Youth fantasies : the perverse landscape of the media

Youth Fantasies is a collection of studies conducted in cross-cultural collaboration over the past ten years that theorizes "youth fantasy"; as manifested through the media of TV, film, and computer games. Unlike other media studies and education books, the authors employ both Lacanian and Kleinian psychoanalytic concepts to attempt to make sense of teen culture and the influence of mass media. The collection includes case studies of X-Files fans, the influence of computer games and the "Lara Croft" phenomenon, and the reception of Western television by Tanzanian youth. The authors see this book as a much needed reconciliation between cultural studies and Lacanian psychoanalysis, and attempt to highlight why Lacan is important to note when exploring youth fantasy and interest in the media, especially in shows like X-Files . Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgment 12 Introduction: A Road Map of What’s to Come 14 Some Preliminary Definitions of Terms 19 The Researcher as No-Mad; or No-Madic Research 22 A Brief Road-Map as to What’s to Come 26 I The Non-Divide Between Fantasy and Reality: Setting Up Our Study 28 1 A Historical Andenken: Youthful Appropriations 30 Youth Demographics: The Difficulty of Boundaries 30 Designer Capitalist Exploitation 33 The Fantasy of Developmental Psychology 35 The Future is “Now”: The Return of Repressed Youth 38 2 Our Hypothesis: Youth Fantasies Lacanian Style 44 The Child as Spectral Object 46 Revisiting the Future: The “Loss” of the Innocent Child 48 The Fantasy of Objet a: Lacanian Innovations 51 Putting it All Together: Fantasy Through an Example 54 The Gun as the Lure of Objet a 58 3 A Lacanian Approach to Media 62 The Stubborn and Defensive Ego 62 Affective Body States and Triebe 65 Imaginary and Symbolic Tensions 68 Interpassivity and the Media 70 Pathological Overidentification: The Fan as Predator 71 Death Drive and the Dead Voice 73 An Ethics of the Real: Transgression of and “Beyond” the Law 77 II Post-Oedipalization: Postmodern Drive Culture 80 4 Is Kronos Eating Our Children? Historical Fathers 82 Saturn Devouring His Children 82 When Can You Eat Your Son? 88 From Freud’s Just-So Story to False Memory Syndrome 90 Postmodern Kronos: Devouring His Children’s Dasein for Profit 92 Today’s Monotheism as the ONE 98 5 The Contradictory Demands of the Superego: Contemporary Fathers 100 The Brotherhood of Presidential Follies 100 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: You Must, For You are Driven! 104 Surviving Enjoyment: The Perversity of the Neighborly Act 105 Tony Soprano as Everyman? The Conflict Between Two Fathers 109 Power Lust: No ONE in Charge 114 6 The Loss of Symbolic Authority in Postmodernity 116 The Egomimesis of Designer Capitalism 116 Propping up Impotency: Phallic Exposures 119 The Loss of Ego Ideal: Mechanized Efficiency 120 Undecidable Ethics 123 Père-Version as the Norm? 127 The Paradox of Just Be: The Hypernarcissism of Youth 129 Names of the Father: Traditionalism and Cynicism 132 III Cyberspace as Obsessive Interpassivity 136 7 Media Violence and Youth (Yet Again!?) 138 The Banality of Media Violence Research 138 Playing NBA and Mortal Kombat in the Lab 140 Misdirected Research: Our Hypothesis 143 Moral Authority/Moral Panic/Moral Vacuity 144 Panic Talk: The Moral Confession 147 8 Between Popular Belief and Fact 150 Alarmist Zeal 152 Fact as Fiction: Fiction as Fact 156 Parting Thought 162 9 Girl/Gurl/Grrrl Video Games and Cyberspace 166 Girl Games: The Sex/Gender Fix 166 Grrrl Video Games: Identifying with Tough Women 168 The Power of Violent Images 172 Ego Shooting and Puzzling the Ego 173 Cross-Dressing in Cyberspace 174 Lesbian Cyberfeminist Interventions 177 10 The Myths of Media Interactivity: Youth and Cyberspace 182 Establishing Views of Cyberspace 184 Designer Cyber–Capitalism: The Dream of Direct Product Implantation 186 Oedipus On-Line: Cyberspace Redeemed and Lost 190 The Illusionary Free Choice of the Cyber-Subject 194 The Paradoxes of Instant Gratification: Evacuation of Time 196 11 Fantasy Structures in Virtual Communities: The Perverted GaZe 200 Living Endlessly: Immoral Life 201 The GlanZ Aesthetic: The Inverted GaZe 204 MUDing Around: Virtual Escape Attempts 210 Cyber-Love 212 The Promise of One’s Word: On-line Subjectivation 214 Civics in Cyberspace: Can Youth Have Their Own Voice? 