Mediaboss Marketing

The Muppets are ghosting Disney Plus, and its a good thing: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Pepe the King Prawn and the rest of the puppet pals will star in their first-ever Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion, dropping this autumn exclusively on Disney Plus. The special promises to feature a star-studded Muppets cast, likely with appearances from Fozzie Bear, the Swedish Chef, Sam the Eagle, aged hecklers Statler and Waldorf and other beloved characters created by the legendary Jim Henson, as well as celebrity cameos and all-new music.

Per the logline, Muppets Haunted Mansion takes place on Halloween night, when Gonzo is challenged to spend one very daring night in the most grim-grinning place on earth: The Haunted Mansion.

The special was announced today with the help of two Muppets to celebrate the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Halfway to Halloween event.

Disney, which acquired the Muppets IP in 2004, has gradually augmented its Muppet library on Disney Plus. The complete archive of the original Muppet Show of the mid-70s, including the lesser-known later seasons, are all on the streaming platform. Last summer, a short-form unscripted series starring the goofy, furry characters and a slew of famous guest stars debuted on Disney Plus. Muppets Now, chock-full of puppetry and improvised comedy, was the latest entry to the Muppets franchise prior to the Halloween special announcement. Other recent entries include The Muppets movie in 2012 and its sequel Muppets Most Wanted. The Muppets ABC series was canceled after only one season back in 2016.

Continued here:
Muppets Go Spooky With Haunted Mansion Halloween Special Dropping This Fall on Disney Plus - Variety

Feelings such as dejection, frustration, along with self-deprecation and pessimism, have in the last few years come to be unabashedly celebrated in China in a distinct youth subculture known as Sang culture.

By Xiaoning Lu

For Vladislav Ivanov (aka Lelush), being finally kicked out of Produce Camp 2021 was a dream come true. In February, Ivanov signed up for the Chinese boy-band survival show but instantly regretted it. Since then he has tried all means to get voted off so as not to breach his contract. However, his dejected look, half-hearted performance and direct pleas to let him go had the opposite effect. Not only did Ivanov make it into the final, but he has also become an icon of Chinas Sang culture (sang wenhua).

The Chinese character sang () is extracted from compound words and idioms that suggest a lack of courage, vigour and liveliness. These are words such as tui sang (dispirited), ju sang (frustrated), hui xin sang qi (disheartened) and chui tou sang qi (dejected).

Such feelings, alongside self-deprecation and pessimism, have in the last few years come to be unabashedly celebrated in China in a distinct youth subculture known as Sang culture. Thanks to social media platforms such as Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) and WeChat, this subculture is maintained and spread through funny memes and cynical sayings that turn the state of dejection into a sought-after style.

Many Chinese media scholars trace the emergence of Sang to the viral Ge You Slouch meme in 2016. The meme began as a screenshot of Ge You, a leading film comedy actor, in his role as a dishevelled loafer slouching on a sofa in a 1990s TV sitcom.

Some on Weibo reinterpreted Ge Yous poor posture as the full acceptance of a state of dejection, and the catchphrase I am a total wreck was soon added to the image.

Soon after, a handful of cartoon characters, including the self-loathing cynical alcoholic BoJack and depressed Pepe the Frog, also reached iconic status, becoming the embodiment of Sang culture. Self-justifying, humorous expressions such as life is a series of closing doors and lie down flat where life knocks you down also became popular.

The alcoholic horse BoJack Horseman became a cult sang icon. Image via Netflix

An antidote to unrealistic positivity

Chinese millennials embrace of Sang culture is a quiet deviation from Chinas mainstream political ideology, as well as a blatant rejection of the modern tendency for overdosed positivity and productivity.

Since Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the Chinese Communist Party has turned a grassroots catchphrase positive energy (zheng nengliang) into a political buzzword. In doing so it has instrumentalised promoting positive energy for political goals. According to the Chinese studies academic Francesca Triggs, the positive energy discourse stresses the social responsibility of individual citizens. It is also used to justify the states control over the internet for the purpose of safeguarding the health of cyberspace, and to shape ideological consensus and public opinion.

Parallel to the positive energy ideology propagated by the party is the neoliberal fable of self-making. Chinese bookstores have entire sections devoted to celebrity entrepreneur and their do-it-yourself success stories. Such positivity has turned sour for millennials, who bear the brunt of Chinas rapid economic growth.

