Sociology of popular entertainment

"The contemporary justification for zoos is based on their ability to act as sites of wildlife conservation. Alongside this is the reality that zoos have historically been defined as sites for the entertainment of the general public and continue to be dependent on the revenue raised through visitor receipts. Consequently, zoos are, today, identified as sites of conservation, research, education, and entertainment. In recognition of this the aim of this paper is to assess the image that zoos are currently portraying to the general public to see how the different roles are advertised and how they sit alongside one another. The data for the research on which this paper is based was gathered via a content and semiotic analysis of the websites of 54 zoos spread throughout the world. The results indicate that the image zoos present to the public whilst incorporating a strong conservation message lacks depth. In addition, the image zoos present via their websites has a strong emphasis on entertainment. Based on the results of this paper it is suggested that zoos need to present their conservation credentials in more detail and ensure the entertainment message does not adversely affect transmission of the conservation or education one whilst at the same time continuing to attract sufficient visitors to ensure the economic viability of zoos. In addition, it is recognized that changing public perceptions of zoos requires these institutions to act together rather than independently when determining the overarching theme of the ‘zoo’.

Keywords: Zoo, image, conservation, entertainment"

In a 1935 radio address, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, elucidated his concept of the religio athletae when he stated, “the ancient as well as the modern Olympic Games have one most important feature in common: they are a religion.” By reconsidering Olympic ceremony as religious ritual, a new avenue of scholarship is opened whereby one may examine the dogma of Olympic performance in context to the history of popular entertainment. My study contrasts and compares the games of St. Louis 1904 and Berlin 1936. While the Berlin games or “Nazi Olympics” have long been remembered for their manipulation of the Thingspiel and nationalistic propaganda to promote white-supremacy, I argue that the often overlooked St. Louis games had a similar agenda, showcased in the performative competitions of “anthropology days” (which exploited “primitives” from around the world to support racial stratification). By engineering the religiosity and charisma of Olympism to support their own hegemonic ideologies, the organizers of the St. Louis and Berlin Games created a racist agenda in the midst of a celebration that was intended to be “a harmonious pursuit of physical, moral, cultural, and artistic excellence.”

MERGING IS SEX OBVIOUSLY,  NORMAL MERGING IS KNOWING THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF BOTH BEINGS, NO YOU OR I = ONENESS,  THE TWO ANUs MERGE – IF ONE IS AN ATTACK, THEN THE ORIGINAL ANU BECOMES SMALLER, DUMBER AND WEAKER, WHICH IS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. 

AND - OUR "REALITY" UNMASKED

J’aimerais illustrer les sonorités parfois harmonieuses, parfois conflictuelles au sein d’une ville, en prenant en compte le silence. En ce qui concerne les paysages sonores, nous avons aussi intégré la notion de bruit dans notre recherche, et les liens entre les sons et les bruits. Nous pouvons parler de la tolérance des gens au bruit dans une ville : les gens vivent avec les sons, parfois ils ne les perçoivent pas, parce qu’ils sont culturellement enveloppés de plusieurs manières. Et il y a également la législation contre la pollution sonore, qui en est à ses débuts.
Comment peut-on cohabiter avec les sons ? Quand on parle de culture, c’est un peu dangereux… Comment comprendre cette culture ? Il y a des moyens faciles, on pourrait dire que la culture est simplement une civilisation. Mais je parle ici de la Turquie, et nous pourrions tomber dans le piège de l’orientalisme. L’orientalisme est assez figé, mais également cyclique. À Istanbul les espaces sonores, les espaces bruyants, ou de silence, ou de musique, constituent un environnement hétérogène et riche, qui intègre les conflits et les contradictions entre la tradition et le modernisme, le local et l’international. Certaines formes apparaissent, qui doivent être expliquées par l’internationalisation de la modernité. Onentend des musiques très différentes, de la musique pop, islamique de gauche ou islamique de droite, mais aussi du rock, de la salsa, du hip-hop. Istanbul combine beaucoup de musiques diverses, c’est une ville cosmopolite avec beaucoup de formes, de bruits, de sons,
et quelques silences…

This article discusses four Hellenistic terracotta figurines that belong to a class commonly categorized as grotesques. It is demonstrated that physical deformities of the portrayed personages should be attributed to particular medical conditions, namely acromegaly, achondroplastic dwarfism, and emaciation due to atrophy of muscles. It is proposed that the figurines depict entertainers, a comic pyrrhic dancer, a buffoon of some kind, and two dwarf combatants, that capitalized on their physical appearance. These statuettes should be considered testimonies that alongside the ostentatious and often extravagant theatrical spectacles of Antiquity, there always existed another kind of entertainment of rather sordid nature that appealed to the ancient men in the streets and reflected the Hellenistic tastes. An attempt is made to contextualize such figurines and to comment on their possible meaning and function.

