Graffiti In Atlanta

This week, I've decided to switch it up from technology and popular culture and write about graffiti and popular culture. I was inspired by Emma Baughman's blog, Cosmopolitan Greetings and her blog referring to the graffiti artist "SAMO."

Graffiti has proven to be a growing subculture, not only within the hip-hop crowd, but has made it's mark as a form of underground, illegal artwork. Recently, many of my favorite graffiti decorating the bridges, overpasses, and city streets of Atlanta has been painted over, leaving behind a looming and not to mention unentertaining white clouds floating alongside our roadways. One particular piece of work that was prematurely removed from the city walls read, "Life doesn't get any easier," in classic, red graffiti font. Although this piece of artwork did not necessarilly arouse happiness to the hustling and bustling bypassers on Moreland Avenue, it meant something. Or at least it did to me. The artists appeared to be making a statement on what sometimes feels like the downhill battle of life. There was nothing vulgar or distasteful about the artwork and this is why it concerns me that people are more concerned with marking out something which has been displayed in pursuit of art than bothering to worry about the meaning behind it.





Yes, artists such as Vomet (whose tag I am sure you've seen plastered on some billboard, lightpole or condemned building around the city) or the late 'Oh No' (many of his tags have been topped with halo's, courtesy of other artists memorial efforts) have and will continue to illegally make their mark on our city, but why is our society determined for the victimless crime to desist?


Atlanta is littered with taggings (these are the pseudonyms of graffiti artists spray painted anywhere they choose to mark their territory) of artists, many of which are aestetically pleasing to the eye. Amongst themselves, the artists become famous and books have been published on all of the various, established graffiti artists around the world. Thus, why is graffiti such a controversial subculture?



Granted, trainyards, abandoned buildings, and billboards are either public property or privately owned, presumably not by the graffiti artists tagging them. However, can we not just accept graffiti as a form of expression, most often unoffensive, and decorate our city with artwork, rather than poorly painted splotches?



This subculture has sparked a trend in art that has also been featured in ads around Atlanta concerning everyone's favorite cheap beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon. Graffitied billboards display multiple artists interpretation of the famous PBR can, making it difficult to distinguish an ad from a stealthily sprayed spectacle.






An alternative to illegally painting artwork onto a building is entering contests through organizations like Living Walls the City Speaks. Works are chosen to be printed on rice paper which is plastered onto buildings whose owners willingly agree to have them posted. The rice paper is resiliant and the art is displayed to the city as if it had been painted there to last forever.




Graffiti has obviously surpassed the test of time and will continue to be an outlet for many artists to come, but it cannot be ignored that this subculture is gaining more recognition by the general public than years previous. Although this deviant behavior may be frowned upon in the law books and those in opposition will probably continue to paint over many of the pieces painted by anonymous talents, it cannot be ignored that the artform itself has gained credation in popular culture today.

Consumption

Initially, I did not consider how much feminism actually exists from a technological standpoint. Consider the technologies available to our society that make household work bearable. The dishwasher, the clothes washer and dryer, the iron, the garbage disposal, the vacuum cleaner, the blender, etc. And even newer technologies are being introduced such as, the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner no bigger than a dinner plate that roams your house and does the work for you, along with Swiffer's which have nearly replaced brooms and mops altogether. Swiffer recently added a vacuum to their dust busting alternative, as well. And when you think about all of these things, think about how they are advertised.

Tonia Modleski's essay 'Femininity as Mas(s)querade: A Feminist Approach to Mass Culture' explores consumerism and women from a mass culture standpoint. It is obvious which kinds of technologies are marketed to women and those that are advertised to men. When the Dirt Devil commercial flashes on the screen, who is wielding the vacuum under whom's feet? And consider this LG washer & dryer commercial. The look of utter desire and temptation in that woman's eyes epitomizes the idea that "women's habit of consumption [is] nearly as unavoidable as death." (49) Coincidentally, the technological products being marketed to women are kitchen appliances, household cleaners, and the like. This has not changed since the dawn of advertising.

So, what about other technology? This Mac vs. PC ad exaggerates the aesthetics of their product (represented by a male) and it's functions by using a female model to represent something that was created by the Mac. Although the iPad commercial represents both genders by merely their hands and feet. All of the Blackberry Torch commercials I have found, are geared towards men or have no gender connotations whatsoever.

