Research of ressentiment in the media communication space: opportunities and limitations

Kirillov Dmitrii Vyacheslavovich ORCID: 0009-0004-0458-3183 Postgraduate student; Department of Mass Communications Management; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, St. Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9 st086170@student.spbu.ru

Introduction

In the modern world, mass media form the public discourse and political attitudes of citizens. More and more scientists are researching mass communications due to the ubiquity of social networks and alternative news sources. One of the important aspects of this dynamic is the role of resentment, a phenomenon that can simultaneously denote resentment, fear, hatred, resentment, and envy in the mass media. Mass media are in a continuous process of modification. Thus, according to M. Castells, the convergence of mass media and horizontal communication networks is taking place, the end result of this evolution is the historical shift of the public sphere from institutional content to a new communication space ^[1]. In this regard, exploring resentment as part of a turnaround in structural power relations, evidence of an interpersonal relationship crisis, as well as a person's inability to fully control their actions can help us gain insight into how media reports can shape public opinion and fuel political polarization.

Sociologists, philosophers, cultural scientists, and media communication specialists turn to the topic of resentment. The article will analyze the existing research on resentment in the media communication space. Of the numerous forms of scientific research, the author focused on three aspects that convey the phenomenology of resentment as accurately as possible. Firstly, it is a study of resentment in social networks (functional features of resentment expressed by encoding certain meanings), secondly, the mediatization of political resentment, and thirdly, the representation of resentment in cinema. In this sense, cinematography was not chosen by chance, being both a part of mass communication and a product of the author's idea, cinematography with the help of a wide variety of mechanisms (editing, sound, acting, etc.) is able to represent various problems of modern society. The main possibilities and limitations in future scientific research will be presented as conclusions.

The concept of resentment in the works of F. Nietzsche and M. Scheler

Social researchers are increasingly turning to the concept of "ressentiment". Due to the general formulations and generalized interpretations that constantly flash before the eyes of any scientist, it seems most promising to begin the description with the disclosure of the etymology of the word.

Resentment originates from the French language. In scientific discourse, it is considered that the author of the concept is a representative of the current philosophy of life - Friedrich Nietzsche. However, there is a controversy about the appearance of the term in scientific circulation. The word got into the German language from France, thanks to the writer Eugen Karl Duhring, who in his provocative book for that time "The Value of Life" tried to develop the idea that all concepts of justice have a foundation in the form of a sense of resentment, which in turn belongs to the same family as revenge ^[2].

A new round in understanding the phenomenon is associated with the publication of the book "The Genealogy of Morality" by the German philosopher F. Nietzsche. He ties resentment to the ethical construct of justifying good and evil, slave and master, and says that resentment is peculiar to slaves, since the question of the existence of the master already underlies resentment, Nietzsche writes: "The revolt of slaves in morality begins with the fact that resentment itself becomes creative and generates values: the resentment of such beings who are not capable of an actual reaction, a reaction expressed in an act, and who reward themselves with imaginary revenge" ^{[3, p.10]}. Nietzsche traces the resentment to the genesis of morality and tells about the aristocratic value system, according to which the concepts of "noble", "good", "kind" are equated to the category of nobility, which in turn are opposed to the plebeian value system, which means "bad". According to the expert in the field of ethics, philosopher Apresyan, the difference in the morality of slaves and masters in Nietzsche consists in the reproduction of values, as follows: "the morality of masters comes from itself, the aristocrat asserts himself, creates values from within himself; — the morality of slaves is oriented towards another, the plebeian obeys and adjusts, he self-actualizes in denial. In this sense, the morality of masters is proactive; the morality of slaves is reactive" ^{[4, p.28]}. Resentment lies in the value system of a humiliated person who deduces the arguments of his position not from his own intent and spiritual imperative, but rather from the prism of the existence of another, that is, resentment cannot exist without another subject.

The Nietzschean phenomenon is characteristic of different stages of development of society. At the same time, the German philosopher focuses on the Christian religion as a kind of "flower of resentment". Nietzsche, referring to the Holy Scriptures, as well as to other religions, general humanitarian, philosophical thought and his own empirical observations, concludes the finiteness of the Christian faith as a moral doctrine: "This is exactly how Christianity perished as a dogma - from its own morality; this is exactly how Christianity must now perish as a morality - we are on the threshold of this event."

It is precisely in the question of the implicit finding of resentment in the Christian faith that one can observe a fundamental difference in views between F. Nietzsche and another German philosopher M. Scheler. The latter, being a pupil of Husserl and influenced by phenomenology as a fundamentally new epistemological possibility in understanding the relationship between human nature, his mental characteristics and the divine expressed in the Christian faith, countered the argument of the author of the "Genealogy of Morality", putting forward the antithesis that "the seed of Christian ethics does not mature on the basis of resentment" ^{[5, p.68]}.

Thanks to the synthesis of phenomenology with the fundamental basis of social psychology, philosophical anthropology, as well as new ethical teachings, M. Scheler derived his definition of the state of resentment and anger, so "Resentment is the self–poisoning of the soul ... is a long-term mental attitude that arises as a result of a systematic ban on the expression of certain mental movements and affects, themselves normal and related to the basic content of human nature, a prohibition that generates a tendency to certain value illusions and appropriate assessments" ^{[5, pp. 13-14]}.

The philosophical reflection of two German thinkers gave a huge impetus and, most importantly, a fundamental basis for scientific research. It is noteworthy that the initially non-conceptualized definition of resentment allowed the social sciences not only to take the term into circulation, but on the contrary, the phenomenon gave impetus to the interdisciplinary study of social problems at the macro and micro levels.

Resentment and mass media

The mass media play a key role in the development and dissemination of resentment ^[6]. It is impossible not to agree that resentment, having such a vast range of possibilities, is tied to mass media.

E. V. Bakshutova in her article, using the example of comments from users of social networks, identifies "scripts of resentment of network communication as psychological phenomena of the manifestation of the aggravation of conflict in social relations in modern society" ^{[7, p. 21]}. So, for an empirical analysis of author's comments on the social network Facebook^[1] a model of resentment generation was built, which included several levels, each of which through "scripts" symmetrically revealed manifestations of resentment in specific communicative situations. The author highlighted such scripts as: "enemy of the people", "punishment", "ostracism", "Russophobia". Continuing the thought of the article, it is safe to say that the feeling of resentment is associated with a value factor. With the development of resentment, there is a reassessment of values. Revaluation means that previously accepted value frameworks are being destroyed and replaced by a new value horizon ^[8].

Researcher K. Ceilutka analyzes how social media platforms influence the construction of social life and the normative development of personality in the context of society. Thus, the author concludes that it is resentment, and with it collective narcissism, that result from the recognition of the right of social media platforms to influence the private life of each person: "This is because the underlying processes of resentment and collective narcissism are based on the rejection of established value frameworks and, instead, the positioning of their own the value horizon..." ^[9].

The potential of the concept research is found in the study of Ural scientists K. D. Gomez and T. A. Kruglova. It is impossible not to note the tremendous work that the authors have done in the field of systematization of the historical and philosophical reflection of the concept of resentment. Thus, the theoretical postulates of the concept are fully conveyed in the works of Jura, who identified three meanings of resentment used in modern discourse: moral indignation, socio-political indignation, ontological resentment, etc. ^{[10, p. 111]}. The authors, taking into account Nietzsche's reasoning about the ascetic ideal, apply this thesis in the field art: "As follows from the interpretation of the resentment, all spheres of culture were affected by it. Accordingly, in art one can find the manifestation of resentment in all its diversity" ^{[10, p. 115]}. In the case of media communication and cinema, which is also an art, one can consider the characteristically accurate, potentially important message about the ascetic ideal. The issue of insulting the feelings of various social groups is everywhere observed in the vastness of the media, on the Internet. It is impossible not to correlate this kind of intertextuality in the formation of the discourse of a particular social group with the study of resentment in the media communication space: "It is precisely the concept of "insult" that is frequently fixed in the rhetoric of protesting groups of the public: statements in the media sphere, lawsuits to judicial authorities and state bodies, polemics on the Internet, etc." ^{[10, p. 106]}.