Il saggio mette in evidenza i rapporti tra cinema, fumetto e videogioco, generi che hanno spesso tratto ispirazione l'uno dall'altro, e che presentano un comune stile grafico, in cui la forma prevale sui contenuti, a conferma dell’affermarsi di una nuova estetica figurativa. Tuttavia la relazione tra cinema, fumetto e videogioco, seppur fondata sulla fascinazione visiva della nuova grafica digitale, investe problematiche estetiche più profonde, relative ai rapporti tra cultura alta e cultura popolare. Sulla scia del pragmatismo di John Dewey e di Richard Shusterman, si tenta di dimostrare la dignità della cultura popolare e il valore estetico delle nozioni di “gioco” e di “entertainment”, nozioni che, come dimostrano le recenti tendenze dell’arte interattiva, tendono sempre più a sconfinare dall’ambito del mero divertissement verso la sfera dell’esperienza estetica.

Παρόλο που η Οπερέττα στην Ελλάδα συνδέθηκε από νωρίς με την προσπάθεια εξευρωπαϊσμού της θεατρικής μας ζωής, έμενε πάντα ένα περιθώριο για την εισροή ντόπιων στοιχείων τόσο στη μουσική της με λαϊκούς σκοπούς και ρυθμούς, όσο και στο λιμπρέτο με στόχο να εκφραστούν οι πόθοι των χαμηλότερων κοινωνικά στρωμάτων. Αναζητώντας το λαϊκό παρελθόν της Οπερέττας θα βρεθούμε σε αμηχανία για τη γενέθλια χρονολογία της αφού η παράσταση της Μαμζέλ Νιτούς από το θίασο Αντώνη Νίκα 100 χρόνια πριν δεν ήταν η πρώτη ξένης οπερέττας από ελληνικό θίασο. Στα 1889 ο λαϊκός κωμικός Κωστάκης Καλλίτσης ανέβασε τον Χορχορ Αγά του Διχράν Τσουχατζιάν με πρωταγωνίστρια την τραγουδίστρια των καφέ σαντάν Ζαν ντ' Αρράς 1 . Η παράσταση ωστόσο δεν έχει ποτέ συνδεθεί με την έναρξη ζωής της ελληνικής Οπερέττας.

Twentieth century’s visual convention have been deeply transformed. As first, according to the “remediation” paradigm (Bolter & Grusin, 1998), then following the grassroots authorship paradigm (Jenkins, 2006). The paper outlines a new step in this transformation, where Twentieth century’s media are involved in a counterattack, based on the spectacular gifts of digital 3D and a new emphasis on technologies: elements of a neo-baroque aesthetics.

Le convenzioni visuali del Novecento si sono riconfigurate, prima all'insegna della "rimediazione", poi del protagonismo della produzione audiovisiva grassroots (Jenkins 2006). L'articolo delinea una nuova fase di riscossa dei media novecenteschi, fondata sulla spettacolarità del 3D e su una nuova enfasi sulle tecnologie, elementi di una estetica neobarocca.

Published as part of "Istanbul's Cultural Inventory Project," book series which was commissioned and funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture, Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency and French Institute of Anatolian Studies (IFEA, Istanbul), this edited volume brings together 20 original academic articles chapters ranging from those analyzing the history of entertainment and leisure in Istanbul in terms of continuties and break among the Byzantine, Ottoman and Republican forms, Ottoman gender-crossing dancers' and Roma musicians' important contributions, Republican entertainment and the elite forms since 1980s, dance initiatives, entertainment establishments such as "gazinos," Rock, Jazz, and "Ballad" Bars (Türkü Bar) and Electronic Dance Clubs, as well as some select neighborhoods (Cihangir,  Asmalımescit and Galata). Other articles deal with particular groups of consumers ("White Turks", Islamic conservatives and others) as well as the music media, festivals and the construction of Istanbul as a neo-liberal and "cool" global city.
Chapters by:
Volkan Aytar, Kübra Parmaksızoğlu, Ş. Şehvar Beşiroğlu, Murat Meriç, Münir N. Beken, Zeynep Günsur Yüceil, Orhan Tekelioğlu, Merve Erol, Özgür Akgül, Nihal Bengisu Karaca, Nuray Mert, Haydar Ergülen, Ayça İnce, Ahmet Uhri, Ceren Mert, Eray Aytimur and Derya Özkan
(in Turkish, currently in the market for English-language translation)

Following closely public debates of the 1920s–1950s about the nature and purpose of a distinctively “Soviet” laughter and comedy, I will try to distill arguments and rationales that were used by producers of Stalinist culture for determining a socially acceptable (discursive)place for the comic in the country that was going through dramatic transformations of every aspect of its life.

Π αρά τη χαώδη σήμερα σχετική βιβλιογραφία, το άρθρο του Γιάννη Σιδέρη για τη σχέση του Θεάτρου Σκιών με τα υπόλοιπα είδη θεάτρου, δημοσιευμένο στο σχετικό αφιέρωμα του περιοδικού Θέατρο του Κ. Νίτσου στα 1963 δε φαίνεται να βρήκε συνεχιστές 1 . Η αναλυτική παρουσίαση των παραστάσεων που επηρεάστηκαν από το Θέατρο Σκιών ως την εποχή που ο Σιδέρης συνέταξε το άρθρο έπεισε προφανώς τους περισσότερους ότι το θέμα έχει πια εξαντληθεί και κανένας νέος διάλογος δεν μπορεί να ξεκινήσει γύρω απ' αυτό.

Pensiamo che sia necessario tracciare il significato
simbolico dello spazio urbano di Istanbul nell’ambito
della sua complessa geografia umana, ripercorrendone
la storia1 ricca di racconti, episodi brevi, rotture,
discontinuità e trasformazioni, e considerando i casi
specifici e quelli imprevisti del panorama umano e sociale
di questa città. Completeremo questo approccio
temporale/spaziale con una discussione sulle maggiori
trasformazioni a livello economico, politico, culturale
e sociale avvenuti sia in Turchia che a Istanbul.

Entertainment is often undervalued but its links with show biz, advertising, politics and consummation cultures are by now very strong. In media, advertising, tourism, cruises, food and beverages, gambling, fitness, theme parks, malls we can find increasing shares of entertainment. This large area of production and delivery of cultural contents, worth more than 10% of total consumptions nowadays encounters the Internet  and social networks. Entertainment become a dominant format and language, due complement of every product, event, political party which want to meet people’s choices.
L’entertainment non gode di buona reputazione rispetto alla cultura « alta », ma l’intreccio fra intrattenimento, spettacolo, politica e consumo è ormai inestricabile. Lo troviamo ovunque, nei media e nella pubblicità, ma investe anche il turismo e le crociere, la ristorazione e la moda, il gioco d’azzardo e la fitness, i parchi a tema, i centri commerciali.
Una grande area di produzione e diffusione di contenuti culturali, che vale più del 10% dei consumi delle famiglie, e che incontra oggi Internet e i social network. Un linguaggio dominante, involucro necessario di ogni prodotto, evento, partito che voglia farsi scegliere.

pp. 144, ISBN 978-88-15-24475-8.

Part of Istanbul Journal of Urban Culture's Special Dossier on Entertainment in Istanbul edited by Volkan Aytar, this is an interview with music columnist and DJ Murat Beşer, published in Istanbul Journal of Urban Culture, No. 62, January 2008, pp. 48-51

