Thursday, February 25, 2010
Here's a blog post discussing one of the panels I was on at ISA, (yes, the one on Battlestar Galactica). Carpenter reiterates ones of the points she made at the panel (while dressed as Starbuck) that what we were doing wasn't really 'explaining' international politics, but showing by BSG reflects international politics. Is analyzing popular culture really 'doing' IR scholarship? Why or why not?
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ReplyDeleteI think that in many ways analyzing popular culture can be considered analyzing international relations. I disagree with Charli Carpenter's idea that the panel was misnamed--I think showing how Battlestar Galactica reflects international politics IS a way of explaining international politics. I do agree, however, that more work should be done studying the effects of interpreting popular culture such as BSG in certain ways. From a constructivst perspective especially, the realm of international politics and popular culture are mutually constitutive. Shows like BSG (I must admit, I have never seen the show, so I hope these comments aren't way off base) reflect the international political situation, but at the same work to either reinforce or change the norms. To take a rather sociological perspective, I would argue that nearly all of popular culture is relevant to IR theory because popular culture influences (subconsciously, on the level of norm reinforcement or creation), the actors who ultimately determine institutions and the international political sphere.
ReplyDeleteAnna, you may be interested to know that one of my co-panelists noted the popularity of BSG in the Department of Defense-- he mentioned something like it being the most popular topic of conversation that was not directly work related.
ReplyDeleteThere is a non-insubstantial literature in IR about the Fox show 24 and its effects. Apparently, the show did so much to normalize torture that certain branches of the military asked them to tone it down. They also reported that they had to deal with the assumptions and enthusiasm of many new recruits about torture-- they had to be trained and educated that the show's representations of how torture works (nearly instantly) and that you know that the guy you have in custody has the relevant information is not even close to how interrogations work and the portrayal of torture on 24 is widely unrealistic.