G. DE MEYER
De studie van populaire cultuur en van volkscultuur
Summary: The study popular culture and folk culture
In this article we outline the traditional position, however under discussion, of the study matter of folklore and popular culture. It is arguable that in both fields of study quite often the same discourse is being used, namely as far as views on representation and authenticity (and the opposite such as commercializing and folklorizing) are concerned. The term appropriation makes it possible to fit in both fields of study in the same linguistic usage which keeps an eye on creative consumption of present time folk culture and mass culture.
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G. DE MEYER
Lux brings out the star in you
Summary: Lux brings out the star in you
In this article we discuss, against the background of a society moving form modern to post-modern, the development in the field of the media, and especially of the advertising campaigns, with special attention to “LUX” soap. The use of stars in advertising campaign of “LUX” is paid special attention to.
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J. DIELENS
Het is echt gebeurd, het stond in de krant! Een onderzoek naar het verschijnen van moderne sagen in de krant Het Laatste Nieuws (1998, 1999, 2000)
Summary: I read it in the newspaper; it must be true!
This article is a summary of an academic final report. It deals with an inquiry into the publication of modern, urban legends in the newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ in the years 1998, 1999 and 2000. This inquiry proves that the topics of most popular urban legends published in this newspaper clearly reflect what lives with people at a given moment.
Stories about animals and plants, about food and health are found more than those about other subjects. People are more involved with these topics and they pop up in implausible legends. Urban legends are not published on various pages. As to ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ most legends are published in the first columns of the paper. But most contributions are published in a special column.
People have a firm belief in newspaper texts. The mentioning of a location, name, time, sources, quotations and photographs may convince the reader of the truth of the story, even if this is not always the case. Our research has proved that the written press plays an important part in the circulation of urban legends.
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L. VAN ZOONEN
Populaire cultuur en popularisering van cultuur
Summary: Popular culture and the popularization of culture
In this article the role of the Amsterdam Centre for Popular Culture plays an prominent part. The research workers of this network of the Amsterdam University focus their attention on television, pop music, digital games and football. Next to it the investigation focuses on the question how important public institutions (journalism, politics, public broadcasting) change under the influence of popular culture and popularizing. The key figure in these topics is the question what role the media plays in everyday constructions of individual and collective identities, and also what role it plays in social inclusion and exclusion (citizenship). Likewise the power-relations in force around popular culture, that find expression in a permanent but as to character a continually changing reconstruction of “high” and “low” culture, have a prominent place.
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P. LEFEVRE
Receptie van Suske en Wiske in katholieke tijdschriften
Summary: Reception of Suske and Wiske in Catholic periodicals and magazines
Albeit that the Flemish strip written and drawn by Willy Vandersteen and Marc Sleen developed itself very fast after the second World War and found its way to a broad public, for a long time there was some aversion of the cultural elite towards this relatively new medium.
An analysis of short strip reviews in two Catholic literary critical periodicals shows a more balanced judgement. It strikes us that Suske and Wiske found more favour than other strips. However, Catholic reviewers always stressed that strips were only easy reading that could be tolerated to a small degree. Up to 1958 critics were more or less favourable to strips but that has changed afterwards. Moreover, fewer and fewer strips were reviewed.
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S. REIJNDERS
Holland op de helling. Televisie-amusement en feestcultuur
Summary: Holland under review. Television entertainment and festive culture
In traditional cultural criticism, television entertainment is invariably viewed as a corrupt form of mass distraction, a way of exploiting and diverting an oppressed public. The products of the mass media are regarded as impossible to compare with, and ultimately even a threat to “true” and “authentic” popular culture. In this paper, television entertainment is viewed not as an “alien” form imposed upon people from above, but as an integral and important part of the popular culture, a form of festive culture. Based upon field research, interviews with participants and audience surveys, it is shown how the Dutch entertainment show “Te land ter Zee en in de Lucht” (By Land and Sea and in the Air) is intertwined with forms of festive culture. For its participants, this programme forms part of a wider festive repertoire which celebrates and expresses a group identity. For the audience, the ritualized media find, on the verge of the programme, an opportunity to create and experience imagined communities.
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V. VAN ROMPAEY
Bericht in uw chatbox: ‘Gelieve naar beneden te komen, het eten is klaar’. Een geïntegreerd kwantitatief en kwalitatief onderzoek naar de gevolgen van ICT voor het gezinsleven
Summary: Family life and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)
Present day family life cannot without its share of ICT. More and more families possess more and more ICT. An important question arises, namely what is the impact of ICT on family life. In this article the results of an integrated qualitative and quantitative investigation are discussed. In the first place a typology of families was drawn up, based on a telephonic survey of a thousand Flemish families. Three types of families appear; traditional families, intermediate families and multimedia families.
In a second phase a psychosocial research design was employed to determine the impact of ITC on family life in these families. The results show that the use of ICT is not influenced by the family context, but lies within the dynamics of the family and so has its implication on family life.
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W. DUSAR
Van Zwarte madammen & hippe heksen
Summary: About Ladies in Black and Trendy Witches
The way witchcraft is incorporate in the strip, refers direct to the image of the witch of the present people. This article stresses the adaptation or localisation of traditional witchcraft to current appreciation norms. Strip authors have to adapt themselves to modern public when redacting the age-old witch-legends and stories. The cultural context that influences the perception of the legends has strongly developed. Rationalization has had a strong influence on the attitude and behaviour of the readers.
Supernatural phenomena are not credible anymore so that the imaginary character of the witch is emphasized. Scepticism and irony have replaces the original fear of the witch. Other social developments have also had an influence on the portrayal of the witch, such as the decline of religious zeal and the rise of feminism. On the basis of sixteen strips of Suske and Wiske, the development is examined in an oeuvre that spans fifty years.
The author occurred at the end of the seventies in Studio Vandersteen made the research much more interesting.
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