*CFP* "ANY MEDIA... IS HILARIOUS", Nº 3 (2021), GALACTICA MEDIA: JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES

It is difficult to imagine a society where humor is completely absent. From ancient times to the present day, this phenomenon performs the most important functions: from psychological détente to reflection of the socio-cultural and political atmosphere in which this or that community resides. Since the XVIII century, it has also become an instrument of mass communication and political struggle, and becomes an integral part of the mass media.

We used in the title of this special issue for a reason the paraphrase of Will Rogers' saying in Marshall McLuhan's book "Media Understanding" (the original sounds like this: "Any newspaper read aloud from a theater stage is hilarious"), because the well-known thesis of the Toronto School of Communication Theory about the mutual influence of communication and the media, which transmits it, can be reactivated in the direction of the mutual influence of humor as a way to interpret information, on the one hand, and specific media as a way to convey this information, on the other. But in this context a number of important issues for modern communications researchers arise: what happens to media once it is "infected" by humor? Does humor necessarily satisfy the need for entertainment, as claimed by Neil Postman? Can humor have a "serious face"? Parody, caricature, irony, satire -- is there something constructive in them for communication? Does "Humor is always a monopoly of the semi-literate" (McLuhan)?

Guest editor: Sergey Troitskiy, PhD in Philosophy, Senior Researcher (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia), Senior Lecturer (St. Petersburg State University), Director (Center for Cultural Exclusion and Frontier Zones, Sociological Institute - Branch of Federal Sociological Center of RAS)

Issues for discussion include (but are not limited to) such topics as:

• Humor as a tool for political communication; 
• Caricature in the information flow; 
• Irony as "channel malfunction" or content reshaping; 
• Humor as the "third world of reference" (Kozintsev); 
• Humor: communication vs dyscommunication; 
• Humor in the context of social criticism in contemporary mass culture; 
• Humor – the monopoly of semi-literate, or the fate of intellectuals; 
• Humor as a deconstruction tool. 
• The "Late night show" phenomenon

 

Deadline for abstract submission (up to 250 words) – June 10, 2021. You can submit an abstract by clicking on the link.

Deadline for submission of manuscripts for specialized issue August 10, 2021. You can send your manuscripts through the electronic manuscript submission system marked "For the thematic issue "Any media is hilarious...". – Manuscript submission system (please read manuscript requirements carefully) or by email: admin@galacticamedia.com

All papers are first reviewed by the Guest editors, then peer reviewed by two experts, and only then the editorial board makes the final decision to include the article in the issue.