LOL cats to ethical flirting - ‘Our Lives Online’ series

In a six-part series of free public talks, specialists from Massey University’s communication and media studies programmes will offer their insights into how new forms of online communication have altered the way we think about topics such as humour, censorship, flirting, and more.

Dr Nick Holm, a lecturer in cultural studies in the School of English and Media Studies who specialises in the study of humour, will launch the six-part series, titled Our Lives Online, in central Wellington next week with a discussion on how the way we laugh has changed in an online world. He will consider the future of humour in an era of technological and economic change, referencing the role of cute cat videos, The Simpsons’ steamed hams meme and other viral YouTube wonders.

The rise of social media and the world wide web has had a profound impact on the way humour is produced, distributed and enjoyed, he says. No longer dominated by network sitcoms and Hollywood franchises, “popular comedy has become more diverse, more political and straight-up weirder”.

Dr Holm says social media and the online world in general has “become a place where comedy can be reason enough to do something or take a particular political position. ‘Doing it for the ‘lulz’ [fun, laughter and amusement] isn’t simply a provocation, it’s increasingly the basis for a whole philosophy of life.”

Dr Kyra Clarke will discuss the online culture and ethics of flirting

Can we still flirt?

Media studies lecturer Dr Kyra Clarke will explore the notion of ethical flirting via messaging in her talk, the last in the series. 

At a time when scandals can lead to queries regarding practices of flirting, and news articles begin with quotes such as “I can’t flirt anymore”, she says it is useful to think about “the ways in which flirting offers an opportunity to rehearse ethical practices of relating to others."

She will explore the intimacy implicit in contemporary teen film representations of online interactions. “As teen films demonstrate, flirting can be playful, uncertain or detached; it is not always good or pleasant, it can be unethical and lack mutuality and it can provide a starting point for what we might see as fun as well as complexities and difficulties.”

While scandal and issues around #metoo are discussed in the media, Dr Clarke says there is not a lot of academic literature on flirting. To address this, she is working on a book with three academics in Australia “to consider some of the theories and critiques of flirting and propose some new ways to talk about the practice and explore how it is being represented in popular culture."

Dr Kevin Veale, a lecturer in media studies with an interest in storytelling across diverse platforms, will focus on the issue of online abuse and harassment. Social media platforms, he says, “have no motivation to stop online harassment and abuse, and in some circumstances can profit from it."

Dr Claire Henry, a lecturer in digital media production and specialist in controversial film genres (exploitation, rape-revenge, and pornography) will discuss how our greater access to entertainment media via streaming services and video-sharing sites has posed challenges for classification systems in New Zealand and around the world. Questions she will explore include; are age restrictions more or less important than they used to be? Does the solution to the problems posed by evolving technology and viewing habits lie in new/revised legislation, or are there alternative ways to protect and inform media consumers beyond classification and censorship as we’ve known it?