Female performers: From Beyoncé to Franziska Van Almsick

[…] “You ought to be stronger”. Strength, here is figured as flexibility rather than rigidity; instead of preventing bad things from happening, you are optimally prepared to meet any and all challenges.[…] (James 78). Moreover, you ought to be stronger, super sexy, self-confident, smart and a sweet doll…

By discussing an example from the music industry and the sports industry we will try to analyze how femininity, sensuality and erotism have been used as powerful tools for value generation,  starting with Beyoncé and her performative body and followed by the German swimmer Franziska Van Almsick and her “inner strength”.

Beyoncé

Robin James sketches a short history of feminine subjectivity. He talks about a “shift from security-thinking to resilience thinking, [and] from classical white supremacist patriarchy to MRWaSP [Multi-racial White Supremacist Patriarchy]” (79). The oldest definition of femininity entailed fragility, and Beyoncé - though subjective - is definitely not fragile in her videoclip “Drunk in Love”. She flirts with the camera and seems determine. It is then important that this resilience is seen, in other words: “performed for others” (91). By looking directly at the viewer, Beyoncé challenges the male gaze (Mulvey) since she has to be seen overcoming his look (109). James concludes from this that “she has transformed this performance from a damaging to an empowering experience” (110). Yet, we would like to argue that women are affected by the male gaze from birth and although you may have the illusion of overcoming that look, there is no real way to do so.

Simone de Beauvoir describes male/female relations in her book The Second Sex (1946) and states that the man is always the norm and thus self-evident. The woman is ‘The Other’. In the videoclip of “Drunk in Love” by Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z the female pop singer is scantily clad, looks directly into the camera while making sensual movements and sexually tempts the viewer. When Jay-Z finally appears, he is completely dressed and immediately takes on a dominant form. This is where we reach a significant argument of De Beauvoir: women will always portray a sexual being and since there is no group feeling among women of different classes and races, women are complicit to their own submission and are accepting men as the norm (12). Beyoncé seems to portray exactly the image De Beauvoir is describing in her videoclip, yet in real life she is known to be a strong, independent woman and a good role model for young girls. In an interview in 2008 when she just got married to rapper Jay-Z, she stated that “You make sure you have your own life, before you’re someone else’s wife”. This statement, though it seems to be progressive, actually implies that her submission to the man in “Drunk in Love” is her own conscious choice.

            Judith Butler uses Foucaultian theory to claim that we create our identity in the act of performing it. This statement implies the following: “That the gendered body is performative and suggests that it has no ontological status apart from the various acts which constitute reality” (Butler 136). In the videoclip “Drunk in Love” the female subject is produced as “female”, since jewellery, make-up, long hair, and nudity is often associated with ‘being female’. Beyoncé’s body is also emphasized since the camera uses close-up shots of her sensual movements, making it again painfully clear that the identity of Beyoncé is related to the surface of her body. Starting from Butler’s theory that identity is formed through performativity, Beyoncé is indeed a strong, independent woman in her career, whereas that is a completely different self than the image she sketches in her performances.

           

 At this point, we would like to bring the sports industry into the discussion. This industry is different from the music industry since it is essentially non-aesthetic (apart from some specific sports), but likewise a powerful attractor to mass media.

Franziska Van Almsick

          

For a long time, the Olympic Games were reserved exclusively for men.  It was until 1900 in Paris that the International Committee allowed women to participate. Notwithstanding, only 22 of 975 were women, who participated in tennis, croquet, sail and golf. Women´s presence in those games were a society polemic mainly in sectors with societal influence as writers and politicians whom rejected the women´s sports practice as consider it “an inappropriate activity from the aesthetic perspective, unsafe for their health and with destabilizing effects for their social role as housewives” (Alfaro 143).  At the London Olympics in 2012, women are 45% of the total athletes and for the first time all the registered nations have at least one woman as part of the country's delegation.

How then do we bring “Doll Power” into this discussion? Let us take a look at Franziska Van Almsick, a German swimmer and 10 times Olympic medallist. Part of her fame is due to the German unification in 1992 when she became the symbol of the reunited country. In 1993, she was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine. Franziska Van Almsick was the perfect example of the “extreme” requirement to be athletic, fun, thin, beautiful, multi-talented and powerful. Her femininity, her strength and good looks were key aspects for a solid advertising campaign.

This German swimmer, whose official website bears the slogan: "More than a Great Swimmer," told the world she warmed up for races by having sex -- preferably in the pool. The strategy of making her intimacies shared-public absolutely worked and as a consequence, 1993 was a super-awarded year for her. Digital technologies like the internet were thus significant for commercial success. More advertising campaigns followed, like when Van Almsick posed in a somewhat revealing outfit several times for Maxim Germany. "Franziska does not have anything against erotic photos. It has already some given [sic], e.g. in MAXIM magazine." This is a good example to briefly understand the concept resilience and how it can capitalize a “latent” damage into ways of generation of surplus value for MRWasP and neoliberal capitalism. Resilience makes women marketable sexually (as femme), ethically (as “good”) and commercially (as productive laborers). Resilience is uniquely tailored to maximize women's productivity for neoliberal capitalism (James 86-7).

We can appreciate in sport industry “the recent proliferation of hyper-sexualised female behaviour as the result of contemporary mass-mediated representations” (McGee 231), Van Almsick is just one example of those athletes who own strength, power and a “wide open-mind” to share intimacies. 

At the end, both singers or swimmers intersect in the industry-fabricated female empowerment through such heavily mediated representations of eroticism, hybridity, and an exoticised sexuality (McGee 231). Apparently it does not matter if it is inside a videoclip viewed millions of times or in an Olympic facility through its proper advertising-communication media extensions.

Statement

Female performers wish to give the impression that they are free from the male gaze, yet they affirm “the other” as the norm in their performances. #Beyoncé #VanAlmsick

Works Cited

Alfaro, Elida. Revista de educación. Educación y deporte, no. 335 (2004): 143 https://books.google.nl/books?id=AYpngIUqQtQC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=De+Coubertin+oposici%C3%B3n+a+mujeres&source=bl&ots=8uGKYl2_PD&sig=XIadONeB0v1tAX9Hc9gqc7D9uNI&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBGoVChMI8vPbx_aWyAIVR7gaCh01aw7M#v=onepage&q=De%20Coubertin%20oposici%C3%B3n%20a%20mujeres&f=false

Beyoncé. The Oprah Winfrey Show, 13 November 2008:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9TCRJkBhI (accessed 1 april 2015). Web.

De Beauvoir, Simone. De Tweede Sekse: Feiten, Mythen en Geleefde Werkelijkheid. Utrecht: Bijleveld, 1949. Print.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. NY: Routledge, 1990. Print.

James, Robin. "Look, I Overcame!" Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism. Zero Books: 78-124. Print.

           McGee, K. A. (2012). Orientalism and Erotic Multiculturalism in Popular Culture: From Princess Rajah to the Pussycat Dolls. Music, Sound and the Moving Image, 6: 2(Autumn), 209 - 238.

Nowak, Rapaël. (2014), “Understanding Everyday Uses of Music Technologies in the Digital Age”. Andy Bennett & Brady Robards (eds.). Mediated Youth Cultures: The Internet, Belonging and New Cultural Configurations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 146-161. Print.

Initials: RO, GK, AL.

Life in plastic, is it fantastic?

Few toys have had as much fame as the world renowned Barbie, which began to sell its dolls in 1959 and eventually became a multi-billion dollar industry that gradually started selling more than just dolls. In the age of industrial convergence that brings together various collaborations and merging among industries, Barbie has succeeded in entering numerous areas of sale and merchandizing by creating its own TV series, movies, songs on Itunes, comics, games, apps, magazines, perfume, clothing, make-up and more.[1] Moreover Barbie does not only create dolls from their own creative imagination but also works together with numerous fashion designers, famous artists, Blockbuster movie franchises, popular TV series and even remakes iconic figures in history; needless to say, she’s got it all! But despite this tactic of “total marketing” where almost everything imaginable is being either merchandised or sold, Mattel still reports that Barbie’s sales have been dropping for a third consecutive year. However, recent online trends have begun to put Barbie in the social media spotlight, which could result in a resurgence of profit and popularity for our beloved doll. [2]                                      

This essay seeks to analyze Barbie’s position on the market from the angle of an industry that practically reached the limits of industrial convergence yet still greatly depends on its audience, and eventually argues that (short term) popularity on social media is not likely to be the answer for providing long term consumer interest or profit for its products.  

Factors of decline

To begin to understand Barbie’s current dilemma one should first look at some of the factors that are causing the drop in sales for an industry that has almost entirely submerged itself in industrial convergence. Part of the reason for a decline in sales is that studies have shown a shift in the interests of young female age groups; girls feel more mature sooner thus shifting Barbie’s previous main focus group from age 3-9 to 6-9. A second reason comes down to the company receiving much public criticism in the media on Barbie’s unrealistic proportions and argue its long term effects on creating a negative body image and low self-esteem in young girls. A third reason is also stiff competition with many new kinds of dolls including the way Disney,  that is known for industry convergence and extensive marketing, is selling its princess dolls based on its movies, ultimately having beaten Barbie in doll sales after creating dolls based on the movie Frozen.

                                                Barbie’s unrealistic proportions

The New Audience

The use of “narrativization” of dolls by making them part of a story, imaginary universe or in this case popular movies appeals to children and invites participation, probably explaining part of the success of Frozen dolls. Barbie has already experimented with this in the past albeit differently, by creating dolls affiliated with popular (adult) movies such as Lord of the Rings, the Wizard of Oz and Titanic. [3] Barbie dolls are currently being marketed to two different types of audiences; the first one being that of little girls who follow Barbie movies or series and intend to play with their dolls, and secondly the older group of Barbie collectors who collect older and more expensive dolls and is motivated by the notion of having a collection.  

     

             Barbie in Lord of the Rings                                   Barbie as Rose in Titanic

A new kind of upcoming audience for Barbie narrativation is that of social media users who intend to use or alter Barbie’s storyline for their own purposes. It has become a trend among certain social media users to use Barbie dolls to create their own storylines, cross different doll storylines and even re-create famous videos by artists on unofficial Youtube channels, all straying away from Mattel’s narrative of Barbie. In one specific case a photographer used Barbie  and created an online sensation by putting her in the role of “Hipster Barbie” which was originally an attempt to mock and criticize people’s excessive use of “overdone social media shots” Instagram,  which ultimately led to over 240.000 followers of her channel.

Taylor Swift in Shake it off (2014)

        Barbie as Taylor Swift in Shake it off 

The narrative strategy in these new types of Barbie users can be considered “spreadability” since it also implies that fans create their own narrative for Barbie on social media and share it, consequently starting the trend that encourages other users, which is unlikely to have been something Mattel intentionally wanted to create. [4] When looking at Mattel’s initial focus groups, it becomes evident that these would be more prone towards “drillability” which is more inclined to focus on the deepening and exploration of the existing narratives or storyline.[5] The first group of 3-6 year olds would be too young to spread their own narratives on social media or with other doll-lovers, therefore being more likely to following Barbie’s movie narratives and simply want to have all the characters to play with. The second group of mature doll collectors would focus on delving deeper into the existing narratives to be able to create complete collections; members from this last group rarely intend on playing with the dolls, since the very idea of taking collectable dolls out of their boxes is practically considered sacrilege.[6]            

                                                                             

The new type of audience has the advantage of increasing the popularity of Barbie by its use of creativity in creating narratives and its willingness to spread it online. But whether this new type of audience for Barbie creates a new target group for merchandising that could help Mattel cope with their drop in sales with the help by of viral Youtube videos and social Media is questionable and even doubtful. The reason for this has to do with the very nature of the so-called “viral” trend and its audience; they don’t last forever. [7] Viral videos become popular because of aspects that make them different or new at the time, but when the concepts from the videos become popular or start being copied by more people it loses its novelty and originality and people move on to find the next trend, which is by very definition fleeting.

Conclusion

As was mentioned in this essay, Barbie’s multibillion dollar position on the market is facing difficulty due to the shifts in target groups, tough competition and criticism from society. Barbie’s place in the spotlight of social media as part of the viral trend of making one’s own narrative does increase spreadability and popularity for Barbie in a totally new audience, but since trends are transitory the nature of this new audience is unstable, ultimately resulting in popularity that is by no means a durable or dependable source to help restore Barbie’s fading numbers on the long run.

Thesis statement: The use of fleeting viral trends as a means to compensate for declining sales or generating long term strategies to increase product profit cannot work.

L.O. G.K. R.O. A.L

Sources:

‘A challenge to Barbie’ (2003) on http://www.economist.com/node/1719558 on 18-09-2015.

‘Barbie Dethroned in NRF’s Top Toys Survey as Disney’s Frozen Takes the Crown (2014) on https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/barbie-dethroned-nrfs-top-toys-survey-disneys- frozen-takes-the-crown 17-09-2015. 

‘Barbie's Proportions On A Real Woman Are Mildly Terrifying’ (2012) on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/barbie-real-woman-proportions-mildly-terrifying_n_1749204.html 16-09-2015.

Edmond, M., ‘Here We Go Again: Music Videos after YouTube’ in Television New Media (2012) pp. 306-322.

‘Hipster Barbie mocks Instagram users’ (2015) on http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/10/travel/hipster-barbie-instagram/ 14-09-2015.

Johnson, D., ‘Cinematic Destiny: Marvel Studios and the Trade Stories of Industrial Convergence’ in Cinema Journal, (Vol. 52, Fall 2012) pp. 1-24.

‘Mattel’Barbie sales down for a third consecutive year’ (2015) on http://fortune.com/2015/01/30/mattels-   barbie-sales-drop-third-year/  19-09-2015.

Smith, A., Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the digital age (Massachusetts 2011, conference paper) pp. 1-20.

---

[1] D. Johnson, ‘Cinematic Destiny: Marvel Studios and the Trade Stories of Industrial Convergence’ in Cinema Journal, (Vol. 52, Fall 2012) pp. 1-24; 1.

[2] Although we are objectively discussing Barbie, we admit that it was our childhood toy growing up. 

[3] A. Smith, Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the digital age (Massachusetts 2011,   conference paper) pp. 1-20; 1,5.

[4] Ibidem 1.

[5] Ibidem 1-2.

[6] Ibidem 7.

[7] M. Edmond., ‘Here We Go Again: Music Videos after YouTube’ in Television New Media (2012) pp. 306-322; 306.

To Cosmopolitanism… And Beyond!

The association between NASA, Disney-Pixar and brand identity

On May 31, 2008 Buzz Lightyear left Earth in the space shuttle STS-124 and he returned 450 days later in the STS-128. The 12-inch action figure, who is an original Disney-Pixar character from the Toy Story trilogy, was aboard the ISS (International Space Station) for over a year which makes the fictional astronaut “the longest serving toy in space” (Alers par. 1). In the following essay we will look at media convergence, synergistic processes, and pop cosmopolitanism in relation to the collaboration between NASA and Disney-Pixar and the consequences of their association.

Media convergence, according to Michael Latzer, entails “the blurring of the traditional demarcation between telecommunications and the mass media” (123). In May 2006 Pixar Animation Studios merged with The Walt Disney Company, making it possible for Disney-Pixar to create digital animation in films such as Frozen (2013). This was a logical form of industry convergence, since such an alliance requires adaptation and innovation  (128). In our case study NASA’s functionality and practical technology is placed in one frame with the fashion industry and the film industry, and moreover is funded by the US government and has consequences for global education. Disney is a prime example of a media conglomerate that uses industry convergence to combine film production with merchandizing, travel and theme parks. NASA used the space suit of Disney-Pixar’s character Buzz Lightyear as a model of their Z-1 prototype, which will actually be used when astronauts go to Mars in the future. Because of the resemblance with the image of Buzz Lightyear in popular culture, the suit scored 63 percent on aesthetic appeal. Disney-Pixar is therefore able to extend its brand identity indirectly into the fashion industry.

In “Maximizing Value: Economic and Cultural Synergies” Nathan Vaughan presents “an analysis of synergistic processes within Hollywood production and circulation” (169) and states that the American government supports Hollywood exports on global markets in order to protect the domestic film industry (173). Vaughan starts from the idea of a global media marketplace, which is a notion that Henry Jenkins uses when explaining pop cosmopolitanism. Disney-Pixar uses NASA for its own synergy or merchandizing in two ways which tend to collide: the material object / action figure that was sent to space (economic synergy) and the selling of an experience (cultural synergy). The boundaries between these two forms of synergy start to fade, which will ultimately make horizontal integration (where different media platforms work together while owned by a single corporation) easier.

As stated above, Jenkins builds upon this notion of a global market and introduces pop cosmopolitanism as embracing “global popular media [which] represent[s] an escape route out of the parochialism of local communit[ies]” (152).  He states that the American hold of the world-wide entertainment industry is decreasing in recent years with the emergence of for instance Asian films and TV series, yet we would like to argue that through the collaboration with NASA, Disney-Pixar is able to shift from Americanization to globalization. Internally Disney-Pixar is also trying to apply to a global audience, for instance by changing the ethnicity and names of their characters such as San-Fran Tokyo in Big Hero 6. Furthermore, they do not wish to eliminate local differences, but rather acknowledge them in order to gain a competitive advantage on the global market. For instance, in Inside Out (2015) Disney-Pixar changed several scenes in the international versions of the film to appeal to foreign audiences. In one scene toddler Riley refuses to eat broccoli, which is the stereotypical vegetable that is hated by children all over the United States. Yet, in Japan the broccoli is replaced by green bell peppers (Acuna, par. 3), because that vegetable is more likely to be disliked in Asia. Another example is when a hockey match is changed into different sports games such as soccer for European audiences. There are many more scenes that entail such changes, and other studios like Marvel apply the same strategy, which on the one hand feeds into Jenkins’ notion of celebrating local differences but on the other hand goes against it since the distributor is still American and there is little influx from other parts of the world.

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is a government agency in the United States that enables research and occupies the space program. It is funded by the government with about one percent of the federal budget. In 2015, NASA received a little over eighteen billion American dollars from Congress (Clark, par. 1). Disney-Pixar and NASA collaborated in developing new educational activities and lesson plans by sending Buzz Lightyear to space. There are, for example, online games to play and bonus segments on the DVD’s. “All these activities are designed to encourage young people to pursue their dreams and develop an interest in exploration and discovery” (Severance, par. 2). This association makes sense since the government is indirectly funding educational programs, but it also participates in the synergy of Disney-Pixar and spreading their brand identity over the world.

In short, we have analyzed an example in which Disney-Pixar has distributed its own brand identity in three ways: first, by collaborating with NASA and their educational programs; second, by influencing NASA’s fashion department; and third, by adjusting the content of their films to distinct national cultures. It is an interesting phenomenon that one conglomerate in the cultural industries can indirectly influence government funding, public education, and even the space program. This development makes us wonder to what extent one corporation can hold power over other companies or agencies within industries other than the cultural sphere, and whether or not this is process or decay.

Thesis statement: Disney-Pixar aims at global brand identity through collaboration with government agencies and acknowledging cultural differences #BuzzLightyear #NASA #InsideOut #Moenandar

Works Cited

Acuna, Kirsten. “Why Pixar Changed Several Scenes in ‘Inside Out’ for Foreign Audiences” Business Insider, 2015. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.

Alers, Paul E. “Buzz Lightyear at Air and Space” www.nasa.gov. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.

Clark, Stephen. “NASA gets Budget Hike in Spending Bill Passed by Congress” Space Flight Now, 2014. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.

Janet, Murdock, Graham, Sousa, Helena (Eds.). The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell (2011): 169-186. Print.

Jenkins, H. “Pop Cosmopolitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence” in: Fans Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: UP (2006): 152-172. Print.

Latzer, Michael. “Media Convergence” in: Towse, Ruth, Handke, Christian (Eds.). Handbook of the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (2013): 123-133. Print.

Severance, Mark T. “ISS Science for Everyone” www.nasa.gov (2015). Web. 07 Sept. 2015.

Vaughan, Nathan. “Maximizing Value: Economic and Cultural Synergies” in: Wasko, 



Initials: R.O., L.O., G.K., A.L.

Stretching discourses

The quarrel between Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards are dominated by the on stage beef between Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus. After winning an award for Best Hip-Hop video – which seemed quite irrelevant – Minaj started calling out the host of the evening, or Miley Cyrus a.k.a. bitch. Thus Cyrus responded: “We’re all in this industry, we all do interviews, and we all know how they manipulate shit. Nicki, congratu-fucking-lations.”

            Cyrus is referring to (and blaming) the industry as instigator of the quarrel. The question that arises here is whether she is talking about the music industry or media industries in general. According to scholar Jonathan Sterne the music industry doesn’t exist, so that may give rise to some problems. Sterne hereby draws on the work of Christopher Small arguing that “To understand music as an industrial phenomenon goes far beyond those industries directly involved with the sale of recordings” (Sterne 52). Sterne advocates a concept called music industries, which “will allow us to develop more robust and coherent social accounts of music as a media practice” (50). Miley Cyrus – consciously or unconsciously – left out the key word namely music, thus starting this discussion on the discursive boundaries of the industry she’s in.

