Selftubes: Construction of Identities in Web Porn [Selftubes: konštrukcia identít vo webovom porne]

Bočák, Michal. 2012. "Selftubes: Construction of Identities in Web Porn." Paper presented at conference Media and Text 3, Veľký Šariš (Slovakia), 21st – 22nd October 2010. [Paper in Slovak submitted for review.]

This study presents results of the qualitative analysis of constructions of identities in heterosexual pornographic videos’ titles on pornographic websites (tubes). Conceptualising porn as a contemporary Western androcentric discourse of sexuality, the author argues that if porn ought to appeal to socially determined desires of its consumers, it can’t be done only by shooting the bodies in detail: it has to represent identities as “ready-made”, widely shared social categories – these are what assign the status of imaginable social situation to (otherwise “mechanical”) sex act. Moreover, in a pornographised culture which is accepting a pornographic logic also beyond the pornosphere it can be reasoned that the porn partakes on re-/defining of identities (meaning not only genders and desires) significantly. The analysis of porn videos’ titles clearly confirms an introductory theoretical conceptualisation of the identity/subjectivity as an unstable, situational entity as well as it proves the multiplicity and intersectionality of identity, stated by its present theories. It appears notably in the systematic power structuring of the intersections of gender, racial/ethnic, age and other social categories, which actually are, according to the author of the study, naturalising the central gender asymetry and the androcentric order.

Keywords: pornography – porn – web – subject – identity – construction – video’s title – intersectionality – asymetry – androcentrism

Realms of Men’s Pleasures: Straight Porn and Gay Porn as Places of Construction of Masculinities and Male Sexualities [Ríše mužských slastí: heterosexuálne porno a gay porno ako priestory konštrukcie maskulinít a mužských sexualít]

Bočák, Michal. 2011. "Realms of Men’s Pleasures: Straight Porn and Gay Porn as Places of Construction of Masculinities and Male Sexualities." Paper presented at interdisciplinary conference Construction of Masculine Identity in Past and Present, Olomouc (Czech Republic), 10th June 2011. [Paper in Slovak submitted for review.]

Porn as a popular discourse of sexuality, after adopting of significant status in Western culture, has acquired the power to re-/define practices and identities of sex, gender, and desire to a considerable extent. In each video, there exist a variety of discursive elements and strategies, through which the meanings of represented sexual practices, performing subjects and their identities are being framed. Mainstream straight and gay porn, despite numerous shared discursive characteristics, are perceived as specific discourses in this study. Straight porn makes the male body symbolically invisible, while gay porn glorifies it. However, both types of pornography operate as noticeable articulations of masculinity, although with varying degree of explicitness. The analytic part of the study discusses selected analogies and differences in the construction of masculinities and male sexualities. As an example of analogies between the analysed pornographic discourses, the gangbang genre is examined thoroughly. In these videos, socially interlinked group of men shares a common sexual object and the collective celebration of masculinity and male homosocial bonds appears to be more important than the object itself (regardless of its sex/gender). As an example of differences, the representation of male anality is being interpreted. While in the gay porn the male anality is presented as a possible means of achieving pleasure, in the straight porn its potential is significantly repressed (e.g. visual tabooisation of male anus), or the anality is ostentatiously employed for representing a perverse pleasure and/or masculine dominance.

Keywords: gay porn – straight porn – masculinity – male desire – gangbang – homosociality – anality – pleasure – power

Porno, metro, sporno: Contemporary Gay/Queer Culture and Heterosexual Masculinities [Porno, metro, sporno: súčasná gay/queer kultúra a heterosexuálne maskulinity]

Bočák, Michal. 2009. "Porno, metro, sporno: Contemporary Gay/Queer Culture and Heterosexual Masculinities." Pp. 121–142 in Culture – Media – Communication: Special Edition (Narration – Identity – Difference. Selected Topics in Cultural Studies.) 2009, Vol. 1, No. 2 (spec. ed.). Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého. (Ed. by Daniel Topinka, Pavel Zahrádka, Martin Foret, Martin Fafejta, Jiří Hrabal). [Paper published in Slovak.]

