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Article Excerpt
Some media scholars, such as Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998), claim that audiences perform against a media-saturated backdrop, making spectacle and narcissism integral to the social construction of reality for audiences; this vision of audience constitutes the spectacle/performance paradigm (SPP). However, the SPP does not account for those audiences who use media actively to resist consumer-oriented spectacle and narcissism within mainstream audience performances. The question thus arises of how communication scholars can conceptualize audiences whose relationship to mainstream media is predominately resistance rather than spectacle. The purpose of this research was to establish a resistance performance paradigm (RPP) that can be used to conceptualize such resistant audiences. To accomplish this task, we engaged in an empirical study of alternative media and alternative media audiences who are activists in social justice movements--movements that work to advocate for people who are economically, socially, or politically marginalized in local communities and global society (see Frey, 1998; Frey, Pearce, Pollock, Artz, & Murphy, 1996; Ryan, Carragee, & Schwerner, 1998). Social justice activists who are audiences of alternative media represent an important illustration of performances of resistance through the use of media (Atkinson, 2005a; Huesca, 2001). For the purposes of this essay, we defined alternative media as any media that are produced by noncommercial sources and that attempt to transform existing social roles and practices by critiquing and challenging power structures (see Atton, 2002; Downing, 2003; Downing, Ford, Gil, & Stein, 2001; Hebdige, 1979; Jakubowicz, 1991).
In this essay, we review the performance-oriented concept of the SPP and construct an RPP. The SPP is considered to be performance-oriented because of its focus on the role of media texts in the performances of audiences within socially constructed realities. The performance of audiences within socially constructed realities that arise from the negotiation of experiences, social interactions with people and institutions, and social interactions with the media is a concept that has been well documented and examined in past research (e.g., Berger & Luckman, 1966; Denzin, 1997; Gamson & Modigliani, 1989; Langellier, 1983; Loxley, 1983; McQuail, 2000). The SPP is a particularly important concept because it recognizes the communicative function of audience members as active participants in mainstream media spectacles and demonstrates a performance-oriented vision of the audience constructed within the context of the ever-evolving vision of the audience--from the behavioral paradigm (e.g., Gerbner & Gross, 1972) to the incorporation/resistance paradigm (e.g., Herman & Chomsky, 1988; McChesney, 1998, 1999) and, finally, to the SPP. Our review leads to the exploration of audiences who engage in alternative media and resistance of the consumer-oriented spectacle that are the foundation for the SPP. The review ultimately led to the construction of the RPP.
By developing an RPP, this research expands our scholarly understanding of alternative media within social movements. Research on alternative media has focused on issues of production and circulation (Atton, 2002; Caldwell, 2003; Downing et al., 2001), the framing of issues within social movements and in mainstream society (Atkinson, 2005b; Atton; Harold, 2004; Owens & Palmer, 2003), and the blurring of roles in alternative media (Atton; Caldwell). The present study extends this body of research by exploring the ways audiences use alternative media to perform social justice movements. To frame this study, we first provide a review and analysis of the SPP. We then explain the qualitative interviews and content analysis used to develop the RPP. The research findings then are reported in two sections that illustrate the performance of audiences in conjunction with performance texts witnessed by the audience. Such a structure of examining performances followed by texts was crucial, as performance texts are often integral to the performance of audiences (e.g., Conquergood, 1985; Denzin, 1997; Langellier, 1983).
The Spectacle/Performance Paradigm
To examine the performance of media audiences properly, Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998) developed the SPP. As they explained, the "SPP foregrounds the notion of identity; being a member of an audience is intimately bound with the construction of the person" (p. 37). In this section, we explain the foundations of this paradigm, followed by a discussion about why the paradigm fails to properly assess the performances of audiences of alternative media.
Within the SPP, spectacle and narcissism are interwoven with the notion of the "diffused audience," which is significantly different from "simple" or "mass audiences"--two earlier concepts of audience performance. A simple audience is one that is structured in the sense that there are fixed roles for the audience and the media performers. The simple audience's attendance at a performance is a ceremony, which implies an amount of physical and social distance between those who perform and the audience members who observe (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 1998). A mass audience is an audience removed from performances by the media. Instead of a ceremony, the mass audience observes most media performances as spectacle that occurs in the far-off background. Essentially, media performances exist everywhere, because we live in a media-saturated society. Because of media saturation, members of the mass audience must be selective about which content they will observe, and they pay little attention to most media content around them. In addition, because of the extreme distance between the mass audience and performers, the audience has no influence on such performances (Abercrombie & Longhurst).