ABSTRACT
Superimposed on a highly heterogeneous social texture further shaped by successive waves of inmigration, Istanbul’s urban
policy shifted from a statecentered to a more entrepreneurial approach since the mid-1980s. Concurrently, as the contestation of the urban space became more strident, the interplay of the facets of political, economic and cultural/symbolic change
created interesting configurations and constellations. In a parallel
development, since the urban identities in Istanbul turned more fragmented and hybrid from the mid-1980s, the cultural/symbolic
struggle to define the urban space also translated into myriad particular ways in which the urban musical places are thought of,
imagined, and experienced. Various musical styles stemming from (and frequently combining elements of both) rural and
urban backdrops (such as Arabesk, Taverna, Fantezi, and Turkish pop), as well as numerous "engagé" forms of popular music (left-wing, far-nationalist, and Islamist variants of "Özgün Müzik"), and global and localized global forms (rock, blues,
jazz, hip-hop, salsa, techno, and any combination of those thereof) blossomed, creating spaces, locations and establishments where these kinds of music could be heard, and turned Istanbul’s streets into a symbolic battleground. This paper attempts to comprehend the parameters of this cultural-symbolic
contestation from within a historical and spatial perspective, and connect those to a more general discussion on the links
between sounds, social construction of space and the city identities. This way, we strive to move beyond the facile dichotomies of the traditional versus the modern; the local versus
the global, essentializing notions usually deployed
while studying the nonwestern societies such as Turkey. We argue for the existence of more fluid, complex and interconnected
forms such as the localization of modernity (Smith and Bender, 2001) and the localization of the global (or "glocalization" à la
R. Robertson). Also, we argue that the constructions
of spaces of music need to be thought of in relation to
the symbolic acts of inclusion and exclusion.

"In the article the main aspects of emergence and formation of the entertaining journalism in Ukraine of the 1920s are considered on the example of the illustrated "UZh" ("Universal Magazine") that was issued in Kharkiv (1928–1929). It is found out that hedonist, or entertaining, press was torn between formal experiment, entertaining as such and ideology while also endowed with powerful ludic potential, the complex system of connections between text and image, disposition to active exchange with "high culture" and fiction.

Key words: experiment, entertainment, ideology, formalism, discourse, avant-garde.

У статті розглянуто основні аспекти зародження та становлення розважальної журналістики в Україні 20-х рр. ХХ ст. на прикладі багатоілюстрованого журналу "УЖ" (Харків, 1928–1929). Встановлено, що преса гедоністичного спрямування визначалась розірваністю між формальним експериментом, розважальністю та ідеологією, потужним ігровим потенціалом, складною системою зв'язків між текстом і зображенням, налаштованістю на активний обмін з "високою культурою" і белетристикою.

Ключові слова: експеримент, розважальність, ідеологія, формалізм, дискурс, аванґард."

Holograms have been in the public eye for three-quarters of a century, but their influences have deeper cultural roots. No other visual experience is quite like interacting with holograms; no other cultural product melds the technological sublime with magic and optimism in quite the same way. As holograms have evolved, they have left their audiences alternately fascinated, bemused, inspired or indifferent. From expressions of high science to countercultural art to consumer security, holograms have represented modernity, magic and materialism. Their most pervasive impact has been to galvanise hopeful technological dreams. Engineers, artists, hippies and hobbyists have played with, and dreamed about, holograms. This book explores how holograms found a place in distinct cultural settings. It is aimed at readers attracted to pop culture, visual studies and cultural history, scholars concerned with media history, fine art and material studies and, most of all, cross-disciplinary audiences intrigued about how this ubiquitous but still-mysterious visual medium grew up in our midst and became entangled in our culture. This book explores the technical attractions and cultural uses of the hologram, how they were shaped by what came before them, and how they have matured to shape our notional futures. Today, holograms are in our pockets (as identity documents) and in our minds (as gaming fantasies and faux hologram performers). Why aren't they more often in front of our eyes?
-------------------------------------
PREFACE
Holograms reached popular consciousness during the 1960s and, over the following decades, evolved along with culture itself. No other visual experience is quite like interacting with holograms; no other cultural product melds the technological sublime with magic and optimism in quite the same way.
Why has its combination of attributes been perennially exhilarating and wondrous? Although the hologram was a product of its times, it was also wrapped in long established cultural threads. Its impacts were conditioned by its antecedents and associations. This protective heritage helped make it impervious to technical disappointments, while ongoing innovation periodically revitalized its spectacular qualities.
This book traces the cultural roots of holograms to explore their influences and effects, assess their counteracting attractions and explain their persistence. It complements and extends my earlier book for Oxford University Press, Holographic Visions: A History of New Science. That volume provided an in-depth account of the creators and concepts behind the subject of holography as a scientific concept, an engineering tool and a business, and was based on extensive archival research and interviews with the originators of the field. Addressing historians of science and technology, holographers and sociologists of expertise, it recounted the trials of creating a new science, a new industry and a new profession from this remarkable concept.
The present book shifts the focus outwards. I turn from the creators of holography to the consumers of holograms in distinct cultural settings. This complementary emphasis enrols fresh audiences, too: readers attracted to visual and cultural studies, scholars concerned with media history, fine art and material studies and, most of all, cross-disciplinary audiences intrigued about how this ubiquitous but still-mysterious visual medium grew up in our midst and became entangled in our culture.

