{"id":{"repo_id":"penn","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/59211"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/penn/oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/59211","repository":{"repo_id":"penn","name":"University of Pennsylvania","base_url":"https://repository.upenn.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"PSYCHOLOGICALLY ULTIMATE BACKGROUND: THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS OF AMBIENT MEDIA","abstract":"Psychologically Ultimate Background: the Environmental Politics of Ambient Media revisits the political problem and possibilities of ambient media as a tool for understanding and disrupting the problem of ambient violences like everyday chemical toxicity: modes of harm not always ruled by the structure of an event. The project presents an alternative genealogy of ambient media — long theorized as neoliberal self-soothing (at best) or outright control tactic (at worst) — as a mode that promotes attunement to environment above attention to emplotment: an affordance with a striking urgency in the face of forms of violence too slow or uncertain to metabolize in narrative. Through examinations of the diverse history of ambient media production, environmental adaptations — transmutations of narrative to ambient media, and back again, ambient documentary, the emergent mid-2010’s YouTube microgenre of Mallwave, and the “background listening” communities that have developed around ambient modes, Psychologically Ultimate Background makes a case for the potential of ambient media as a potentially liberatory praxis and pedagogy of surround.","abstract_html":"Psychologically Ultimate Background: the Environmental Politics of Ambient Media revisits the political problem and possibilities of ambient media as a tool for understanding and disrupting the problem of ambient violences like everyday chemical toxicity: modes of harm not always ruled by the structure of an event. The project presents an alternative genealogy of ambient media — long theorized as neoliberal self-soothing (at best) or outright control tactic (at worst) — as a mode that promotes attunement to environment above attention to emplotment: an affordance with a striking urgency in the face of forms of violence too slow or uncertain to metabolize in narrative. Through examinations of the diverse history of ambient media production, environmental adaptations — transmutations of narrative to ambient media, and back again, ambient documentary, the emergent mid-2010’s YouTube microgenre of Mallwave, and the “background listening” communities that have developed around ambient modes, Psychologically Ultimate Background makes a case for the potential of ambient media as a potentially liberatory praxis and pedagogy of surround.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Reece Holler, Jess Lamar"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Redrobe, Karen","Alekseyeva, Julia"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:46:55Z","subjects":["Film and Media Studies","Music","Environmental Studies"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/59211","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Redrobe, Karen","Alekseyeva, Julia"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Reece Holler, Jess Lamar"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-11-22T16:14:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-11-22T16:14:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation/Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Film and Media Studies","Music","Environmental Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/59211"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Psychologically Ultimate Background: the Environmental Politics of Ambient Media revisits the political problem and possibilities of ambient media as a tool for understanding and disrupting the problem of ambient violences like everyday chemical toxicity: modes of harm not always ruled by the structure of an event. The project presents an alternative genealogy of ambient media — long theorized as neoliberal self-soothing (at best) or outright control tactic (at worst) — as a mode that promotes attunement to environment above attention to emplotment: an affordance with a striking urgency in the face of forms of violence too slow or uncertain to metabolize in narrative. 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