Convergence Culture Chapter 6: Photoshop and Democracy

What is the main argument the author is making?

Jenkins main point is that citizens are starting to apply what they have learned as consumers of popular culture to politics; he points out how popular culture in recent years has become an influence of political culture.

What support does he offer?

Jenkins offers support for his main argument by looking at several politically driven websites, like moveon.org and meetup.org. He analyses how these websites allow for people with common interests in this case political interest, to get together and share ideas. Jenkins also explained how the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean used the internet to gain the public’s support in ways that had not been done before. He talks about young voters and how they are using The Daily Show and the Sims game to stay connected and become more politically involved. Jenkins also briefly discusses how convergence would lead to this idea of digital democracy where it is second nature for citizens to be politically involved.

Do you agree or disagree with the main argument?

I agree with Jenkins point that popular culture allows citizens to become more politically involved because from my own experience I know that I do follow popular culture. But when it comes to politics I tend to look deeper into issues rather than just follow popular cultures coverage if the issue. Popular culture tends to skip many important aspects of an issue; to get the full and correct story I wouldn’t just watch the Daily Show or CNN I would probably read the newspaper or search on some nonprofit sites to get more facts.

Is the author’s support relevant and believable?

I believe that the author did in fact use tactics like giving relevant examples that were both credible and easy to keep up with. His argument was not hard to follow because his examples were all things that I had previously heard of and could relate to. I could easily make a connection between his examples and why they were relevant to his argument.

In what ways does this chapter relate to the 2008 presidential election? In what ways did the 2008 election seem different?

Jenkins uses examples from the 2004 election to discuss how the convergence of popular culture and politics took place and how it did and did not work for the candidates. The 2008 election used tactics that worked for the candidates during the 2004 election. They learned from the 2004 election how much of an advantage popular culture can be for a campaign and how involved citizens can become through the use of popular culture. The 2004 election was only the start of the use of popular culture and the internet. The 2008 election differ in the way that it used popular culture and the internet to engage citizens and to get them more involved on a personal level, which had not been done in previous elections. The 2008 presidential campaign become more of a race between celebrities and less traditional then previous years with presidential candidates appearing on popular culture shows like SNL, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report.

What is digital democracy?

Digital democracy is when technology (websites, video games) and politics are combined and used together to help make the effects of political issues stronger. Digital democracy allows for citizens to better understand politics and become more personally involved in the democratic process and politics.

Discuss your understandings of the term culture jamming.

Culture jamming is a political tactic that reflected the logic of the digital revolution. Culture Jamming is when things are changed and modified to exemplify a thought or idea, not necessarily the idea it was originally intended to exemplify. Jenkins used the Apprentice example that Ben Cohen’s website used during the 2004 election, the web ad took clips from NBC’s the Apprentice and images of Bush and cleverly merged it to show that Bush did a bad job in the White House and if Donald Trump fired Bush then American citizens should too.

Discuss the connections between fan culture and politics.

Fan cultures allows for people who have a common interest to come together and share their ideas about a candidate. Some people like to keep their political views hidden and online fan cultures allow them to express their views and support a candidate without feeling like they will be prosecuted. Fan cultures online or in video games like Jenkins discussed allows the public to get practice and educate themselves prior to getting involved in the real world of politics.

How does the idea of “play(ing) with power on a microlevel” (p.239) relate to the readings and discussion from last week?

The Sims game and Alphaville that Jenkins discussed in this chapter talked about how children were given a voice in the political world through this game which they would normally not have. This same concept of voice was discussed last week with the reading about children role playing and making up alternate lives and stories based on the Harry Potter books. The same concept applies in both instances, in the reading from this week Jenkins spoke about the opportunity that children get by playing this game, the ability to learn about politics which may lead them to become more politically and democratically involved.