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Tarkastelen artikkelissani sitä, miten John Wattsin ohjaamassa elokuvassa Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) käytetään supersankarielokuvalle tyypillisiä genrepiirteitä rakentamaan totuuden jälkeisen ajan diskurssia. Genrepiirteiden, joita ovat ainutlaatuinen sankarihahmo, korotettu realismi ja erikoistehosteet, avulla elokuvassa käsitellään mediavälitteisen sankaruuden, valeuutisten ja totuuden jälkeisen ajan teemoja. Sekä elokuvan juoni että teemat liittyvät media- ja esitysteknologioihin, mikä tekee elokuvasta kiinnostavan tutkimuskohteen mediavälitteisten tarinoiden ja valemedian analysoimiseen. Marvelin supersankarielokuvat ovat kuluneen kymmenen vuoden aikana nousseet maailman tuottoisimmaksi elokuvasarjaksi. Niissä näyttävät erikoistehosteet yhdistyvät realistisiin elementteihin, ja monet supersankarielokuvat kommentoivat yhteiskunnan tapahtumia. Far from Homessa nykyajan tunnistettava teinikulttuuri, joka pyörii mobiililaitteiden ja sosiaalisen median ympärillä, on yksi elokuvan tavoista tuoda fantastiseen tarinaan realismin piirteitä. Elokuvan antagonisti, yleisön huomiota janoava versio vihaisesta valkoisesta miehestä, käyttää mediaa hyväkseen luodakseen itsestään kuvan ainutlaatuisena sankarina, joka pystyy vastaamaan maapalloa kohtaavaan uuteen uhkaan. Valheet ja totuuden muuntelu yhdistetään elokuvassa mediateknologioihin ja erikoistehosteiden käytöllä korostetaan valheellisuutta ja totuuden muuntelua. Supersankarielokuvan genrepiirteet ovat keskeinen väline, jonka avulla elokuva osallistuu totuuden jälkeisen ajan diskurssin tuottamiseen. Pyyteetön, totuudenmukainen päähenkilö taistelee yhteisen hyvän puolesta, tarina tapahtuu meidän maailmaamme muistuttavassa korotetun realismin maailmassa ja media välittää erikoistehosteilla tuotettuja valeuutisia yleisöille. Adventures of Spider-Man in a post-truth era: Generic conventions of superhero films in building a discourse In this article, I analyse how generic conventions of superhero films are used in John Watts’ Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) to build the discourse of a post-truth era. The film uses these generic conventions, including an exceptional hero, heightened realism, and special effects, to discuss the themes of mediated heroism, fake news, and a post-truth era. Both the plot and themes of the film revolve around media technologies, granting an interesting point of view to the analysis of mediated storytelling and fake media. In the past decade, Marvel’s superhero films have become the highest grossing media franchise of all time. The films combine fantastic special effects and realistic elements, and many superhero films comment on current events and the society. In Far from Home, realism is presented through e.g. the representation of current teenage culture, revolving around mobile devices and social media. The film’s antagonist is an attention-seeking version of the “angry white male” trope, who uses media to create an image of himself as a hero with exceptional abilities to stop a new threat facing the world. Lies and altering the truth are connected to media technologies in the film’s narrative, and the use of special effects highlights deceitfulness and alternative facts. Generic conventions of superhero films are central in how the film constructs the discourse of a post-truth era: an altruistic hero fighting for the common good in a world reminiscent of our own, with the media spreading fake news created by special effects to the public.

