Abstract
Carnivalesque theory has been used as a model and a structure in the works carried out in many fields such as communication, literature, and sociology. In fact, Carnivalesque appears in many environments/areas, particularly in the social networks, which are the manifestation of social life. This chapter examines social networks in the context of carnivalesque theory to reveal facts of carnivalesque in Twitter. Content analysis technique was used in the research. Research data came from 10 Twitter accounts which have a maximum number of followers in Turkey. These data were analyzed and examined in terms of grotesque, dialogism, carnival laughter, upside-down world, marketplace, and marketplace speech belonging to the carnivalesque theory. According to the findings, the structure of Twitter, which is one of the most popular social networks in Turkey, is largely similar to the structure of the carnival and features of carnivalesque theory.
TopIntroduction
Human beings, who started living in the big communes, have the birth and development of many innovations in social, political, artistic and technological aspects since they have the common mind, the ability to work together and the ability to think and invent individually. These innovations have led to the transformation of the individual and society in many respects. The internet, which is the most recent example of these innovations, has led to the transformation of everyday life in more ways and numbers than ever before although it is included human life into more than half a century ago.
The social networks within the Internet are the main actors of this transformation at the point of social relations. Social networks have influenced and changed the way people communicate, how they belong to a community, and how they display their selves. People are now socialized through this virtual network, belonging to the virtual communities in this network and express their ego with created virtual identities in these virtual networks.
These networks resemble a carnival because of their characteristics. People are doing that will never do in everyday life in this network. People say things they can never say and people act like they can never be this virtual network. This kind of virtual environment exists as their second life.
Social networks have a great deal of the characteristics of the carnivalesque theory of Michail Bakhtin. This digital network is a digital environment of carnival where makes people come together, form communities, act for a common purpose, oppose ins, derive a common language, produce a humor, laugh, change their bodies, reverse the existing order and authority just like the carnivalesque.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Carnival: The carnival, whose origin is based on the Middle Ages and which varies from culture to culture, from society to society, is a celebration, entertainment or festival that Christians gathered in communities before Great Lent.
Carnivalesque: The carnivalesque, which Mikhail Bakhtin formulated from the concept of carnival, is a theory based on the basic characteristics (grotesque, dialogism, carnival laughter, upside-down world, marketplace and marketplace speech) of the Middle Age carnivals and argues that people communicate with a second identity in a community by getting rid of their everyday identities.
Social Networks: Social networking is a virtual communication environment where people come together with different purposes such as information, entertainment and socialization, communicate independently of time and space, create and display their own profile and access other users’ profiles.
Twitter: Is an American online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”.
Content Analysis: Content analysis is a technique that provides an objective and systematic description and analysis of text content such as news, advertising texts, interview, television programs.
Mikhail Bakhtin: Was a Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician[4] and scholar who worked on literary theory, ethics, and the philosophy of language. His writings, on a variety of subjects, inspired scholars working in a number of different traditions (Marxism, semiotics, structuralism, religious criticism) and in disciplines as diverse as literary criticism, history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and psychology. Although Bakhtin was active in the debates on aesthetics and literature that took place in the Soviet Union.
Qualitative Research: is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.