Dramaturgical Capital: A Study of “Sze-ying”, Private Photo-Shooting of Amateur Teenage Models in Hong Kong

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Popular Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This is a study of “Sze-ying” events (private photo-shooting activity of amateur teenage models) in Hong Kong. I combine three theoretical frameworks, namely Turner’s (1983) liminality, flow and communitas, Goffman’s (1969) dramaturgy, and Bourdieu’s (2006) concept of capital to examine Sze-ying events. I suggest the study of photography has to go beyond the meaning of textual level. Thus I propose “Sze-ying” is more than the production of female images. It is a kind of liminoid cultural performance, which allows participants to mimic a social status that they can hardly achieve in the reality, and within this event dramaturgical capital is realized. Dramaturgical capital is used to distinguish the status of the participants in a less-than-ideal liminoid experience. In this Hong Kong local photographic subculture, dramaturgical capital is consumed as charisma, such constellation is an affective remedy to the pessimistic life in a capitalist society.

Author

• Ka Fai Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong