Palo Fabuš: Laschova teorie narcistní kultury jako inspirace pro mediální studia (2009) [Czech]

Práce se pokouší představit teorii narcistní kultury amerického historika Christophera Lasche jakožto inspiraci pro mediální studia. Činí tak analýzou vybraných mediálních teorií autorů Jeana Baudrillarda, Joshuy Meyrowitze, Neila Postmana a dvojice Brian Longhurst a Nicholas Abercrombie. Malá pozornost, kterou tyto teorie venují roli mediálního publika je zde interpretována jako bílé místo, které by Laschova teorie mohla zaplnit modelem narcistní osobnostní struktury.

Lasch ve své historické studii kulturních proměn ve 20. století vychází z rozpadu rodiny způsobeného psychologizací společnosti, vlivem reklamy a nástupem byrokratického paternalismu, který nahradil původně rodičovské funkce. Rodí se tak narcistní osobnost vyznačující se vnitřním psychologickým motorem sebe-nenávist a nutkavou potrebou obklopovat se iluzemi všemohoucnosti, která se projevuje vyhledáváním spektáklu a stažením se do sebe. Inspirativnost této teorie pro mediální studia je tak představena v podobe užitečného modelu pro analýzu médií v paradigmatu aktivních publik.

Klíčová slova: narcismus, Lasch, postmodernita, média, komunikace, Já, survivalismus, psychoanalýza.

Diplomová práce
Masarykova Univerzita, Fakulta sociálních studií
Vedoucí práce: prof. PhDr. Jiří Pavelka, CSc.
Brno: FSS MU, 2009

Lasch’s narcissism culture theory as an inspiration for media studies
The thesis aims to introduce the narcissism culture theory of american historian Christopher Lasch as an inspiration for media studies. It does so by analysing selected media theories of Jean Baudrillard, Joshua Meyrowitz, Neil Postman and Brian Longhurst with Nicholas Abercrombie. Little attention these theories draw to the role of media audience is interpreted here as a gap, which could be potentially filled by Lasch’s theory with its model of narcissistic character.
In his historical study of culture changes in 20th century Lasch starts from the dissolution of family inflicted by psychologization of society, influence of advertising and emergence of bureaucratic paternalism substituting rearing function of parents. Through these processes comes birth of narcissistic personality, which can be distinguished by inner psychological drive of self-hate and compulsive need to surround him- or herself with illusion of omnipotence manifested through seeking out of spectacle and drawing within. The inspirative potential of the theory is thus introduced in a form of a useful model for a media analysis within the active audience paradigm.

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Jill Walker: Fiction and Interaction: How Clicking a Mouse Can Make You Part of a Fictional World (2003)

“This thesis is about works in which the user is a character in the fictional world, and it is about the kind of interaction that such works allow. In this introduction I will explain my research goals and introduce the theme of control, which is important in the thesis. I’ll also describe the genres I’m looking at, define some basic terms and present a summary of what each chapter deals with.”

Dr. art. thesis
Department of Humanistic Informatics, University of Bergen, 2003
Length 191 pages

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Noah Wardrip-Fruin: Expressive Processing: On Process-Intensive Literature and Digital Media (2006)

From the author: “This work represents my initial take on a set of topics that I currently wrap up under the heading “expressive processing.” There are two things I particularly mean to get at with this phrase:

• First, I’m pointing toward a sort of generalization of Michael Mateas’s Expressive AI. In essence, by this I mean that the definition of computational processes is an important aspect of the authoring of digital work (it is a site for authorial expression) and that undertaking this definition from an authorial perspective (rather than through a mysticism of the computer or a particular group of techniques) is a powerful approach.
• Second, I’m hoping to make clear that the computational processes of digital works express things about their relationship to the wider society — and, especially, the subcultures and materials of science and technology — that simply aren’t visible on the surface. Given this, interpretation of digital works that focuses only on what is visible to (and experienced by) the audience misses an important avenue of investigation.”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Special Graduate Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, May 2006

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