Zapping

2012-07-01T20:41:07Z

VanessaW: Created page with 'Zapping - typically postmodern? Zapping is something everybody in the 21st century knows, and something (almost) everybody does. As Stuart Sim states, "[t]he technique of rapidl…'

Zapping - typically postmodern?

Zapping is something everybody in the 21st century knows, and something (almost) everybody does. As Stuart Sim states, "[t]he technique of rapidly cutting between television channels [...] can lay claim to being one of the most characteristically postmodern acts" (Sim 2006, 328).

But what has 'zapping' to do with postmodernism? First of all, for being able to 'zap' between channels, you need some different channels - something we take for granted today, but not the case only a few decades ago. The development of TV and mass media therefore has made a contribution to the 'birth of zapping' but that's not all. The audience has changed too: Before, people where consumers only, taking and therefore also just watching what they could get. Nowadays, however, people first of all have the choice, there is not one or two but one or two thousand channels available, 24 hours a day, and - what's even more important - people's attitude has changed. Also due to the development and constant growth of the internet, people changed from being consumers only to having the chance of changing and contributing something themselves. This shift from consumer to 'prosumer' can -to a certain extend -be seen in 'zapping' as well. According to Sim, TV channels can be seen as "some kind of continuous narratives which can be connected together in any order at all" (ibid.) according to one's own liking, i.e. the individual viewer, and 'zapping' now authorizes the viewer "to break up the flow of linear narrative" and with that he or she gets some kind of "control over the sequencing, if not the content" of their viewing (ibid.). Though the viewers and therefore 'consumers' of TV have not the same possibilities to influence the objects of their consume users of the internet have, 'zapping' has some impact as well: it "[challenges] the grand narratives [see also master narratives] of the programme makers, which demand passive viewers who consume what is given to them in a relatively uncritical manner" (ibid.).

Whereas 'zapping' in Sim's definition means changing TV programmes in general, in changing the channels people sometimes differentiate according to the cause of taking the remote control: then 'zapping' is defined as changing the channels to avoid advertisement, a change of channel in general is called 'switching', and 'flipping' enables the viewer to get a quick programme overview (cf.medialine.de). When 'grazing', viewers switch channels to 'graze the programme' in search for something interesting, though changing channels again sooner or later (cf. ibid.). 'Channel hopping' eventually makes it possible to watch two or more programmes at one time (cf. ibid.).

References:

medialine.de: http://www.medialine.de/deutsch/wissen/medialexikon.php?snr=6281

Sim (2006): Sim, Stuart (ed.) 2006. ''The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism''. 2nd ed. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, London.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

2012-07-01T09:31:23Z

VanessaW:

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

[pictureI: Peace symbol]

As part of the upcoming and growing permissiveness in the 1960s, people also began to protest more overtly. Protest was one of the 3 bigger realms of permissiveness that came up due to the changes in public and economic fields as well as in private ones: (almost) full employment accompanied by more money in everybody's purse produced new subcultures, access to mass media, and the will to change the strict moral values of former generations. This lead to permissiveness in the 3 realms of sex, law, and protest culture. In the latter, the CND (founded in 1957)played an important role:
In times of Cold War (1945-1991) with Cuban Crisis (1962) and the Vietnam War, anti-war demonstrations became more popular. The CND also started as a protest against Cold War and atom weapons: It promoted a unilateral nuclear disarmament by the UK, as well as an international disarmament (the CND is not only against nuclear weapons but also against nuclear power stations in the UK, cf.cnduk.org).

Supporters of the CND in its 'first wave' in the 1960s were mainly young/middle-aged (upper) middle class people with intellectual needs, who associated the A-bomb with the old establishment, Empire hierarchies, and class structure which did not fit in with the developments of British society by that time (cf. Session 3 ). The protesters, who were supported by famous intellectuals such as E.M. Forster and Benjamin Britten, wanted Britain to become a moral power instead of a military one (cf. ibid.).
On the first Aldermaston March in 1958 over Easter (these Easter Marches still exist), the sign of the CND, designed by Gerald Holm, and later became an international peace symbol (cf. 'pm.magazine'). Symbol, Aldermaston March and its slogan "Ban the Bomb" soon became part of 1960s' youth culture.
When J.F. Kennedy succeeded in the negotiations with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, the influence of the CND and its support by the public faded.

[picII: March]

Aldermaston March (sueddeutsche.de)

In the 1980s however, the CND experienced a resurgence in response to that of the Cold War. In October 1981 250,000 people joined an anti-nuclear demonstration and the CND member numbers increased rapidly (cf. Hinton 1997, 63). Different from the protests in the 1960s, in the 80s lot's of independent groups supported the CND's anti-nuclear movement in Britain, some of those later affiliating. As well had the women's movement a strong influence (cf. Minnion/Bolsover 1983).
The CND's growing support however, also provoked some opposition: different groups against the CND, such as 'Peace through NATO', 'British Atlantic Committee' (cf. Hansard.millbanksystems.com) and others organised counter-demonstrations, did researches to mobilise public opinion on the one hand, on the other hand, spying and libel belonged to anti-CND activities, too (cf. wikipedia.com).

[picIII: German demo]
There were anti-war and anti-nuclear Easter Marches in Germany, too. Here in 1965 in Frankfurt/Main (Sueddeutsche.de).

Whereas the CND was a rather loosely organised campaign in the beginning, it has a stable structure nowadays: it has national organisations in London, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, several regional groups and four special sections: Christian CND, Labour CND, Trade Union CND, and Ex-services CND, as well as miscellaneous youth and student groups (cf. cnduk.org).
The CND still demands to eliminate British nuclear weapons and abolish them globally, the "[a]bolition of other threats of mass destruction or indiscriminate effect", a "nuclear-free, less militarised and more secure Europe" as well as the "closure of the nuclear power industry" (http://www.cnduk.org/about/aims-a-policies).

References:

cnduk.org: http://www.cnduk.org/about/aims-a-policies

Hansard.millbanksystems.com: "Lords Hansard". Hansard.millbanksystems.com. 1981-12-17. Retrieved 2011 -01-09. In: wikipedia.org.

Hinton (1997) : James Hinton "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament", in Roger S.Powers, Protest, Power and Change, Taylor and Francis, 1997, p.63. In: wkipedia.org.

Minnion/Bolsover 1983: John Minnion and Philip Bolsover (eds.) The CND Story, Alison and Busby, 1983. In: wikipedia.org.

sueddeutsche.de: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/ostermaersche-frieden-sei-mit-euch-1.411050

wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_Nuclear_Disarmament

British Culture - User contributions [en]

Zapping

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament