Theoretical Concerns of Remediation: Peer Contributions to Anthropological Theory

            After reading several ANTH 378 student blogs, I was struck by the crossover of theoretical concerns regarding the reuse of media and its effects between the “Jai Ho” blog (assignment 3) and the blog dedicated to case studies of appropriate and inappropriate media use (assignment 5). Larissa Dziubenko’s (2011) “Walter Benjamin’s Aura, Copies and Jai Ho” and Jacqueline Ferland’s (2011) “Feminists, Fairy Tales, and Porn: the Issues of Identity and Remediation” provide particularly interesting, and somewhat congruent, insights into the theoretical concerns of remediation and its cultural effects as discussed by other scholars, especially pertaining to Walter Benjamin’s (1936) views on the reproduction of art and its effect of lost ‘aura’.

            In “Walter Benjamin’s Aura, Copies and Jai Ho”, Dziubenko (2011) first provides an overview of Benjamin’s (1936) suggestion that when art is copied it loses its aura, the sense of authenticity that stems from the original pieces. Dziubenko (2011) uses this theoretical suggestion regarding reproduction in application to case studies of YouTube videos that duplicate the original “Jai Ho” videos in their own reappropriated ways. These case studies provide fertile grounds for adding to the body of knowledge regarding remediation and its effects on the original piece. Upon study, she argues that the aura is indeed destroyed when copying the original “Jai Ho”, as the videos are duplicated on the internet in multitudes, thereby decreasing uniqueness. Also, aura is lost because a camera’s mediation from original object of filming to viewing causes the loss of the performer’s aura: Only portions of each of the duplication videos are similar to that of the official Slumdog Millionaire video. Dziubenko (2011) argues that another way in which the aura of the original is jeopardized is through several alterations of the original: the Pussycat Dolls, for example, keep the melody; however, they change major components like the lyrics, setting, and costume—all of which in turn deteriorate the underlying message of the original song. In this blog entry, Dziubenko (2011) clearly takes the stance that the recreations of “Jai Ho” do not do justice to the original and ultimately cause a loss of aura. She contributes to the Anthropology of media by lending credence to Benjamin’s (1936) suggestion that reduplication causes loss of the original’s aura through, what she suggests, is the loss of original identity and message.

            In a different context, Ferland’s (2011) “Feminists, Fairy Tales, and Porn: the Issues of Identity and Remediation”, which is a take on Novak’s (2010) analysis of the remediation of “Jaan Pehechan Ho”, provides a case study of two instances of remediation: the Vagina Monologues, which is viewed as appropriate, and a pornographic remake of “Alice in Wonderland,” which can be perceived as inappropriate. She argues that remediation of the Vagina Monologues is acceptable because each production adds its own elements to a concrete underlying original performance with the same stories and same message that ultimately facilitates feminism. In contrast, the pornographic version is of “Alice in Wonderland,” which takes the spin of an Alice who is a “virginal librarian” who wants to have sex with her boyfriend. This film is inappropriately reproduced because, as Ferland (2011) argues, the pornographic film loses the original message and identity of the story, which is supposed to be of “discovery, wonderment, and joy” for children. She also mentions Benjamin’s (1936) notion of aura as being lost because the original has been so far “tampered with for means of adult explicit entertainment.” Her work is important to the Anthropology of media in terms of contributing to notions of what principles are important in determining whether remediation is acceptable or not: Ferland (2011) clearly takes the stance that if the message and identity of the original, in her example feminism and original story, transcend into the duplication, the reuse is considered acceptable.  

            In these blogs, both Dziubenko (2011) and Ferland (2011) ultimately argue that it is imperative for the message of the original media to be kept intact upon reproduction. Their suggestion provides insight into the importance of keeping the ‘aura’ of originals alive, as other scholars like Benjamin (1936) have previously discussed, and helps in understanding what principles ultimately determine whether the reappropriation in remediation is acceptable or not.

References Cited

Benjamin, Walter

     1936   The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility. In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 3: 1935-1938. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.

Dziubenko, Larissa

     2011   Walter Benjamin’s Aura, Copies and Jai Ho. http://cultureandmedia378.blogspot.com/,             accessed March 31, 2011.

Ferland, Jacqueline

     2011   Feminists, Fairy Tales, and Porn: the Issues of Identity and Remediation.             http://sexdrugsandacademia.wordpress.com/, accessed March 31, 2011.

Novak, David

     2010   Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood. Cultural   Anthropology 25(1):40-72.

Dersu Uzala Through a Structuralist Lens

            In “Cinema: A Visual Anthropology”, Gray (2010:53-55) outlines structuralist film theory, which draws heavily on the work of structural theorists like Lévi-Strauss and linguists like Saussure. Structuralism’s salient tenet is that “humans engage with, make sense of, and function in the world through sets of binary oppositions” (Gray 2010:53). Moreover, these binary oppositions have a ‘grey’ area in which there are aspects of both sides. This transitional area can be understood through studying its, often liminal, stages. According to structuralism, these transitional areas are frequently explained by humans through myth and ritual (Gray 2010:54). By applying structuralist film theory, any film can be analysed in regards to the binaries and their margins, like good/bad, inside/outside, nature/culture, etc. For example, Gray (2010:53-54) discusses a structural analysis of Star Wars, as it follows a ‘universal script’ that perpetuates the binary of good/bad. With a structuralist lens, I can think of binaries in every movie I have ever seen; however, for the purpose of this blog, I discuss the film Dersu Uzala through a structuralist lens and its primary binary of nature/culture, and other supplementary binaries that manifest within it.

            Gray (2010:55) discusses Peter Wollen’s analysis of the cinematic works of the director Ford. In his films, Wollen notes a strong binary of nature/culture that is perpetuated by further oppositions like settler/nomad, European/Indian, civilised/savage, book/gun. While watching Dersu Uzala, I was struck by how many of these binaries were present in its plot. Dersu Uzala (1975) is a Soviet-Japanese film from 1975 that describes Vladimir Arseniev’s exploration and experience of rugged regions of Siberia. Similar to Ford’s films, the plot of the story perpetuates the larger binary of culture/nature, and its manifesting binaries: European/Aboriginal, civility/wilderness, and advanced technology/ ‘primitive’ technology. These dichotomies are very strong towards the beginning of the film, where Uzala is seen as uneducated and primitive, and progress to be less clear-cut, through the portrayal of the grey, transitional areas.

            In the film (Dersu Uzala 1975), Captain Arseniev meets an Aboriginal Nanai man, Dersu Uzala, who guides him and his men through Shkotovo in 1902 and once again in 1907. Throughout their journey, Dersu Uzala represents the seemingly inferior ‘nature’ binary, while Arseniev and his men represent the contrasting ‘culture’. Within this framework, Dersu Uzala is on the binary end of being Aboriginal, connected to the wilderness, and using ‘primitive’ nature-based technology. Conversely, Arseniev and his men are on the opposite end by being European, civilised, and having advanced technology in their culture. Nature and Dersu Uzala are initially portrayed as inferior; however, as the plot leads on Uzala and his connection with nature are responsible for saving the lives of the ‘cultured’ peoples twice: once from a blizzard by constructing a grass shelter and again in the second journey where Uzala saves Arseniev while crossing a treacherous river in a raft by getting him safely onto the shore. The binaries are further symbolically demonstrated at the end of the expedition when Uzala leaves the soldiers in a civilised area, by railroad tracks, and returns to the wilderness of the Siberian environment.

