Constructing hope in hopelessness: Politics of hope and playful resistances of affective publics in TikTok’s #corecore #pinoycore
Article
TikTok has been a site for increasing political activities. But what exactly constitutes political activity? I analyzed #corecore, a trend in the social media platform TikTok that portrays hopelessness in our present realities, and its localization through its combination with #pinoycore. I located the affective political performances of the trend’s creators. Employing thematic analysis to 37 videos, I firstly identified the themes of playful affordances that allowed for the (re)production of #corecore #pinoycore videos. I argued that sound bites, hashtags, and weaved short clips in a single short-form video allows for the constant production and reproduction of #corecore #pinoycore. Second, I identified three affective themes – (1) affective news, (2) tragic reality of social, political, and economic conditions, and (3) recollecting the past – that allow the trend to carry intense emotions in its political performances. The playful affordances and affective intensities that exist in #corecore #pinoycore allow politics of hope and playful resistances to be performed through the trend. Such is seen through a critique of Philippines’ present realities and a reimagination of future possibilities. These affective political performances unearth the role of emotions such as hope and hopelessness in shaping the political, along with its performances and possibilities.
Pilgrimage to a Memory Hole: Towards an Affective Study of Fan Tourism in Asia via Angkor Wat and Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love
Article
This paper extends existing conversations on ”fan tourism” in East and Southeast Asia from the focus on economic advantages and impacts of blockbuster movies to the making of a ritualized space and affective experiences of audiences identified as fans/cinephiles. Using the case study of fan pilgrimage to Angkor Wat featured in the final sequence of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000), the paper draws attention to the formation of iconic and cinephilic location through various textual engagements. The paper explores the way ritualized moments featured in these writings relate to a tradition in cinephilia, which favours moments when things gain agency in the film. Drawing on contribution of works in fan studies, the paper further points to the way in which fans turn the iconic space and cinephilic moments into their own “places of the imagination” (Reijnders, 2011, 8) through re-enactment. The paper concludes by reflecting on the total experience of pilgrimage as a meaningful journey by discussing fans/cinephiles’ own ethical and social reflections.
