Blog Assignment #8

The variety of perspectives that I have been exposed to in my Anthropology of Media course through readings and discussions has left me wondering about the different ways my peers have understood and related to them. I feel that it is important to understand that different views will always exist, but they should not be seen as contradictory. Instead, we should use our own ways of understanding to highlight the complexity and depth of specific mediums as they present themselves to us. Laura Tourigny and Caitlin Mullen both touch upon graffiti by describing their own views towards it while also portraying perceptions of it within popular culture and academic discourse, reflecting its complexity as a multi-faceted symbol of constant identification and re-identification.

Laura Tourigny’s blog entry on graffiti touches upon the misguided use of graffiti and its inability to characterize meaningful and expressive characterizations of local representations of reality. When graffiti is not understood or approached as a continual reproduction of a recognizable form that re-identifies and originates content, it loses its significance. She addresses the presence of graffiti on public transit vehicles as sending messages of ignorance and thoughtlessness. It is characterized as such because of the context in which it is created. Its drive towards creating social significance is blurred by its intent. Laura’s blog entry resonates the ideas proposed by Ley and Cybriwsky that the placement of graffiti is not random. It is an act of performance for a particular audience and it is placed in a certain area for a certain group to see. When effectively utilized it can be understood as an outlet for deeply felt but often rarely articulated sentiments and attitudes (Ley and Cybriwsky 1974). I believe that when considering a form that has such strong opposition in its characterization as both art and vandalism, its presentation as something culturally acceptable and unchallenged becomes important. It becomes necessary then to understand graffiti as something not to be adopted for the sake of adoption, but rather something to be used with the intent of re-identifying its use as something symbolic, meaningful, and in a way that embodies a certain level of aesthetic value.

Caitlin Mullen’s blog entry on graffiti is an interesting contrast to Laura Tourigny’s blog entry because it perceives graffiti on transit as something that provides positive contrast to the norms of everyday existence despite its form. She quotes the artist Claes Oldenburg on trains, "You're standing there in the station, everything is gray and gloomy and all of a sudden one of those graffiti trains slides in and brightens the place like a big bouquet from Latin America” (Kan 2001). For me this highlights the variety of perspectives on graffiti as a form that has certain associations tied to it. Those tied to the subjectivity of mood, emotion, and their representation through a visual medium. Perspectives require an audience to provide them, and Caitlin’s insights closely resemble Bowen’s views of a proposed audience that graffiti serves to reach. The audience for graffiti is a random sampling of the general public who happen to see it in passing. Often, the participants considered other graffiti artists to be their primary audience and viewed the public as a secondary audience (Bowen 1999). While Laura views tagging as ignorant and mindless, it holds validity in that it recognizes graffiti as being a form presented to the passive viewer as the main audience. Caitlin’s use of Bowen’s idea serves to strengthen the importance of perspective on graffiti and highlight the complexities of relation it presents. It is powerful in its own way, yet its power is limited by its interpretation by an audience that chooses itself in passing.

Mullen, C. Artists and Vandals. 2011. http://radiodiffuser.blogspot.com/

Tourigny, L. Blog Assignment #4: Graffiti. 2011. http://anth378lt.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-assignment-4-graffiti.html

Blog Assignment #7

Gordon Gray, in his article Cinema: A Visual Anthropology, understands feminist theory as being directly related to the politics of representation, concerning itself with developing understandings of how different groups of people are represented in cinema, how people make sense of these representations, and how this intersects with the viewing pleasure of the audience within the context of viewing films for entertainment purposes (Gray). While representations of women can help us understand their perception within the culture of media, they also further our understandings of the cinema and its mechanical implements (Gray). Representations of women can be characterized by the power relationship apparent in gender relations; through depictions of women as being either passive or active, in the amount of screen time given, and their portrayal in film in relation to their broader historical context (Gray). I hope to use my recent viewing of Pan’s Labyrinth as an example that reveals content subject to feminist theory. This is not to say that such elements lessen the quality of this film. I mention this because its visual presentation of material subject to feminist theoretical analysis is not overtly emphasized in the film and is not a focus, but an accompanying reproduction of content that serves to deepen the significance of the film. To varying degrees, it presents ideas and characterizations that viewers find ways to connect with, and Pan’s Labyrinth most-effectively characterizes the power relationships between males and females.

The main character in Pan’s Labyrinth is Ofelia, a 12-year old girl who travels with her pregnant mother to the country headquarters of her new stepfather, a captain of an army that is seeking to uncover and destroy a group of guerilla fighters that are hiding in the hills surrounding the headquarters. Much like the orders he gives to his army, the ones he has given to Ofelia and her mother to come to live with him set the stage for the entire film. The move isn’t easy for Ofelia and her pregnant mother, and their willingness to move to the army headquarters is indicative of their subservience to men holding official power despite reluctance and struggle in accepting their reasoning. Ofelia immediately refuses to call the captain her father. While this annoys her mother and indicates a mother-daughter struggle, it is also an indicator of a larger struggle that characterizes the female as unwilling to be disciplined and obedient towards the male. It indicates the active woman as opposed to the passive woman that Gray discusses in his article, and this is also somewhat tied to the broader historical context that Pan’s Labyrinth characterizes. It allows for the empowering of women while simultaneously alluding to the unfair realities of historical situations. It does this fluidly and without interruption. This balance is achieved through the proposed symbolic characterization of women as nurturing, motherly, and morally superior to the men they are subservient to. This different manifestation of power is reflected in the screen time given to Ofelia and her mother, as well as the ending that portrays their victory over the captain and his army. Redemption, however, comes at a price.

Gray, Gordon. Cinema: A Visual Anthropology. 2010.

Pan’s Labyrinth. Dir. Guillermo del Toro. Picturehouse. 2006.

Blog Assignment #6

Radio programming is something that has always spoken about the audience it reaches out to. Content that is broadcast on the radio is targeted towards a particular audience and it displays certain connective properties while highlighting a certain level of symbolic significance in its selection and presentation of content. In mass media, radio programming and content serve to link listeners together at the global level by presenting news from around the world, insights into popular culture, and influential ideas that embody a certain level of symbolic importance when considering transnational culture and its flows. In essence, it characterizes a global identity. However, the content of mass radio is somewhat detached from the actual lives of its listeners, as it serves to identify with an idealized audience, consequently failing to engage at a realistic or personal level. Its utility and impact in the daily lives of its listeners, all separate due to physical location, is limited by its power to influence those receptive to its agenda that assumes commonalities and a connection between its listeners, diminishing its value at the local level.

It is with community radio stations where a more direct reflection of the immediate needs of the community can be expressed in a less directed and controlled manner than the programming of mass radio stations and their networks. Community radio stations can offer a less idealized characterization of real local existence and its identifying features that serve to strengthen the link between community members. By relaying local events, music, ideas, and politics that are passed over by mass media and its contributors, community radio stations create and reflect an accurate identity of a cultural community that enables transmission and movement of information and ideas without being limited by the inefficiencies of face-level interaction.

The connective and culturally reflective properties of radio are effectively characterized in Dennis Allen’s documentary CBQM, focusing on the citizen-run station that serves the people of Fort McPherson. The community radio station depicts the strengthening of a local community that goes beyond face-level interaction by relaying local events, music, ideas, and politics over the air, targeting its local audience consisting of truckers heading north on the Dempster Highway, trappers confined to their cabins, and Gwich’in ladies doing beadwork. By recognizing the separateness within such a small community, while understanding the human need for relating to something symbolic, something connected to locality, and something that establishes a certain level of identity, it becomes entirely possible to see the benefit of community radio in being an important aspect of local existence.

In considering text, Daniel Fischer’s Mediating Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia does a good job of expressing the inherent symbolism of localized content and its ability to display connective properties and create a sense of community and identity in its presentation. It stresses content that serves to realize the history of Aboriginal incarceration and the geographic dispersal of kin networks with music by focusing on the interweaving of speech and country song in request programs that highlight the connective properties of local radio with its local listeners. By understanding content and presentation in localities such as Northern Australia, it becomes clear of the direction and assumptions of transnational flows of globalized media and its audiences.

Allen, Dennis. CBQM. National Film Board of Canada. 2010.

Fisher, Daniel. Mediating Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia. Cultural Anthropology. 2009.

Blog Assignment #5

In his article, David Novak delineates the complex remediation and remix of “Jaan Pehechaan Ho,” a song and dance sequence from the Bollywood film Gumnaam (1965). Unlike Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe, North American receptiveness towards Bollywood has been towards excerpts and song and dance sequences as opposed to the entire film itself. We can find such sequences, as well as their reuse in renditions, on blogs, YouTube, and on Facebook. They originate as “mash-ups” of cultural references; of different global voices and bodies, places and times. In other words, they are already remediations, always simultaneously familiar and strange (Novak). And recognizing oneself as a part of this process—whether one is invested in nostalgia or newness— requires de-emphasizing the authority of the original media context in favor of its remediations (Novak). The de-emphasis of authority that Novak characterizes becomes apparent when reuse of culturally-tied media comes into contact with those who have identify with such ties, as well as those who have certain expectations of media that draws on characterizations of culture and its repurposing for new contexts of use. This can come in the form of reaction; one that may not always be so positive.

