Culture-Jamming and E-Literature
It is an act of sympathetic magic performed in the name of all who are obliged to peer at the world through peepholes owned by multinational conglomerates for whom the profit margin is the bottom line.
-Mark Drey, “Empire of Signs”
What is Culture-Jamming? #1
When we look for the roots of the term culture-jamming, we find that what began as billboard alteration and has come to define a host of activities which we can call media activism. Here is a look what was possibly the first billboard ever “jammed”: www.billboardliberation.com/actions/facts.pix.html. Why billboards? Billboards are representative of a unidirectional communication process in which moterists and any other nearby recievers are required to be passive recipients of a corporate uni-message that screams “buy.” Redesigning billboards gives one the opportunity to re-inscribe the meaning of the message and reach a mass audience. What started as simple billboard alteration in the late seventies has become a worldwide phenomonon of re-inscription intended to counter the overpowering signs of corporate advertising, the effects of which have ramifications in many realms of culture. “Culture Jamming” even has its own Google directory entry:
directory.google.com/Top/Society/Activism/Media/Culture_Jamming/). One of the most redesigned images in the movement are the two golden arches that make up the M of McDonald’s fame: www.subvertise.org/theme.php?theme=MCDON Other forms of culture jamming are the repurposing of non-advert material, such as pictures of political figures (www.subvertise.org/details.php?code=137) or the creation of mock sites which expose what companies actually do (www.gatt.org, www.theyesmen.org, www.deport...
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...f the Electrofringe website is a special portion dedicated to Media Teche, a grouping of many artists and organizations which have a politically informed basis for their work. One website I have already discussed is “Los Dias.”
Works Cited
Blissett, Luther and Sonja Brünzel. “What About Communication Guerrilla” 11 Dec. 2002. <http://www.sniggle.net/Manifesti/blissettBrunzels.php>.
Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin Remediation. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000.
Cox, David. “Notes on Culture Jamming” 11 Dec. 2002.<http://www.sniggle.net/Manifesti/notes.php>.
Drey, Mark. “Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs” 11 Dec. 2002. <http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~mlaffey/cultcover.html>.
Rettberg, Scott. “Experiments in Irrational Exuberance” 11 Dec. 2002. <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/7.3/coverweb/rettberg/context.html>.
Why was this so effective at the time? Burma Shave used road signs to reach their audience. It was effective because the phrases and poems on the signs were cheeky and funny and reading one sign made you wonder what you will read when you see another sign. The Dollar Shave Club used modern technology and humor in the shape of a video commercial to reach their target audience. It is effective because Michael Dubin, the CEO of the company, and the commercial star, implemented just enough humor in the message that you are most likely to remember what it was about, therefore creating sales for the company.
I’m convinced that much learning has occurred in this course, both on your part and on mine. So I’m most interested in your telling me what you have learned, rather than asking questions on this exam that require you to demonstrate your learning. So, look back over the course and compose a page each on what you have learned about each of these course objectives.
... the past and is effective in approximately 25-35% of patients with erectile dysfunction (Murdock, 2002).
Sildenafil Citrate, more commonly known by the brand name Viagra, has become one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in America. Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction, also known as impotence. Erectile Dysfunction is best defined as the inability to maintain an erection necessary for sexual satisfaction. Sildenafil has been shown to be effective for a "broad range ED patients, including those with a history of mellitus, depression, … hypertension, diabetes, …and spinal chord injury" (Sildenafil Citrate, par. 29).
Since 2001, nearly 1000 voter ID laws have been proposed, with several being adopted in over 30 states. The very foundation of a democracy is the right to vote; yet in America today attempts are still being made to silence the voices of citizens that, under the Constitution, should have no obstacle when casting their ballot. Requiring photo ID only eliminates people from the polls, and does not prevent voter fraud that has been too insignificant to change the outcome of any election. In no way are these restrictions benefiting the nation; they only impede the act of voting, not the act of committing fraud. In addition, the costs affiliated with implementing these pieces of legislation can put fiscal stress on the states that choose to finalize these plans.
