Jens Eder - Böcker

Still and moving images are crucial factors in contemporary political conflicts. They not only have representational, expressive or illustrative functions, but also augment and create significant events. Beyond altering states of mind, they affect bodies and often life or death is at stake. Various forms of image operations are currently performed in the contexts of war, insurgency and activism. Photographs, videos, interactive simulations and other kinds of images steer drones to their targets, train soldiers, terrorise the public, celebrate protest icons, uncover injustices, or call for help. They are often parts of complex agential networks and move across different media and cultural environments. This book is a pioneering interdisciplinary study of the role and function of images in political life. Balancing theoretical reflections with in-depth case studies, it brings together renowned scholars and activists from different fields to offer a multifaceted critical perspective on a crucial aspect of contemporary visual culture.

What political power do videos on social media have? In what ways do they exert influence, shape publics and change political life? And how can committed civil society actors in this field assert themselves against hegemonic discourses, commercial interests, anti-democratic agitation, and authoritarian propaganda? These questions are being debated intensely as social media increasingly dominate global information flows, and videos increasingly dominate social media.Understanding video activism seems particularly relevant at a time when the internet is undergoing fundamental disruptions. The forms, practices, and opportunities of activism depend on its media environment, which now is changing rapidly and profoundly in terms of its technological basis, ownership, legal regulations, and governmental control.

What political power do videos on social media have? In what ways do they exert influence, shape publics and change political life? And how can committed civil society actors in this field assert themselves against hegemonic discourses, commercial interests, anti-democratic agitation, and authoritarian propaganda? These questions are being debated intensely as social media increasingly dominate global information flows, and videos increasingly dominate social media.Understanding video activism seems particularly relevant at a time when the internet is undergoing fundamental disruptions. The forms, practices, and opportunities of activism depend on its media environment, which now is changing rapidly and profoundly in terms of its technological basis, ownership, legal regulations, and governmental control.

Although fictional characters have long dominated the reception of literature, films, television programs, comics, and other media products, only recently have they begun to attract their due attention in literary and media theory. The book systematically surveys today´s diverse and at times conflicting theoretical perspectives on fictional character, spanning research on topics such as the differences between fictional characters and real persons, the ontological status of characters, the strategies of their representation and characterization, the psychology of their reception, as well as their specific forms and constellations in - and across - different media, from the book to the internet.