Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies - Volume 14, Issue 1, 2022

This article aims to provide a contextual overview of the filmmaker–subject relationship in documentary filmmaking. This topic is addressed in those documentary films that require the involvement of the filmmaker in the participants’ everyday lives over a prolonged period, thereby turning their relationship into a central feature of the documentary filmmaking. I argue that the filmmaker–subject relationship involves a personal engagement that problematizes their professional responsibility as expressed mainly in their commitment to the film project and that it is mainly the personal dimension that informs the ethical decisions made by filmmakers. I begin by considering how long-term relationships allow filmmakers to better understand the reality of participants by earning their trust. I then explore the importance in documentary filmmaking of the calculation of costs and benefits in relation to the film and its participants. Finally, I examine how a filmmaker’s sympathetic and antipathetic attitudes towards a participant determine the nature of their relationship.

Social networks have improved communications between organizations and their stakeholders. They enabled companies to adopt more active approaches as they could engage with users through digital media. This study aims to analyse whether companies operating in Mexico (hereafter called ‘Mexican companies’) and companies operating worldwide (hereafter called ‘global companies’) have an active presence on Facebook, and thus assess their level of participation on the social network. The main results indicate that companies generally have a large presence and frequent activity on Facebook, but rarely promote interaction and conversation. However, Mexican companies have a more active presence and participation than global companies comparatively. The study presents an x-ray of organizational communication management in Mexico and worldwide in the social network. Likewise, it provides some interesting professional contributions.

The aim of this article is to investigate by means of a qualitative content analysis which models of citizenship emerge from the communication practices of four fair trade organizations: Oxfam-Worldshops, Fairphone, Trade for Development Centre (TDC) and Colruyt. Drawing on discourse theory, three forms of citizenship are distinguished: expanded, communitarian and agonistic. TDC and Colruyt expose the conditions of production in the Global South and encourage the consumption of fair trade products in the Global North (thus reflecting an expanded citizenship). In contrast, Fairphone aims to create a community and encourages members to communicate the alternative, the Fairphone smartphone (thus reflecting communitarian citizenship). Finally, Oxfam-Worldshops emphasizes the conflicts between the interests of farmers and consumers and those of multinational corporations, thereby encouraging citizens to protest unfair trade (thus reflecting agonistic citizenship). We conclude by highlighting the meaning of purchasing fair trade in the different models of citizenship.

This is a study on videos generated or shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by the main political parties’ candidates during the general election campaign for the government of Spain in April 2019. Using a quantitative analysis and a statistical approach, the means of audiovisual persuasion used by the candidates are analysed, addressing their emotional nature. It is shown that the traditional political parties in their campaigns use audiovisual formats that are less emotional than those of the new emerging parties. Secondly, a clear difference can be seen among the leaders in their use of audiovisual formats to convey their messages.

Even though the independence referendum held in 2017 in Catalonia was unsuccessful, the large role of the media together with easy, fast international broadcasting and the fear of a possible mimic effect in other regions made the entire world observe and discuss the event. The purpose of this article is to analyse the media coverage of the referendum in two benchmark British newspapers, The Guardian and The Telegraph. Based on hypotheses that the news coverage regarding the Catalonian referendum might be prone to the dissemination of information according to the editorial position of the newspapers, this research has analysed 188 news pieces by using framing analysis. The first hypothesis, that both newspapers adapted their versions of the story to readers according to the predisposition of the different editorial trends of each newspaper, was not confirmed. The results allow us to conclude that in the news of the benchmark British press regarding the illegal referendum in Catalonia, fair journalistic coverage prevailed.

This article explores the connections between moving images and world fairs by focusing on a specific case: the Barcelona 1929 International Exposition. The event, a key moment in the city’s history, showcased cinema as a technological marvel, a vehicle for transnational influence and a tool for propaganda. After an introduction to the political and economic context of the exposition, our analysis covers four main areas: first, we document the role played by Palacio de Proyecciones, a sumptuous palace where new audio-visual devices and techniques were displayed; second, we trace the remains of the mysterious lost film Barcelona Trailer, where Hollywood stars greeted Hispanic audiences and praised the exhibition; third, we offer a critical analysis of the newsreels recorded by the film company CINAES and their mise en scène; finally, we compare visual motifs and shots from the 1929 footage with contemporary images produced today in Barcelona, examining the links between visual culture, technology and gender.

Review of: Mapping the Rockumentary: Images of Sound and Fury, Gunnar Iversen and Scott Mackenzie (eds) (2021)

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 358 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-47447-805-2, e-book, £80.00

Review of: Maternidades: Políticas de la representación (‘Maternities: Politics Of Representation’), Pilar Carrera and Carmen Ciller (eds) (2021)

Madrid: Cátedra, 237 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-43764-280-2, p/bk, €10.95

ISBN 978-8-43764-281-9, e-book, €6.99