International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics - Volume 19, Issue 1, 2023

This study explores French President Emmanuel Macron’s rhetorical framing of the COVID-19 pandemic during two nationally televised public addresses given on the eve of the unprecedented country-wide shut down in March 2020. The shutdown was actually be the first of three confinements or public lockdowns that were ordered by the Macron during 2020. Critical metaphor analysis (CMA) was used as the methodological framework to deconstruct Macron’s use of the ‘war’ and ‘journey’ metaphors and their role in his attempt to persuade his people to make major personal sacrifices and comply with their government’s request to limit travel, shut down businesses and confine themselves in their homes. Centring this corpus in the rhetorical moment, this study argues that Macron’s public perception as a wealthy elitist, as well as his failure to adequately respond to the Gilets Jaunes and pension strike revolts that preceded the COVID-19 outbreak prevented him from effectively identifying with the French people and earning their full support and confidence. This may have been exacerbated by his use of the ‘war’ metaphor which, in his role as ‘commander and chief’, likely reified the public’s impression that he was more of a monarchist than a populist.

Research has shown how ‘cultural consecration’ grants economic and symbolic benefits to cultural producers and their creations. Yet few studies adopting this approach have explored the content of these creations themselves. Consecration is a contagious process, and culturally consecrated objects also consecrate the representations contained within. Drawing on insights from the sociology of culture and art history, this study qualitatively analyses and illustrates the reproduction of three social roles of ‘the artist’ in biopics nominated for the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion Award since the year 2000. Focusing on representations of prominent artists who themselves are consecrated in both popular and artistic circles, this article shows how social characteristics of artists – individual exceptionalism, social separation and artistic autonomy – are reproduced through the medium of consecrated film. It concludes by considering the practical implications of such reproductions and avenues for future research on the consecration of cultural content.

This article highlights the importance of Salvador Dalí as a pioneer in the history of public relations (PR). The Catalan painter displayed intense PR and publicity activity in a number of venues, such as media relations, events and performances, creation of content in fashion magazines, movies, TV and collaborations with a variety of industries, which helped him to build a global reputation and reach the status of star in the popular culture arena. The piece also explores the parallelisms between Dalí and Edward Bernays. They both captured the spirit of their times and used communication similarly and during the same period. The use of psychoanalysis for their work was an aspect in common that helped to establish parallelisms between both and even conclude there is a surrealistic element in PR practice that is often overlooked.

This study explores how rural women in Büyükkarabag, a village in western Türkiye, interpret popular Turkish drama serials on national television in relation to local values and moralities surrounding gender roles, honour, family values and motherhood. Through extensive informal conversations, structured and unstructured ethnographic interviews and participant observations, the sociocultural dynamics influencing audience behaviour and attitudes were analysed. The study includes repeated in-depth interviews with 40 women villagers during summer and autumn, 2022. The findings reveal significant differences in the interpretation of Turkish serials between older and younger women, as well as generational conflicts in ideology, and tensions in understanding gender roles and honour. Older women perceive a disconnect between the urban and liberal representation of daily life in Turkish serials and local culture, while younger women view them as aspirational and fantasy-based representations, limited by economic status and class. This study provides insights into the complex relationships between media, culture and gender in rural Türkiye.

This article discusses the emergence of Turkish serial dramas as a site for contestation over the impact of Islamic modernity on Malay women in contemporary Malaysia. Despite its popularity among Malay women, Turkish serial drama has been criticized for misleading and confusing the audience about Islamic history, faith, culture and civilization. The controversy over this television genre raises the question of how Malay women, constrained within their position of being female subjects of the state, manage to circumvent the authorities and watch this Turkish serial drama. They are not supposed to challenge social norms, moral propriety, cultural identity and the state vision of modernity. Therefore, this article argues that although Malay women exhibit excitement towards this television genre, they consistently use Islamic knowledge to develop watching skills and become more sceptical as well as competent in interpreting popular Islamic texts. The findings also show that Islam in the Malay world is culturally diverse, progressive and flexible.

Review of: Common Hegemony, Populism and the New Municipalism: Democratic Alter-Politics and Transformative Strategies, Alexandros Kioupkiolis (2022)

New York: Routledge, 232 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-03220-676-9, h/bk, £120