Fierce academic competition, soaring housing prices, the 996 work culture (from 9am to 9pm every day, six days a week), and the closing off of upward mobility are some of the harsh realities faced by young people. For them, embracing Sang, or having a defeatist attitude towards life and self, is a strategy to cope with an uncertain future and a way to bond with their peers.

The spread of Sang culture in China has invited commodification. Achieved-absolutely-nothing black tea, Failed-to-lose-weight latte, and other Sang-themed products have achieved some popularity among millennials.

It is common for a subculture to lose its edge after being commodified in this way. But Ivanovs unfortunate celebrity in the boy band reality show demonstrates that Sang culture can exploit commercial interest to reinforce itself and consequently have a real-life impact. Ivanovs half-hearted performance on stage endeared young Chinese audiences because they knew that he was not performing but being himself. They saw this Russian man as one of us.

Chinese audiences bonded emotionally with Ivanov. They had to put him through the ordeal of the entire seasons competition, just as they have to toil day in and day out. This begs the question: had Ivanov known about Sang culture and that his dejection would win him fans, would he have decided to try harder?

***

Xiaoning Lu, is a Reader in Chinese Culture and Literature, at theSOAS, University of London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read the original:
How a reluctant Russian singer became the poster boy..g culture, hero of young pessimists across the country - Firstpost

Popularly known as the sad frog meme, Pepe The Frog has become a cultural milestone of the internet but not for positive reasons.

You dont have to search far online to find images of the green frog with his bulging eyes and wide grin. He was never meant to be a political figure, but over time hes morphed into an emblem of hateful meme culture and the darkest reaches of the internet.

By extension, the use of Pepe imagery has seeped deep into Twitch culture. The frog is unavoidable, but now Twitch streamers are taking a stance and banning Pepe emotes on their channel.

The 2020 documentary Feels Good, Man, named after the frogs catchphrase, has shed light on the history of the meme.

Created by cartoonist Matt Furie, the character was part of his Boys Club stoner humour comic about four chill anthropomorphised characters first published in 2006. Pepe was named as such because it reminded Furie of pee pee reflective of the artists silly, childlike sense of humour.

Its a world away from what Pepe came to symbolise.

The radicalisation of the image came a few years later. Pepe The Frog was increasingly used in memes, with images of the character used consistently across the messageboard site 4chan well into the 2010s.

In the documentary, the site is described as a Darwinian competition for attention that led to a culture of highly offensive and inflammatory posts. Pepe memes melt into this culture, symbolising hate and bigotry particularly against Black and Jewish people.

As the sad frog, Pepe represents the most anxious and isolated corners of the internet loners who found a home on 4chan. Over time, the site became a hotbed for the alt-right and, in the 2016 US election, Trump supporters as images of Trump and Pepe soon surfaced. Not only was the meme recognised by Hilary Clinton in her campaign, it was shared on Instagram by Donald Trump Jr.

Racist and bigoted memes of Pepe The Frog became so pervasive that leading anti-hate organisation the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) list the meme on their website, alongside hateful symbols like the swastika, the Confederate flag and the Ku Klux Klans burning cross.

With this less than stellar history, its inevitable that Pepe The Frog memes would crop up in gaming culture. Blizzard has banned Pepe emotes from the Overwatch League, with a spokesperson telling Dot Esports The Overwatch League discourages the use of symbols and imagery which are associated with or used by hate groups, including Pepe The Frog. Both fans and competitors are asked to comply.

Valve has also banned the emote from their Steam platform after a DMCA takedown notice from Furie. The artist has tried to remove or reclaim his character, but Pepe is entrenched so deeply into internet subcultures that it seems an impossible feat.

On Twitch, Pepe lives on as an emote. And just like the memes before, there are countless variations.

Emotes are popular on Twitch as a key form of interaction. As the text chat is the only way for viewers to respond to a stream, emotes are widely used as shorthand for reactions that bring their own in-jokes and subcultures.

Twitch partners are able to upload their own emotes for use by subscribers, further representing their stream brand. Twitch then takes a cut of that subscription fee.

Its important to note that Pepe is not an official emote on Twitch, which provides a basic set for all users. But Pepe persists through the wide use of third-party plugins like Better TTV that allow for a huge array of animated emotes only visible to those with the plugin. A quick look at the top emotes on the platform shows an abundance of Pepe The Frog, who crops up again and again across Twitch.

