Post on 29-Jan-2023
Live through a ritualised ‘Life’
Constantly growing communication technology, media
developments and innovations open up new ways for us to
connect with friends, meet new people, reconnect with old
classmates, and foremost give us the ability to keep in
touch with our family and loved ones. One of the most
popular gadgets that aid us to achieve all this is the
webcam, introduced in 1991, which has ever since improved
in both video streaming quality and usability. For the
following essay, I will look at the video transmission
function of a webcam and analyse its prime usage with the
concept of ritual and the idea of ritualization.
Therefore, I have decided to narrow my examples down to
the idea of online performance as a ritual, in this case
through the use of the online messenger application
Skype, as well as the use the webcam as a presentation
device, most commonly seen on the video broadcasting
website YouTube. Both of these examples relate to Nick
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Couldry’s concept of liveness, which talks about
performances in real time “with simultaneous co-presence
of performers and audiences.” (Frei 2013:36) Taking in
consideration that the idea of YouTube as a performance
ritual has been a popular topic in the past, I attempt to
exemplify one of the more overseen genres within this
community: The genre of videogames has risen to the top
in 2013 and serves as an interesting basis for the
concept of rituals. Throughout the essay I will draw
primarily on the ideas of theorists such as Nick Couldry,
Ronald Grimes, and Emilé Durkheim but also Mirca Madianou
and Daniel Miller, who conducted an essential research in
the field of polymedia and the usage of virtual
communication tools.
First of all, I would like to give a clear
understanding of the term media ritual and what it consists
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of: A media ritual itself, according Nick Couldry, is
often associated with the idea of maintaining and
producing social integrity and applies to a multiplicity
of things that can be found within celebrity culture, a
specific media events, and even Reality TV. Media
Rituals are therefore actions “that reproduce the ‘myth’
of the media as privileged access points to the centre of
society”, also known as the myth of the mediated centre. (Guan
2010:77) To reproduce this myth, Durkheim argues that
rituals gain their special appeal from semiotic
arrangements that have the ability to relate concepts
either to the sacred or the profane respectively. (Grimes
2011:189) The power of media-oriented rituals is based
on, according to Bräuchler in “Theorising Media and
Practice”, what is considered to be ‘in’ the media and
respectively, what ‘is not’ in the media. (Bräuchler et
al 2010:48) Following Durkheim’s theory as well as his
notion on rituals is considered an elementary approach on
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how communities are held together. As a result, I decided
to choose aforementioned topic to give a more in-depth
view on how visual online communication can bring people
closer together through the use of diverse rituals but
also serve a performative role, in which users might aim
to inform, entertain or simply present themselves to the
vast World Wide Web.
The Internet was the initiator for online
communication and the power to cross borders
electronically while maintaining relationships with
either family or friends without the actual physical
presence. As Carman Neustaedter points out, primarily
social media opened up new possibilities to connect
worldwide and new technology is constantly being
developed, trying to keep up with the needs of the
younger generations. (Neustaedter et al, 2012:170)
Although there exist numerous possibilities to
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communicate with others nowadays, I will focus primarily
on Skype, and mediums alike that use webcam and chat-
based features, to analyse the rituals involved in the
process of exchange. Both instant messaging applications
and social media platforms have become a crucial and
valuable part in our lives. Just as Paddy Scannell
described the importance of broadcasting as constitutive
of ordinary life, communication technology has earned an
equally important role in the 21st century. (Morley,
2000:109) A quick chat, a Skype call home or a simple
text message: all of these activities have become daily
activities that simplify our social interaction with an
extended reach. Especially the younger generations have
become bound to this ritual of communicating through the
use of electronic devices. Anyone who is unable to
compete with the latest tech-craze tends to lack the
‘membership of the culture’, as Scannell points out.
(Morley, 2000:109) Nevertheless, all these innovations do
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not only serve the purpose to give young people a
simplified opportunity to chat but also offer businesses
new ways of contacting clients, to interview
international applicants and hold global conferences
online.
