Outsmarting the nation, together: Subversive virtual fraternity in the Israeli men's magazine Blazer

Steven Fraiberg, Danny Kaplan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article examines the reconstruction of a virtual Israeli male fraternity in Israel's only men's lifestyle magazine, Blazer. Modeled after the global 'new lad' magazine format, the Blazer text engages its readers by forging a homosocial joking relationship. Focusing on a satire dedicated to Israel's Independence Day, this study delineates a series of parodic discursive practices employed by the narrators to deconstruct and appropriate traditional Zionist myths on which Israel was founded. The Blazer text thus mobilizes a key cultural trope known as the anti-freier frame (to avoid being a 'sucker'), implemented as a set of manipulations to outsmart the system. The Blazer text rearticulates the relationship between self and society based on a local version of the 'yuppie' value system. We argue that while this frame appears to reject collectivist values, it serves as a critical lens for connecting yuppie masculinity with its Sabra predecessor, thereby consolidating a modified form of national solidarity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)42-65
Number of pages24
JournalIsrael Studies Review
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Association for Israel Studies.

Keywords

  • Freier
  • Homosociality
  • Israeli society
  • Masculinity
  • Men's magazines
  • National solidarity
  • Parody
  • Yuppie

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