Twitch, arguably, should ban the emote from the platform. But at this point, is Pepe the Frog too ingrained in internet and gaming culture?

Steph FerociouslySteph Loehr, streamer and Twitch safety advisory council member, summarises the issue: The crux of the issue to me is that not everyone who uses Pepe is toxic, but every alt-right or intolerant space uses Pepe. This dynamic means that we cant judge people who use Pepe as bad or intolerant, but by banning Pepe from our spaces, we can make them a lot safer.

Thats why many streamers are choosing to ban Pepe emotes from their individual streams. At the least, streamers have a responsibility to protect and curate their own community.

I was honestly appalled when I first started using the platform as I had no idea that it wasnt just used by the alt-right, says elliejoypanic.

It makes me deeply uncomfortable to see streamers and teams creating their entire brands around the emotes, and genuinely sickens me when I load up BTTV and see so many in the top emotes.

As a creator, its my responsibility to keep my community safe and have a welcoming attitude, and Pepe goes against thatI honestly cant comprehend how an image of a frog can mean more than peoples genuine fear about their safety.

Says FrazleyS: I chose to ban it from my stream because I want to show we are inclusive. That we see its a hate symbol. That we dont stand for racism or white supremacy in my stream.

Perhaps most important is streamers ability to educate themselves and grow. Its easy to see a funny frog emote and think nothing of it, but understanding the context has led streamers to change their minds.

Regrettably I didnt do the proper research on how it was used as a symbol of hate, says ctrlaltquin.

Having an inclusive, safe community is extremely important to me especially as someone who is Black and is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Its not up for debate in my community: if something makes folks uncomfortable and has such a public history of hate why should we have it around?

When I got on the platform I noticed that a lot of people used them just as silly emotes and even added them to my channel, says heyselenatv, who has since removed the emotes from her stream after speaking with members of her community.

Ive been working hard to foster a safe environment, and learning to be a better ally to all marginalised groups and having a frog emote, as much as some of my community members may feel sad that its gone, is not worth the discomfort of new people coming to my community.

Pepe remains in abundance in some of the biggest streams on Twitch, with streamers more scared to alienate their audience than to educate them. Yet removing the emote is the simplest way that streamers can take a stance against hate on the platform.

Honestly, its a green frog. I feel no need to fight to take back Pepe. Its an emote. It can be replaced, says SkullKidNico.

And if youre thinking of using the emote in a Twitch chat, consider the potential impact both of others in that community and how you may be perceived.

Youre really trying to convince me that there is no other imagery or emojis out there whatsoever that can convey the message youre trying to make? says PleasantlyTwstd.

Its a dead meme, team. You gotta get over it.

See more here:
Alt-right Pepe The Frog emote banned by anti-racist streamers on Twitch - PinkNews

Image courtesy of Matt Furie from the full-page scan of Boys Club #2, a comic originally published in 2008

CHAIN/SAW NFT Gallerys inaugural exhibition, Iconography & The Internet, has added an extremely culturally-noteworthy NFT to its opening roster and forthcoming auction, the original Pepe the Frog, Feels Good Man panel from 2006 by Matt Furie, from which the viral meme was derived. Pepe is arguably the most ubiquitous meme of the internet age and his inclusion sits nicely alongside Michael Lavines images of Kurt Cobain, Ryder Ripps Oprah gifs and Michael Dotsons sketches for paintings of Disney sweethearts, all icons in their own right. The Iconography & The Internet auction begins on Friday, April 2nd at 8pm EST on CHAIN/SAW NFTs website: chainsaw.fun

Bringing notions of legacy, timelessness and transcendence into the conversations surrounding NFTs that are normally plagued by accelerated bro-talk and a quick cash-out, CHAIN/SAW NFT is more than a gallery, it is a platform for nuanced conversations. By engaging its accoladed artist roster in dialogue, CHAIN/SAW NFT seeks to provide personal guidance and context to them as the world collectively nurtures NFTs in their experimental infancy. These engagements live online as interviews that give artists an opportunity to demystify and humanize the digital art world. CHAIN/SAW NFT believes that artists should be the ones shaping the conversation as a new paradigm has emerged that yields alternative models for viewing, collecting, and experiencing art as we know it.