In this study I interpret the interaction of gay/queer culture and straight masculinities, especially the hegemonic masculinity. I concentrate on gay porn, observing the ways it handles the category of heterosexuality: on the one hand, gay porn fetishises it as an ultimate masculinity (in so-called straight gay porn), on the other hand, it endeavour to dominate it, at least symbolically (e.g. in genre “broke straight boys”). I also analyse the “gay-for-pay” phenomenon and so-called “bisexual porn”. Furthermore, I analyse the possible onset of a post-identity, indicated by several authors, according to which “fix” identities yield to the current positioning of subjects on the basis of performed sexual practices (e.g. gay identity is being replaced by the “men who have sex with men” label). A new visual discourses of consumer culture, connected to masculinity, are metrosexuality and sporno. Metrosexuality represents a new type of masculinity of urban origin fetishising the male body, sporno a new iconography inspired by gay porn, putting up (straight) men into admiration of men of any sexuality. On the basis of these examples I conclude that despite the seeming democratization of identities, evoking the success of the queer theory or a postmodern „pomosexuality“ concept, all identities still remain controlled by the hegemonic masculinity, moreover, at present they are being noticeably subjected to the consumerist logic.

Keywords: gay – queer – masculinity – hegemonic masculinity – heterosexuality – gay culture – gay identity – gay porn – “straight gay porn” – “gay-for-pay” – bisexual porn – “straight gay” – “straight-acting gay” – post-identity – metrosexuality – sporno – gaze – consumerism

Discourse: An Uncertain Journey of Cultural, Media and Communication Studies to the Centre of Their Interest [Diskurz: neurčitá cesta kulturálnych, mediálnych a komunikačných štúdií do centra svojho záujmu]

Bočák, Michal. 2009. "Discourse: An Uncertain Journey of Cultural, Media and Communication Studies to the Centre of Their Interest." Pp. 117–146 in Culture – Media – Communication (Spectacle, Disappearing Reality and /Non-/Security of Information – Discourse/s/ on Discourse.) 2009, Vol. 1, No. 1. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého. (Ed. by Martin Foret, Marek Lapčík, Petr Orság). [Paper published in Slovak.]

This study interprets and confronts both the social science and linguistic conceptualisation of discourse. In a significant part of linguistics, discourse is still seen simply as an unit crossing the borders of a sentence, while even in its direction to higher units, linguistics generally keeps the perspective of structuralist grammars. In social sciences, on the contrary, the discourse is seen especially under the influence of Michel Foucault as a reality-constituting articulation of particular knowledge going beyond both the subject and the particular communication situation. While linguistics focuses on a natural language, contemporary transdisciplinary discourse studies understand language only as one of the codes. Therefore, in the text presented the representation is construed as a complex entity related to reality. From a semiotic point of view, both of the approaches analysed are characterised by its unilaterality: linguistics tends to interpret the discourse as signifier (i.e. a formal vehicle of the meaning), while Foucaultian scholars concentrate themselves primarily on signified (i.e. meanings itself). However, transcending the differences in the paradigms of discourse analysis is an analyst’s expression of his/her understanding of the cornerstones of discourse studies as a political practice struggling for the deconstruction of power. After overcoming the limits of natural language, it is desirable to head the discourse studies—drawing on the dispositive analysis—towards the interconnection of discursive practices, non-discursive practices and materialisations, which jointly reflect the complex knowledge in a particular area.

Keywords: discourse – linguistics – social sciences – dialogue – code – mode – Foucault – power – sign – representation – reality – narrative – subject – dispositive – Jäger

Subjects after 7 PM: Construction of Political Subjectivities in Television News [Subjekty po devätnástej: konštrukcia politických subjektivít v televíznom spravodajstve]

Bočák, Michal. 2009. "Subjects after 7 PM: Construction of Political Subjectivities in Television News." Pp. 151–168 in Mass Media Communication and Reality I. (Mass Media and the Social Construction of Reality. Mass Media and the Cultural Identity.), ed. by Slavomír Magál, Miloš Mistrík, Martin Solík. Trnava: FMK UCM. [Paper published in Slovak.]

Modes of a discursive construction of a subject in television news are explicated, in this study. Introduction presents the subject, which is defined in correspondence with post-structuralist conceptions of subjectivity as a point of intersection of discourses, framed by a requirement of cultural intelligibility. Since the substance of the subject’s constitution is its recognition by an ideology, the subject is understood as a political per se. Furthermore, based on an author’s research on television news formats, author analyses the role of the verbal and visual means in the construction of subjectivities in news. In a mediatized society, in which the politics (in compliance with trends of commodification and consumerism) is being transformed into a spectacle, television companies urge its viewers to participation in the production of news, but in doing so they restrict the viewers’ possibilities to tragedies and curiosities from the private sphere, thus strengthening the impression that the real politics is “out there”, outside the reach of citizens. In consequence the interactive television cannot be considered to be a more democratic institution.

