«Political Genres of Online Animation» bei Palgrave erschienen

Zum Jahreswechsel ist mein Beitrag «Political Genres of Online Animation: Genre Theory, Animation Studies, and Digital Media» in dem von Ivo Ritzer herausgegebenen Band Media and Genre Dialogues in Aesthetics and Cultural Analysis bei Palgrave Macmillan erschienen.

Das Buch reflektiert und analysiert das Verhältnis von Medien und Genre in ästhetischer wie diskursiver Hinsicht und enthält inter- und transdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Film, Fernsehen, Games, Musical, Werbung und Webvideos.

Mein Artikel skizziert das politische Potenzial von animierten Bildern und untersucht verschiedene Typen von Animation in der politischen Kommunikation.

Abstract:
This chapter explores aesthetic potentials of animation relating to audiovisual political communication. Throughout its history, animation—and especially the animated film—has served as a means of political propaganda or protest and dealt with political issues in fiction and non-fiction genres. However, with the advent of the «Web 2.0» the general role of media in political contexts has changed. New conditions of production, distribution and reception have contributed to the emergence of new genres specific to the Internet. Low-cost user-generated footage, circumvention of gatekeepers, global and niche audiences as well as their imminent invitation to not just watch but act have made online videos a powerful tool in political and/or activist campaigns. The chapter firstly asks in what way these changes apply to animated videos as political communication; secondly if they have also led to the emergence of innovative genres of political animation; and thirdly if the use of animation in web videos fulfills specific needs and functions that differ from those of live-action footage.