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Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm. / Fathallah, J.
In: Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 18, No. 10, 15.11.2015, p. 1309-1325.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Fathallah, J 2015, 'Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm', Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 18, no. 10, pp. 1309-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972

APA

Fathallah, J. (2015). Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(10), 1309-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972

Vancouver

Fathallah J. Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm. Journal of Youth Studies. 2015 Nov 15;18(10):1309-1325. Epub 2015 May 29. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972

Author

Fathallah, J. / Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm. In: Journal of Youth Studies. 2015 ; Vol. 18, No. 10. pp. 1309-1325.

Bibtex

@article{1fc923e336e444be9eb607b325a52f80,
title = "Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm",
abstract = "Comedy Central{\textquoteright}s South Park has proved a bone of contention for traditional guardians of youth culture. From the denunciations of pressure groups on one hand, to academics attempting to claim South Park for various political positions on the other, it is ironic that a show addressing the failure of official pedagogy has had so little attention paid to its young fans. Academics argue over the {\textquoteleft}message{\textquoteright} of South Park, in a socio-political sense, or denounce it for irresponsibly embracing post-political cynicism. Yet as Mendes et al. have argued, to draw a false division between youth entertainment and some pre-conceived notion of the political realm is a fallacy: young people{\textquoteright}s engagement with and meaning-making practices derived from popular culture are political in themselves. This paper uses a politically informed conception of discourse analysis developed from Laclau and Mouffe to code the top-rated South Park fanfics from Fanfiction.net, a site whose primary demographic is teenagers, in pursuit of the messages young people perceive and make of the show. This project prefers concrete data over impressionistic views of {\textquoteleft}young people{\textquoteright}, and attends to what teenage fans make of and do with the text, rather than imagining them as passive consumers absorbing inherent messages.",
keywords = "Attitudes, Media, Politics, Leisure, Identity",
author = "J. Fathallah",
year = "2015",
month = nov,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972",
language = "English",
volume = "18",
pages = "1309--1325",
journal = "Journal of Youth Studies",
issn = "1367-6261",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "10",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Won't somebody please think of the children? Or, South Park fanfic and the political realm

AU - Fathallah, J.

PY - 2015/11/15

Y1 - 2015/11/15

N2 - Comedy Central’s South Park has proved a bone of contention for traditional guardians of youth culture. From the denunciations of pressure groups on one hand, to academics attempting to claim South Park for various political positions on the other, it is ironic that a show addressing the failure of official pedagogy has had so little attention paid to its young fans. Academics argue over the ‘message’ of South Park, in a socio-political sense, or denounce it for irresponsibly embracing post-political cynicism. Yet as Mendes et al. have argued, to draw a false division between youth entertainment and some pre-conceived notion of the political realm is a fallacy: young people’s engagement with and meaning-making practices derived from popular culture are political in themselves. This paper uses a politically informed conception of discourse analysis developed from Laclau and Mouffe to code the top-rated South Park fanfics from Fanfiction.net, a site whose primary demographic is teenagers, in pursuit of the messages young people perceive and make of the show. This project prefers concrete data over impressionistic views of ‘young people’, and attends to what teenage fans make of and do with the text, rather than imagining them as passive consumers absorbing inherent messages.

AB - Comedy Central’s South Park has proved a bone of contention for traditional guardians of youth culture. From the denunciations of pressure groups on one hand, to academics attempting to claim South Park for various political positions on the other, it is ironic that a show addressing the failure of official pedagogy has had so little attention paid to its young fans. Academics argue over the ‘message’ of South Park, in a socio-political sense, or denounce it for irresponsibly embracing post-political cynicism. Yet as Mendes et al. have argued, to draw a false division between youth entertainment and some pre-conceived notion of the political realm is a fallacy: young people’s engagement with and meaning-making practices derived from popular culture are political in themselves. This paper uses a politically informed conception of discourse analysis developed from Laclau and Mouffe to code the top-rated South Park fanfics from Fanfiction.net, a site whose primary demographic is teenagers, in pursuit of the messages young people perceive and make of the show. This project prefers concrete data over impressionistic views of ‘young people’, and attends to what teenage fans make of and do with the text, rather than imagining them as passive consumers absorbing inherent messages.

KW - Attitudes

KW - Media

KW - Politics

KW - Leisure

KW - Identity

U2 - 10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972

DO - 10.1080/13676261.2015.1039972

M3 - Journal article

VL - 18

SP - 1309

EP - 1325

JO - Journal of Youth Studies

JF - Journal of Youth Studies

SN - 1367-6261

IS - 10

ER -