Imperial Travels in Cinema, Literature and News

A Professor and a Filmmaker, incoherent and influential protagonists of their time. In order to better understand the media texts that I read or watch, it is very helpful to me to reflect on them and identify particular themes or elements that make them unique. They might be recurring themes, or different ones that convey the same concept according to the historical period of the production of the texts. In both the examples of Paul Bowles’ A Distant Episode and Ben Rivers’ The...

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The Darkness of the Colonial

A quick contextualization Though the book Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now were distributed 80 years apart from each other, I have found multiple aspects in common. Of course, the film is loosely based on the book, hence the themes are very similar even if they refer to two different moments in history and politics. Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novel is set in London and in the Independent State of the Congo, while Francis For Coppola’s 1979 film is set in Vietnam, during...

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Postcolonial and perspective: a necessary pairing

What is “Postcolonial”? It seems that in order to understand the concept, there is a need to break its essence down. From the first few pages of Ella Shohat’s article, it appears clear that the concept carries some ambiguities on a theoretical and political level. I found the reading a perfect introduction to the concept of postcolonial which however did not shy away from critiquing it as well. The author interestingly called out a conservative portion of academics who seemed...

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YouTube: Attention Economy OnDemand

Youtube
YouTube: not just financial profit “Our mission is to give everyone a voice and to show them the world.” That’s what you find as you open YouTube’s “about” page. Its values are based on four fundamental kinds of freedom: Freedom of Expression; Freedom of Information; Freedom of Opportunity; Freedom to Belong. These four elements are what YouTube believes in to build a strong and supportive community. YouTube: a brief history Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed...

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Romics and the Craving of Attention

romics attention economy
Sometimes dressing up as your favorite fantasy character is not the only thing that should get attention. Walking around a crowded space is not ideal, especially if you’re wearing many layers of handmade clothing keeping you a bit too hot. With long lines and Q&A panels with your favorite artists, Romics welcomes you to a fantasy world. Romics is an event that takes place twice a year in Rome, once during the Spring and once during the Fall. The name comes from a combination of the words...

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One Takes All: How Attention is Successful in Our Economy

successful attention
There are reasons why the economy of attention works, but it’s not as obvious as it seems. A constant fight against loneliness and the illusory belief that celebrities deeply care about us individually are among the causes behind the success of the attention economy. Newspapers, TV, Radio – The Economy of Information In the past, education and knowledge were reserved to a few chosen ones. Even academic settings were restricted, so many people relied on media such as Newspapers, TV,...

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TanaCon is “officially cancelled”: when Attention Economy backfires

audience tanacon
Having someone’s undivided attention is not always a good thing: if anything goes wrong, you can’t hide it. Tana Mongeau, TanaCon’s organizer, learned it the hard way. YouTubers taking part in conventions is usually the peak result of attention economy between fans and celebrities. However, if poorly planned, things can turn ugly really fast for both parties. As we know by now, attention economy is a concept widely used among advertisers and markets in various media industries. This includes social...

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3 Reasons Why I’m Sick of the Attention Economy (and you should be too)

attention economy
Our distracting world is using attention economy to keeps us glued to our phones and computers. It’s time for some damage control. You’re scrolling through your Instagram feed, and posts from your favorite pop stars’ concert tours grab your attention. Wow, they’re thinking about you, right? You know they want you and only YOU to attend and have a great time with them. Of course, they’re being so nice to you, you’re their biggest fan, right? Wrong! via GIPHY You and I know that’s not how it is....

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