dc.contributor.author	Bridenbaker, Jonathan
dc.coverage.spatial	United States	en_US
dc.coverage.temporal	2017-2021	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2021-09-27T19:03:12Z
dc.date.available	2021-09-27T19:03:12Z
dc.date.issued	2021-05
dc.identifier.other	E22864D2-40CA-6488-4487-FD8998286C61	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/5016
dc.description.abstract	In this thesis, I analyze the use of milk as a symbol for white supremacy and masculinity in four different case studies: the protest of Shia Lebouf’s He Will Not Divide Us art installation, the 4chan thread “Enter the Milk Zone,” Richard Spencer’s 2017 Twitter bio, and PewDiePie’s S O Y B O Y S. In this ideological criticism, I examine the use of milk as a means of culture jamming, the act of taking an entities’ message/symbol and appropriating/changing it to level criticism. I first examine the arguments being made with milk appropriation to construct an ideology of the alt-right. Then, for milk appropriation, I argue that the alt-right is culture jamming the political left by muddying our understanding of the alt-right by the appropriation of normative symbols, utilizing superiority humor to differentiate themselves, and establishing an affective political identity of trolling that exists as a means of subverting the political and social order. Ultimately, I argue that this analysis is useful for developing further solutions in opposing and countering the alt-right’s harmful rhetorical practices. Keywords: Alt-Right, Culture Jamming, Political Aesthetic, Superiority Humor, milk	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 7 -- Rational for Study 7 -- Overview of Study 10 -- CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 12 -- The Alt-Right 12 -- The Manosphere 18 -- Milk and its symbolic history 20 -- Culture Jamming 23 -- Superiority Humor 28 -- Political Aestheticization 34 -- CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY & CASE STUDIES 43 -- Ideological Criticism 43 -- Methods 46 -- CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS – CULTURE JAMMING THE LEFT WITH -- WHTIE SUPREMACIST AND MASCULINE MILK 51 -- Milk as White Supremacy 51 -- Milk as Masculine Juxtaposition 54 -- Applying New Meaning 58 -- CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS – CULTURE JAMMING THE LEFT -- THROUGH SUPERIORITY HUMOR 61 -- Superiority Humor in the Alt-Right 61 -- Humor as a Shield 65 -- Laughter is their Jam 69 -- CHAPTER 6: ANALYSIS – CULTURE JAMMING THE LEFT -- THROUGH AN AFFECTIVE POLITICAL AESTHETIC OF TROLLING 73 -- Disruption and Critique through Trolling 73 -- The Troll Ethos 76 -- Disingenuous Engagement as Expectation 79 -- CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 81 -- Future Research. 84 -- Appendix: Artifacts 85 -- Bibliography 98	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic document, 112 pages. 2175688 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Academic theses	en_US
dc.subject	Milk	en_US
dc.subject	Symbolism	en_US
dc.subject	Online trolling	en_US
dc.subject	Politics and government--Humor	en_US
dc.subject	Rhetoric--Political aspects	en_US
dc.subject	Right-wing extremists	en_US
dc.title	Milk as Political Aesthetic: Alt-Right Symbolism and Trolling to Culture Jam	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Communication Arts of the College of the Arts	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Robson, Deborah
dc.description.committee	Landau, Jamie
dc.description.committee	Nelson, David
dc.description.degree	M.A.	en_US
dc.description.major	Communication Arts	en_US