"Not exactly a model of good hygiene": theorizing an aesthetic of disgust in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Issue 3 (27th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Winslow, Luke
• Is Part Of: Critical studies in media communication. Volume 34:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 278
• Page End: 292
• Publication Date: 2017-05-27
• Subjects: Aesthetic -- Occupy Wall Street -- grotesque -- social protest -- neoliberal governmentality; Mass media -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2017.1293277
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1529-5036

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores the pathologizing of social protesters by theorizing an aesthetic of disgust in Occupy Wall Street media coverage. By cataloguing the hygienic deviance of the Occupy movement, I aim to illuminate an important countermobilization technique that disciplines and contains the grotesque function of the Occupy encampments. Examining media coverage of the Occupy movement, I show how aesthetic dimensions—including visual and olfactory sensations related to the bodies of the protesters and their encampments—were used to establish a relationship among hygienic deviance, moral impurity, economic failure, and ultimately the disposal of the protesters. I close by connecting an aesthetic of disgust to larger conceptual issues related to the viability of social protest in an era of neoliberal governmentality.