I present to you: THE REMIX

 

 

Radiohead is a (leit)motif of this unit…

Create your own Shepard Fairey-style Obama poster

Remixing youTube (NPR story)

If you haven’t watched the video yet, do so.

 

“Pirates create positive social and economic changes, and understanding piracy today is more important than ever, because now that we all can copy and broadcast whatever we want; we can all become pirates” (Mason 35).

 

Mason makes a clear argument here, drawing from the history of our country, music, and movies: Nearly every major innovation has piracy in its history.

See Reginald Fessenden, for instance, who made news with his “wireless station.”

 

Today we discussed the fact that companies have jumped on the DIY bandwagon (and the charity and “green” offshoots of this), understanding that consumers are looking for the feeling that they are “making a difference” or “outsmarting the man” by buying products that give them a feeling of empowerment. Regardless of whether you feel this is appropriate, sneaky, or just a smart move, it highlights the fact that this ethos has gone mainstream.

 

“The mainstream news media are being undermined by bloggers and citizen journalists offering a wider variety of local and niche coverage” (Mason 49-50).

 

This is leaking into other arenas, as well. We now have blogs (as Mason describes on 48), youTube (which allows people to get their video out, but also provides a forum for citizen journalists to effect change [think Rodney King]), a general acceptance of “street art,” a rise in superhero culture (ask me about this one), and a general sense of self-empowerment fueled by the free tools at our disposal. Punk isn’t dead; punk went mainstream.

 

[T]he only way to stay on top is to offer the best content, the most variety, and the latest, most entertaining, and accurate information. . . . [W]ith millions of bloggers vetting each other, inaccuracies in stories on the most popular blogs are usually pointed out quickly. (Mason 55)

 

We’ll talk about this tomorrow.

Poptech video from The Pirate’s Dilemma author Matt Mason.

 

And, The Principality of Sealand=awesome.

 

Stay tuned for chapter notes.

Never thought hair could be so important, eh? Mason begins with an explanation of Richard Myers’s (Richard Hell’s) hairstyle, and why this iconic image (and the DIY lifestyle choices it implies) are relevant to the discussion of what to do with pirates and rebels in their many incarnations. Hint: It has to do with “knowing one’s enemy.” Of course, the larger question is whether these individuals who have cast themselves out from society are “enemies” or not. (I’m betting not, at least as we’re used to thinking of them.)

 

Mason’s point that the punk DIY mentality has outlived the music in its original form is an interesting one (Mason 12). Of course, DIY is not new; it has been borne of necessity in previous generations, but the fact that (until recently, of course) people chose to turn to creating their own possessions rather than purchasing them is a major paradigm shift. Now we have Instructables and Threadbanger (the latter has obvious ties straight to the Punk culture).

 

Punk is dead: Punk memorabilia auction at Christie’s

Time Magazine’s Photo Essay on the 30th Anniversary of Punk Music.

Depression Cooking with Clara

 

“Youth cultures often embody some previously invisible, unacknowledged feeling in society and give it an identity” (Mason 13).

 

What do you think of Mason’s list of artistic movements that were based on the subversion of ideas (Mason 15)? You are familiar with Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, right?

 

Mason’s “the world was a stage, now it’s a punk rock concert” analogy is inspired:

 

“At punk shows the band and the fans occupy the same space, as equals” (Mason 19).

 

Maybe a bit of summer reading would drive this point home.  We can talk about Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom’s The Starfish and the Spider tomorrow, but the essential point of the book is that organizations with a hierarchical structure (as Mason argues that the consumer world is on page 17 and 18) are easily broken, highly inflexible, and under great risk of corruption (think Chrysler and recent failed banks) while organizations with a non-hierarchical structure (all members equal in authority and responsibility) are much more hardy, flexible, and self-policing (see Wikipedia and, as Mason argues, punk rock concerts and the new incarnation of the DIY movement).

 

In an interesting twist, however, Mason outlines the “establishment’s” co-opting of the DIY message.

 

“Antiestablishment slogans became the hallmark of big

businesses interested in promoting themselves by supposedly empowering us with the D.I.Y. ethic” (Mason 22).

 

Starbucks has their Ethos water (though they’re still selling bottled water), and of course, the recent “green movement” is simply another extension of this. It may be good for the environment, but it’s better for the company. The question remains: Is this such a bad thing? Starbucks claims that they have raised over $6.2 million for charities, and Tom’s Shoes has implemented a “buy one donate one” program since they began operating. Mason argues that this type of “punk capitalism” (26) strongly illustrates the desire of consumers nowadays to subvert the system.

 

My favorite site (well, one of them) perfectly illustrates his explanation of “creative destruction” (26). Etsy is an online marketplace where creative individuals can sell their handmade items worldwide. Without going through a large box store. Think Radiohead’s In Rainbows.

 

…and we’re back where we began.

Costs of the Red Campaign

We will culminate this year with creative projects based on your chosen archetype. So far, you have discovered many examples (at least 50) of your archetype in literature ancient and modern, in music, in film, and in television. You created a visual representation of this archetype, combining elements from all of these sources in an attempt to discover the “essence” or most basic characteristics. The papers you have just completed not only further illustrated the ubiquity of your archetype, but also showed that the way an archetype changes over time can also reflect changes in cultures (father and damsel archetypes after WWII is an excellent example of this).

Your final job in this project is to continue the story of your archetype. You have seen where they’ve been, you have seen how they are being portrayed; now it’s time to continue the story. The parameters of this part of the project are broad, so I will be working with each of you closely in the next week to guide your progress. The only requirement that applies to all projects is that you must tell a complete story that reflects your archetype. That’s it.

Some thoughts to get you started:

You may choose your medium (play to your strengths). Short story, fable, song (with lyrics), visual art (must tell a story; that is, it must be more than one “panel” long), movie script, television show pitch… The possibilities are endless.

As far as ideas go, you should look back at how your archetype has been/is being portrayed. Do you like it? If not, change it! The power to control your archetype’s fate is in your hands as the author. Want to take her back to her roots? Do it. Want to completely re-interpret it? You can.

Have another idea? Post it in the comments area; you may inspire others.

Find something like this on the Interwebs, on youTube, etc? Post a comment for the same reason.

I’m excited. We’re finishing strong.