Mass media and the performance of war (c.1850–1920)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21786548 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Annelies Andries (0000-0002-0519-0646, Utrecht University, corresponding author), Klaas de Zwaan (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 313-326 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Early Popular Visual Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1746-0654 • E-ISSN: 1746-0662 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17460654.2026.2656166 |
| OpenAlex | W7162662170 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
Throughout history, war has been a popular and profitable subject for representation. While these representations have generated voluminous amounts of research from various disciplines, analyses tend to focus on either texts or visuals. This introduction highlights the benefits of examining theatrical performances of war as multisensory phenomena that simultaneously address the eyes, the ears, and at times even the nose and the whole body. When studying the nineteenth-century emergence of war-as-mass-entertainment in particular – the issue includes case studies of hippodramas, early war films and corridos, a Mexican song genre – the approach has the potential to tease out contemporary tensions. Technologies’ promises for ‘direct’ access were frustrated by technological limitations; claims to ‘truth’ were strained by the need for theatricalisation, propaganda, and commercialisation; and cultural mobilization efforts required an appeal to audiences’ intellect, their senses and emotions. This themed issue underlines the (new) possibilities, strategies, and challenges that emerged between the 1850s and 1920s in various forms of popular mass media that sought to represent war in a multisensory manner. And it highlights how these developments were key to creating a ‘modern’ experience of war by making it accessible ‘at a distance’
First world war · Mass media · News media · Print media · Spanish Civil War · European Political History Analysis · Literature and Culture Studies · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
The New War Plays
Writing War in Britain and France, 1370–1854
Fighting Words and Images
The Navigation of Feeling
Militainment, Inc.
Unmarked
Modern Conflict and the Senses
State, Society and Mobilization in Europe during the First World War
Introduction
How geopolitical becomes personal
War Fantasy’ and Reality—‘War as Entertainment’ and Counter-narratives in Japanese Popular Culture
Cultural mobilisation as a transnational phenomenon in the South African War of 1899–1902
The Cold War As Entertainment In 'Fifties Television
The Boer War and the Media (1899-1902)
Performing Remains
Listening to War
Hearing the Crimean War
The Question of Recovery
Women at War
Theatricality
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |