Mitch Epstein - http://www.mitchepstein.net/ - his American Power is a interesting body relating to the course. Interesting how our industrial edifices, in their enormity, connotate their centrality within our society.
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Trisha Previte
ReplyDeleteADP III: James Rotz
Once again I find my reactions to this week’s final portion of Culture Jam at odds. Indeed, Lasn always sparks my interest with his concept and ideas and then always manages to push it a little too far for my liking. One example is his discussion of corporations as entities with the same rights as individuals. I agree with him: it does not make sense that a non-living entity, an abstract organization, has more of a right to free speech and other such things because it holds more power and resources than an individual human being. If a company does have these same rights, then it should have the same punishments as an individual citizen as well. I loved the thought that companies who violate labor laws and the like should get its charter provoked; although then again, it is hard to fully recommend this course of action when there are people’s jobs at stake. For every action there is a consequence, people’s lives are affected, and Lasn often seems to forget this. His “Assertiveness Training Workshop” in the “Second American Revolution” chapter demonstrates this lack of empathy. At one point in his attempt to convince the reader to jam the corporate system, he suggests that badgering a telemarketer in return and attempting to convince him or her to find a new job would be helpful for revolutionizing the system. Okay, helpful for revolutionizing the system or not, Lasn, do you realize the implications of what you are saying? You want individuals to be recognize instead of corporations, why not start by treating the employees of those companies as actual human beings? That woman behind that phone may need that job to keep her kids fed, the roof over her head, to pay for medical bills and a myriad of struggles and troubles that you have no idea about. Yes, I know telemarketers are annoying, I am not suggesting that they aren’t or promoting the profession in anyway, but really those people are just trying to make some money like the rest of us. For many, especially in an economy such as this, leaving a job out of the blue is simply not a viable option.
Similarly, Lasn brings up a situation regarding the operator at your local telephone company. He suggests that because of the company’s, or should I say the corporation’s, mistake, you should then proceed to ruin someone else’s day by heckling the telephone operator in order to get what you want. Throw politeness out the window, he says. Now, I’ve worked in the service industry before. When a customer is relentless about what they want, and rude while they are at it, that really only enhances the likelihood that I’ll spit in his or her food. Honestly, Lasn, while you’re at it, why not throw out consideration, care, empathy, compassion, love. I may be pushing this issue to far, but hey, I’m just trying to use a method the author can relate to.
In a last note, for also his yapping about advertisements and consumer culture taking over our lives, I have to question his choice to place AdBusters advertisements throughout this book. I understand he is trying to promote his cause, but isn’t that what the Ad companies are doing too? It just seems a little hypocritical to me and in turn lowers his credibility for me just a bit.
In the end, as with anything, there’s a fine balance between complacency and radical revolution. With either extreme, matters spiral out of control. Really only a middle ground along this continuum can amount to any sort of stable system for us and our children.
For lecture I think of the interesting points that Joe made was when he was talking about the man who found out about all the toxins and pollutes that are in our body and the effects this can have on us. This made me realize that it’s hard to recognize problems that we can’t see. Since, we can’t see these toxins and pollutants we forgot that they are even there making it easier for us to ignore them. The same is true for when we buy products like the brick factory in Mexico. All we see is the brick we don’t see what it was to make that. We don’t see the man getting paid practically nothing for hard labor. We don’t see the black smoke coming from the chimney. I think one of the first things we can do as artists to help with these problems is to make people aware of what of what is going on and what the implications are when they buy a certain product. People can’t change if they don’t know there’s a problem. I think that’s why some of the photography like that of Mitch Epstein and the others we have seen this semester are so important.
ReplyDeleteAs for Culture Jam, Lasn really lost me last week and didn’t get me back this week. I thought at first he made really good points and observations about our current media world. But then he just took it to far, I will give him credit though for actually thinking of solutions instead of just making the observations and then leaving us to figure it out. I don’t think that we need to go as far as to destroy the system to make changes. For me personally the system has treated me well. I feel like you can either go along with the system and work it to your advantage or you can go against it and deal with the roughness. I think we just need to make changes within the system instead of trying to destroy it. Then comes the question of well how do you make change without going against it?
Marian Perez
ReplyDeleteADP III
11/15/09
This week’s section of Culture Jam was to me the most interesting one because of the solutions Lasn proposes and the attitudes he says we should take as “Jammers”. The one that really blew my mind as being ridiculous is the rude approach of treating people overall when Lasn talks about having more rage. He pre¬tty much is encouraging mistreatment of people that work for corporations and costumer service. Realistically, not everyone that works with corporations agrees with what they are doing, but instead are working the job out of survival and need. Lasn’s approach of rage and climbing up the ladder of corporations to get heard came off as whining or a person that has nothing better to do but cause trouble. There really are regulations and polices workers can’t break and they are created for good reasons, such as protecting costumer information and insuring no identity theft. The example of the bank and the bouncing check was dumb. Its normal for a bank to change how they handle costumers and the changes are obviously to protect the customer and their money, so why would you pick a fight with them for doing their job right.
The other section that I thought was also weak in making us take more action was the fast food section. He mentions having charging fast food places more money for settling in communities and how people should fight against them, one of reasons being because its having a negative influences on kids. First of all, if your kid is so easily influenced by theses corporations to buy fast food and wants to eat it so bad, that is your fault as a parent, not the corporations. Instead of pushing the blame on corporations for kids wanting to eat unhealthy food, parents should take more responsibility for their own kids and teach them how to eat healthy. It was points like these that I thought Lasn was weak in trying to get us to take more action a “Jammers”.
In viewing Mitch Epstein’s work I thought about how odd the combination of normal homes and nature are with ugly factories, a combination I don’t like. His work is very beautifully developed, but I personally don’t like the categories of what he is taking photos of. I just don’t like the look of factories because they are boring and too big, its not so much an issue of them polluting and harming the environment, its more that they look creepy to me. The work does makes the point of how it is unfortunate that corporations are taking over with smoky factories in comminutes around the United States. There is obvious care in the photos taken and the set up which makes Epstein’s work so unique to me.
While looking at his work, I thought about the factory in Ann Arbor on central campus invading our own community. We pass it everyday going down to central campus and it is standing right next to one of the University’s nicest theaters, the Power Center. When I have walked right passed it, I do get uncomfortable because of the huge chimneys and cold bricks it is made out of. It also made me recall the factories I have seen in down town Detroit and why they were one the reasons I did not like going there as a kid.
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
Weekly Statement :: Tuesday November 17th, 2009
So, I hated Sand County Almanac because it was as exciting as a trip to the dentist. Now, I hate Culture Jam, not because it’s boring, but because this guy thinks he’s a revolutionary wonder-boy who is going to lead the world out of this “shithole” that he has created only for the pages of the book.
As we were discussing this week in class, I reiterated my feelings about how the guy is overblown and too aggressive. Everyone else commented that they would probably read it if they didn’t have to for class. I 100% would not read this garbage. First off, it’s un-American on multiple occasions, attacking giant corporations and big business. Corporations and big business employ millions of people, giving them money to go home and feed their families. Corporations fund and donate the largest checks to charities, pushing for research to find the newest technologies and medicines. But no, let’s focus on the negative Kalle Lasn – let’s all be little Michael Moores. That’s my primary reason I wouldn’t read this outside of class. Besides that though, he’s preaching to the choir: we know that our country consumes too much, but telling it to artists and radicals is just stupid, they already know these things and hate them just as much.
Onto new stuff – I read the Summer section all the way to the end this week. Let’s analyze! One line at the beginning states, “there has never been more at stake, the balance of the world depends on this.” Really? You’re going to make culture and what we buy seem like the end of the world? Big corporations are not Senator Palpatine’s Empire; they are out to make money and sure, there’s a lot of illegitimate laws protecting them, but last time I checked, there are many more things to worry about: disease, war, poverty, hunger, etc. There is no way that this guy is convincing me that what I purchase is going to swing the “fate of the world”.
Next, on page 149, Lasn goes into the fact that sports brands logos are embellished on college and high school uniforms. He tells us that it’s terrible that people are walking billboards and shouldn’t “conform”. Here’s an idea: Nike like’s that people play sports, so they support them financially and in return, the people wear the logo voluntarily. Let’s see how far your club soccer team gets without Nike giving millions of dollars to the university so you can play. On an even deeper level, there is someone in Nike’s advertising dept. trying to make a living, and if everyone on the face of the planet is like “fuck ads and advertising”, he goes home without a dollar. Advertising is a career just like others.
I personally think Lasn hasn’t heard of Nationalism, pride, or the ability to support a group, brand, or school. It gives you a sense of community, it brings people together to help fuel the economy, and pushes for people to do group activities and maybe even charities and fundraisers.
