In the large-scale research on the political socialization of young people in the USA, bringing together the findings of a large group of American scholars, it is clearly pointed out that an “updating of previously accepted models of political socialization is particularly needed” given the fact that the “traditional” media environment has dramatically changed over the decades. With an emphasis on televised entertainment and on the diffuse political messages in various entertainment and fictional programs, the authors underline the hybrid co-shaping of our behaviors and activities in a “media-saturated world” (Thorson, Mickinney, Shah, eds, 2016: xiv).
In this course, our aim is to examine different aspects of media culture, popular culture and mashupculture, throughproductions in differentfields and platforms (eg. reality TV, Youtubers’ content, parodies on TikTok…) asmodernways of buildingpublicculture, aswellassocial and practicallearning.
If we accept, according to Jenkins (2006), that the skills we gain from gaming, from engaging in entertainment with media products, affect the way we learn, the way we work, the way we engage in politics, and the way we socialize with other people, the interconnection of world and intermedial world (inextricably linked), which penetrates into our daily lives and gives meaning to it, becomes a major stake for the contemporary public sphere.
The course has an ‘experimental’ dimension, including the development of theoretical and methodological tools for understanding contemporary media culture, as well as case studies. It is also based on the students’ projects, aiming at exploring the ways in which intermedial culture of the pupils can be expressed.