The Underground Artist as Political Spokesperson
It has often been said that comics do not necessarily affect society as much as they reflect society. Where the latter may seem to be true, the former is the more obvious truth. The subtlety of their messages may escape the immediate notice of the average citizen, but hours, or even days later, when that person stops and uses a clever comic to illustrate a point; the artist’s statement has been made. Many subtleties appeared in the 1960’s-1970’s – no one really noticing their arrival until it was too late to prevent their existence – and many of these same subtleties made permanent changes in the way American youth perceived their world, and especially their country.
The periods of the ‘60’s and 70’s were periods of unrest in America . The culture that our society had grown accustomed to was in the throes of violent change, redefining itself on what seemed to be a day-by-day basis.
By ‘culture’ we refer to the social circulation of meanings, values, and pleasures, to the process of forming social identities and social relationships, and to entering into relation with the larger social order in a particular way and from a particular position. (Fiske 322)
To make such a simple statement about these twenty years may seem to devalue them, but one thing remained constant through all those changes. Despite, or in spite of at times, the political bankruptcy of the nation, the evaporating credibility of national and international policy, Vietnam, rioting in the city streets and on college campuses, not to mention the murder of innocent students by an armed militia, comic books stayed stable. They provided a foundation, although rooted in “Establishment” values, for ...
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with Digital Underground. After this, he landed a deal with Interscope records, not too long after his debut album 2Pacalypse Now hit stores and his fame skyrocketed. He came out with hit after hit and his legacy was cemented. During his career, Tupac was portrayed as a “thug” or “gangster”, but to Tupac this was just an illustration of the misrepresentation of
(Masar, 2006, p. 8). The music stresses anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian ideas in its lyrics as well as scorns political idealism in American society. Before Nirvana unintentionally made punk rock a multi-million dollar commercialized genre of music, underground rock paved the way for the punk rock genre by creating core values that punk rockers drew upon. Underground rock was a term for a style of music that was different from the popular sounds of British rock bands such as The Beatles
Music has the power to directly influence people. It takes direct control of the minds of listeners and influences the ways people operate, including their actions, motives, and feelings. This influence can be seen in all genres of music. Each genre is made to generate a specific response from listeners, whether it is a high energy, head banging response from metal, or a smooth and relaxing response from R&B. When addressing responses to music, another interesting aspect to consider is the lyrics
Homoeroticism, and Senator Jesse Helms No medium or arena is free from political assimilation. Perhaps this is why the term "the personal is political" is so reverberant in such a multitude of communities. In the fine arts community, every art piece reflects a personal decision or touch; what medium to best describe a subject or idea in, or the physical shape and making of art by an artist, for example, are ways in which each artist has ownership over his or her own work. When art is displayed for an
Close your eyes. What image comes to mind when you think of the Black Panther Party? Many people today envision a male figure with association to violence: a powerful man with a gun in hand while wearing the Panther’s signature black beret. This image is formed through the thousands of posters and t-shirts once worn as a form of propaganda. The Black Panther Party may have been seen as a prominently male organization, but to everyone’s surprise it was two-thirds female. In Oakland, California during
rest of the 1970’s. The first commercial success for hip-hop was a song “Rapper's Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang in 1979.(Potter 45) This helped bring hip-hop into the national spotlight. The 1980’s saw the continued success of hip-hop with many artists such as Run DMC (who had the first rap album to go gold in 1984), L.L. Cool J, Fat Boys, and west coast rappers Ice-T and N.W.A becoming popular. Today, in the late 1990’s rap music continues to be a prominent and important aspect of African- American