These activities also manage to affect our conception
of time, allowing us to cross borders and time zones
without interference. Roger Silverstone, as Johanna
Sumiala mentions in “Media and Ritual: Death, Community,
and Everyday Life”, stated that one of the key functions
of such innovations is to structure and assemble time:
Thanks to Skype or Facetime we can celebrate festivities,
such as birthdays or other celebrations, with family and
friends, who might be miles apart. (Sumiala, 2013:63-64)
Without actual physical presence we can attend important
events and maintain global connectivities by partaking in
social rituals. On top of that, Skype and most of the
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popular messengers are currently cost-free, breaking a
vital constraint in media and allowing anyone, given the
access to the Internet and a computer, the chance to
benefit from these diverse mediums. The fact that the
access to virtual communication is fairly inexpensive and
does not affect the quality of the conversation itself,
is one of the arguments of Daniel Miller in “Tales from
Facebook”, in which he refers back to the concept of
polymedia. (Miller, 2013:176)
The term polymedia is related to the theory of
communication mediums serving as a ritual that reconnects
and holds bonds together, which was coined by Mirca
Madianou and Daniel Miller. In their research,
‘polymedia’ is used as an example to explain how
Philippine mothers stay in touch with their children, who
were left at home. (Madianou et al 2012:7) With
constantly changing technologies and innovations it is
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rather difficult to evaluate the impact of these
technologies for a longer period of time. Thus, Madianou
chose the term ‘polymedia’ (originating from the Latin
word ‘poly’ meaning ‘many’) since new developments and
more efficient opportunities arise. To identify a
ritualization process three conditions have to be
fulfilled that consist of the ability to pay for the
hardware, achieving a certain extent of media literacy,
as well as a shift to the appropriate infrastructure.
(Madianou et al 2012:126) Although these criteria are
predominantly fulfilled by the Western world, online
communication is far spread and even countries, which
might have joined the network only recently, can benefit
from the electronic landscape. David Morely mentions in
“Home Territories”, how the household boundaries start to
transgress through the broader social experience that has
been enhanced through these mediums. (Morley 2000:3)
Webcam-based mediums, such as Skype or Facetime, add a
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certain level of realism to the conversation allowing the
transmission of both sound and vision, which turns the
experience into an interactive ritual. Through this
process, as Madianou and Miller mention, people obtain
the ability to create a repertoire of emotions, which are
transmitted electronically through facial expressions,
tone of voice, certain gestures or even contextualised
messages. (Madianou et al 2012:132-4) Therefore, the
World Wide Web is not only one of many wonders of
technology but rather a socio-technical system that is
‘run’ by millions of human actors, social norms and
structures, as well as regulations that need to be
respected in order to maintain the social context the
Internet is positioned in.
Tova Benski and Eran Fisher compared this ritualised
concept to the mass media, which on the same basis,
cannot be understood outside the framework of a mass
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society and the political system it is built around.
(Benski et al 2013:4) The social aspect, or rather the
emotional engagement in online conversations has become a
crucial point in media research. Whether parents stay in
touch with their children, two people participate in
online-dating or friends from high-school reconnect,
online communication is not only ritualised in the sense
of setting a ‘talk time’, get updates or go through the
process of getting to know each other but also to
transmit this ‘emotional energy’. Sociologist Randall
Collins coined this term to extend Emilé Durkheim’s
analysis of the ritual and emotion in social experience
and positions the idea into a virtual space. (Benski et
al 2013:33-34) Collins compares the theory of an
interactive ritual, also called ‘Interaction Ritual
Theory’, to the physical social world, in which similarly
emotional energy is transferred. Users, or communication
participants, tend to long for a memorializing process,
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as mentioned by Collins that is induced by the use of
symbols and their symbolic power, which I will elucidate
in further context later on. (Benski et al 2013:34-35)
Erving Goffman used ‘interaction ritual’ to explain the
notion of ritualization. Based on his studies,
ritualization can lead users to iconify a medium, in this
case the computer or in a wider sense the screen itself.
