Lab 9 Instructions: Culture Jamming

1. The works shown at tonight's screening are all made by low-end technologies -- camcorders, vcrs, portable computers -- by people who do not have access to the mainstream channels of media production and distribution. They are what some people called "DYI" (Do It Yourself) Media. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of media? Can such low-tech works compete successfully in a world where corporate media continues to raise the standards of technical perfection? Can we separate the style of such works from their political goals? Could such messages have been expressed working within mainstream media institutions?

2. Each of these works wants to pose specific criticisms of the role of media in our society. What are the concerns they raise? To what degree do these various groups have a shared agenda? Where do they differ?

3. In many cases, these works have a complex relationship with existing popular culture. Some appropriate media content as their raw materials. Others imitate or parody the forms of mass media. What do they gain from this approach? Are there things you can do or say through appropriated images and forms which would be difficult to say in other ways? How does their appropriation of media images differ from those in The Simpsons episode we saw earlier this term or the pattern of cross-media exploitation of Batman we described in class on Tuesday? Are there different rules for appropriation inside and outside the media conglomerates?

4. Some media industry people have called such "Culture Jammer" groups "terrorists." In what sense is this an accurate term? Are there ethical limits on what forms of culture jamming you see as acceptable? To what degree do these groups violate the rights of others (people, corporations) in the process of exercising their free speech? Which, if any, of the groups represented in this screening went beyond what you would see as appropriate limits?

5. In class on Thursday, we will study another popular subculture -- fandom -- which also appropriates and reworks the material of mass culture. How might we contrast between the politics and methods of Culture Jammers and fans? What do they have in common? Where do they differ? Do fans have a critical perspective on mass media?

6. Some have argued that Culture Jammers are contemptuous not only of mass media but of the people who consume it. Do you see any evidence of this elitism in the materials we saw? How might this disdain for popular audiences impact upon their strategies for grassroots cultural and political change?

7. What are some other forms which DYI media might take? How, for example, might we use the Xerox machine or the networked computer as a tool for grassroots politics, personal expression, or protest against mass media industries? What limitations, if any, do producers face in relation to these alternative media channels?

mehopper@mit.edu