Popular Culture and the Communication of Politics

Abstract

Popular culture is gaining in legitimacy as a focus of study in the communication of politics. Films, novels, comic strips, theater plays, music, and television series are increasingly used as the empirical material to study and interpret political agitation, political communication, and political ideology. This observation is neither new nor novel. Historical novels, plays, and films found in all cultures have played such a role in the past. Yet the current role of popular culture in politics seems different. Popular culture has become central to political communication. Political leaders and political agitators turn increasingly to popular culture to craft and communicate their messages and some commentators suggest that popular culture has become citizens’ main source of information and learning. The concept of the political communicated in popular culture is often wide. It can encompass the identity politics of everyday life, but it can also refer to the relationships of power between geopolitical regions and the relationship between ordinary citizens and the state. Popular cultural texts communicate ideas and practices in a serious, interpretative, and, arguably, factual manner, but also in playful and humorous ways. Some observers and actors see in this a dangerous simplification of the political world. Others celebrate it for its potential to broaden the reach of politics and offering a mechanism to mobilize cynical and politically disengaged citizens into politics. Yet regardless of assessment, this development comes at a time when the traditional venues for the creation and communication of political knowledge are in crisis and when changes in the ways in which we conduct a variety of relations in both the public and private sphere are pushing politics and popular culture closer together. Citizenship is increasingly narrated, created, and performed in venues other than the traditional political ones. Popular culture plays a crucial role here. This panel invites scholars to critically reflect on the role of popular culture in the communication of politics. We welcome papers which explore specific cultural texts, genres and narrative modes, but also papers on audiences as well as activist, government, and industry practice. This includes, but is not limited, to the following themes: (1) The representation of citizenship and political power in specific genres, such as science-fiction, comedy, or documentary; (2) The role of popular culture for civic participation, including the use of popular culture by political activists, but also the representation of the political responsibility of citizens in popular culture; (3) The institutional forces shaping representations of “the political” in popular culture, such as codes of practice, technology, and funding; (4) The role of popular culture and popular cultural personas in electoral politics; (5) The social, cultural, textual, and psychological conditions through which audiences engage with, and attach meaning to representations of “the political” in popular culture; (6) The role of humour as compared to factual knowledge and subject expertise for political leadership and citizenship; (7) The connections between politics in audience talk or media texts and the macro-politics of government policy and legislation.

Title	Details
Eurovisions of the East: The Politics of Eurovision Song Contest	View Paper Details
Popularisation in Current Affairs Shows	View Paper Details
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As-if Politics: The Picture of Politics in the Fictional "Westwing" and "Kanzleramt"	View Paper Details
Humour, Politics and Infotainment in Basque Country. A Good Way to Talk About Political Violence?	View Paper Details
The Italian King: A Study of the Popularisation of Politics in Italy	View Paper Details