructed to broadly evoke certain emotions, such as excitement or shock, in every viewer. Thus, increased Twitter user agreement is likely, compared to the diversity of informed opinions between fans who watch and comment after the initial airing of the episode. Additionally, the fandom being more present on Twitter while the show is “live” distributes user attention unevenly. The trending or initially most popular opinions are favoured, threatening to overshadow any alternative perspectives added later on (11).

Interestingly, TV lovers in close physical proximity, although connected in the global media space of Twitter, often still gravitate towards each other to form regional fan groups (7). As this shared characteristic becomes another bond between them, such communities are especially vulnerable to becoming echo chambers. Besides geocultural similarities drawn upon when constructing opinions, there is also the social pressure to fit in among peers by not opposing the dominant perspective of the group. This effect increases when a shared language, other than the ever-present English, is used to communicate within the cluster of fans, acting as an additional isolating barrier between their opinions and those in other languages (2).

Conclusion

In the end, the opinion homophily of Twitter TV fan communities appears to be a multi-step process. Firstly, the platform provides built-in tools, like hashtags, for fans to connect and distance themselves from other opinions. Secondly, the fans’ social networks and imagined audiences influence the presentation of their views as ones to be echoed. Finally, differences in time and space invite fans to interact in environments favourable to homophily. 

References:

1. Bruns, A., & Burgess, J. (2012). Researching news discussion on Twitter. Journalism Studies, 13(5/6), 801–814. https://doi-org.proxy-ub.rug.nl/10.1080/1461670X.2012.664428 

2. Hale, S. (2012). Net increase? Cross-lingual linking in the blogosphere. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(2), 135-151. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01568.x

3. Hemsley, J., Stromer-Galley, J., Semaan, B., & Tanupabrungsun, S. (2018). Tweeting to the target: Candidates’ use of strategic messages and @Mentions on Twitter. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 15(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2017.1338634

4. Karlsen, R., Steen-Johnsen, K., Wollebæk, D., & Enjolras, B. (2017). Echo chamber and trench warfare dynamics in online debates. European Journal of Communication, 32(3), 257-273. doi:10.1177/0267323117695734

5. Litt, E., & Hargittai, E. (2016). The imagined audience on social network sites. Social Media and Society, 2(1), 1-12. doi:10.1177/2056305116633482 

6. Marwick, A., & Boyd, D. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13(1), 114-133. doi:10.1177/1461444810365313

7. Takhteyev, Y., Gruzd, A., & Wellman, B. (2012). Geography of twitter networks. Social Networks, 34(1), 73-81. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2011.05.006

8. Vallor, S. (2012). Flourishing on Facebook: Virtue friendship & new social media. Ethics and Information Technology, 14(3), 185-199. doi:10.1007/s10676-010-9262-2

9. Van Cauwenberge, A., Schaap, G., & van Roy, R. (2014). “TV no longer commands our full attention”: Effects of second-screen viewing and task relevance on cognitive load and learning from news. Computers in Human Behavior, 38, 100-109. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.021

10. Young-shin, L., & Lee-Won, R.J. (2017). When retweets persuade: The persuasive effects of dialogic retweeting and the role of social presence in organizations’ Twitter-based communication. Telematics and Informatics, 34(5), 422-433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.09.003.

11. Zubiaga, A., Spina, D., Martínez, R., & Fresno, V. (2015). Real-time classification of Twitter trends. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 66(3), 462-473. doi:10.1002/asi.23186.