Production and consumption in the contemporary culture industry

• Grant number: 19/03900-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 01, 2019
• End date: April 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Siqueira Ridenti
• Grantee: Caio Eduardo Teixeira Vasconcellos
• Supervisor: Mirta Varela
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Argentina
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/11491-3 - A new folk on TV. Brazilian cultural industry at its most recent challenges., BP.PD

Abstract

Based on questions discussed in the initial research plan and that became more pronounced in the first year of my investigations, the objective of this project is a theoretical problematization about new forms of production and consumption of cultural commodity. Due to transformations unleashed by the emergence of a new pattern of flexible accumulation of capital, the contemporary culture industry has put into circulation not only new forms of activities for creation and elaboration, but also offers the public new types of activities to enjoy. Since the public no longer plays a passive role with respect to the contemporary culture industry, it is fitting to analyze this type of reception inside the current sphere of production of cultural commodity, and the role performed by the subjects in these processes.These phenomena were particularly evident in two Brazilian prime-time soap operas, Avenida Brasil and Cheias de Charme, which were marked by intense and innovative use of the Internet and its social networks to attract the attention of the target publics and increase the audience and participation of internauts in the online pages of the TV Globo website. In a context marked by strong popularization of the web in the country, these soap operas mobilized an important part of their fans via the Internet, revealing successful mechanisms for virtual interaction. Besides the material and technological aspects, my purpose is also to present a reflection that does not lose sight of certain affects in the sphere of human subjectivity.