So, what does Matt Furie have to say about NFTs? Are they functional? Are they an opportunistic cash grab? Do they represent a sincere shift in appreciation of digital artwork? We hear from him below.

We just spent a lot of time on the computers these days, and were creating a lot of digital content or creating digital images and digital music and spending a lot of time with this digital stuff. So I think NFTs are a way to take that time and energy thats put into that and give it some value. And also give people some ownership of something that would otherwise just pop up on an image search. Its interesting, and conceptually, it feels pretty new. And different and controversial. So well see where it goes.

Iconography & The Internet presents a dissection of iconography, disemboweling notions of celebrity through appropriation while remixing our current definitions of pop culture with a sorely missed sense of humanity. The group exhibit features the works of modern visionaries including Matt Furie, Michael Lavine, Michael Dotson, Ryder Ripps, AKLO91 + Loyal Duce, Lisa Ramsey and ABSRDST, facilitating a new context for NFTs to coexist in that invites postulations of legacy, curation and timelessness into the fold.

The word icon has become a part of our quotidian vocabularies as we leave digital fingerprints on glass ceilings shattering the pixelated remains of creative ecosystems past. We arent just living in the future, were shaping it at every second as we build immaterial bridges between a skeletal experience economy and humanized algorithms for our digitized selves to cross. Identity is now an amalgamation of references, original and appropriated, speculatively collaged in the image of validation, thirsty for hyperstition and the iconography that now comes with the blue-checkmark of a verified account. Culture goes pop! and the art world itself has entered a discourse that is more fragmented than ever as its thoughts oscillate around populism, exploitation and ownership. NFTs have arisen as both the antithesis and the answer, shrouded in an air of accelerated bro-talk and restless optimism.

CHAIN/SAW NFT is a curated NFT gallery that provides artists with more personal guidance and context. Art has always had the power to shift the ways in which we experience and interact with the world. A new paradigm has emerged that provides alternative models for viewing, collecting, and experiencing digital media. This space has been quickly flooded with marketplaces and galleries, though, none seem to take a high quality, curated, artist-first approach. Chain/Saw recognizes that NFTs are the new paradigm and believes that artists should be the ones shaping it.

@chainsaw_nft, chainsaw.fun, twitter.com/chainsawnft

Mark Westall

Mark Westall is the Founder and Editor of FAD magazine Founder and co-publisher of Art of Conversation and founder of the platform @worldoffad

We managed to catch a virtual chat (arent they all nowadays) with one of the most important players in the digital /NFT world An Rong Director of Art & Cultural program at SuperRare ahead of their exhibition Invisible Cities which opens today April 2nd on SuperRare, Decentraland and Hook Art.

SuperRare present Invisible Cities, a groundbreaking exhibition of NFT art presented in a virtual gallery, curated by An Rong and Elisabeth Johs. Inspired by the pioneering text by Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities presents a digital exploration of the relationship between the visible and the invisible of our real and imagined cities from a distance and under close observation.

$69.3 million is a lot of money to spend on something you cannot touch, that does not occupy space and that cannot even be seen without flicking a switch. Now the dust has settled on Beeples epic auction debut, it is time to soberly consider whether it is worth it. Spoiler it probably is! We are, after all, living in the future.

According to a report in The Art Newspaper Damien Hirsts artwork, The Currency is to launch on a new NFT platform Palm.

See original here:
New NFT curated gallery CHAIN/SAW launches with original Pepe the Frog, Feels Good Man panel by Matt Furie - FAD magazine

Politico got it hands on a 16-page guide shared internally by the Pentagon in an effort to identify potential extremist infiltrators in the military. The guide tells employees to look out for extremist group iconology, like Proud Boys insignia and Pepe the Frog, the cartoon frog misappropriated on racist online message boards. There are members of the [Department of Defense] who belong to extremist groups or actively participate in efforts to further extremist ideologies, the document reads. Be aware of symbols of far right, far left, Islamist or single issue ideologies.

The document includes guidelines for differentiating religion and violent extremism. Christian extremism is often conflated with white supremacy for a joint ideology focused on racial and religious purity which they believe to be God's intention, one paragraph reads. Several military members were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and four Marines were recently booted for extremist behaviorbut the true number of potential infiltrators is unknown because many extremist groups liaise secretly.

The rest is here:
Pentagon's Extremist Handbook Tells Military to Be on Lookout for Pepe the Frog - The Daily Beast