It is difficult to define cyberculture because its boundaries are uncertain and applications to certain circumstances can often be disputed. The common threads of defining cyberculture is a culture which has evolved and continues to evolve from the use of computer networks and the internet and is guided by social and cultural movements reflective of advancements in scientific and technological information. It is not a unified culture but rather a culture that exists in cyberspace and is a compilation of numerous new technologies and capabilities, used by diverse people in diverse real – world locations. Cyberculture, a twentieth century phenomena, has brought challenges unlike any other that the United States has seen in the areas of cyber security and its impact on our most critical institutions. This presentation will focus on the aforementioned three entities where national security is in jeopardy in part due to cyberculture and its intentional use for disruptive and destructive purposes. Breaches of security to the United States Department of Defense, the national power grid and the Chamber of Commerce are very real and omnipresent.
This chapter focuses on how the immediate social context shapes popular culture. This includes artists, animators, television writers/actors, and musicians (to name a few) who actually create popular culture and how the context of their work doesn’t always govern what they produce. Within popular culture, there are three realities to consider: the technological constraints, the organizational apparatus, and the legal system. With technological constraints, it deals with the production and manufacturing of popular culture. The organizational apparatus consists of the structure of which popular culture is promoted and sold. The legal system relates to how the whole process is regulated. Examples of the legal system can be seen with copyright laws and how they impact the content of music albums, which is why albums nowadays don’t have free samples of other songs. With the organizational apparatus, what the people receive is mostly a
Sigmund Freud was a psychologist known as the ‘father of psychoanalysis’ who believed that our sense of moral understanding is a result of the conditioning of a growing being.
Everywhere we look we see advertisements, commercials, news reports, who seem to influence our daily lives. Media we would not normally think of can also affect us. For example, the mere mention of Red Lobster in Beyoncé’s song “Formation” boosted their overall sales while the song was on the charts. Chapter one of the Dines and Humez text covered perception of the audience, study of culture and media, and how the media is “multiperspectival” (Dines and Humez).
The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.
As Gore Vidal once said: “The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return” (Vidal, N/A). In our society, the ruling ideas are easily believed and taken as “true.” Advertisements sell ideas and lifestyles rather than objects; people consent to the ruling ideas which in turn make them less of an individual. Although we may live in a culture industry that controls what people believe is right or wrong, there is always a struggle for power. According to C. Wright Mills and Nina Eliasoph, in order to create a struggle and challenge the ruling ideas, developing a “sociological imagination” is crucial. The ruling ideas work by creating notions of our culture and giving one false needs which in turn help maintain the status quo.
Satan frequently characterizes “the tyranny of heaven” and employs negative diction in his depictions of both heaven and God (I.124). His negative portrayals of God and his kingdom highlight his utter dissatisfaction with being subservient to God and, from that, his desire for autonomy. In the exposition of the text, Satan’s emotions toward God make themselves apparent when Satan “throws his baleful eyes / That witnessed huge affliction and dismay / Mixed with obdúrate pride and steadfast hate” (I.56-58). Satan reveals himself to be furious with his continued subjugation to God as well as his inability to truly revenge himself against his subsequent punishment. According to Satan, God’s dissimulation of his power tempted Satan and others to rise
In Sigmund Freud’s, The Future of an Illusion, he studies religious foundations and the influence of religion on civilization and social principles. As he explores the psychological depths relating to religion, he also portrays a scientific and rational civilization. In turn, he reveals his hope for an ideal world where humans surpass their feelings of helplessness and insignificance to live in an improved civilization based on reason and the increase of knowledge. Through his analysis and ideas, Freud is able to incite feelings of doubt surrounding religious beliefs and their validity.
Hoekema, Anthony . The Four Major Cults . Ann Arbor, Michigan : Cushing-Malloy , 1963. 1-87, 373-388. Print.
Cults are most commonly known and practiced as a system of religious worship and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. Cults represent a worldwide epidemic of ideological totalism and fundamentalism. Typically cults target and recruit young adolescences, who are generally confused, curious, and looking for a place to belong and somewhere where they feel important. The naive and vulnerable youth are less likely to see through the cults layers of deceit. However not all youth are endangered from being recruited into a cult, only the ones who are easily persuaded and managed are the ones that are drawn and brought into a cult. Once accepted into a cult, the use of milieu control; control of all communication- slowly starts to separate members from the “outside”. This process is maintained through an intense group process, making the person spend as much time with their cult and as little time and communication with the “outside”. By increasingly inviting and making the people go to a sequence of events, seminars, lectures and encounters, making leaving a cult extremel...