Anita Sidler
ReplyDeleteArtist:
I really enjoyed this week’s photographer. I think that Mitch takes nice compositional images and has good ideas. I really liked “The City” and the “Common Practice” series.
“The City”: New York City is just blanketed with people. There is someone always within 20 feet of you: whether it is between you in the subway, upstairs apartment, or walking on the sidewalk. I felt this series is strong because all of these photographs have only a limited amount of people. The presence of human civilization is so strong is all the pictures, yet there is only one or few people in the photographs if any. I also feel like taking pictures of New York are like taking pictures of children or elderly people, they will always look interesting. Children and elderly are so natural, and with their interesting facial expressions or hand gestures. New York is just compacted with every type of person available. This set of photographs much makes me think of the world is dying or ending. People have ran away from the glorious city to take shelter.
“Common Practice”: This series is interesting to me because of the different origins each photo takes place. From rich, fancy white couple to a strip club in Bombay. It makes me wondering what people are doing right now in some other country or my next-door neighbor. It would be very interesting to do an artist collaboration from all over the world to take a picture where they are at the same exact time and to exhibit them as 20 November 12:35 PM or something. This series also shows what the norm is for each area of the world. It much reminds of as well as this movie, which of course I forget the name of. But the movie is about this man who single day takes a picture on the same corner on the street at the same exact time. And in the movie you can see books and books of these photographs. Even though each photo is on the same corner, they are dramatically different and interesting on their own.
Some of his other series I do not have much interest in because I feel that they are not as congruent as the two I’ve mentioned. Overall I think that the artist is very intriguing and I only wish I could see 10 times more of his work on his website.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
11.17.09
One thing from lecture that really stood out to me was he idea of our houses serving as a representation of our advances in technology. As we have developed more and more, our local environments have responded to a local need. We have learned to adapt to the space we have to make the most of it, as well as to utilize the drastic change we have seen in available materials since the industrial revolution. Joe told us that in 1930 the average household was 1,000 square feet. In 2004, the average house was around 2,400 square feet. What’s crazy is that the family size has shrunk since then. So the area allowed per person has greatly increased since then. This is definitely visible in our subdivisions today. It is absurd how big and identical these houses are. And it blows my mind how much they are able to manipulate the space. I never really thought about how the way subdivisions are laid out allow you to only see a small portion at a time, as a method of hiding how they are actually designed; to confuse, take advantage of space, and be ridiculously monotonous. We can also see a use of different materials to maximize economic efficiency while maintaining quality. The front façade of these houses is made of brick, en expensive and high quality material, while the sides consist of aluminum siding, a low-cost, yet durable material. I think our houses definitely represent a technological evolution; they have become a side effect of our living necessities in post-industrial society. I thought this related nicely to Mitch Epstein’s photography. Just as our houses portray our adaptations to living in a postindustrial, consumerist society (and perhaps our growing selfishness), our “industrial edifices” are a physical embodiment of the dominance of their industries in our society today. I feel that the photo of the “Amos Coal Power Plant”, in Raymond, West Virginia (2004) really shows the connection between size and societal role/function. The looming plant in the distance shrouds what would have been a lovely, rural scene. The quaint homesteads are overshadowed by these enormous structures. I think this is a good manifestation of our society’s dependence on coal, and the prevalence industries such as this take over the well being of our home environment, our gardens, our earth, and ourselves. Our energy production and use has obviously greatly affected our landscape.
Amber Harrison
ReplyDelete11/17/2009
This week’s photographer felt real. It was refreshing to have images that were so familiar and could be referenced back to reality. Mitch Epstien has a great word that describes his work perfectly “Power.” I like that these images are strong, without modern manipulation. They feel skill based, instead of others who try so hard to get their point across that the whole image is staged. The way he captures the different environments of consumption and energy mimics photojournalism. The focus of Epstein’s “American Power” series looks at energy production sites and their environment.
One of the works from “The City” reminds me of Culture Jam, in the sense that we have these large billboards that are telling us what to wear, what to think, what to eat, and where to go. It all just feels like a constant bombardment of giant underwear adds that is so poetically displayed within Epstein’s work. The worst part about all of it is the fact that his images are as they are in reality. Calvin Klein underwear adds are that large, and are submersed as a normality within our culture.
