Vince+Gao

He is known for his eccentric behaviours and tendency to procrastinate. In some online circles he is better known as **battlepope1989**.
 * Vince Gao,** (born **Gao Yue**, 高越; 2 January 1989) is a Chinese-Canadian student of Mass Communication and Popular Media at the [|University of Toronto Mississauga] under the institute of Communication, Culture, Information, Technology ([|iCCIT]).

1 Early Life 2 Formative Years 3 Advent of the Internet 4 Amidst the Uncertainty 5 Works Cited 6 External Links ||
 * **Contents**

Early Life
Gao immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1999, when he was 10 years old. At the time, he spoke virtually no English. Gao credits watching cartoons and kids shows as a main resource for learning English when he first arrived in Canada. One particular show of note is the wildly popular children's show at the time from Japan: [|Pokémon]. Already a popular show in mainland China by the time Gao emmigrated to Canada, the boy was pleased to find his favourite show on air in Canada.

Below is the Pokemon opening credits from mainland China, and the English version: media type="youtube" key="i8wLqoOOTJg" width="425" height="350" media type="youtube" key="pUnlh-Air2w" width="425" height="350" Upon present day viewing, the heavily distorted, wah-wah pedal driven guitar solo in the Chinese version invokes a sense foreboding, reflecting the zeitgeist of its time.

Similarly, for someone who grew in the 1990s in North America, it is likely they know the lyrics to the English opening theme song by heart: "I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was..." The music too reflect the zeitgeist of the 1990s: synthesizer heavy, clear vocals, arena-rock style guitar fills, and catchy refrain, all characteristic of popular music of its time.

In practical concepts, to Mr. Vince Gao, the Chinese version is likely about seven times more epic than the English version, and the English version is fairly epic already. This is due to the experience and idiosyncracies that Mr. Gao carries with him and the connection he has forged with the content, as suggested by Adorno and Horkheimer.

Formative Years
As Gao grew, so did his taste in music, bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden were influencial during his formative years. In this next clip, Jason Newstead of Metallica 'trolls' James Hetfield during a performance of 'Seek and Destroy': media type="youtube" key="RET92LFNuY4" width="425" height="350" media type="youtube" key="uk7plGs3RP0" width="425" height="350" media type="youtube" key="2R2_E-XqXwQ" width="425" height="350" As a teenager, he spent much of his time watching and rewatching these video footages of rock concerts... wondering why he wasn't there for them. Indeed, it is perhaps because he wasn't around for these events that made them seem even more special. Events most Canadian teenagers take for granted and dismiss as "stuff my parents liked" were subjects of awe and wonder to Gao. As his fascination with Canadian culture grew, so did his curiosity for his own background; it wasn't long before Gao stumbled upon the video of [|Mayday's] performance above, the Taiwanese rockband delivered a performance very much in the western rockband style as opposed to the familiar Asian pop music performance style. What is more remarkable, the performance was just as magnificent as its western counterparts if not more so. This was confusing for young Gao. With time, he will eventually realize it wasn't just the culture or because he 'wasn't there for it', but also the atmosphere and interaction with its audience they were able to create that gave the performance a more transcedent meaning.

For the time being, he went about his business, growing up as a cute immigrant kid in Canada oblivious Fiske's idea of producerly text... and for a time, it was good.

Advent of the Internet
When the internet invaded Vince's conciousness, things changed. Content became sensational rather than insightful; meanings were given rather than derived; though the mind is constantly stimulated, there is little intellectual advancement. Though some of these content are able to capture universal experiences shared or understood by millions of people online, their meanings soon became stagnant from a lack of interpretation. Contents were so readily available and people so eager to absorb what they can, tendency towards oppositional reading was diminished. Content that was once the creation of insightful observation has become crude and at times vulgar through overuse. Strinati shared a similar view, asserting the tendency for the mass audience to prefer effortless escapism over creating their own meaning through thinking (p. 14).

The media became very noisy; and some times, it just plain didn't make sense.





Amidst the Uncertainty
Some sense of direction was found. In September 2009, Gao enrolled in CCIT at University of Toronto Mississauga. Perhaps there he will find some answers to his questions. There, he was introduced to the works of Adorno, Horkheimer, Fiske, Bourdieu, and Jenkins. Some of these work has shed light on his interpretation of popular media and his habitus.

Relating back to the experience with the rock concert videos, Walter Benjamin's idea of aura and decay applies (p. 218). Being present at the original source, viewers have the chance to perform whichever form of reading they so choose, be it dominant, oppositional, or negotiated. Their interaction with the medium creates new meaning.

The reproduced video of the performance extinguishes the original aura of the live performance, but through its viewership over the web, a new aura is established as new viewers of the new medium perform a new set of interactions, producing new meaning.

The Advent of the Internet fostered the domain of memes, where content is almost exclusively reproduced. Benjamin suggests the artwork becomes detatched from the domain of tradition, its history drained from them, instead fostering a new beginning in its viewers (p. 218). It is arguable through the viewing of the newly created content, a new aura appears while the old one fades.