The interaction becomes a ritual substitute, or even
‘analogue’ as Goffman indicates, and is interpreted as a
personal or human interaction with the medium and
subsequently with the person of interest on the other
side of the screen. (Grimes 2006:6) What may be perceived
as a simple device to communicate and share information
is actually a form of ritual that “may contain media and
media devices”, as Ronald L. Grimes noticed. (Grimes
2006:6) In this sense the image of a ritual as ‘old and
traditional’ can sometimes be surprising when the
similarities in the latest technological developments
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turn out to be quite obvious. One of the most
recognizable parallels is the idea of ‘repetition’
leading to emotional associations and an action followed
by another action and so on. Media theorist and cultural
critic Vivian Sobchack describes the repetitive process
as something ‘nostalgic’: “it is oriented toward the
past, and what has been done before that ought to be done
again”. (Grimes 2006:8) This idea can be applied to
online conversations in terms of the ‘rituals’ we go
through in each session. These may vary depending on the
person we talk to: intentionally people act differently
and successively go through alternate scenarios when
talking to a mother, a good friend from school or even an
authority figure, for example in an online job interview.
Before taking a closer look at the symbolic power
that is involved in the ritualised online communication I
want to delve a bit further into the aspect of emotion
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and the emotional energy that emanates from these
rituals. Randall Collins argued how the emotional energy
serves as the driving motivation towards the interaction
in online communication and serves as the core element
that holds social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter,
together. (Grimes 2006:34-35) With his theory, Collins is
directly extending the idea of Emilé Durkheim’s analysis
of emotion and ritual in a social context as well as
Goffman’s idea of the IR (= interaction ritual). The use
of moving images to communicate or share information with
someone has changed the essence of virtual interaction.
As Collins describes, an interaction ritual consists of
four crucial components: these are namely the “physical
co-presence”, a “common focus of attention”, a “shared
emotional mood”, and last but not least a “boundary to
outsiders”. (Benski et al, 2013:35) All these ingredients
can be found in virtual communications, especially a
simple Skype call that asks for the attention and
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emotional collaboration of both participants and demands
users, who talk in an intimate area disclosed from
unwanted ‘others’ – given the fact that it is a proper
conversation. But how do people convey emotions in a
virtual realm without an actual physical confrontation?
According to Randall Collins, a ritual is meant to be a
bodily process, meaning that humans gather in the same
place to initiate the ritual process. Although some
occasions might lose meaning or could pose an ethical
problem, it is still possible to transmit emotions – or
emotional energy – through virtual spaces, such as the
Internet or even television. (Collins 2004:54) With the
implementation of webcams in chat conversations, users
have the ability to achieve a stronger effect in talking
to loved ones rather than a mere phone call or a text
message. The combination of picture and sound imitates
this missing ‘bodily presence’ and allows both sides to
read body signals, expressions, get into a shared rhythm,
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and achieve a focus of attention. Collins calls the
arrangement of these fragments a “state of
intersubjectivity”. (Collins 2004:64) All participants
become mutually attuned and an interchange of emotional
energy can be established. Noteworthy is also
anthropologist Victor Turner’s idea of rituals as ‘social
dramas’ that “give form to conflicts and the dominant
values holding a group together”. By social dramas,
Turner describes performances, in this case in a virtual
space, that enable us to speak through the use of moving
images that are created the use of webcams or phones. Ken
Hillis expands this idea in his book “Online a Lot of the
Time” and places the idea in networked rituals. (Hillis
2009:55) The performers in this ‘social drama’, namely
the participants, share their own experiences with the
user on the other side of the screen, which does not
necessarily have to be with one single person. The
missing actual physical presence can function as a
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respectably easier way to deal with certain situations
for that some people might be too self-conscious to cope
with in reality. Ken Hillis mentions the use of a virtual
environment to negotiate loss or personal issues by
engaging in “ritualized displays of visibility”. (Hillis
2009:56) By avoiding direct confrontation it is easier to
inform family, friends or communities about a problem and
consequently seek help. Michael Mandiberg brings up a
great example in “The Social Media Reader”, regarding an
HIV patient, who used to share his condition and feelings
through blogging and thus gave his friends and family the
possibility to ask him about his well being without
asking him face-to-face. (Mandiberg 2012:75) This idea
has moved on to other platforms over the years with the
development of new technologies and a growing social
affordance, which means more and more of our senses are
involved in online communication.