This chapter analyses the process of social bifurcation and ethnicization of the labourscape in Istanbul’s globalizing urban tourism and entertainment sector. Tourism in Istanbul is part of a larger amalgamation that includes tourism, entertainment and
leisure settings in the city. This sector, which has risen to prominence in recent decades, has largely been shaped by the changeover in Turkish society to an increasingly diversified consumerism and the transformation of Istanbul into a city of urban consumption – a globalizing tourist and entertainment city catering to both tourists and residents.

""""During the making of The Wizard of Oz, MGM and manager Leo Singer belittled hypopituitary Munchkin interpreters and blatantly discriminated against other types of dwarfism, while perpetrating racial discrimination against black little people. In fact, ‘midgets’ – as they were commonly called at the time – were deemed to be more socially accepted than other dwarfs and the audience went along with this normative fallacy.
While some of the proportional little actors had prior experience in movie making, the film left them uncredited - labelling them as 'Singer's Midgets', thus endorsing their impairment and dependence on a patron to shepherd their careers in show-business.
The purpose of my paper is to demonstrate that, although the movie's narrative and working conditions enhanced social archetypes related to the Otherness of short-statured people, the film may have ignited the process of self-acceptance among the hypopituitary little folks that would take another 20 years to crystallize.
In 1957, a number of vertically challenged entertainers organized themselves into 'Little People of America', thereby assuming control over their common destiny across various types of dwarfism and setting in motion an identification process leading to self-worth and the valuation of difference in the outside world. They may have been helped in this with the emergence of Munchkin fandom.
Allegations that the ‘midgets’ were ‘little drunks’ and ‘fun-loving little troublemakers' led to the making of "Under the Rainbow" (1981), a parody highlighting their alleged misbehavior surrounding the making of the classic MGM film.
Personal memoirs of Munchkin interpreters show that the frustration about the lack of respect in the making of The Wizard of Oz was deeply rooted and not without reason. The 2007 recognition on Hollywood's Walk of Fame could be interpreted as a belated apologetic gesture from society trying to make up for the historical wrongdoings, though even then the star, being labelled 'The Munchkins', was intrinsically stigmatizing.""""

"İstanbul çok hızlı tüketiyor bir soluklanmalı-İtalyan Executive Chef Carlo Bernardini ile İstanbul'da Yemek Kültürü Hakkında" (Istanbul's Food Culture with Italian Executive Chef Carlo Bernardini" Istanbul Kent Kültürü Dergisi (Istanbul Journal of Urban Culture) No. 62, s/pp. 80-81

"Düz Eğlenceye Çapraz Bakarken" Eğlence Dosyası Sunum Yazısı, İstanbul Kent Kültürü Dergisi, Sayı: 62, Ocak 2008, s. 46-47 - Introductory Article of the Istanbul Journal of Urban Culture's Special Dossier on Entertainment in Istanbul No. 62, January 2008, pp. 46-47

The book provides an outlook of many accusations against Television in the XX Century, reconstructing their cultural roots and precedents.
Il volume discute le molteplici accuse che sono state rivolte alla televisione nel Novecento e ne ricostruisce le motivazioni culturali e gli antecedenti.

While ethnic neighborhoods are usually associated with poverty, crime and social problems, they have also emerged as places of leisure and consumption, providing opportunities for numerous entrepreneurs and employees. Local and national governments and other regulatory actors, as well as the media, have started to see and promote these neighborhoods as urban attractions for tourists, city dwellers and others. This book aims to analyze the roles of ethnic entrepreneurs and their associations and governments, and - by extension - of consumers and other actors in the rise of ethnic neighborhoods as places of leisure and consumption. Through case studies, it situates those neighborhoods at the edge of different theoretical debates about urban political economy and the politics of culture, and seeks a dynamic synergy between both.

