Advertising communication and spirituality: a critical approach of academics and professionals

This article explores advertising as a space where spiritual discourses are reproduced from the critical approach of academics in communication and sociology, along with professionals in the advertising sector. Therefore, a qualitative methodology of semi-structured interviews with a panel of fifteen experts was used. This research aims to develop a discourse derived from the interviewee’s experience of the meaning provided by advertising as a transcendent dimension. The interviews were analysed by applying a spiral model by simple induction. The study identifies a compensatory character between brands and religions based on a functional definition of the latter, where brands have acquired the ability to construct social meaning, offer an existential programme to the individual, and arouse identity and awareness through their own narration. Without disregarding the economic objective of corporations or the different levels of transcendence expressed by brands and religious forms, there is consensus on advertising’s attempt to follow the same scheme of adhesion, claims, symbology, and evocations offered by religions, assuming a post-materialist turn of the advertising discourse towards transcendental values, even superficially or banally. The list of interviewees and the use of this technique, which has not previously been applied to the interactions between advertising discourse and spirituality, provide an original perspective on this emerging study fiel

Unreliable Narrators for Troubled Times: The Menacing “Digitalisation of Subjectivity” in Black Mirror

This article offers an examination of the television series Black Mirror (2011-) using a theoretical framework for studying post-classical narrative complexity. Its basic proposition is that narrative fracturing and misleading points of view are used in Black Mirror to offer a critique of the excessive confidence in digital technology and social networks as regulators of human subjectivity. While a mission historically attributed to science fiction is the exploration of a particular contemporary issue by expressing it in fiction form, Black Mirror offers an innovative twist on this objective by incorporating the narrative complexity of the mind-game film through the perspective of distorted subjectivities. In nearly every episode, the conflict that arises highlights the dangers inherent to the naturalisation of technological devices that virtually become appendages of the human body. Most episodes explore the negative consequences of the unrestrained use of new technologies to control memories, regulate personal relationships or reduce all human experience to data. The absence of any debate questioning their value results in a completely alienated society that feeds on the fictionalisation of politics and private life, in which individuals are incapable of distinguishing between reality and fiction, or even between what is happening outside and inside their own minds

Making Sense of Complex Narration in Perfect Blue

This is an original manuscript / preprint of an article published by SAGE: Antonio Loriguillo-López, José Antonio Palao-Errando, Javier Marzal-Felici. Making Sense of Complex Narration in Perfect Blue. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2020, vol. 15, no 1, pp. 77-92. Copyright © 2020 by SAGE Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1746847719898784Although identified as a feature of the film by both critics and researchers, the narrative complexity of Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, Madhouse, 1997) has been ambiguously defined. In this article, the authors examine the complex narration in Kon’s first feature film, equivocal and obscure in its more confusing points, through a narratological analysis of the film’s most ambiguous scenes. Using cognitive film theory as introduced by David Bordwell and Edward Branigan, they link its approach in terms of the modulation of information flow throughout the film – high knowledgeability, high self-consciousness and (occasionally) low communicativeness – with the conventions of the slasher genre. Their analysis of the more perplexing scenes in Perfect Blue is reinforced by monitoring the veiled changes of focalization between the film’s three focalizers: Mima, Uchida (aka Me-Mania) and Rumi. In order to do this, they explore how the narration – in the tradition of contemporary puzzle films – makes use of judgements, preconceptions and cognitive illusions in the spectators’ activity to conceal Rumi’s involvement in the persecution of Mima and the murders committed. In the conclusion, they associate the film’s complex narration with its critical commentary on the representation of Japanese pop idols (and former idols) and the state of audiovisual entertainment in Japan

Brands as New Forms of Religiosity: the Case of the World of Red Bull

Institutional religion’s loss of influence runs parallel to the emergence of the sa­cred in the secular. The transformation of the religious and the re-enchantment of the profane are also present in con­sumption, which is acquiring a growing ontological function. This paper identi­fies and analyses brands as a new form of religiosity because of their essential role in the lives of individuals and socie­ty, beyond their commercial nature, po­sitioning them as constructors of mean­ing, bringing world views together and making sense of reality. We also explore the advertising discourse of the World of Red Bull campaign (Spain, 2012) car­ried out by the international Red Bull brand. This analysis will confirm that advertising is no longer a mere instru­ment of capitalism, but rather a vehi­cle for spirituality, making increasing use of transcendental semiotics, taking elements from religious language and transforming them with the help of mesmerizing audiovisual techniques into a new form of communication, with a message that does nothing to hide its messianic nature.La pèrdua d’influència de la religió ins­titucional és paral·lela a l’emergència d’allò sagrat en l’àmbit secular. La transformació del fet religiós i el re-encantament d’allò profà també es fan presents al consum, que adquireix una creixent funció ontològica. Aquesta in­vestigació identifica i analitza les mar­ques com una nova forma de religio­sitat pel seu paper essencial en la vida de l’individu i la societat, més enllà del seu caràcter mercantil, situant-se com a constructores de significat, fent conver­gir visions del món i donant sentit a la realitat. Així mateix, explorem el discurs publicitari de la campanya World of Red Bull (Espanya, 2012) duta a terme per la marca internacional Red Bull. Aques­ta anàlisi ens confirmarà que la publici­tat ja no és simplement un instrument del capitalisme, sinó més aviat un vehi­cle d’espiritualitat que fa un ús cada ve­gada major d’una semiòtica transcen­dent, prenent elements del llenguatge religiós i transformant-los, amb l’ajuda de l’espectacularitat tècnica, en una co­municació nova que no amaga el seu caràcter messiànic

Bases per a la renovació de l’espai comunicatiu valencià i la restitució del servei públic de radiotelevisió. Informe de la Comissió d’Experts en comunicació de les universitats valencianes (CECUV)

Informe encarregat pel Fòrum Social de l'Audiovisual Valenci

Bases para la renovación del espacio comunicativo valenciano y la restitución del servicio público de radiotelevisión. Informe de la Comisión de Expertos en Comunicación de las Universidades Valencianas (CECUV) (traducción al castellano)

Traducción al castellano del informe: Bases per a la renovació de l’espai comunicatiu valencià i la restitució del servei públic de radiotelevisió. Informe de la Comissió d’Experts en comunicació de les universitats valencianes (CECUV

El análisis fílmico en la era de las multipantallas

This paper tries to stress the relevance of film analysis as an essential activity for critical citizens´education, and as a necessary background to study and analyse other audiovisual media, related with cinema in expressive and narrative forms. We analyse some reasons to explain why film ananalysis is rejected, the nature of this concept. And, finally, we present an essays collection «Film analysis and watching guide».El presente artículo trata de subrayar la importancia del análisis fílmico como actividad esencial para la formación de ciudadanos críticos, y como background» imprescindible para abordar el estudio y análisis de otros medios de comunicación audiovisuales, con cuyas formas de expresión y narración mantiene una estrecha relación epistemológica. Para ello se analizan algunas causas del rechazo del análisis fílmico, el propio concepto y se presenta como propuesta de trabajo concreta la colección de ensayos «Guías para ver y analizar cine»