Online Parody Videos and the Enactment of Cultural Citizenship

• Main Author: Jiramonai, Chalermkwan
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Medier och kommunikation 2012
• Subjects: cultural citizenship; new media; parody video; monitorial citizenship; Thailand; popular politics
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-175392

This thesis – Online Parody Videos and the Enactment of Cultural Citizenship – examines the enactment of the practice of cultural citizenship in new media contexts. Through a cultural study approach, it seeks to find how citizens enact the practices of cultural citizenship, participate in public deliberation, engage in politics and construct identities as citizens in an informal way through digital creativity. In this thesis, “JorKawTeun,” an online news parody program, is selected as a case study. The main research question is, “based on the case study of “JorKawTeun,” how are the practices of cultural citizenship and popularization of politics enacted through online parody videos in Thailand? Specifically, how is humor utilized in the videos, and what rhetorical strategies/tactics are used to make political points?” The theoretical framework is comprised of monitorial citizenship and cultural citizenship. In addition, the concept of “parody as genre” is also employed in order to be implemented in the analysis of the techniques used in the videos. The methodology is critical discourse analysis. The findings of the study reveal the complex and paradoxical dimensions of citizenship, the tendency towards individualized political participation, and the subversive potential of parody: a vernacular form of political communication that is remediated in a media convergence environment. Finally, the thesis aims at contributing to an understanding of the relationship between popular culture and politics in contemporary mediated contexts, as well as the rethinking of the notion of citizenship, political participation and civic engagement based on a culturally-oriented perspective.