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Marketing "That Girl" and the commodification of perfect womanhood on TikTok
Golden, Serena Renay ; Turková, Kateřina (advisor) ; Součková, Barbora (referee)
The 'that girl' trend on TikTok has emerged as a compelling representation of an idealized woman, embodying self-improvement, wellness, and perfection. However, beneath the surface of this aspirational portrayal lies a darker reality, as young women reported its detrimental impact on mental health and self-esteem. This research investigates the commodification of 'that girl' as an ideal woman on TikTok, exploring her adherence to or defiance of mainstream beauty standards and how wellness, beauty, fashion, and diet products are presented as tools for achieving this image. Adopting a case study approach, mixed methods data analysis examines publicly available TikTok videos tagged with #thatgirl between March and August 2021. Utilizing a multimodal content analysis informed by social semiotics, thematic categories were developed to understand patterns in the portrayal of womanhood. The findings reveal that the 'that girl' trend encourages consumerism by promoting products and lifestyle choices as pathways to attain the ideal womanhood depicted on TikTok. This study highlights the complex interplay between social media, consumer culture, and gender norms, offering valuable insights into the implications of beauty standards veiled as empowerment and wellness in digital spaces.
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I Am The One Who's Gonna Steal Your Job
Ilič, Risto ; Houser, Milan (referee) ; Mazanec, Martin (advisor)
The diploma thesis I Am The One Who's Gonna Steal Your Job deals with the transitional period in the life of a young artist who dreams of career realization in his field. He thinks about how to achieve this when he realizes that even a less established painters can often sell their paintings for thousands of czech crowns, because paintings can be easily commodified and, as a result, placed in the interior. He thus decides to leave his area of practice and tries to get into the market with traditional artistic media with the help of artificial intelligence and marketing. He doesn't go far for visual inspiration, as he tries to recycle and distort photos (so-called visual smog) of a corner store on the other side of the street. The thesis deals with the issue of the emergence of artificial intelligence in the field of visual arts and with the eternal question of the ethics of the authorship of a work of art and its authenticity. It also deals with the question of the employment of art school graduates. Therefore, the work does not only provide a subversive analysis of the art market but also a reflection of the position of the artist participating in this market.
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Memory and Identity of Wenceslas Square
Tucaković, Jana ; Halbich, Marek (advisor) ; Wohlmuth, Petr (referee)
The subject of the thesis is a representation of Wenceslas Square as a space of symbolic importance for Czech society. Historical perspective is conducive to understanding of such unique status. Contemporary space is a subject of commodification in the tourism area. Official memory is represented via public historical exhibitions and rituals connected to the Velvet Revolution. This memory is being updated in context of the war in Ukraine as a fight for democratic values. Protests and manifestations, happening at the square, express the identity of Czech society with connection to the war from positions of establishment and dissent. Within the thesis the contradictions are being examined through common topics - fear and war, hate and solidarity, censorship and disinformation.
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The Comic in Henry James' Fiction
Kudrna, David ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
The subject of this thesis is the study and interpretation of the interlacement of the world of comedy in several works of Henry James and the reflection in these fictions of certain specified problems and challenges of modern society which assist to bring forth the social ambience therein. In the author's opinion, the comedy in the said works of James, on the fundamental level, criticises and pokes fun at the evils of modern society and the characters who pay homage to them. The thesis argues that the comedy in the analysed works of Henry James satirizes several challenging, problematic socio-cultural and economic developments of contemporary modern times through the ridicule and stigmatization of the mostly despicable characters who, under the sway of these developments, perpetrate their negative influence on the lives of other characters in the selected works. To substantiate this argument the thesis looks at the following works of James: The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, "The Turn of the Screw" and "The Beast in the Jungle." At the outset, the thesis outlines briefly several critical approaches to the comedy in James's works, comments on their validity, reveals the author's views, and points in the direction of the critical opinions and approaches...
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Little pieces of freedom. Individualization and Commodification in Hardcore-punk Subculture
Kumová, Petra ; Novák, Arnošt (advisor) ; Slačálek, Ondřej (referee)
The thesis is focused on the DIY principle that can be a catalyst for collectives and individuals aiming to emancipate (consciously or unconsciously) from individualization and commodification that is symptomatic for today's society. This principle is adopted by various subcultures, but I am focused particularly on the hardcore-punk subculture (or precisely said - counterculture), which ideology is based on the idea of non-consumer society emancipated from values, norms and rules, that are being introduced to us by the mainstream society and its power structures. The analytical part of the thesis is focused on particular individuals and collectives, their activities, motivation, as well as the internal functioning of collectives. A combination of methods of qualitative research, especially participant observation and semi- structured interviews, were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using open coding. The collectives show better ability to resist commodification based on long-term practices commonly used in hc-punk to resist to the process of individualization. Their ability to create communities and collective activities is limited. Key words individualization, commodification, hardcore-punk subculture, diy principle, colectives, anarchism
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Social Network Discourse - Facebook, the Virtual Community
Lešková, Zuzana ; Kraus, Jiří (advisor) ; Trampota, Tomáš (referee)
Social Network Discourse - Facebook, the Virtual Community - Abstract Rigorous thesis "Social Network Discourse - Facebook, the Virtual Community" endeavours to study the social network discourse on its contextual level. When using various perspectives, the concrete analysis of such disourse focuses on particular virtual interactions within their thematical and conversational scope.
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Personal data as a commodity
Juřičková, Jelizaveta ; Kučera, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Friedel, Tomáš (referee)
in English Abstract The thesis aims to fathom different aspects of the commodification of personal data. The topic is an issue of current interest. On one hand, due to the constant improvement of the technology of collecting and processing personal data, individuals are becoming very vulnerable. Techniques of influencing their thinking and decision-making based on their personal data have become so subtle and insidious that they often go unnoticed by the individuals. On the other hand, the development of the data economy can contribute to many goals that benefit society. This paper aims to answer two research questions. The first research question is how to guarantee the secure processing of personal data and to eliminate negative impacts on the subject and on society. The second research question concerns both ensuring adequate access of digital industry to personal data and empowering the data subject. Given the complexity of the issue and the confusion about the meaning and interpretation of basic concepts such as personal data and information, it is necessary to first briefly outline the nature and characteristics of personal data. The next two chapters analyse the legal means to achieve the objectives set out in the research questions. The final chapter provides a summary of recommendations on...
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The Value of Jumps: Commodification and Sportization of Parkour
Zemánek, Vojtěch ; Heřmanský, Martin (advisor) ; Halbich, Marek (referee)
The Value of Jumps: commodification and sportization of parkour Abstract: The subject of this thesis is a young urban lifestyle discipline called parkour. In the past couple of years parkour gained a lot of popularity in Czech Republic. Connected with that is also the exploration of the ways to get parkour into the state of commodity. At the same time parkour as a sport is finding its place in public discourse. An ethnographic research that is the basis for this thesis is following the flowline of two processes - commodification and sportization. Based on data created using participant observation and semi-structured interviews I describe how these processes are manifested, how they are connected and how they are interpreted by the actors on the Czech parkour scene. I argue that both sportization and commodification influence how traceurs and traceuses make sense of their discipline. Both processes seem to play an important role in the construction of authenticity in parkour. At the end I describe certain trends and changes in parkour that can be considered results of commodification and sportization of this discipline. Key words: parkour, commodity, commodification, sportization, lifestyle sport
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