In contrast, because of its focus on performance, the diffused audience is central to the SPP. Much like the mass audience, the diffused audience exists in a media-saturated environment. However, within the SPP, performance becomes so pervasive that the diffused audience takes part in the performance, blurring the boundary between audience and performer. Media become a resource that audiences can use to formulate their performances in "everyday" activities, and daily life transforms into a "constant performance" (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 1998, p. 73) in which diffused audience members perceive themselves as performers as well as audience. It is important to note that the diffused audience does not replace the previous two forms; instead, the three forms intermingle. Sometimes people assume more rigid "audience" roles that keep them separated from other performances in society; at other times, performances are part of the background and paid little attention; and at still other times, the audience becomes a part of performances.
According to Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998), the diffused audience is driven by the concepts of spectacle and narcissism. Spectacle is the idea that everything is a framed performance that should be gazed on, possessed, or controlled. As a performance, spectacle is an elaborate exhibition of surfaces for the audience; often there is little detail or substance involved in such exhibitions. In a sense, spectacle teaches the audience how to view the world, as well as how to perform. Everyday life becomes dominated by images--life seems to be transformed into art that can be possessed by the audience (Abercrombie & Longhurst). As an example, elementary schools are filled with Gap clothing, Power Puff Girl backpacks, and Pepsi products; M&Ms become edible math counters; and Hershey Kiss parties become rewards for good behavior. Narcissism, the other part of the diffused audience, is the self-centered or self-oriented nature of the individual that comes from a long affiliation with spectacle. Narcissism is characterized by celebrity worship, absence of a sense of the past or the future, and preoccupation with instant gratification. Spectacle combined with narcissism guides diffused audiences toward ways to perform in everyday life. The individual is self-centered and exists in a world in which everything can be possessed, including the individual and her or his performances (Abercrombie & Longhurst).
Another important point of the SPP made by Abercrombie and Longhurst (1998) is that the diffused audience performs in the spectacle and narcissism of modern society through its level of media consumption or production. The diffused audience member attempts to make her or his fanship or enthusiasm known through the person's use of media. Some audiences obsess about celebrities, television programs, or activities (e.g., hunting) and seek those things out through heavy use of general or specialized media. Some fans become so engrossed in celebrities or activities that they engage in "petty" media production about the subject. Abercrombie and Longhurst called such audiences petty producers, as they contribute to the media or literature on the subject by producing some form of content, such as fan 'zines or Web sites such as the Pearl Jam newsletter or a West Wing Web site. Therefore, an audience continuum exists based on media use that ranges from consumer to petty producer. Most people in modern society fit somewhere along the continuum between consumer and petty producer. Whether audiences perform as petty producers depends on the extent of their interests in particular media topics.
Abercrombie and Longhurst's (1998) notion of the SPP has provided an excellent account of the performances of audience in "everyday life," and made significant contributions to debates and research studies concerning mainstream audiences' interactions with mainstream media and performance (see, e.g., Couldry, 2004; Downing, 2003; Gray, 2005; Hills, 2005; Holmes, 2004; Longhurst, Bagnall, & Savage, 2004; Murphy & Kraidy, 2003; Sandvoss, 2005). However, the SPP addresses the issues of everyday life only as it applies to prosperous audiences within a thriving economic system, a problem raised by Downing. Atkinson (2005a) claimed that such a vision of everyday life creates problems for the assessment of audiences who fall outside of such notions of everyday life; in particular, a question is raised about how scholars interpret audiences who are part of subcultures that resist such a thriving economic system, as do many social justice activists. Although Abercrombie and Longhurst provided a discussion of subcultures, they limited that discussion to how cultists and fans become subcultures--subcultures saturated in "mainstream" media. This is problematic, however, because it means that the SPP downplays the notion of power and ideology in terms of media and audiences. SPP audiences seem to become part of the dominant structure without question. It is problematic when the SPP is used to look at contemporary social justice movements because of the critical perspectives associated with such movements and the content of social justice-oriented alternative media (see Atton, 2002; Downing). Past research has demonstrated that critical perspectives frequently are used in alternative magazines, such as The Nation, alternative radio programs, such as Democracy Now!,...
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