Lasen’s final section was engaging as it always is, but I am somewhat opposed to the examples he gave us to go about effecting change in how we consume and corporations. He says that revolution is sparked by rage and that rage is the emotion that will cause the most drastic change. Rage is a difficult word to deal with, to me it seemed that he was suggesting fighting fire with fire, and I would argue that that method is counterproductive. For example, environmental terrorism when people go burn down new houses that were built from old growth forest wood in a newly developed plot of land may get their point across loud and clear, but arguably its not the best way to get corporations to change their ways. The people who committed those acts would just be imprisoned, people would think that they’re crazy and the companies would continue going about their business. What needs to happen is to have people consciously come together and collectively stop supporting those companies by not buying those new houses, or not allowing them to build in their neighborhood. Lasen did give an example of this when he was describing boycotting a new McDonalds being built. We do need to come together as citizens and effect change that way. I would argue that accosting the telemarketer that’s calling your home is not an effective way to change the world.
ReplyDeleteThe Mitch Epstein photos showed how our value for quality of life in America have completely transformed our landscapes. It’s not only the fact that there are huge buildings, power plants, and windmills that have been growing all over America transforming our landscape, it’s also the fact that we’re physically altering our landscape with dams and global climate change. I thought his images effectively showed how power and consumption has become a central figure in our lives, regardless of where or how we live.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteADP Response
This Monday Joe Trumpey gave one of his most interesting lectures of the semester. While I was not able, or ever, make it to the first fifteen minutes I was still very intrigued by the images he was showing us. I saw each house as not just a sustainable way of life but as completed artworks. The different patterns that emerged in each house were more expressive than some famous paintings. The forms that the houses took, like some in Turkey, Niger, or the mosque in Cameroon, were extremely intriguing. The showed the ingenuity of different cultures. They were able to work with what the land gave them.
I have seen a couple of the examples in person, but I was surprised at the difference in the ones I saw. He brought up examples of the reed islands in Lake Titicaca. I visited some a couple years ago, and they are prettier than the photographs showed. It is also amazing how they live because they not only farm but keep animals on the islands. The island I visited had a small sub island devoted to Guinea Pigs. This way of living is so different than another I am familiar with. That is living out of buses, the kind you would see at Michigan International Speedway. These are two completely different modes of living but they are tied together by their sustainability.
Joe’s house was amazing in how he was able to put all of these different ways of building houses into one in rural Michigan. His house will be unique to the state. From the straw walls to the found rock foundation he was dedicated and passionate about this project. I could only write “joe is so cool” in my notes over and over. I wish that we were able to see his house, and perhaps be able to work on it a bit. To get a feel for these different processes would be exhilarating.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteADP: II
I was surprised to see that Epstein’s series, “American Power”, showed more than just coal fire power plants and mountain top removal sites. His work really connects with me, and I believe with others as well because of the fact that he brings his work full circle. He shows where the power comes from, how we use it, and how it effects the environment. The American flag on the BP refinery really stuck out to me. It was almost like pointing out the obvious. America is one of the leaders in energy use so placing an American flag on this huge refinery seems fitting.
In the spirit of American excess, Epstein’s picture of Las Vegas is a prime example of how we use energy in an expensive and frivolous way. Building a grand city in the middle of the desert takes a lot of energy and a lot of water, not to mention the amount of energy it takes to bring the water to the desert. We keep taking from the earth and soon there won’t be much left to take. We are transforming the landscape, like in the picture of the Alaskan pipeline, and we are causing effects that may be catastrophic and irreversible. The Glacier retreating in the context of all the other images makes it seem even more urgent that we change for the better, because time is running out.
In lecture we have been talking about houses and how people adapt their lifestyles to their environment. I feel like as Americans we are more used to transforming the landscape to fit our needs instead. Instead of living where there is water, we spend large amounts of money and energy to bring the water to us. Instead of finding cleaner ways to make energy, we build pipelines so that we can continue to poison our environment with our greed and inability to adapt.
In the very first insert within the Lasn’s summer section, he talks about rage and how the consumer lacks the will stand up and push against those consumer trends that should enrage him. I can definitely see this as being a huge part especially on a college campus. Many people that I know would much rather drink and watch TV, rather than changing something that bothers them. Much of this lack of “rage” comes from our ability to procrastinate. We can ignore and occupy ourselves with different thoughts rather than deal with the trigger that makes us uncomfortable. This happens not only when it comes to rage but any activity in general. I tried bringing my housemates out to see the meteor shower the other night. Even though all of them were interested in general, neither of them had the ability to walk to the park in order to see a once in a lifetime spectacle. I definitely agree with Lasn’s observation that we lack the emotion we once had.
