Dr Park, Rio Katayama, Dr Jian Xu, Dr Vikrant Kishore and Prof Sean Redmond critically examine Asian Celebrity

On
Dr Park, Rio Katayama, Dr Jian Xu, Dr Vikrant Kishore and Prof Sean Redmond critically examine Asian Celebrity

Dr Park, Rio Katayama, Dr Jian Xu, Dr Vikrant Kishore and Prof Sean Redmond critically examine Asian Celebrity


NOIDA: The sixth day of ICAN-4 started with a Panel Discussion 2 on ‘Asian Celebrity today: A Roundtable Discussion’, moderated by Prof. Sean Redmond, Deakin University, Australia. The discussion on an interesting topic had Dr Sojeong Park, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Communication, Seoul National University, South Korea; Ms Rio Katayama, University of Southern California, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Los Angeles, USA; Dr Jian Xu is a Senior Lecturer in Communication and co-convener of the Asian Media and Cultural Studies Network at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia and Dr Vikrant Kishore, Senior Lecturer, Screen & Design, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Leading the panel discussion, Professor Redmond spoke at length on the role of films in the different parts of societies and the role of governments in controlling celebrities.

Introducing the discussion, Dr Ambrish Saxena, Convener of the Conference said that Cinema is the reflection of the society and the panel discussion with experts from different parts of the world is definitely going to throw light on the status enjoyed by films and celebrities in different societies.

Dr Jian Xu in his address elucidated on the topic ‘Governing Entertainment Celebrity in China’ and talked about the Practices, Policies and Politics in the entertainment industry in China. He talked about associations and laws related to the film industry and advertising in China. 

Ms Rio while talking about the Japanese Celebrity Culture and Asian Cinema said, “Earlier west was the cultivating ground for celebrity culture and fame, but in the present times the focus has shifted to Asia too.” She discusses various other aspects of the Japanese Cinema. “The government and big corporations generally shy away from involving celebrities in their businesses,” she pointed out.

Dr Sojeong while talking about ‘Policing ‘K’ in K-pop stardom’, “Stars help in creating such a society where there is no discrimination, they import social values in the society.” On the use of the letter ‘K’ and its significance, Dr Sojeong said that the letter ‘K’ need not necessarily stand for Korea. It speaks about the multiculturalism and multi ethnicities of K pop thus appealing to the global audience and global market.

Any panel discussion on cinema and celebrities is incomplete without the mention of Bollywood. Dr Vikrant summed up Bollywood as the panacea of stardom. The devotion of an Indian fan to Bollywood is unparalleled. For an Indian fan, a superstar is like a God and sometimes even above the Gods and Goddesses,” he said. “The Indian fandom and celebrity culture is a subject understudied,” he added.

Dr Susmita Bala, Head and Professor, DME Media School thanked everyone for presenting their views on Asian Cinema and unfolding the magic of it. While Mr Sachin Nair, Assistant Professor, DME Media School moderated the session, Ishika Wadhwa, a first-year student anchored it.

Technical Session-5

Technical Session V on Day-6 of ICAN-4 was on the theme - ‘OTT and Web Series in the Phase of Covid-19Pandemic and Lockdowns’, chaired by Dr Asha Singh, Faculty in Gender Studies, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), (An ICSSR Institute under MHRD, Govt. of India), Kolkata, West Bengal and Ms Mudita Raj, Assistant Professor, DME Media School as the co-chair. Research papers on topics like Digital Narratives of Sexuality in Indian Web Series, Influence of OTT content on Youth and Impact of Mediatized Popular Culture on Tourism were presented during the session.

Dr Ambrish Saxena said, “It is delightful that we have entered the 6th day of ICAN4. “Since theatres are closed; entertainment is only confined to OTT platforms now. Everything now could be watched through the medium of OTT platforms. So it is important to have a discussion on it,” he added.

Dr Asha in her remarks said, “Information, Communication and Artificial Networks is very important where physical communication is limited and has redefined itself, so we need to find out its impact on our cognition and we need to investigate it.” Dr Susmita Bala thanked the chair and co-chair and expressed happiness over the intensive research work of the scholars.

Michelle Mathias, Department of Mass Communication, NISCORT and Dr Amit Chawla, Department of Mass Communication School of Media, Film and Entertainment, Sharda University was announced as the best paper presenter for Technical Session-4 for his paper on ‘Parental Mediation of Smartphone Usage Amongst Teenagers of Bangalore, Patricia’ at the end of this Technical Session.

Master Class 8

The third session of Day-6 of ICAN4 was Master Class 8 on the topic ‘Digitalization and Broadcast Media’  by Mr RK Singh , Former Engineer - in - Chief , Doordarshan , New Delhi & ICT and Broadcast Media Consultant.

Dr Ambrish Saxena introduced the session and pointed, “This session is relevant to the current time and resonates with the theme of the conference.”

Mr Singh initiated by saying that the field of media has been revolutionised with the advent of technology. It may decide the upcoming path of the broadcasting media.

In this Master Class, Mr Singh captivated the participants by simplifying the complicated issues of the digital world with basic examples. Mr Singh very interestingly explained the idea of binary numbers, which the majority of the people correlate it with mathematical 0 and 1. “These are symbolic numbers and can be replaced by any other characters. Thus digitalization is a wonderful magic of only two characters used for manipulation of answers and results,” he added.

Before winding up the session, Mr Singh patiently answered some of the questions asked by the participants.

Dr Susmita Bala concluded the session with a vote of thanks and stated that Mr Singh’s explanation made the complex topic simpler for everyone. “We all learned a lot from the session,” she added.

Mr Mohit Kishore Vatsa, Assistant Professor, DME Media School moderated the session and Abhishek Mishra, a first-year student anchored the session.     

Master Class 7

The last session of Day 5 of ICAN 4 ended with Master Class 7 on the topic ‘PR in the time of COVID- 19’ by Ms Kathryn Lancioni, Author and Eminent PR Professional USA and Dr Pooja Arora, Senior Public Relations and Corporate Communication Professional India.

The session was introduced by Dr Ambrish Saxena stating that it will be interesting to know how the PR industry has adapted to the pandemic situation and how the change in their approach has boosted the industry’s outlook.

Ms Lancioni began the session by stating that COVID-19 has made the PR professional rethink on strategies to remain on the top-of-mind of the consumers and successfully target new consumers. “One of the most important changes that the PR industry has witnessed in the Covid times is in the use of Press Release. The age of press releases is long gone. Companies prefer to reach their audience faster and conveniently through social media,” pointed out by Ms Kathryn Lancioni while discussing the changes taking place in the PR industry worldwide.

Dr Arora was of the view that although traditional PR may have lost its sheen, it continues to remain the ‘guardian’ of brands. The core of the business still remains story telling. The change has come in the tools and platforms of disseminating information,” she added.

Dr Arora added that the pandemic also reduced the cost of travelling as virtual events have become a reality. “Multi-tasking is the new norm in the industry. One cannot expect to stick to one designated role anymore,” she added.

The session ended with Dr Susmita Bala expressing the need for more such industry-academia interactions. "Such discussions help the students in understanding the finer nuances of the industry and making their career choices,” she added.

While Ms Krishna Pandey, Assistant Professor, DME Media School anchored the session, Ishika Wadhwa, presented the vote of thanks.

Share this post

Tags:

About The Author

Post Comment

Comment List

Latest News

Follow us