JOSS - Journal of Social Science - Volume 5, Number 4, April 2026 - A Business Proposal: A Study of Netizens' Perceptions of Cancel Culture in the Film Industry

Aug 28, 2026

Social media has become a digital public sphere that strongly shapes public opinion and social sanctions against public figures. A key emerging phenomenon is “Cancel Culture,” referring to collective withdrawal of support from individuals seen as having violated wrongdoing. In the film industry, actors’ online behavior can reshape audience perceptions of the films they star in. This descriptive qualitative study examines the link among actors’ social media behavior, Cancel Culture emergence, and Indonesian audience reception of “A Business Proposal.” Using Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory, it identifies dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings, showing varied acceptance, negotiation, and rejection.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

Social media as a public sphere

Cancel culture as digital social sanction

Origins and international spread

Indonesian context and related cases

JOSS : Journal of Social Science Volume 5, Number 4, April 2026 p-ISSN 2963-1866-e-ISSN 2963-8909 A Business Proposal: A Study of Netizens' Perceptions ofthe Cancel Culture Phenomenon in the Film Industry Sarifhatul Aini Yuliyus Putri, Siti Khumayah, Aghnia Dian Lestari* Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Indonesia Email: [sarifhatul.122100013@ugj.ac.id](sarifhatul.122100013@ugj.ac.id), [siti.khumayah@ugj.ac.id](siti.khumayah@ugj.ac.id), [aghnia.dianl@ugj.ac.id](aghnia.dianl@ugj.ac.id) * ABSTRACT ; Social media has become a digital public sphere that plays a significant role in shaping public opinion and social sanctions against public figures. One emerging phenomenon is "Cancel Culture," which refers to the collective action of the public to withdraw support from individuals perceived to have committed wrongdoing. In the film industry, an actor's behavior on social media can significantly impact how the public perceives the films in which they star. This research aims to analyze the relationship between actors' behavior on social media, the emergence of the "Cancel Culture" phenomenon, and public reception of the Indonesian version of the film "A Business Proposal". This reserch employs a descriptive qualitative approach using data collection techniques such as social media observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. This research employs Stuart Hall's Reception Theory to identify the audience's interpretive positions (dominant, negotiation, and opposition) and to understand Cancel Culture as a mechanism of social sanction in the digital space. The results indicate that audiences actively construct meaning regarding actors' behaviors, leading to varied receptions including acceptance, negotiation, and rejection toward Cancel Culture practices. These findings confirm that social media functions not only as a communication medium but also as an arena for shaping public opinion and exercising social control within the film industry. Keyword: Cancel culture; Public figures; Film industry; Social media; Public reaction. INTRODUCTION Currently, advances in information and communication technology have had a great impact on changes, especially in the way people interact, express opinions, and channel their aspirations. Nowadays, social media has been made an important public space, a place to conduct various discussions, debates, and even collective treatments that are carried out openly and on a wide scale (Rusly et al., 2025) . In the digital era, namely social media, it has emerged as a new public space that has a great influence on the formation of social narratives where public figures, influencers, and celebrities are examples of parties who are easier to see when making mistakes or getting involved in problems. In personal errors, for example, unethical behavior or degrading comments can quickly spread widely, resulting in a strong emotional reaction from the community by developing into a major issue to cause significant social pressure. It is in this context that cancel culture emerges as a form of collective social sanction against individuals or groups who are deemed to violate norms, ethics, or values upheld by online communities. It can take the form of boycotts, withdrawal of support, and symbolic exclusion on various digital platforms. However, when compared to countries that have stronger civil liberties, this phenomenon has not developed widely in Indonesia. Cancel culture in Indonesia tends to be performative rather than transformative where exclusion is more common as a more profound social phenomenon (Dwi et al., 2023) . More than just criticism, the cancel culture is a clue to how the power of netizens is able to shape public opinion and create stigma on a wider scale (Muharman et al., 2023) . The phenomenon in cancel culture was first shown in South Korea which was the impact of the use of social media with high public attention to public figures, especially those from the enterta

FAQs

What does Cancel Culture mean in this study’s context?

Cancel Culture refers to collective action by the public to withdraw support from individuals perceived to have committed wrongdoing, functioning as social sanction in digital spaces.

How is audience reception analyzed in this research?

The study uses Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory to map interpretive positions: dominant, negotiation, and opposition.

What relationship does the research aim to examine?

It examines how actors’ behavior on social media relates to the emergence of Cancel Culture and how it shapes public reception of the Indonesian version of “A Business Proposal”.

Aug 28, 2026

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