ReplyDeleteLasn’s description of corporations as a living being is very effective in the middle portion of the chapter. Especially when talks about how the CEO’s are rarely penalized for committing fraud or causing the company to go under. They have the chance to reap all of the benefits of a successful company; however, if the company is liquidated, they scramble a last minute bonus for themselves and move on to another project with a different investor. Why aren’t the CEO’s ever panelized for the downfall of Chrysler, Circuit City, Abercrombie, etc? When the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch noticed that sales are at a devastatingly low point, he manages to garner forty million dollar bonus for himself as well as the 1.5 million dollar yearly salary before he begins abandoning the company. After this, he will most likely spend the next several years traveling the world and vacationing until he can easily start another business venture. In the mean time, his employees have a severe pay cut and are forced to look for work elsewhere. I wish there is a way to penalize the CEO’s behind the company.
It still amazes me that our food travels an average of 1,300 miles before we finally pick it from our grocery store shelf. Take a tomato for instance; in order for it to stay preserved for the long trip, one must enhance it genetically to survive the duration. When you take in to account the number of countries it has traveled to, you must think of the many different pesticides the corporations spray and inject into them in order to keep the US disease free. By the time it reaches you, little is left of the original tomato. I went to a Burger King the other day and order a Whopper. As I’m eating this Whopper I begin questioning the tomato jutting out of the side. Unlike the tomatoes my mother grows at home, this tomato has a perfect shape and consistency to it. It does not squirt in your eye while biting into it. It also lacks a lot of the liquid that makes a tomato look red. Instead, the inside of this product has a pinkish quality to it, almost as if it were intentionally pumped full of water. After 1,300 miles of traveling the globe, there is almost nothing left of the original tomato.
Culture Jam left me feeling exhausted. Lasn’s consistently high energy, extreme passion, and strong language is powerful and motivating but leaves me feeling pretty worked up. I’m not sure that I agree with his statement that rage drives revolutions. I think it is a influential aspect but I think rage leads to violence and I don’t support violence as part of revolution. That could be naïve of me to say because violence seems to be a bi-product of extreme behavior and sometimes evokes big change but I would like to believe there is an alternative. I found Lasn’s notion that abandoning politeness will help take control away from corporations ridiculous. I find that rudeness only fuels resistance and resentment. There is a distinct difference between being clear and honest with our demands and being rude. Yelling at the lady who sent you an incorrect phone bill will not solve anything and will only create unnecessary hostility. This last section was particularly interesting because it addressed my demographic, the college student. I agree that we have more power to make change than we often realize or take advantage of but many of Lasn’s methods seem like the wrong way to approach the issues. I think that he has the perspective of a middle-aged man looking back at what could be done on a college campus to provoke people into changing their behavior and inspiring a new way of life, but as student, we are paying tuition to go here and working to get good grades so that we can one day get jobs to help bring about change. Lasn seems to believe that anyone who makes a lot of money is inherently evil which just isn’t the case. We have a huge wealth distribution issue in our country, there is no denying and he’s right that our economy needs to change but altering our economy will happen gradually. The end of this book seemed to me like a call to arms. What I’ve come to realize throughout the book is Lasn is trying to evoke a response of any sort from his readers. He is trying to get our attention in the biggest way possible. And in retrospect, I think we’ve analyzed the book incorrectly in our class discussions. The book is not attempting to be rational. Yes, much of the book is absurd but that is what it takes to uproot people who have been living habitually.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Acomb
ReplyDeleteI sort of get irritated with the writing style used Culture Jam. I agree with many of the ideas in this book, but I feel like the author relies too heavily on the emotions of the readers. I personal feel like he is trying to manipulate me because of this. The method he uses to sell his points seems like it is directed at people without a strong sense of their personal convictions.
This is too bad because I actually agree with a lot that this book says, but his methods of persuasion and the way he presents some of his arguments make me not like him as a person. It seems like this is his attempt to rally up a base of people for his movement using a charismatic tone that appeals to people that probably aren’t that bright. He definitely has an opinion about how the average American’s mind works and how it responds to advertising
Again, there is content within it that is pretty good and I think he genuinely wants to improve our cultural environment, but I wish he had more solid statistics to back his points up so they didn’t just sound like his own passionate opinions. I don’t really know how effective the methods he is suggesting are and what makes him think they will work, particularly when he talks about controlling the memes. What exactly would be the message of these memes and why would people want to put them out there?