In the People's Republic of China, the state takes a didactic approach towards the diffusion of media and forbids the depiction of homoerotic relationships on the big and small screen. Chinese web...Show moreIn the People's Republic of China, the state takes a didactic approach towards the diffusion of media and forbids the depiction of homoerotic relationships on the big and small screen. Chinese web series "The Untamed" (Chen Qing Ling 陈情令) however adapts a web novel containing an explicit homoerotic romance to public acclaim. This exploratory study examines how the directors of this series navigated government censorship and conveyed the homoerotic subtext between the two protagonists. In order to answer this, the thesis makes use of visual discourse analysis (divided into the layers of the image, the soundscape and the montage) on shot protocols as outlined as in Schneider (2012) while also building upon the theoretical frameworks of Van Leeuwen (1996; 2008), Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) and Iedema (2004). The analysis is contextualized by a literature review spanning the topics of the history of homosexuality in China, the importance of representation and television, homosexual representation in the Chinese media landscape to end with the topic of the state approach to media and censorship mechanisms of web series. The thesis concludes that the directors successfully depicted homoerotic subtext by using a wide range of audio-visual and narrative techniques while leaving enough space for deniability, which might bring about more adaptations of such materials and influence public opinion about homosexual individuals.Show less
This work discusses political strategic communication through an assessment of German television debates between chancellor candidates. The analysis of the German debates, which is based on the...Show moreThis work discusses political strategic communication through an assessment of German television debates between chancellor candidates. The analysis of the German debates, which is based on the Functional Theory and supported through the concept of collective identity, reveals that politicians construct collective identities during the political debates, in an aim to appeal to their audience and gain their votes. The Functional Theory of political campaign discourse is a widely used theory within the field of political campaign research. Most work has been conducted on television debates in the United States, yet it strives to be perceived not only as a national but as an internationally applicable theory. The paper forms a comprehensive picture of strategy within the competitive political discourse, through the application of the Functional Theory to the German political context.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
On the 17th of April 2019, Indonesia held the general elections. The President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) won 55,5% of the vote, beating the former general Prabowo Subianto representing Gerindra Party...Show moreOn the 17th of April 2019, Indonesia held the general elections. The President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) won 55,5% of the vote, beating the former general Prabowo Subianto representing Gerindra Party for the second time, the first in 2014. Less than two weeks after the victory, the re-elected President announced its intention to relocate the nation's capital from Jakarta, located in Java island, to a greenfield site on the island of Kalimantan. In this thesis, I use Twitter communication emanating from the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning and the office of the President to dissect the official rationale for this historic initiative and to investigate on the political and ideological discourse surrounding it. What is the Indonesian government trying to achieve through this project? What ideals and political priorities does it reflect? Is there consistency in the official discourse? My analysis is both quantitative and qualitative; it is quantitative because I used large numbers of tweets to measure the frequency which a variety of terms is used to describe both the desirable characteristics of the new capital, and the undesirable aspects of the old one. It is partly qualitative because I investigated and critically reflected on the results found on Twitter to understand better the motifs behind the decision of moving the capital, and be able to answer my research questions. The results show that Jakarta has been abandoned because it does not represent the Indonesian aspirations of modernity, reflected on the smart, sustainable and green imaginaries that the new capital will promote. Indeed, the tweet analysis revealed that these three elements are the most desirable features for the new capital of Indonesia and are the emblem of the type of modernity and progress that the Indonesian government is aspiring to. This is confirmed by the fact that the mentions to smart, green and sustainable are not clear nor justified. These terms appear to be used as buzzwords, almost as if it they were interchangeable. In conclusion, I argue that these features are all instrumental for expressing modernity and progress (Maju). This is the real objective of the government. “The city of dreams”, as I renamed it, imagines