Resumen La convergencia de la integral que da el tiempo propio en función del tiempo inercial, cuando la velocidad tiende a la velocidad de la luz lo suficientemente rápido mientras el tiempo inercial tiende al infinito, fue estudiada en 1985. Aquí se reconsidera este problema en el marco de la teoría restringida de la relatividad. Nada especial (además de la tasa de crecimiento hacia el infinito) parece caracterizar el comportamiento de la componente tangencial de los campos de 3- fuerza a lo largo de la trayectoria del reloj acelerado, en relación con la convergencia o divergencia de la integral que da el tiempo propio como función del tiempo inercial. Sin embargo, visto desde el punto de vista de la aceleración propia del reloj, aparece una diferencia físicamente significativa entre los dos casos lógicamente posibles. Uno está integrado por las historias de 3-aceleración propia tangenciales que dan un tiempo propio finito para un tiempo inercial infinito. El otro está integrado por las historias de 3-aceleraciones propias tangenciales que dan un tiempo propio infinito para un tiempo inercial infinito. En el primer caso aparece una singularidad en la 3-aceleracion propia para un valor finito de tiempo propio. En el segundo caso esa singularidad no aparece. Los resultados obtenidos se comparan, en el marco de la teoría de la relatividad general, con el la rela- ción entre el tiempo propio y el tiempo inercial durante la caída de una partícula hacia un agujero negro. Se enfatizan las consecuencias de estos resultados sobre la validez de un postulado que se encuentra en la base de la formulación original de la teoría de la relatividad, según el cual todos los observadores en el universo, con independencia de su estado de movimiento, deben estar de acuerdo sobre la ocurrencia de ciertos sucesos, tales como explosiones e implosiones, nacimientos y muer- tes. Abstract The convergence of the integral that gives the proper time as a function of inertial time, when speed tends to the speed of light fast enough as inertial time tends to infinity, was studied in 1985. This problem is reconsidered here, in the framework of special relativity. Nothing special (besides the rate of growth towards infinity) seems to characterize the behavior of the tangent com- ponent of the fields of 3-force along the path of the accelerated clock, in relation with the conver- gence or divergence of the integral that gives proper time as function of inertial time. However, seen from the viewpoint of the proper acceleration of the clock, a physically meaningful difference appears between the tangential proper 3-acceleration histories that give a finite proper time for an infinite inertial time, and those tangential proper 3-acceleration histories that give an infinite proper time for an infinite inertial time: either a singularity in proper 3-acceleration for a finite value of proper time in one case, or its absence in the other case. The obtained results are compared, in the framework of general relativity theory, with the behavior of proper time relative to inertial time during the fall of a particle towards a black hole. The consequences of these results on the validity of a postulate that is at the base of the original formulation of the theory of relativity are empha- sized, according to which all observers in the universe, regardless of their state of movement, should be agree on the occurrence of certain events, such as explosions and implosions, births and deaths.

The aim of ‘Mussolini’s early photographs’ is to reflect on the origins of Mussolini’s use of photographs in the fashioning of his own myth and the particular awareness he may have had of his image. The analysis focuses on Mussolini’s photographic representations from an early age and explores the developing awareness of him as politician and agitator and the use of his public image in the press, with selected contexts such as the trench and the piazza (square) during the frantic climate on the outbreak of the First World War. The origins, nature and development of the way Mussolini used images to create, diffuse and enhance his cult, and to what extent the exploiting of his image differed from his predecessors, are the object of this chapter.

‘The image makers of the Duce’ focuses on the making of Mussolini’s photographic representation, who took the photographs and how they were taken, with an analysis of the photographic activity to explain how Mussolini’s images were produced, edited and circulated. This chapter presents a more organic overview of who Mussolini’s photographers were and how they worked towards the construction of the Duce’s cult.

‘The photograph as a source and agent of history’ reviews the way photographs of Mussolini have been treated in the historiography of Fascism, including works specifically concerned with visual material. Themes and issues are identified within broader academic debate and the field of photography that deal with the representation of Mussolini. Selected works allude to the photographic representation of Mussolini and provide an opportunity for some general observations.

‘Mussolini’s photogenic charisma’, assesses the concept of charisma when considered in photographic terms. His projected image over the years was never linear but subjected to modification as, like other charismatic leaders, he made compromises and adopted a variety of different attitudes and guises. Yet the dominant image, historians agree, was that Mussolini was Il Duce whose orders were carried out. His authority was expressed through physical traits, which were central to Fascist visual communication. Mussolini’s corporeality was an essential mechanism in regime propaganda, in which the composition emphasised his seemingly most recognisable aspects of his photographic iconography.

This chapter explores the work of studio photographers and in particular the very successful Ghitta Carell whose work has only recently been revalued. In the representation of power, and except for the last photograph in uniform in 1937, Carell’s portraits of the Duce in the early 1930s are unusual in portraying Mussolini in civilian clothes and transforming the Duce from a glowering and stern subject into a ‘docile’ model. A propaganda strategy that could have been used instrumentally for private correspondence, diplomatic ‘gifts’ or for political ends.

Previous studies of Luce’s photographic production and circulation concentrate on the activity of the institute during the war. This chapter focuses on the photographic activity of Luce in the construction of the Duce’s cult. Selected photographs and archival documentation add further details regarding the institute’s internal organisation, the equipment used, images in Italy and abroad, as well as some of the work of a Luce ‘regular’, the photographer Spartaco Appetiti.