The reuse of “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” by Heavenly Ten Stems, infused into their live performance, triggered accusations of racism and on-stage protest because it was interpreted as a recognizably separate form; one not mutually linked to the culture it characterized in its reproduction. The certain level of authority that Heavenly Ten Stems embodied lay in their musical rendition, and its ability to seamlessly link a cultural rendition to an audience with its own relation to that culture it reproduced. The authority was diminished upon introducing a take on something that had different meaning than what was implied by the music. While certain closeness can result from commonalities in media reuse, it is important to establish distinctions and present itself as a recognizably separate form, otherwise it can become subject to increased tension in relating it to the original form. What is at stake here is not just the loss of original meaning in a landscape of mediated cultural signs. It is a question of equivalence—more accurately, of the lack of equivalence—between two sites of remediation whose relations to the original hang in the balance between “mockery” and “tribute” (Novak). Despite the band members’ good intentions, their attempt at revealing aspects of global popular music as a multidirectional social imaginary was interpreted as mockery rather than tribute.

There are certain characteristics that determine whether the reuse of media is considered acceptable or unacceptable. The reuse of media becomes acceptable when it presents itself in a recognizably separate manner, yet adheres to standardization in cultural connectivity through its use. It is important to emphasize the power of popular media. If attempts are successful at remediation, they become popularized. This popularization signifies acceptance in its reuse. If we do not see someone with gold face paint playing music that has strong ties to Asian culture in popular media, it is safe to say that it is not a popularized representation and should be avoided, despite playful and positive associations, otherwise it risks “costumization” and interpretations of mockery.

Novak, D. Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood. 2010.

 

Blog Assignment #4

Graffiti as a modern art form originated in the late 1960s, first appearing as an “underground” form of expression that was eventually recognized by the art community and migrated to art galleries and museums. It was considered to be vandalism and was rejected by dominant society until the art world embraced it and made it more acceptable (Belton 2001). In today’s society, the art world honours the artistic expression of graffiti artists, while society punishes those who deface property without permission. These opposing views of creative expression and destructive behaviour have been subject for debate for quite some time, yet has allowed for graffiti as an art form to develop more fully in relation to the culture and society in which it is found.

The term “graffiti” was originally used to refer to inscriptions and figure drawings on the walls of ancient cities such as Pompeii. Today, it refers to the pieces we photograph in alleyways, the tags we see on dumpsters, and the “wild style” lettering we associate with hip-hop and popular culture. The subculture of Hip-Hop for example, gained coverage in the New Yorker magazine, films, and movies in the late 1980s, and by the time it was accepted as part of mainstream culture and society, graffiti had been commercialized (Kan 2001). The shift in perception of graffiti since the 1960s has been obvious, yet undertones of resistance, illegal, and destructive activity still resonate in its characterization.

Despite the popularization of graffiti and its increasing association with mainstream popular culture and art, it is a social problem in many places that requires billions of dollars every year to be spent on cleaning it up. Schools are popular places for graffiti to present itself in, and it could very well be the rebellious attitude against society that many adolescents exhibit that lends justification to viewing graffiti as a problem in society, rather than something that should be embraced or used as an educational tool (Kan 2001). These attitudes are not all negative and linked to problems in society, however. Vancouver, BC is an area that has a fair concentration of graffiti, particularly in the downtown area where there are many styles and ways of integrating graffiti into the both public and private spaces in the urban environment. Although there is still risk of arrest and prosecution in employing graffiti as a medium for artistic expression without permission, it is accepted for what it is when it presents itself to those who pass by. It becomes a part of our surrounding environment and its seamless integration is necessitated by its connectivity with culture and society.

Although there are still mixed feelings towards graffiti as both creative expression and destructive behaviour, as a modern art form, it has gained more depth and has found itself more interwoven with society and culture. Looking back to the graffiti preserved at Pompeii, we are able to realize the degree of evolution of graffiti over the years, and understand its social and cultural implications as not static, but as continually adapting and re-conceptualizing its attempts at relating to the world that surrounds it and its creators.

Sources

Belton, V. 2001. Graffiti is part of us. Retrieved from

http://www.graffiti.org/faq/graffiti-is-part-of-us.html.

Kan, K. 2001. Adolescents and Graffiti. Art Education, 54(1).

Whitehead, J. 2004. Graffiti: The Use of the Familiar. Art Education, 57(6).

