Perhaps this is a more culturally-focused, than new media-specific post - but as Axel pointed out recently in acknowledging the prospect of a "Cultural Science" course of study at UQ - these topics are inextricalbly linked and share much common ground.
In our culture of celebrity idol worship, the psychology concept of "performative identity" is changing our perspectives on entertainment. We are more interested in what Brangelina got up to on the weekend, than what they get up to in their latest movie. Children idolize and immitate celebrities, acting out on what they see as succesful behaviour.
In fact, amidst the tidal wave of user-created content entertainment and 'reality' TV, there is an undercurrent of voyeurism and vicarious entertainment practices. Religion is also caught up in the mix. New Age, Interfaith, and arguably religions such as Scientology are heavily driven by congregants' vicarious faith
Dear-God is a hip, new age website allowing people to post their prayers to God - whomever that may be for them. The design and art are top-notch, however, the advice offered by most users is not.
When I first heard about this website I thought it was a nice idea, along the lines of Rosalind's new book of prayers, Mosaic and expected a warm site of inter-faith sharing, full of insight and positivism. Instead, this site is dingy, provocative and voyeuristic. In my opinion, this site is not facilitating an inter-faith experience, it is purely for entertainment purposes - and the evidence of this is the obvious role being played by the editor/moderator of the site - only posting those 'prayers' which will capture an audience - usually for their shock value.
On to television now, and surely, the extremely prevalent excuse circa 2001, "Oh, I only watch Big Brother because I think it is a fascinating social experiment, and my interests are purely from a sociology/cultural integration perspective" is now dead and burried. Anyone still watching after eight series for academic research purposes is a very slow learner. In writing this blog, I was not intending on tirading against social networking and 'reality' TV, but I do believe that beyond marvelling at the wonder of user-led content creation, and 'real' social interaction on TV, we do have to wonder just what it is we are entertaining ourselves with? Are we all just a global community of Big Brother?
