“Viewing Public” — why little Timmy is important to the media
As I am not much of a football fan, I preferred to take an easy solitary walk through the deserted streets of Mainz, but half of the nation was thrilled in regularly watching the matches of the European Championship. Things have changed: It’s not just you and your siblings anymore, sitting in front of TV, listening to the moaning of your dad as it used to be in the 1990’s and the early 2000’s. Watching a massive media event has developed into a massive public event — The Public Viewing.
The World Football Championship in 2006, better known as the „Sommermärchen“ in Germany, can be seen as a groundbreaking cornerstone for this development in the last decade. For the first time, people gathered in the streets of every town to openly support their team and to celebrate. But a factor of much more importance is the massive medial representation this scenario and the „fans“ got within this scenario. Not only the big football players received their attention, also little Timmy next door got his part on the screen.
The representation of spectators in media began with the evolution of the mass media at the beginning of the 20th century. They were no longer hidden, but formed and used as an important and strong dramatic element. Real emotions, real thrill and excitement — a real fan impersonates all these qualities media needs for producing attractive posts. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, this „mise-en-scènce“ of the audience is of a whole new quality.
In his essay „Viewing Public — Das Publikum im Zeitalter seiner medialen Inszenierbarkeit“ from 2007, cultural anthropologist Claus-Marco Dieterich draws attention to this phenomenon. He makes clear that not only people are publicly viewing something (in this case a football match), but that these public actually is viewed, through representation in the media, by another public. Dieterich states that in the modern age, „fame for 15 seconds“ is crucial to us, and I’m sharing his opinion on the importance of „Sichtbarkeit“ (visibility) and „Inszenierung“ (staging): The value of an event or an activity is measured in the number of pictures we take from it, and what could be of higher importance than a photograph of little Timmy being part of an event, in the newspaper, or even an audiovisual post on TV? On top of that, industry also receive their share of the cake: Flags, jerseys, make-up, flower garlands in national colours, all these things are consumer items becoming part of these events, and therefore components of „Selbstentwürfe“, self-definitions of the people.
Public Viewing basically is organised and planned by companies and the media — however, most of us probably just enjoy being part of a social public event, sharing a passion.
sources: Dieterich, Claus-Marco: Viewing Public. Das Publikum im Zeitalter seiner medialen Inszenierbarkeit. In: Simon, Michael et al. (Hg.): Bilder. Bücher. Bytes. Zur Medialität des Alltags. 36. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde in Mainz vom 23. bis 26. September 2007. Münster, New York, München, Berlin 2009, S. 273–282.
