MEDIA PARTICIPATION OF SCHOOL SHOOTERS AND THEIR FANS

Nathalie Paton (1)

1 LISST - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Solidarités, Sociétés, Territoires

Purpose: This study examines perpetrators and their fans media participation for the purpose of investigating whether new media produce school shootings anew. Method: We first analyze the narrative structure of eight school shooters' 75 self-produced videos (1999 2011), then conduct thematic and content analysis of this material. Then, based upon a three-year ethnographic investigation of a subculture on YouTube (2007 2010), from which a sample of 81 users, 142 videos, and screenshots of natural conversation was taken, we analyze the style and ritual practices, fan attachment, and online regulation of the subculture. Findings: The mirroring of the school shooters' videos and their fans' media practices highlights a trait of contemporary society: a need for distinction and intrinsic individuality directly linked to a modern era in which autonomy and self-production have become well-praised norms, and media a support for individuation. Social implications: We observe some of the pitfalls of contemporary social injunctions and how the media interplay into this dynamic. This research also emphasizes the role of regulation in an online subculture: opposition encountered tends to contribute to the individualization of positions rather than the reproduction of violence.

Mots clés: school shooting; individuation; media participation; video; YouTube; subculture; online regulation

Domaines: Sociologie; Sciences de l'information et de la communication

Nathalie Paton. MEDIA PARTICIPATION OF SCHOOL SHOOTERS AND THEIR FANS: NAVIGATING BETWEEN SELF-DISTINCTION AND IMITATION TO ACHIEVE INDIVIDUATION. School Shootings: Mediatized Violence in a Global Age, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.205-234, 2012, Studies in Media and Communications, Volume 7, 205, 2050-2060/. ⟨10.1108/S2050-2060(2012)0000007014⟩. ⟨halshs-00835850⟩