""Reviews

"This cutting-edge analysis of where religion may be heading is theoretically sophisticated and yet highly readable." -- Donald E. Miller, Executive Director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California

"... Addressing the perspectives of students of religion, media and the film industry, and ethnic differences, the book speaks to all three subjects, combining them in a novel, interesting fashion. Summing Up: Highly recommended." -- Choice

In Christianity, as with most religions, attaining holiness and a higher spirituality while simultaneously pursuing worldly ideals such as fame and fortune is nearly impossible. So, how do people pursuing careers in Hollywood's entertainment industry maintain their religious devotion without sacrificing their career goals? For some, the answer lies just two miles south of the historic center of Hollywood, California, at the Oasis Christian Center.In "Hollywood Faith", Gerardo Marti shows how a multiracial evangelical congregation of 2,000 people accommodates itself to the entertainment industry and draws in many striving to succeed in this harsh and irreverent business. Oasis strategically sanctifies ambition and negotiates social change by promoting a new religious identity as "champion of life" - an identity that provides people who face difficult career choices and failed opportunities a sense of empowerment and endurance.The first book to provide an in-depth look at religion among the "creative class." "Hollywood Faith" will fascinate those interested in the modern evangelical movement and anyone who wants to understand how religion adapts to social change.""

Published on Nov 2, 2015
Popular culture is a cunning, persuasive - and pervasive - "educator" that influences students' ideas about gender and sexuality 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yet Dr. Kristin Lieb believes that while teachers may only have students for a few hours a week, they can interrupt the institutionalized misogyny being spread by popular culture and teach more accurate lessons about girls and women. And the best tool to do this, Dr. Lieb says: Pop Culture itself.

Dr. Kristin J. Lieb is an Associate Professor of Marketing Communication at Emerson College. Before arriving at Emerson, Lieb held numerous marketing and business development positions in the music industry, including posts with Atomic Pop and Newbury Comics Interactive. She also worked as a researcher for Harvard Business School and as a freelance writer for Billboard and Rolling Stone. Lieb published her first book, Gender, Branding, and The Modern Music Industry: The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars, with Routledge in 2013.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

CirCommons, the journal of Contemporary Circus, offers a shared platform to academics and practitioners investigating the field of circus arts, and the nexus of circus and other forms of performance. This month: Sarah Muehlbauer writes about the creative possibilities of a Peñasco Theatre Residency – circus community members reflect on “Who goes to the Circus - and Why?” – and three seminal innovators in American circus arts share their thoughts on tradition and innovation in contemporary circus: Judy Finelli (co-founder of Circus Center and former artistic director of the Pickle Family Circus), clown-actor Avner “the Eccentric” Eisenberg, and Dominique Jando (circus historian and former Associate Artistic Director of Big Apple Circus).  (Kathryn Syssoyeva, Editor)

Já presente na antiguidade clássica, a publicidade - entendida como qualidade daquilo que é público e colectivamente mobilizador - continua a ser um conceito central das sociedades. A reflexão que agora se divulga procura avaliar as suas mutações contemporâneas a partir do seu projecto dramático-expressivo, e estrutura-se em dois momentos. O primeiro tem por referência um entendimento genealógico da categoria de publicidade. São identificados vários modelos históricos de compreensão da publicidade culminando com uma interpretação estético-figuracional das práticas sociais hodiernas. O segundo momento, desenvolvendo um dos elementos principais da figurabilidade pública, relaciona a publicidade com a lógica social do consumo. A abordagem sócio-antropológica do consumo retira-lhe o pendor económico e coloca-o no âmago das sociabilidades enquanto consumação: uma forma comunicativa caracterizada por uma acção material que empenha simbolicamente o indivíduo na reprodução do vínculo social. A consumação interpela publicamente o individual a inscrever-se no colectivo funcionando como uma força centrípeta que fornece ao indivíduo um modo de reconhecimento da pertença.

Em ambos os momentos - na publicidade figurativa e na consumação - estamos perante uma acção simbólica promotora de integração social que reflecte o ímpar dinamismo dos processos sociais contemporâneos.

