SITUATING FISKE

Media scholar, b. 1939

Retired professor of Communication Arts (University of
WisconsinMadison)
Core beliefs:

Audience as active agents not subjugated subjects

Audience as non-homogenous
Culture as alive, made by the people, not the culture
industry

PLEASURES IN CULTURE
Traditional classifications: high vs low

Category

Comparisons

Aesthetic

High

Low

Political

Reactionary

Revolutionary

Discursive

Accepting

Making

Physiological

Spirit

Body

Disciplinary

Exertion

Evasion

PLEASURES IN CULTURE
Traditional classifications: high vs low

Category

Comparisons

Aesthetic

High

Low

Political

Reactionary

Revolutionary

Discursive

Accepting

Making

Physiological

Spirit

Body

Disciplinary

Exertion

Evasion

Hegemonic

PLEASURES IN CULTURE
Traditional classifications: high vs low

Category

Comparisons

Aesthetic

High

Low

Political

Reactionary

Revolutionary

Discursive

Accepting

Making

Physiological

Spirit

Body

Disciplinary

Exertion

Evasion

Popular

HIGH CULTURE
19th century industralisation: ruling class vs uncultured
masses
Matthew Arnold, Baudrillard, Frankfurt school
Culture as way of encoding norms, imposing social relations
& meanings

Masses
subordinated

POPULAR CULTURE
Distributing
social meanings
values
norms
identities

POPULAR PLEASURES
Social allegiances formed by subordinated people
Top-Down
Dominating
Disciplining
Controlling
High

Low

Reactionary

Revolutionary

Accepting
Spirit
Exertion

Bottom-up
Opposing
Negotiating
Resisting

Making
Body
Evasion

Popular
Pleasures

evasive
produces energy
empowers
body-centric

productive
politically active resistance
semiotic resistance to
hegemonic force

EVASIVE POPULAR PLEASURES

Centers on the body
Meaning of the body & validation of pleasures power struggle:
Body as political
Power struggle as stakes are high
Left vs Right wing

BARTHES: PLEASURES OF THE TEXT (1975)

Social
Identit
y

Sublim
e

Jouissanc
e

Blis
s

Plaisir
Everyday
Pleasure

Producerly

Orgas
m
Writerly

Opposin
g/Confir
ming

JOUISSANCE
Breakdown of culture into nature
Nature breaks cultural constructs
Loss of socially imposed identity, governance
Escape from socially constructed meaning
Context-specific
Foucault men govern themselves and others through
sexual discipline

The assertion of the peoples right to enjoy popular

pleasures may not in itself change the system that
subjugates them, but it does preserve areas of life
and meanings of experience that are opposed to
normal disciplined existence

Threatening
Offensive
Moral, legal, aesthetic
discipline

EVASIVE POPULAR PLEASURE

Liberating
Empowering
Escape

Popular
Pleasures

evasive
produces energy
empowers
body-centric

productive
politically active resistance
semiotic resistance to
hegemonic force

Popular
Pleasures

evasive
produces energy
empowers
body-centric

productive
politically active resistance
semiotic resistance to
hegemonic force

PLAISIR
Pleasurable process of producing meanings relevant to ones
identity and functional in making sense of everyday life
Rooted in dominant ideology but often resistant
Recognition, confirmation, negotiation of social identity
Progressive not radical, micro not macro
Can be conformist or opposing
Produced by the people

CASE STUDY: RADWAYS MODERN READERS

Housewives reading romance novels
Jouissance through
losing herself, opposing
dominant ideology

empowerment

relevance

Plaisir through
negotiation of identity
and meanings

EXAMPLE: HOMOSEXUALITY
Alternate readings of mainstream films by homosexual
community
An effort to see oneself in the world of cinema without overt
depiction plaisir & jouissance

PRODUCTIVE PLEASURES: RAMBO

From Eric Michaels, Aboriginal Content: Who's Got It - Who
Needs It (1986-7)
Rambo: disoriented Vietnam veteran, escapes abuse from
officers in jail, takes to the forest
Hegemonic meaning: free West vs unfree East
Aboriginies meaning: coloniser vs colonised

CASE STUDY: THE NEWLYWED GAME

The Newlywed Game 1966 1974, 1985 1989, 1996 1999, 2009 2013. ABC, syndicated, GSN

THE NEWLYWED GAME

Example of progressive potential of popular culture
Official winners vs popular winners

Hegemonic
patriarchy

Everyday
experience

Domestic
harmony

Gender
conflict

THE NEWLYWED GAME: INTERPRETATIONS

Feminist: appalled womens sexuality limited to responding
to mens needs
Men: appalled exposed patriarchy: men have to act
masculine or face ridicule
Non-feminist female fans:
women used show to articulate relationships and as a
tool to think with

THE NEWLYWED GAME:

FOUR POPULAR PLEASURES
1. Pleasure in conflict that mirrors ones own relationship
2. Arena/platform/excuse to reveal normally silenced
misunderstandings
3. Pleasure of embarrassment experienced at point of conflict
4. Direct connection with everyday life obligatory, repressive
routine of domestic labor vs voluntary, creative routine

CRITICISMS OF FISKE
Fiske as being too optimistic (vs Adorno)
Audience making do with what they have- relevant to today?