219 12 The Dream of Total Knowledge: Hypertextual Fantasies 222 The Technocrat’s Dream and the Obsessional’s Question 225 Vanishing the Vanishing Point: Effacing the Interface 228 Majestic: A Sign from the Real 230 13 Looping Back to Video Games: The Question of Technological Interpassivity 234 Interpassive Agents of Cyberspace 234 Are Video Games Perverse Acts? 240 Thinking an Unpleasant Thought 241 Conclusion—“Are The Kids Alright?” 244 14 “Are The Kids Alright?” 246 Feeding on the Transcendence of Youth 246 Monstrous Child 248 Beating the Child—Harder 249 Skin-Ego Protection: The Enfolded Spaces of Youth 251 Notes 254 Bibliography 262 Index 278 A 278 B 279 C 279 D 280 E 281 F 281 G 282 H 283 I 283 J 283 K 284 L 284 M 284 N 285 O 286 P 286 Q 287 R 287 S 288 T 289 U 290 V 290 W 290 Y 291 Z 291 Filmography (By Year) 291 Television Series 292 Video Games 293 Books, Magazines, E-zines, Short Stories Poems, Plays 293 Paintings 293 Radio Broadcasts 293 Video, On-line, Screen, and Drama Characters 294 Singers 294 Political Figures 294 Introduction : A Road Map Of What's To Come -- -- I. The Non-divide Between Fantasy And Reality : Setting Up Our Study -- 1. A Historical Andenken : Youthful Appropriations -- 2. Our Hypothesis : Youth Fantasies Lacanian Style -- 3. A Lacanian Approach To Media -- -- Ii. Post-oedipalization : Postmodern Drive Culture -- 4. Is Kronos Eating Our Children? : Historical Fathers -- 5. The Contradictory Demands Of The Superego : Contemporary Fathers -- 6. The Loss Of Symbolic Authority In Postmodernity -- -- Iii. Cyberspace As Obsessive Interpassivity -- 7. Media Violence And Youth (yet Again!?) -- 8. Between Popular Belief And Fact -- 9. Girl/gurl/grrrl Video Games And Cyberspace -- 10. The Myths Of Media Interactivity : Youth And Cyberspace -- 11. Fantasy Structure In Virtual Communities : The Perverted Gaze -- 12. The Dream Of Total Knowledge : Hypertextual Fantasies -- 13. Looping Back To Video Games : The Question Of Technological Interpassivity -- -- Conclusion : Are The Kids Alright? -- 14. Are The Kids Alright? Jan Jagodzinski. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [241]-264) And Index.

In Youth Fantasies, jan jagodzinski explores the meaning of "youth" in postmodern industrialized countries. His approach is decidedly psychoanalytic, drawing inspiration from a Lacanian paradigm as developed by the spirited writing of Slavoj Zizek. Youth Fantasies maintains that the symptoms of today's postmodern "youth" expose the "truth" of the Romantic modernist fantasy of the "innocent" or "divine" child that continues to residually structure beliefs concerning the institution of education and the nuclear family. jagodzinski develops this argument through three sections that deal with the problematic relationship between fantasy and reality, post-Oedipalization, and the cyber-subject. Incorporating a post-Lacanian psychoanalysis, jagodzinski asks us all to rethink the boundaries of reality and fantasy, youth and innocence, family and society.

'Youth Fantasies' is a collection of studies conducted in cross-cultural collaboration over the past decade that theorizes 'youth fantasy' as manifested through the media of TV, film, and computer games. Psychoanalytic concepts are used to attempt to make sense of teen culture and the influence of mass media This is a collection of studies conducted in cross-cultural collaboration over the course of ten years that theorizes "youth fantasy" as manifested through the media of TV, film and computer games. The authors see this book as a reconciliation between cultural studies and Lacanian psychoanalysis