Modleski’s essay also mentions a “leftist view of popular culture” which I understand to be that of its cause of distraction to society. Modelski quotes from Manuel Puig’s novel Kiss of The Spider Woman saying, “It can become a vice, always trying to escape reality like that, it’s like taking drugs or something. . .” I think that pop culture today has much to do with technology and many Americans may benefit from a leftist view of it. Not only are women consuming these technologies on a daily basis, but men and children alike. The essay discusses consumption in a “readerly” manner by women, and a “writerly” or masculine manner by men. However, from a technological standpoint, I think it is safe to say that most all of us consume technology in an excessively “readerly” manner.

Anonymous Antagonists

While reading Dick Hebdige's essay 'Subculture' a little worm squirmed it's way into my mind. Computer geeks and internet nerds cowering behind computer towers, infecting other's computer's with lethal virus' and worms make up technologies subculture. These tech savvy parasites can uncover all sorts of information thanks to the Internets obvious lack of concern for privacy. Not only are the sites you set up for the public to see available to hackers, but the information you keep "password protected," may be compromised because to a hacker this means "just a click away." Interesting enough, however, is the fact that all of the materials needed to understand and successfully hack into a computer are just beneath even my own fingertips as I type this blog. Codes and prototypes can be found with a quick search and basically anyone could be a hacker. Not all of us choose to engage in pointless destruction, I guess.

Who hasn't used McAfee Anti-Virus on a PC before? This security system or another like it is a necessity for browsing the internet. You screen your e-mails for the inevitable "YOUR A WINNER!" or Viagra subject lines, which most internet users know now are scams and virus's. Always use protection. My question, however, is WHY should I have to protect my computer against complete strangers? What is their motivation for doing this? And where does the gratification for destructing other's property right from the comfort of your rolly chair come from?

The Social Network, a new pseudo-documentary of the beginnings of Facebook, demonstrates how one computer wiz capitalizes on his ability to hack into his college network, providing him with names, photo's, and other information on his classmates. The movie also touches base on the inventor of Napsters success after performing some rather illegal computer tricks. Some hackers use the internet to access social security numbers and bank accounts giving them free reign over the financial well-being of unsuspecting individuals.

Internet stalkers and violent criminals could technically be included in this subculture for using the world wide web as a tool to target almost anyone at all as a victim. There have been numerous NBC Dateline's, 20/20's and other major news shows concerning Internet safety and the stories which evolved from the members of this subculture viewing the Internet as nothing more than a ListServ of innocently browsing casualties. With the opportunity to be whomever they need to be to lure in a victim, internet criminals use the screen as a mask, utilizing the anonymity of the Internet to commit hostile and emotionally damaging crimes.

Virtual Reality

Aestheticism is defined as pertaining to, involving, or concerned with pure emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality. When it comes to the sleek designs of technological devices as of late, this definition strikes me as slightly ironic. You hold in your hand one of the most innovative devices since the light bulb and just as much thought has gone into the aesthetics of the phone, simply for the sake of economic success over other phone companies. Apple's iPhone and the HTC Droid collection currently reign supreme in popular technological culture today. Apple continues to go as sleek as they can get with the MacBook Air.

"The ability of the people to discriminate between the products of capitalism, particularly those of its culture industries, should never be underestimated," says John Fiske in his essay "Popular Discrimination".

These companies are clearly souring high above the rest in sales because of the sheer demand for their products. Not to mention most of these aesthetically pleasing gadgets are (not surprisingly) expensive. The essay also mentions high culture versus mass culture when it comes to society's ability to discriminate amongst products. It is clear which cell phone companies and computer producers have "[established] superiority" over the rest. Their ability to do so stems from marketing success along with the production of products that are constantly revolutionizing. With the major advances in technology, Apple can produce a new computer each year, thus creating something new for consumers and rendering the previous years production out of date.

Bowling For Soup said it best in their song, 'High School Never Ends' because society seems to play the popularity game just as well as a gaggle of giggling 9th graders sitting at a long lunch table. Not only will people follow the trends of buying these products for their aesthetic value, but many will continuously upgrade for sake of having the latest and greatest. In the essay the relationship between "economic necessity" and functionality are discussed and when applied to today's technology, how much of it is actually necessary? We discriminate amongst the technologies available and ultimately end up with our eyes locked on a visually stimulating screen, completely ignoring the world around us (i.e. texting and driving).