Main Character Energy: When Content Creators turn into fascist Worldbuilders
MA Critical Studies Lecture Series: Workshop with Vera Klocke und Freya Herrmann
On TikTok and Instagram, millions present themselves as protagonists of coherent worlds – aestheticized and algorithmically optimized. Together with Vera Klocke and Freya Herrmann of the “Fashion the Gaze” podcast, participants of this workshop analyze how main character energy and obsessive curation are embedded in techno-feudal platform economies and what affinities to fascist aesthetics can arise.
With a duration of approx. 90 minutes, the workshop is held in German, and combines image and video analysis with feminist and media studies theory and praxis. Together, participants will examine POV content, viral trends such as “me in 5 pictures,” parasocial narratives as practices of digital worldbuilding, and ask: How does the creator economy democratize fascist aesthetics – and what strategies of disruption are possible?
Vera Klocke and Freya Herrmann publish the monthly podcast “Fashion the Gaze” about the political implications of contemporary pop culture phenomena.