Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

ights discourses, instruments and regulations have entailed a transformation at the level of government and
activist practices in contemporary Argentina. The paper presents the main findings of my ongoing doctoral
dissertation and it is grounded on ethnographic fieldwork in the cities of Mendoza and Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
5N
Death and the gothic in popular culture and public space (Chair, David Minto)
Panizza Allmark Shopping Malls and the Gothic
For the past ten years I have photographed shopping malls across the world. Shopping malls have been
described as “halls of mirrors” and “galleries of illusion” My visual practice conveys this surrealistic
engagement with shopping malls, documenting the spectacle of the mall and elements of late capitalism. My
photographs provide evidence of something that has happened and suggests a hidden political significance
that beckons investigation. I examine the shopping mall through a Gothic lens utilizing the theorization of
the Gothic as concerned with the repressed aspects of society, an obscured past and a disturbing present.
Drawing upon actual events, such as protests, terrorism and murders that have occurred in malls, I highlight
that despite the shopping mall’s attempts to provide a controlled space which is an escape or retreat
for/from everyday experiences, the “unpleasant” aspects of everyday realities in the wider world still
penetrate the surface.
Kate Fitch
Undead PR: Representations in popular culture
Recognising popular culture as a transformative and critical space, this paper investigates the use of popular
tropes of the “undead” in public relations campaigns and in fictional representations of public relations. For
example, vampires and zombies populate both television and film representations of public relations and
campaigns in order to engage target audiences. An analysis of HBO’s TV series True Blood (2008–2014) offers
multiple potential readings of public relations that resist, and challenge existing meanings (Fitch, 2015). Such
analyses offer alternative discourses to the constraints of professional rhetoric and construct other realities,
recognising the inherent contradictions between professionalism, corporate social responsibility, ethics and
the reality of neoliberalism and the market logic of an occupational practice that is firmly linked with the
development of capitalism. The use of humour and irony subverts normative expectations of “ideal” public
relations and illuminates its “dark side”.
Outi Hakola
Mimicking Dying: Aging and Death in Television Comedy
Humor and the comic are central to social life, yet laughter is not always pleasant and decent. Youthoriented
American culture often marginalizes aging and dying people. This tendency is recognizable from the
comic representations of aging and dying which brings forward the politics of ridicule. This raises a question
how derision works towards cultural exclusion while at the same time pretending to be harmless. I will
examine how and when humor is used in television comedy to knowingly represent aging and dying people
as comical otherness. I use examples from sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central’s
televised stand-up comedy specials. These television comedies have roots in variety entertainment of
vaudeville which emphasizes physical and embodied comedy. I also concentrate on the physicality of
mocking. How embodied elements and physical references of the comedy represent aging and dying, and
what sociocultural implications these representations include?
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