Blog Assignment #3

Being versed in Western literature and media, our culture tends to relate to art as well as reproduce it. In today’s modern societies, technology has led to our acceptance of reproduction in media, allowing us to increase our proximity towards objects of art; objects exposed to reproduction. Our realities of a routine relationship between culture, visual media, and its reproductive potential have been adjusted, with both social and cultural consequences. Walter Benjamin’s article, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, clarifies these consequences as a challenging of authenticity as well as a loss of authority of the original due to reproduction. He refers to this as its aura.

An example in media that has led us to reposition ourselves in relation to art is YouTube. Although YouTube has increased the potential for the globalization of media and has affected our understanding of what is considered original and what is reproduced, it has led to a reduction in the aura of authenticity of the original. Walter Benjamin argues that reproduction cannot possibly capture the essence of originality and authenticity that art has previously exposed us to, and that the authority of what is produced is lost due to our increase in proximity in relation to it. YouTube has allowed for artistic production with the idea of both accessibility and reproducibility in mind, and as part of this process, art is no longer viewed as definitive in its originality and authority, but rather culturally accepted as a mass reproduction of engagements within the realm of visual media.

            My recent viewing of Slumdog Millionaire recalls the song “Jai Ho” being performed by the cast at the end of the movie, effectively summing up the main events as they occurred throughout the storyline. It was performed in typical Bollywood fashion as indicated by its music selection, choreography and dance, as well as its portrayal of characters and their relationships with one other. Its representation of culture and its use in the culmination of the storyline of Slumdog Millionaire produced a distinct aura of authenticity and originality within the context of the movie. For those who may not have been familiar with Bollywood film or even Indprior to seeing this movie, Slumdog Millionaire revealed cultural insights and the culture it gradually unveiled.

            For me, the aura and appeal of this musical ending was diminished upon seeing it reproduced and presented in many different ways to an awaiting audience on YouTube.  The reproduction and presentation of the original “Jai Ho” song and dance allowed itself to be taken out of context, and to be reflected on, based on individual representations of its intent in being presented separately from the movie. The renditions of song and dance had no appeal, only a diminished aura that reproduced no authoritative ideas of Indian culture, Bollywood film, or Slumdog Millionaire. The only appeal to reproducing “Jai Ho” was seemingly that it came from a popularized movie and provided an excuse to relate to it using YouTube as a medium for globalizing artistic expression. It is my belief that our reproduction of artistic expression is based on the original appeal of authenticity and its aura. But, as Walter Benjamin states, reproduction actually diminishes the aura of authenticity, despite the presentation of reproduced material. Therefore, I believe that we need to be aware of the consequences of reproduction within our society and to understand the idea of reproduction as being a way to see things in a new light, yet not being representative of the reproduced within its original context.

Sources:

Benjamin, W. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

Accessed January 26^th, 2011.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008 - Movie)

YouTube

Blog Assignment #2

William Mazzarella, in his article “Culture, Globalization, Mediation,” argues that processes of mediation are fertile ground for anthropological study in the context of globalization due to their relevance in contemporary society as a basic foundation of socio-cultural understanding. Understanding the level of connectivity between meditative processes and ourselves is crucial in revealing the importance of allowing us to understand media as a structurally ambiguous medium that encourages us to represent us to ourselves. Our ability to distance ourselves from meditative processes can encourage a revival of a certain level of aestheticism, and in doing so, allows for an aura of contextual authenticity to reveal itself in relation to cultural processes within the scope of globalization. Mazzarella uses the terms “cultural proximity” and “resurgence of the local” to characterize the drive towards anthropological distancing and to allow particular awareness of a created cultural reality amidst the process of globalization.

It becomes increasingly important then to understand globalization as affecting our cultural understandings and representations of the world that surround us. We must keep in mind mediation and its processes. If, for example, we place too much acceptance in broadcast media’s selective exposure without being consciousness of it, or understanding our immersion in media, we risk denying the process of mediation because it does not allow for authenticity to occur in understanding the natural aesthetic of the content itself being exposed. With the possibilities of the Internet, the growth of connectivity between various media forms and our selves has increased exponentially, increasing the complexities of mediation and globalization. Thus, an anthropological approach in understanding mediation becomes necessary for those who wish to understand the true relevance of the effects of media and its forms on globalization. For anyone to truly experience authenticity in a relationship with the world that surrounds us, it is clear that a certain level of distancing is required. It is only our self-consciousness of our interaction with media forms that can lead us to awareness of the powerful, socio-cultural and socio-political process that is mediation. 

Sources:

Mazzarella, William. “Culture, Globalization, and Mediation.” Annual Review of Anthropology, June 4, 2004.