The body partially disrobed as a visual strategy for self-branding is the theme of this article. During Fascism, photography, in synergy with the communications industryante-literam, was an essential part of the construction of the cult of the leader that transformed the figure of Mussolini into an icon. Mussolini’s partial nudity is considered here as a powerful political tool. The Duce, in anticipation of our celebrities today, did not hesitate to undress and display his torso in what Valerie Sperling calls ‘iconic public-relations stunts’ that were both exhibitionistic and voyeuristic (Sperling 2014, 21). Deconstructing the visual language of Fascist propaganda that made the man into a myth, this article illustrates the most iconic aspects of Mussolini’s visual strategy, demonstrating his innovative capacity to take advantage of a modern attitude towards self-representation, similar to that adopted by today’s heads of state.

This article explores the issue of elite representation through photography during the 1930s in Italy. It examines how modern technology affected representation and refers specifically to the work of Ghitta Carell, a photographer who became very successful by portraying prominent Fascist men and women in Italy, including the Duce. Images of the dictator had been continually developed since the late 1920s and frequent and various representations of his person, including the face, were pervasive. Carell's idealised style was much appreciated by high society and Fascist officials alike, while her work also has a darker emotional content that borrows from a painterly tradition. Although not engaged directly by the regime, Carell's work has to be considered as both separate from and complementary whilst also adding to the Fascist aesthetic. She was complicit with the cult of the Duce while revealing aspects of Mussolini's personality that other photographers avoided or missed.

The paper looks into the mass sermon in the Finnish Lutheran Church around the turn of the millennium. The material consists of day services documented by means of participant observation. Day services are nowadays called a mass, if communion is served. A mass sermon can be characterised as persuasive communication encompassing three proc- esses: 1) a process that strengthens a person's worldview; 2) a process that shapes the worldview, or 3) a process that changes the worldview. The paper discusses the semantic and functional principles of communication in a mass sermon: familiarisation, emphatic and trustworthy behaviour, self-confidence, personification, principles of opposites and common interest, the authoritarian principle, principles of assigning blame, winning time and build- ing obstacles. From the listener's point of view, the mass sermon answers the question what the listener has to know to be able to interpret the sermon according to his own worldview. I will show that the mass sermon meets the criteria of a religious genre in its origin, form, contents, function, style and structure. Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, who is and who shall be, and who shall release us from our sins with His blood; from Him we receive grace, compassion and peace, which is mightier than our understanding and which will protect us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have just heard from the altar the second annual gospel text of the second Lent Sunday. When an apostolic greeting is used at the beginning of a mass sermon, it must not be a disordered collection of bible quotations. This type of a beginning will kill the audience's interest. This can be called the beginning of a non-sermon (concept from Forsberg 2001: 235-243). The mass sermon (e.g. Suojanen 1978; 1988) is a ritual speech and a personal narrative held in a religious context, in connection with the Holy Communion. This narrative comprises a compulsory textual beginning, which is an apostolic greeting or a chronicate, and after a suggestion or a proposed resolution, it ends in a joint confession. I shall examine the mass sermon of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church as a discourse and as persuasive communication (see Baesler 1994; Bettinghaus & Cody 1994; Stiff 1994; Dillard & Pfau 2002; Suojanen 2001: 217-234) from the viewpoint of its genre at the beginning of the 21st century. In this presentation I

The success of Spanish-language telenovelas a type of soap opera illustrates major changes that have occurred in recent years in television systems in Latin America. There has been a trend toward decreased reliance on programming imported from the US and a flow of telenovelas from country to country within Latin America. This article based on interviews with 65 television personnel and communications experts in Mexico Peru Argentina Brazil and Venezuela in 1982 focuses on the development of the telenovela as the paramount form of popular culture. Latin American audiences consistently prefer locally produced television programs followed by programs imported by other Latin American countries and finally programs imported from the US. Even telenovelas with an educational slant (e.g. promotion of adult literacy training or family planning) earn both high audience ratings and substantial advertising income. In 1977 the year in which a telenovela promoting positive role models for Mexicos family planning program was broadcast the number of family planning acceptors increased by 560000. Mexico and Brazil are the main producing nations. This phenomenon is an example of how Third World nations can create their own products to compete successfully with products from developed countries. Inspired by the Latin American experience other developing countries such as India plan to broadcast educational soap operas to promote national development goals such as family planning and the equality of women.