As mentioned above, mass media tend to shift the perspective of the frame of human interaction towards mutual hostility and bitterness. In the process of forming public opinion, much depends on the channels of information received, and in this regard, the mass media have the lion's share in the context of influencing the minds and consciousness of citizens. The feeling of resentment is indirect, but it is present in this global mode of new network relations. In one of the articles by American scientists D. Matz and B. Reeves, an empirical study of trust in political leaders through television broadcasts was conducted. Media outlets that rely on sensational headlines and emotionally charged content may be more likely to heighten feelings of anger, resentment and, accordingly, cause resentment. In turn, a clear structured presentation of the material, focused on a kind of consensus between the polar positions, can become a deterrent to negative audience connotations ^[11]. Many mass media do not avoid explicit manipulation of their audience. There is an appeal to feelings of resentment, sorrow and sympathy. Thus, issues such as immigration, health care and other political topics are exposed in the news stream in such a way that they resonate with feelings of resentment and victimhood.

The reason for the appearance of resentment may be the lack of an individual or a social group of political culture, education and basic critical thinking skills. Therefore, in order to achieve emotional maturity and a protective reaction to a wide variety of manipulations, it is necessary to promote media literacy ^[12].

One of the main elements of modern media communication discourse is the visual form. Of all the arts, cinematography uses the clearest and most complete picture in the field of visual transmission of information. In just over a century of history, cinema has come a long way, starting with the Lumiere brothers, who captured the arrival of a train, to motion capture technologies under water, used in the latest "Avatar" (directed by James Cameron). Screen images, supported by the director's idea and editing, can convey the imprint of time: nostalgia for the past, at the same time reflecting on modern problems. So, according to film critic Razlogov, "One of the most obvious examples of resentment in cinematography was the painting "Dovlatov" dir. Alexey Herman Jr. (2018, Russia). The intonation of the film is set by the bitterly ironic tone of Sergei Dovlatov's works, which are not quoted directly, but are conveyed by the general atmosphere of oppressive absurdity, supported by the virtuoso work of the production designer Elena Okopna with objects, interiors and exteriors" ^{[13, p. 311]}. Using the example of the work of the Korean director Kim Ki-duk, the researcher of Asian cinema Hye Seung-chun, through the analysis of cinematic techniques, narrative structure, plot in films, the resentment is clearly interpreted. The article explores how and why Kim ki-duk's "cinema of resentment" is often misunderstood as something else (from "sexual terrorism" to cheap thrills) inside and outside South Korean institutional and cultural contexts. According to the author, the entire cinematography of the Korean director can be described as "necessarily violent cinema, which accurately reflects and symbolically avenges the cruelty of a class, conformist society" ^[14].

So, the main studies of the concept of resentment in the media space were considered. It can be said that on the one hand, researchers do not neglect the phenomenon when studying social processes, on the other hand, the Nietzschean concept does have its limitations, especially when conducting empirical research. The study of this problem gives us grounds to identify several key characteristics. Exactly:

Opportunities

- Resentment is able to relay the main behavioral characteristics of a particular social group through communication in the space of social networks. By examining media resentment, researchers can better understand how the media appeal to emotions and identity to formulate political theses.

- Resentment in media communication can practically be used to increase media literacy and regulate the media, which in turn will make it possible to carry out targeted interventions that increase media accountability and integrity.

- Through the study of resentment in the space of cinema, it is possible to clearly understand the social picture of reality, to detect patterns of human behavior, to form a value idea of the socio-political system, the development of NGOs and civil society.

- The study of resentment in the media communication space can shed light on how media and social movements interact.

Limitations

- Conceptualization of the phenomenon. Having many definitions and connotations, existing simultaneously within the boundaries of both research methodology and philosophical concepts, as well as in the form of a semantically freely used word denoting resentment, the concept of resseniment does not have clear contours for self-identification in the paradigm of social sciences and in this regard, many researchers may have problems.

- Depending on the context (social, cultural, political), the Nietzschean concept of resentment will change

- A balanced research approach. The feeling of resentment is not axiomatically characteristic of every subject. Resentment can be experienced by individuals and groups in different ways depending on overlapping social identities such as gender, race, and class. Therefore, researchers should approach the study of resentment in the space of media communications taking into account nuances and sensitivity in order to avoid perpetuating stereotypes or prejudices.

- Linking the concept to the study of cinema is problematic. Thus, there are no clear contours in conducting empirical research. Mechanisms and strategies for the representation of resentment can be identified depending on the hypothesis and logic of the study.

^[1] Belongs to the Meta Platforms company, whose activities are recognized as extremist and prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation