The Degrowth of Social Media: The Structure and Function of a Convivial Social Media Ecosystem

Based on their master’s research, KC Legacion will produce a short film that reimagines social media in ways that support socioecological transformations. The film will offer a conceptual model of social media informed by degrowth: a framework that (1) critiques societies driven by the need for infinite economic growth and (2) cultivates alternative ways of life centered around values like care, autonomy, and sufficiency. Motivated by the calls to make research more accessible through the synthesis of art and scholarship and drawing upon their years of experience as an actor and videographer, KC’s project will contain two storylines: one live action and one animated. In the first narrative, KC will introduce their model of a convivial social media ecosystem in a Twitch livestream during the present day; in the second, a pensive narrator will recount a hypothetical story of rebuilding in the Greater Houston Area using convivial social media after several disasters unfold in the year 2027. A series of increasingly chaotic and nonsensical events will transition the short film between the two narratives. The basic intention behind these two storylines is to (1) outline reimagined understandings of social media in the live action portion and (2) depict futures that manifest these understandings in the animated portion. KC will work with local artist Alex Sickel on the animation.

• 2022
• Penn Arts and Sciences Online Learning
• School of Arts & Sciences
• Student Grant
• Student Creative Production

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