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

10Q
Social media communities (Chair, Thomas Michel)
Stuart Cunningham* & David Craig*
Discourses of community and authenticity in social media entertainment
Arguably one of the most innovative elements of the rapidly evolving screen media ecology is the
professionalisation and monetisation of previously amateur content creation. This paper addresses the
genres and modes of address in YouTube-native “verticals”, content which constitutes a radical break from
the century-long model of intellectual property control in the entertainment industries, and derives its
influence from intrinsically interactive, viewer- and audience-centricity and appeals to authenticity and
community. Such content can be dismissed as self-absorbed vlogging and beauty tips, addictive gameplay,
and sophomoric stunt comedy, and concerns about its popularity can rehearse the iron law of cultural
history which sees every new era of popular culture considered as evidence for a new moral panic. But it is
the highly normative value put on authenticity and community, and the “rules of the game” that have
developed rapidly to “institutionalise” such normative values, that are the focus of the paper.
Amanda Malel Trevisanut
Community, Convergence and Competition: Youtubers react to the Fine Brothers
In early 2016, Fine Brothers Entertainment unveiled plans to protect their reaction video franchise by
trademarking the “react” concept, and licensing their brand React World to other creators. This paper
analyses youtube community backlash to illuminate how authorship is being negotiated and redefined by
produsers in a manner consistent with free market capitalism. It demonstrates how, consistent with the
insights of media convergence, the React World was largely accepted as an innovative business model that
reflected contemporary understandings of authorship as a collaborative and ongoing process. It then applies
the analytical propositions of Austrian economics to examine responses to the concomitant attempt to
leverage intellectual property law to assert ownership over the “react” genre, which was denounced as an
incursion of traditional media strategies to quash healthy competition. It argues that contrary to the
assertions of gift economy scholarship, these youtube community responses evidence a commitment to free
market values.
Karin Zhu
The Formation of Short Duration Communities on Social Media
Social media is increasingly an essential part of community building. From Twitter to Tumblr, social media is
used to educate and organize. Rather than focus on the variety of social media platforms and how they are
used to aggregate audiences, this presentation seeks to understand how the online world mediates
community identity from the perspective of an affective economy. A key focus is the use of strategic
essentialism by online spaces to build and maintain solidarity, where the pre-existence of an affective
connection is presumed. However, strategic essentialism in online spaces carries its own dangers, such as
what happens when members of community are excluded because they do not fit a community’s ideals. This
focus on the role of affectivity in the analysis of online interactions is important given what the rapid pace at
which online spaces form and dissolve can tell us about community identity.
10R
Transnational Boys Love: Japanese homoerotic comic culture goes global (Chair, Laura Saarenmaa)
Thomas Baudinette Between Thailand, Japan, and Asia: “Boys Love” dramas in Thailand and the
internationalisation of Japanese conceptualisations of gay desire
The internationalisation of Japanese popular culture is a key area of enquiry within cultural studies. In this
presentation, I investigate the influence of Boys Love (BL), a Japanese genre of homoerotic media produced
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