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Urban Legends and New Media: Postmodern and Technological Changes in Traditional Stories

2010; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

1556-5068

Sónia Pedro Sebastião,

Cultural, Media, and Literary Studies

In this paper, the investigator will demonstrate how legends and rumors are shared more rapidly and intensively thanks to the expansion and acceleration of media and telecommunications networks, namely, Internet; and entertainment products such as TV series and movies using enquiry methodology. The study was handled in Portugal, with university students.Legends are stories originally spread orally with a cultural and social admonition. It happened to someone friend back into his/her homeland. So everyone heard about someone who becomes a legend. With technological and urban development this legends came to cities and suburbia and turn out to be used as source of fear and control. «Fast Food with insects, cockroach, rat pieces, and sick chickens» are rumors used to restrain fast food consume. «Ghost in the road» appeals to avoid driving under alcohol or drug effects or late in the night. «Babysitter and the man upstairs threatening the children» appeals to a good taking care of children otherwise something bad may happen to them. Those are only some of the examples relating urban legends with postmodern values and inhabits. In an Era deprived of moral values, we need to find other means to make the individual and social control.On the other hand, while these legends used to be orally spread, nowadays Internet is used as the main platform to extend and even originate some urban legends, such as: multinational companies paying for forwardable e-mails; virus threat transmitted by e-mail; solidarity chain mails and superstitious and magic mails.These are figurations of the contemporary and technological Era used to occupy human spirits and produce entertainment. Nevertheless, we must recognize that legends as controlling cultural elements are a tradition from rural life brought to cities to enrich collective imaginary.