Οι έννοιες του λαϊκού και της λαϊκότητας καταλαμβάνουν διαφορετικά πολιτισμικά νοήματα και συνδηλώσεις σε διαφορετικά ιστορικά και πολιτισμικά συμφραζόμενα. Το παρόν κείμενο επιχειρεί να καταγράψει ορισμένες όψεις μιας «λαϊκής» υποκειμενικότητας και ενός «λαϊκού» στοιχείου όπως εκφράζονται στην ιθαγενή τους μορφή από τους κλάμπερ της «λαϊκής» νυχτερινής διασκέδασης στην Ελλάδα. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, επιχειρεί να αναλύσει τους εντόπιους λόγους του λαϊκού μέσα από τις επιτελεστικότητες και τις σωματοποιήσεις της «λαϊκής» μουσικής στα πλαίσια του είδους νυχτερινού κέντρου που ονομάζεται Ελληνάδικο κατά την περίοδο 2005-2008 στην Δυτική Αττική. Το Ελληνάδικο μεσουράνησε στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του 1990 μέχρι και την πρώτη πενταετία του 2000, αποτελώντας τον πλέον κυρίαρχο χώρο νυχτερινής διασκέδασης των λαϊκών στρωμάτων. Χρησιμοποιεί μέχρι σήμερα τη μίξη εμπορικής ξένης και ελληνικής δημοφιλούς και «λαϊκής» μουσικής που παίζεται από Ντιτζέι και αποτελεί ένα υβρίδιο των Μπουζουκιών και των μεγάλων κλαμπ με ξένη εμπορική μουσική που ευδοκίμησαν στις αρχές του 1990. Χοροί όπως το ζεϊμπέκικο και το τσιφτετέλι επιτελούνται από τους κλάμπερ σε αυτά τα κέντρα ενώ τηρούνται παρόμοιες πρακτικές κοινωνικότητας, ερωτικής επικοινωνίας, συμποσιασμού και κατανάλωσης με άλλα «λαϊκά» νυχτερινά κέντρα με ζωντανή μουσική (Πίστες, Σκυλάδικα κλπ). Εκτός από τις ατμόσφαιρες, τα ηχοτοπία και τα διαφορετικά κοινά των διαφόρων τύπων Ελληνάδικου, το κείμενο αυτό περιγράφει τις έμφυλες συναισθηματικές δομές και ερωτικο-σεξουαλικές αισθήσεις της «λαϊκής» Νύχτας, μέσα από τη μουσική, το χορό, το τραγούδι, τις μικροτελετουργίες και τις συναισθαντικές γλώσσες των διασκεδαζόντων που συνθέτουν τα γνωρίσματα ενός ατομικιστικού, μουσικοχορευτικού πολιτισμού σε μια διαρκή αναζήτηση μιας εκφραστικής αυθεντικότητας. Επιπλέον, το κείμενο θέτει και κάποια σύγχρονα ερωτήματα για την εξέλιξη του Ελληνάδικου σε συνάρτηση με την περίοδο της κοινωνικο-οικονομικής κρίσης στην Ελλάδα, ως αποτέλεσμα και αποκρυστάλλωση των ευρύτερων κοινωνικο-οικονομικών μετασχηματισμών που συνδέονται με τις καταναλωτικές πρακτικές, τη μουσική βιομηχανία και την ευρύτερη λαϊκή διασκέδαση στην Ελληνική κοινωνία.

In the 1930s, everyone affectionately called hypopituitary short-statured people ‘midgets’ – themselves included.  The 1939 classical MGM movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’ credited the height-impaired actors as ‘The Munchkins’.
First aired on TV in 1956, the movie became an annual family viewing opportunity and kicked a fan machinery for Oz nostalgia into gear. The International Wizard of Oz Club, created in 1957, unites Oz enthusiasts, sponsors annual conventions and publishes Oziana and The Baum Bugle. This journal engages in semiotic productivity, often through textual poaching. Oz fans acquire social, personal or subcultural identity through social interactions, on different levels, with Oz related stars, content or events. Conventions at which Oz fans gather are market places for ‘collectibles’ and cultural fora for building a cultural community. Technology makes fandom more mainstream and accessible than ever, allows for instant connection with like-minded others and greatly expand fan fiction’s reach.
Up to the beginning of the 21st Century, the Munchkins had their own fan base. An annual Munchkin cruise, lasting for a week, provided for ‘meet and greet’ and photo ops, daily public appearances, and nightly dinners with the last of the remaining Munchkins. The inner circle of ‘Munchkinites’ transcended fandom and became almost family members, deriving pleasure from a kind of voluntary stewardship  and limited access to ‘their’ Munchkins.
We believe it is likely that the highly participatory Oz fan base will continue to exist, in particular if driven by new content, though attention in mainstream media may fade away; it is, however, unlikely that the idiosyncratic Munchkinites, having experienced proximity with the Munchkin impersonators, will live on once the last Munchkin, hypopituitary actor Jerry Maren, will have departed for the Emerald City in the sky.

How can one cohabit with sounds? When one talks about culture, it is a little dangerous... How to understand this culture? There are easy means, one could say that culture is simply a civilization. But I talk here about Turkey, and we could fall into the trap of orientalism. Orientalism is rather fixed, but also cyclical. In Istanbul sound spaces, noisy, or silent, or musical spaces, constitute a heterogeneous and rich environment, which integrates the conflicts and contradictions between tradition and modernism, local and international. Some forms appear, which must be explained by the internationalization of modernity. One hears very different styles of music, pop music, "engagé"
forms of popular music (left wing, far-right nationalist, and Islamist variants of "Ozgun Muzik"), but also rock'n'roll, salsa, hip-hop. Istanbul combines a large number of various musical styles, it is a cosmopolitan town with many forms, noises, sounds, and some silences...

One year prior to the release of the all-time classic “The Wizard of Oz”, featuring the acclaimed Munchkins, Sam Newfield directed “The Terror of Tiny Town”, advertised as the first 'comedy western with an all-midget cast', starring “Jed Buell’s Midgets”. In this pastiche, conceived as a ‘weapon of mass distraction’ and categorized as a ‘pure exploitation movie’, diminutive actors are riding Shetland ponies and walking under the swinging doors of a local saloon. The “Terror of Tiny Town” is regularly cited among the Worst Movies of All Time. Various works of popular culture contributed to the movie acquiring cult status by recycling its title, re-interpreting its footage or through references in other movies; the film is ubiquitous on the internet and in social networks and blogs. The purpose of my paper is to demonstrate that the movie adapted American western genre stereotypes to a hitherto excluded category of actors and, by analogy to ‘blaxploitation’ movies, may have been instrumental in emancipating the short statured community. Although a black ‘midget’ featured in the film, it discriminated against ‘dwarfs’. It is likely that the absence of a ‘mirror audience’ prevented the movie to giving birth to a genre or even a sequel.

In early modern times, dwarfs were considered deformed and, hence, socially discriminated against, by average-statured individuals as well as by other little folks we used to call 'midgets', who were conceptualized as “no freaks, no dwarfs but perfectly normal.”
We found that accounts and personal memoirs by hypopituitary little persons suggest that they perceived dwarfs as 'disproportionate human oddities, monstrosities with grotesque heads, arms and legs', and, therefore, belonging to a different species. Throughout the history of popular entertainment, 'midgets' – who were preferred in show-business - were cast in a way that positively enhanced their status while dwarfs were relegated to the back stage or freak shows.
In search of social acceptance, 'midgets' rejected their impaired self in an attempt to construct a portrayal reinforcing the illusion of normality, fabricated for their audience. This proved somewhat successful, as the public, at least partially, concurred with this fantasy of normality, although the social construction of the 'midget' as (close to) normal rather validated the normality of the audience, eager to rationalize the socio-cultural imagery of marginalized or impaired individuals.
The spectator’s weariness to associate short-statured people to sexual behaviour may stem from a subconscious association of littleness with childishness. Traditionally, achondroplastic dwarfs were depicted as asexual, in line with the aversion of portraying sexual activity of people with disabilities; the more socially accepted 'midgets' were represented as closely resembling the average-statured men and women with their sensuality, sexual desires and activity. In an effort of complaisance to demanding audiences, promoters frequently constructed fallacious 'midget' couples, sometimes accompanied by a narrative involving babies or infants.
In the 1930s, movies challenged the proportional little people’s illusionary world of normality regarding sensuality and sexuality in relation to average-statured people, often portraying a – tragic - love affair between individuals from either side.