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Even on video broadcasting websites, such as YouTube,
users share their stories and testimonials to cope with
the changes they were initially afraid of, by facing the
problem passively, meaning on a ‘virtual’ level with a
real audience. Before the video broadcast, blogging
served a similar purpose, allowing writers to get their
thoughts, ideas or issues out there and have millions of
other people, even strangers, engage on a textual level.
Obviously this method still exists but is nowadays more
likely to be replaced due to the fact that visual images
open up new ways of expressing oneself and allows one a
clearer visualisation of emotions. According to David
Morley, author of “Home Territories”, these new
technologies assist us in transgressing boundaries and
open the public world to the private, facilitating a
greater involvement in the social world. (Morley 2000:3)
Displaying oneself in front of an unknown audience gives
strangers the opportunity to take part in our life –
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which can be either a blessing or a curse. Assuming
former, it would correlate with Durkheim’s idea of
rituals bringing the people closer together, forming new
bonds while strengthening the community in general.
Referring back to the example of Skype and mediums alike,
the visual display gives friends and families the chance
to have reassurance of the person’s current state and the
ability to read emotions easier. Through such practises,
according to Randall Collins, so-called ritual groups
come together, who focus their attention on a mutual
topic, share a common mood and show respect towards the
other participants. (Collins 2004:109) These ritual
groups differentiate each other according to the people
involved.
The idea of a ‘ritual group’ was inspired by Emilé
Durkheim’s notion of a ritual solidarity, meaning that
the conversation may either have a high or low level of
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solidarity. Whereas conversations with close people most
likely stem from a positive level of solidarity, rituals
that involve people we might not be familiar with could
harbour a person that is less attached to the group’s
purpose and spirit. On the other hand, symbolic rites
that hold the group together and thus prevent disorder,
manage to avoid negative solidarity. (Collins 2004:109)
To exemplify these situations, it might be more useful to
take a look at YouTube broadcasts, rather than Skype
conversations. Just lately, Felix Arvid Ulf, also known
under the pseudonym “PewDiePie” on aforementioned
website, reached the highest number of subscribers (over
20 million) worldwide. To give a quick insight on what
Felix A. Ulf does: he simply films himself playing video
games and adds witty comments to share his gameplay
experience. One of the reasons Felix was able to
accumulate such a vast amount of fans, is the resilient
group solidarity he managed to build through symbolic
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power. Tova Benski and Eran Fisher analysed Collins’
theory and came to the conclusion that the ‘emotional
energy’ that is transmitted provides members of the
‘ritual group’ with a sense of belonging and strengthens
the forged emotional bonds. (Benski et al 2013:33-34) All
participants, who in our example would be represented by
the subscribers, share the emotionally energized feeling
that is created through the mentioned symbolic power
Felix’s videos are charged with. Already little aspects,
such as the same greeting at the beginning of each video,
a certain catchphrase, sounds and, questions to the
viewer assist in recalling the memorized positive
feelings. (Benski et al 2013:33-34) Despite the fact
that, once again, there is no physical presence involved,
there is still a level of social connection going on,
which has been invoked by the symbolic actions Felix uses
throughout his videos. To the surprise of many, he was
able to surpass celebrities and their music channels or
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viral videos that benefit on a short-term basis, with an
often-overlooked genre. What Felix does, is a great
example for Couldry’s concept of liveness in that the
person in the video is separated in space from its
audience but experiences a so-called co-presence. The
performer is not actually encountering his audience
physically but rather on a social level. (Frei 2013:36)
Through the technological features of YouTube, and the
use of live image transmission, has been enhanced and
offers the performer the chance to influence his
presentation. The genre I decided to look at on YouTube
takes specifically advantage of these extras.
The fact that video games have become the most
popular genre on YouTube is quite fascinating,
considering the fact that gaming has been the target of
news with its “violence praising” ideologies in the last
few years. These so-called gameplay videos, in which a
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person plays through a specific game while adding live
commentary, have undergone their own ritualising process.