a flawless and perfect city, symbol of the progress of the whole country; the truth is that it is only a symbol, and the country will not progress in smartness, greenness, sustainability and equality if not through real policies and measures that tackle the local problems. Besides these attributes, the government claimed that the new capital would bring to more regional equality and economic growth. In this regard, the Indonesian government has also tweeted about Brasilia and its similarities with the new Indonesian capital, praising the design and the outcome of the project; like Brasilia, the new capital is seen as a means to cope with ongoing economic imbalance among the different regions of Indonesia. Although regional equality is, of course, an issue that the government needs to tackle, the increase of GDP outside Java will not benefit the whole population unless there is a real will to tackle inequality not only geographically but also across income groups. Besides, it is essential to remember that the gap between the rich and the poor in Jakarta is substantial and moving the capital will not represent a solution to this problem. Furthermore, the comparison with Brasilia was fundamental to notice a crucial vii paradox in the project of Ibu Kota Baru: by promoting a modern and futuristic capital, Ibu Kota Baru implicitly indicates a refusal of existing conditions of Indonesia, just as like Brasilia did. To conclude, it is important to mention that this thesis is about ideology. In essence, it does not seek to analyse the hidden personal interests and oligarchic business strategies on the project of the capital, although this has been briefly pointed out. The ultimate aim is to dissect the official rhetoric and rationale that surround this project to find the political ideals and desirable features that the project reflects, and inconsistencies in the discourse.Show less
This thesis analysis how the Hong Kong identity is constructed in the film 'Ten Years', by means of a discourse analysis. Since the handover of sovereignty, Hong Kong is no longer part of the...Show moreThis thesis analysis how the Hong Kong identity is constructed in the film 'Ten Years', by means of a discourse analysis. Since the handover of sovereignty, Hong Kong is no longer part of the British Empire, but instead is part of China. Great Britain influenced Hong Kong during the colonial period, and the film depicts that as different from Mainland China.Show less
The role of ideology and religion on voting behaviour has declined. But, what does then determine voting behaviour nowadays? New dimensions and (short-term) factors seem to play a role and there is...Show moreThe role of ideology and religion on voting behaviour has declined. But, what does then determine voting behaviour nowadays? New dimensions and (short-term) factors seem to play a role and there is more attention to the personalization thesis. Some politicians are treated as celebrities and image, appearance and also clothing are subjects considered to be important. The suits of Mark Rutte and Diederik Samsom have been widely discussed in the run-up to the 2012 Dutch parliamentary elections. Does fashion rule? The central question of this master thesis is: Does the clothing style of politicians influence trait perceptions and voting behaviour of Dutch voters? A quantitative analysis of data obtained by an experimental study will be the basis for this research. Unknown men will be photographed in different clothing styles, which randomly assigned groups of respondents will evaluate on the basis of six leadership traits. What will be analysed is if indeed the men in suits with ties are statistically significant more positively evaluated on the six leadership traits compared to, for example, men in jeans and a casual sweater. By testing four hypotheses, an answer to the research question can be given and the implications of the results will be discussed. This analysis distinguishes between the assessment by men and by women, by different age groups and by clothing style of respondents themselves. In a first step to discover the influence of clothing on the evaluation of Dutch politicians and voting behaviour, this study focuses only on male politicians, mainly because men still dominate among party leaders in national parliamentary elections. What seems to come out of the questionnaires overall, is the fact that it depends on the person what he has to wear. Faces are more important when evaluating unknown persons in pictures. Clothing style can in some way increase or decrease the evaluation scores of some traits, but no clear relationship is to be found between certain traits and a specific clothing style. Politicians’ clothing can reinforce certain leadership traits in the eyes of voters, however, it differs between politicians which clothing style enhances which leadership traits. In general, an in-between clothing style yields the most positive responses and the most votes. But when looking independently at each trait, quite different evaluations appear between different persons. Some small changes in methodology and recruitment of respondents will make the findings of further research stronger. In further research, women definitely have to be included as stimuli persons and possibly political attitude also.Show less