Keywords: television news – subject – construction – discursive means – political participation – political exclusion – citizenship

Structure of Television News Texts: Analysis of News Formats From a Discursive Perspective [Štruktúra televízneho spravodajského textu: Analýza spravodajských formátov s uplatnením diskurzívnej perspektívy]

Bočák, Michal. 2008. Structure of Television News Text: Analysis of News Formats From a Discursive Perspective. [Unpublished Dissertation.] Prešov: University of Prešov, Faculty of Arts. [Dissertation in Slovak.]

The main aim of this dissertation thesis is to provide a complex and multilateral characteristics of the television news discourse, moreover, it is the attempt to formulate the answer to a question – “how – and why exactly in that way – is television news functioning”. Furthermore, its aim is to explain the complex means (named formats further in the thesis) of presenting certain events in certain routinely performed ways.
Out of the two basic paradigms of the news research, informational and discursive, I chose the second and more contemporary one, which is based on the understanding of the social construction of reality (Berger – Luckmann, 1999), and the ritual model of communication coined by James Carey (1989).
After the broader discussion on the complex notion of discourse, the term which is common to both humanities and social sciences, I concentrate on the basic characteristics of television news discourse and several trends observable in its contemporary development: 1. commercialisation and commodification, 2. entertainisation (infotainmentisation) and 3. changes in the reality – media representation relationship. When dealing with the discursive expressions I characterise verbal as well as musical and visual elements of the news discourse.
In the news bulletin analysis, I concentrate on various means of news promotion. Furthermore, the thesis encompasses approaches to news as a narrative (i.e. the central way of explaining the reality) and thus providing it with a certain meaning. The explication of the narrative structure is followed by a further characterisation of a genre and providing readers with genre classification of television news. Lastly, the concept of the news format (label used for a routine way of presenting of certain themes) is explained according to Altheide and Snow (1979) – this being the core of the actual original analysis. News formats are analysed according to the qualitative methodology. The research sample consists of a week-long records of news bulletins of three Slovak full format televisions (week of December 12 – December 18, 2005).
Television news is divided into several thematic categories and it is analysed according to ways of dealing with its topics. Key characteristics of 24 topics identified in the research sample are presented in the following part of the thesis. These topics are integrated into a further theoretical context presented in previous chapters.
The concept of format is usually used to redirect the attention of the media research to media text producers. Its pragmatics can be used as a foundation of genre education in the television news: on the theoretical level it establishes questions of dealing with ideology (e.g. what are we, by presenting certain issues in certain way?) or questions of the overall status of the globalised culture (e.g. what are the means of the news entertainisation?).
The rejection of genre as a theoretical concept and its replacement by format is pointless because it still is (not only theoretically but practically) a central point by which our culture codes and decodes its texts. This reflects Giddens’ (1998) understanding of the reflexivity of modernity principle.

Keywords: television news – discourse – discursive expressions – news bulletin – narrative – genre – format

Format in Media Studies: Reflections on Terminology [Formát v mediálnych štúdiách: terminologické úvahy]

Bočák, Michal. 2008. "Format in Media Studies: Reflections on Terminology." Pp. 8–19 in Media and Text II, ed. by Michal Bočák, Juraj Rusnák. Prešov: University of Prešov, Faculty of Arts. (Also accessible via http://www.pulib.sk/elpub2/FF/Bocak1/pdf_doc/bocak.pdf) [Paper published in Slovak.]

This study is based on author’s observation that the word format is becoming more and more frequent in the media practice and theory. However, the terminology of the (domestic) media studies is still omitting it. There are three definitions of format presented: 1. targetted broadcast media programming, 2. commodified manual for programme production, and 3. routinised processing of specific themes. The presented meanings of the word are interpreted in broader theoretical and practical context. The second part deals with the attempt to differentiate between two frequently confused terms format and genre: format as a commodity is a pattern created by a certain organisation in a specific time, whereas genre is a pattern created by a discourse community over a period of time, thus it does not belong to a certain organisation or person. The structure of format is relatively strict and absolutely obligatory, preserving of format’s norms is carefully monitored.

Keywords: format – genre – programme – programming – commodification – broadcast media

On the Way to Listener and Viewer: Notes on the Programming Trends in Broadcast Media [Na ceste za poslucháčom a divákom: Poznámky o trendoch v programovaní v elektronických médiách]

Paper co-authored by Juraj Rusnák.

