Notes for NMED 2005: Subculture Presentation
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
-Oral Culture
-history and stories transferred via human contact
-Manuscript Culture:
-ideographic, pictographic, and symbolic systems
-phonetic systems introduced
-dissemination required painstaking manual reproduction
-limited success with wood-block printing
-Print Culture:
-1455: Johannes Gutenberg
-moveable type
-church and state controlled access to knowledge
-price of equipment
-access to literacy training
-Publishing Control:
-those in power determined whose voices would be heard
-approval from government agencies—threat of legal action
-press also in danger, if implicated
-dissenting and critical voices not allowed
-this is the genesis of the mainstream media/press
Common Literacy/The European Enlightenment/The Age of Reason:
-bestiaries: early encyclopedias
-mass production and distribution allowed access to materials
-private study groups arose to train individuals
-Industrialization:
-industrialization lured more people to cities, and a greater sense of community
-technology more accessible to common folks
-pay for services (not available before)
-subversion of equipment: publish after hours
-Resistance:
-broadsides: similar to modern newspapers
-public dissemination of ideas and information
-artists and writers began using this medium
-voice unpopular ideas, political satire, cartoons
-attempt for social reform
-William Hogarth: depict class struggles and morality tales
-grotesque representations of bureaucrats, politicians, and the aristocracy
-questioned effects of industrialization
-pamphlets: independent books, with more elaborated commentary
-outline arguments for social/political reform in a more complete way that
others could study
-unionize or fight for better working conditions
-defeat the damaging effects of modern life (esp. industrialized city)
-Thomas Paine: Common Sense (1776)
-“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
-sold half a million copies—nearly all of the 2.5 million literate people in
the colonies read it
-revolutionary: focused on the working class and preceded the Declaration
of Independence
-the tools of printing/publishing were no longer exclusive to the bourgeoisie
-Hitler and Degenerate Art:
-the goals and output of the new Avant Garde did not suit the goals of Nazi
Germany
-Hitler ordered the destruction of artworks and/or artists who did not comply with
the largely neo-classical, realist, heroic, fascist aesthetic
-some brave artists raged against both the political and aesthetic principles of the
Nazi party
-Expressionists: George Grosz, and others
-John Heartfield: photomontage, AIZ worker’s journal
-created imagery that was directly critical of fascist policies
-later exiled for his work
-created workshops to educate others on how to make their own montage
commentaries
-Popular Culture Studies:
-Rise of mass media has lead to new areas of study
-Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Communications, etc.
-Popular culture is not the products of mass media, but how they are used by
individuals and communities
-television, movies, and other mainstream media can serve as catalysts,
but the culture exists in how they are incorporated into everyday lives
-media becomes a commodity for communication
-relate to one another through separate, but shared experience of culture
-water-cooler, discussion boards
-can be producerly: fan fiction, tributes, etc
-rise of YouTube and other media distribution channels
-this leads to the creation of subcultures
-Subcultures:
-exist in negation to mainstream media and cultures
-often actively work against it
-sometimes, just a lifestyle choice; other times, it is a mode for creative
production
-in some ways, early revolutionary artists and the Avant Garde can be seen as
subcultures
-self-conscious rejection of the values and beliefs of the dominant culture
-develop communities around like-minded individuals
-often gain credibility through the use of aesthetic or cultural “markers”
-brands, types of clothing, music, values, systems of belief
-subcultures (often) possess a shared aesthetic sensibility that arises from a shared
system of belief
-many subcultures arise out of a particular creative mode of expression
-new musical style/genre, fashion (fruits), artistic style
-sometimes based on a lifestyle philosophy (hippies)
-Co-optation and Hegemony:
-many subcultures value their “authenticity” and fight to protect it
-in our commercialized world of marketing, consumers are increasingly seeking a
newer, more “authentic” experience
-in the age of networked technologies, the speed and ease of dissemination
has increased, but this sensibility goes all the way back to the beginnings
of radio, television, and the advertising industry
-media and marketing have the power to co-opt or borrow from subcultures to use
for other purposes
-the subculture (in most cases) does not own the rights to what makes
them unique
-marketers strip the values and “authenticity” from the subculture and
reduce it to mere aesthetic tropes
-becomes a superficial pastiche of the real community
-sanitized, digestible, and ready for a broad-base target demographic
-“lifestyle” branding:
-selling a way to live, not products
-produce merchandise to fit into the aspirational lifestyle
-sanitized, digestible, and ready for a broad-base target demographic
-disempowers the subculture, who inevitably move on to something new
and kill the pastiche
-other motivations: sometimes political
-disenfranchisement, leftist politics, and other unfavourable or critical
thought can be perceived as a threat to the mainstream (media or
government)
-by appropriating the aesthetics of this type of movement, the power is
emptied, and the “authentic” message becomes lost amid the
advertisements
-i.e. “hippies”, “grunge”, “punk”
-Case Study: Grunge
-Origins: Pacific Northwest musicians adopting similar musical style
-some idiosyncratic dressing, based on the climate and affordability
-Sub-Pop established as independent label to distribute friends’ work
-some interest from major labels for distribution
-sale of Sub-Pop to major label
-videos and aggression appeal to clued-in angst-ridden teen demographic
-unintentional fashion style mimicked, and teens begin playing guitar
-record sales increase, magazines begin features
-high-fashion retailers begin borrowing from the street style (Marc Jacobs, Anna
Sui)
-design and layout of magazines and ads mimic the cheaply-copied/collage
aesthetic
-eventually, department stores (like Wal-Mart) begin selling pre-distressed
clothing and flannel shirts with sleeves already cut off
-Coolhunting: The Merchants of Cool
-research and demographics
-Case Study: Sheffield, England – New Wave
-similar to grunge story
-Peter Saville and New Order:
-The Designer’s Republic:
-influence of their style on other UK designers
-spread to North America and other countries (Brazil: Lobo)
-Opto-Scientific
-Future of Gaming
-Power Graphixx
-Logan
-Emulation/Pastiche Examples:
-Student videos (10:00)
-Phon.o
-What Barry Says
-Baghdad Blog
-Dungen, Festival
-The Go! Team
-Half of What
-DJ/Rupture
-Leftchannel, Blissful