Charlotte Townsend-Gault draws upon the theories of
Goffman and Turner, who argue that the participants, or
in this case users, themselves attempt to show an
audience what they can do. (Townsend-Gault 1992:53) With
the involvement of an audience, the ritual becomes
additionally a social process with an act of cultural
input, in this case the formerly rare genre of video
games. What has been considered ‘profane’, taking
Durkheim’s argument in consideration, has been able to
gain popularity through this platform and thus is more
and more considered a ‘sacred’ category; taking into
account the negative media presence of video games.
According to Emilé Durkheim, rituals, in this case so-
called ‘gaming vlogs’, enact the idea of the sacred and
enable its participants to identify with an immense
community. (Hillis 2009:50) Since rituals are more
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prominently found online, they have been able to move
from the profane to the sacred and managed to be
recognized as a legitimate form of entertainment and
community. To maintain this status though, the video
creators of these gameplay videos have to keep a vital
element in mind: as ‘social actors’, continuous action is
required. James E. Katz and Mark A. Aakhus describe this
idea with the term “Apparatgeist”, meaning a perpetual
action and contact is demanded. (Vincent et al 2009:85)
Due to the broadcasters performance the viewers partake
in this ritual and are simultaneously in an interpersonal
connection with the YouTuber1. Online broadcasting
websites, as Nick Couldry points out in “Media, Society,
World”, are without a surprise the leading commercial
media players thanks to the easily modified content and
the possibility to share videos on a global range.
(Couldry 2013:73) Some may criticise the change of the
content after the ritual has become a sacred act:1 The person creating mentioned videos
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Particularly on YouTube, channels tend to become more
commercialised after a successful breakthrough and start
to flood the viewer with advertisements within their
videos or prompting them constantly to subscribe and
share the content on social networks as much as possible.
This might indicate a possible turn of events, by
changing the sacred to the profane and vice versa.
Subscribers might not take the changes lightly and decide
to unsubscribe or prefer other users, depending on the
change of interaction and whether the earlier mentioned
“Apparatgeist” can be maintained on a continuous basis2.
In conclusion, the virtual space has proven itself as
a worthy medium for ritualised actions, especially used
as a communication device. Skype and Facetime give a
great example for its use to reconnect with family and
friends through the transfer of emotions and interactive
rituals on a non-physical level. The future certainly2 given the fact that the user wishes to continue;
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holds further developments and innovations that might
offer a range of new possibilities to communicate and
allow for new ritualised actions that may give us
different perspectives on the world of online
communication. YouTube itself has already managed to
create solidarity amongst the users and is based on the
idea of liveness. Through the mentioned co-presence in
Nick Couldry’s studies, people who might be an introvert
in real life could then express their hidden personality
via a mediated platform, such as YouTube.
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Bibliography
Benski T., Fisher E. (2013), “Internet and Emotions”, Routledge:
London
Bräuchler B., Postil J. (2010), “Theorising Media and Practice”,
Berghahn Books: New York
Collins R. (2004), “Interaction Ritual Chains”, Princeton University
Press: New Jersey
Couldry N. (2013), “Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media
Practice”, Polity Press: Cambridge
Frei B. (2013), “Sociality Revisited?: The Use of the Internet and Mobile
Phones in Urban Cameroon”, Langaa Research & Publishing: Mankon
Grimes R., Husken U. et al (2011), “Ritual, Media, and Conflict”,
Oxford University Press: Oxford
Guan Y. (2010), “Media, Culture and Society in Malaysia”, Routledge:
London
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Hillis K. (2009), “Online a Lot of the Time: Ritual, Fetish, Sign”, Duke
University Press: Durham
Madianou M., Miller D. (2012), “Migration and New Media:
Transnational Families and Polymedia”, Routledge: London
Mandiberg M. (2012), “The Social Media Reader”, NYU Press: New
York
Miller D. (2013), “Tales from Facebook”, Polity Press: Cambridge
Morley D. (2003), “Television, Audiences and Cultural Studies”,
Routledge: London
Neustaedter C., Harrison S. (2013), “Connecting Families: The Impact
of New Communication Technologies on Domestic Life”, Springer: London
Sumiala J. (2013), “Media and Ritual: Death, Community, and Everyday
Life”, Routledge: London
Townsend-Gault C. (1992), “Ritualizing Ritual’s Rituals”, Art Journal
New York, pp. 51
Example used:
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie
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