Bočák, Michal – Rusnák, Juraj. 2008. "On the Way to Listener and Viewer: Notes on the Programming Trends in Broadcast Media." Pp. 363–385 in Media Today: Reflection on Mediality, Media and Media Content, ed. by Martin Foret, Marek Lapčík, Petr Orság. Olomouc: Palacký University. [Paper published in Slovak.]

This paper deals with the basic problems of production, function and reception of programme in broadcast media. Authors focus themselves especially on the creation and functioning of programme formats, in both relevant senses of the term (1. targetted broadcast media programming and 2. commodified manual for programme production). The number of programming strategies in broadcast media are discussed and illustrated by examples from Slovak broadcast media and the concepts are applied in a comprehensive analysis of Slovak televisions’ access-prime and prime-time programming.

Keywords: broadcast media – programming – scheduling – programming strategies – programme format – television – prime-time

Why and How to Penetrate… the Meanings: Some Reflections On Porn and Porn Studies [Prečo a ako penetrovať… významy: zopár úvah o porne a porn studies]

Bočák, Michal. 2011. "Why and How to Penetrate… the Meanings: Some Reflections On Porn and Porn Studies." Konstrukt 2011, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Porn or How deep is your throat). http://www.konstruktmag.cz/preco-a-ako-penetrovat-vyznamy-zopar-uvah-o-porne-a-porn-studies/ [Non-Academic Journal Article in Slovak.]

Google Translate [English] - http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.konstruktmag.cz%2Fpreco-a-ako-penetrovat-vyznamy-zopar-uvah-o-porne-a-porn-studies%2F

Keywords: porn – porn studies – pornographication – sex – sexuality – identity – body – web – porn 2.0

Discourse Analysis of Television News: Methodological Aspects of Its Preparatory Phase [Výskum diskurzu televízneho spravodajstva: metodologické aspekty prípravnej fázy]

Bočák, Michal. 2009. "Discourse Analysis of Television News: Methodological Aspects of Its Preparatory Phase." Pp. 21-48 in VARIA XVIII: Conference Proceedings from XVIIIth Colloquium of Young Linguists (Prešov – Kokošovce-Sigord, Slovakia, 3rd – 5th December 2008), ed. by Martin Ološtiak, Martina Ivanová, Lucia Gianitsová-Ološtiaková. Prešov: University of Prešov in Prešov. http://www.pulib.sk/elpub2/FF/Olostiak1/pdf_doc/3.pdf [Paper published in Slovak.]

Keywords: television news – news formats – discourse analysis – methodology – preparatory phase – sampling – transcription

Fresh Juice... A Bittersweet One: Straight Men in Gay Porn [Čerstvá šťava s trpkou príchuťou: Heterosexuálni muži v gayporne]

Bočák, Michal: "Fresh Juice... A Bittersweet One: Straight Men in Gay Porn." Pp. 26–29 in Cinepur 2010, Vol. 17, No. 71 (Queer film). [Non-Academic Journal Article in Slovak.]

PDF-version: http://michalbocak.weebly.com/uploads/2/8/1/2/2812791/bocak_heterosexualni_muzi_gayporno_2010.pdf

Google Translate [English] - http://translate.google.sk/translate?sl=sk&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=sk&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fcinepur.cz%2Farticle.php%3Farticle%3D1927

Straight men’ performing in gay porn (called gay-for-pay) is not a new phenomenon. However, while actors formerly tried hard to imitate/perform the "ideal" gay sex, since about 2000 a new trend of highlighting the heterosexuality of "models" appears. In this article, I summarise the generic and narrative specifics of straight gay porn and discuss the causes and (political) consequences of the heterosexualisation of gay pornography.

To See Queerly and to See the Queer: Interpretations of Queer Visuality and Visibility [Queer vidieť a vidieť queer: Interpretácie queer vizuality a vizibility]

Bočák, Michal. 2011. "To See Queerly and to See the Queer: Interpretations of Queer Visuality and Visibility." Language and Culture 2011, Vol. 2, No. 6. http://www.ff.unipo.sk/jak/6_2011/bocak.pdf [Review in Slovak.]

Publication reviewed: Zikmund-Lender, Ladislav (ed.). 2011. "SEE! Texts On (Queer) Representation, Culture, Visuality." ["V!Z: Texty o (queer) reprezentaci, kultuře, vizualitě."] Praha: Charlie. [Book published in Czech.]