Browsing by Subject "maalittaminen"

This thesis examines how affective polarisation can affect a theatre performance. The thesis is a case study of a targeting and shaming incident that occurred at Kivinokan kesäteatteri in 2021, in which the theatre received threats, mainly on social media, that people would be coming to the theatre with baseball bats because their children’s play Uppo-Nalle contained a vaccination scene. Due to the threats, the theatre decided to delete and replace this scene in question, and, thus, affective polarisation directly through targeting and shaming affected a nearly finished theatre performance. Although this case is unique in Finland, it does work as an example of how the growth of affective polarisation in society can affect theatre. The theoretical framework for my thesis consists of three different books. Firstly, since most of the affective polarisation, in this case, took place on social media, as a source for this subject, I have used Patrick Lonergan’s Theatre & Social Media. In the book, Lonergan examines the relationship between theatre and social media and provides a comprehensive definition of the term. Secondly, when analysing the theory of affective polarisation and terms related to it, I have relied on Arttu Saarinen’s book Vastakkainasettelujen aika: poliittinen polarisaatio ja Suomi, in which Saarinen discusses the different concepts of polarisation and reviews its history in Finland. Thirdly, when defining the term affect and its concepts, I have used Kaisa Koskinen’s Translation and Affect: Essays on Sticky Affects and Translational Affective, as the terms she uses in the book, such as affect memory, have been crucial in my analysis of why the children’s play Uppo-Nalle became the victim of targeting and shaming. As this is a case study, I have used a wide variety of materials such as online news, social media posts, emails and interviews as the sources for this thesis. The aim has been to create an all-encompassing picture of the Uppo-Nalle case, through which it is possible to examine what happened in this case and to reflect on the future implications for theatre. This thesis argues that affective polarisation can affect theatre performance if, for example, the theatre must change its performance due to targeting and shaming. Although, in this case, there were some positive side effects for the theatre, such as financial benefits through the free publicity they received, they were nothing compared to the negative effects, such as the restriction of the freedom of arts. As the Uppo-Nalle case thus shows, the increase of affective polarisation in society would pose a grave threat to artistic freedom.