 The term music industries is only useful if the musical text is decentralized as the basis of music criticism (Sterne 50). A musical text is considered to be all kinds of remediation of a live performance.  Not only is this true for the music industry and the musical text, the same applies to all other media. Krämer and Bredekamp argue that “the ‘textualization’ of culture has reached its limits. By transgressing those boundaries, the concept of culture assumes new contours” (Krämer 24). Thereby providing “a stronger empirical basis for criticizing current institutional arrangements (…)” (Sterne 50).

The two main theoretical approaches in this field of research are considered to be political economy and cultural studies (Fenton 8). “Critical political economy sets out to show how different ways of financing and organising cultural production have traceable consequences for the range of discourses and representations in the public domain (…)” (Fenton 11). Or, as Miley puts it, media institutions and the people that control them have the power to manipulate shit.

Cultural studies on the other hand assume that “conceptions of power have a tendency to be rooted in individual subjectivities , their identities and collective action (…)” (Fenton 8). This notion marks a return to Hall’s encoding/decoding model (Havens 244). Which explains that the meaning of a media message arises from the interpretation of the receiver. In other words, the receiver decodes the message which gives it a certain meaning. In this sense the media didn’t manipulate her, Nicki Minaj simply decoded the aforementioned interview with Miley Cyrus in the New York Times in a negative way.

            Recently scholars accept the benefits of each approach resulting in critical media industries studies. These studies combine critical political economy and cultural studies by arguing that: “(…) audiences do engage in interpretation but that interpretation is subject to the denotative structure of the text. In this manner, ideology remains a crucial reference point(Fenton 18).” Or as stated by Havens et al. “the way in which institutional discourses are internalized and acted upon by cultural workers” (Havens 247).

            Media scholarship is mostly based on discursive analysis. This applies to critical political economy, cultural studies and critical media industries studies. According to Havens et al. cultural studies are focussed on textual discursive analysis and audience reception, but this approach is not sufficient whilst doing critical media industries research. They aim to “recuperate the analysis of discourse, in the Foucauldian sense, as the formation of knowledge (and thus power)” (Havens 247). To do so scholars should frame their research on a helicopter level view, which entails examining the micropolitics of institutional operation and production practices (Havens 238).

            Theoretically this should fill the niche between political economy and cultural studies. Research in this area is easier said than done though. Media nowadays converged into one giant medium, which branches out in many different fields. If we look at the VMA example, we see that media and media industries are all intertwined. Nicki Minaj brings out a song, with that song comes a video, people say stuff about Nicki or the video to the press, this leads to a quarrel on television, because the quarrel is filmed it also lands on youtube or else the internet and so on and so on. One could argue that Nicki Minaj herself is a media industry and the same goes for Miley Cyrus and every other popular personality.

            The fact that one person can behold a whole industry shows that discursive analysis on music industry or any other media industry is impossible, the discourse simply stretches out to much. Scholarship should as stated analyse on stroke of the discourse, but one stroke may still entail too much information. Nicki Minaj can be considered as a branch in the music industry, but as shown above her persona alone unfolded an entire discourse which can be divided in different operations and practices.

            When researching media industries from a critical media industries perspective, using a helicopter level kind of view might still be too broad. This has to with the convergence of media and the fact that media industries under the influence of this convergence are horizontally integrated, meaning that they stretch out to almost every medium available. Consequently, stretching the concerned discourse and creating a huge research field.

Bibliography

Timothy Havens, Aamanda D. Lotz & Serra Tinic (2009), ‘Critical Media Industry Studies: A Research Approach’, in: Communication, Culture & Critique 2, pp. 234-253.

Sybille Krämer & Horst Bredekamp (2013), ‘Culture, Technology, Cultural Techniques – Moving Beyond Text’, in: Theory, Culture & Society 30 (6), pp. 20-29.

Natalie Fenton (2007), ‘Bridging the Mythical Divide: Political Economy and Cultural Studies Approaches to the Analysis of the Media', in: Eoin Devereux (ed.), Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates. London: SAGE, pp. 7-31.

Jonathan Sterne (2014), ‘There Is No Music Industry’, in: Media Industries Journal 1 (1), pp. 50-55.

Thesis statement: Miley Cyrus – obviously smarter than she looks – starts discussion on the discursive analysis within critical media industries studies #Moenander @RU

Initials: 

RO, LO, GK, AL