            Towards the end of the film, the binaries are blurred and less clear-cut when Uzala’s hunting abilities deteriorate with age, rendering him unable to hunt; He is therefore not as connected with the wilderness and ‘primitive’ technology. Arseniev brings Uzala into the city, which is symbolic of moving the Aboriginal person out of the wilderness and into the other side of the binary, civilisation in European modernity. There, Uzala is prevented by civilisation to do the things that he would do in the wilderness: hunt, chop wood, and build huts. Eventually he leaves back to the wilderness; however, Arseniev gives him a rifle—something that is ‘advanced’ and related to culture, and therefore does not belong in nature. I found the end of the movie to be very ironic and ultimately symbolic of possible trouble that happens when the binaries are mixed like this: Zuala was killed because somebody wanted to steal his rifle.

            Applying a structuralist lens to film is interesting in understanding contrasts that, as argued by structuralist, inherently manifest in the brain (Gray 2010:53). This framework seems to be very universal, as every movie I can think of, especially Dersu Uzala (1975), involves the binary of good/bad at some point, as well as a form of the nature/culture contrast. These large binaries can be dissected in their manifesting binaries, as Wollen has done of Ford’s film and I have done of Dersu Uzala, that may ultimately be significant in understanding the cultural framework of the movie’s producers, and the culture of the people portrayed in film.

References Cited

Gray, Gordon

     2010   Film Theory. In Cinema: A Visual Anthropology, Pp. 35-73. Oxford, New York: Berg.

Dersu Uzala

     1975   Akira Kurosawa, dir. 141 mins. Mosfilm. Soviet Union (Russia).

Surfing on Radio Waves: Unique Service and the (Re)Creation of Community

            The radio serves as form of media that reflects the nature of the community that it serves and simultaneously (re)creates community. Any radio station, mainstream or not, can be analysed in terms of these two processes as long as it has listeners and participants. For the purpose of this blog entry, I focus analysis on radio in Northern Australia, CBQM in Fort Macpherson, and in Guatemala in relation to how it serves its listeners and participants while creating community: In all of these three cases, the radio reflects the unique nature of each community and serves to perpetuate its goals and cultural values. Additionally, the notion of the ‘imagined community’ is salient in terms of how the radio creates community. The community that is created by the radio is largely imagined, parallel to Anderson’s (2000:6) notion of nations as ‘imagined communities’: Nations or communities are imagined because most people will never meet each other, yet they all are able to imagine themselves as part of a community that is connected to other individuals.

            Radio in Northern Australia among the Aboriginal peoples is managed by The Top End Aboriginal Bush Broadcasting Association (TEABBA) which was established “to train Indigenous people in the use of broadcasting gear” (Fisher 2009:283) so that they have their own voice for their own community. This station reflects the community through its broadcasts, primarily of requests, which are designed to maintain their kinship ties: Family is important to them, and the radio serves as a mechanism to (re)produce their cultural norms regarding kinship as they can dedicate songs to family members (Fisher 2009:283). Moreover, the radio serves to enforce the community’s postcolonial discourse in respects to their lost generations, as it has a distinct Aboriginal feel and connects separated family members. Creating an imagined radio community among the Aboriginal peoples in Australia is important because they are geographically separated due to colonialism and incarceration: Radio has the capability to mediate between the most remote corners around Northern Australia and (re)create community (Fisher 2009:281). Aboriginal families, dispersed members of Australia’s Stolen Generations, and incarcerated men and women are able to be ‘linked up’ with one another by the radio (Fisher 2009:282). The community created by radio is also unique to their area and people, as they do not broadcast in urban areas except when trying to connect to inmates in the Berrimah prison (Fisher 2009:285).

            As described by Tal Nitsan (2011), radio in Guatemala reflects women’s needs to have their own space through which they can voice their own opinions without being censored. Moreover, despite being presumably unsafe on the streets in Guatemala, this space has a distinct feminist perspective in that it serves as a resource to help women who are struggling to have a space of their own. The radio ultimately is used as a tool of voice and serves their community by reflecting the strength of women who are attempting to help other women. They are able to use ‘radio space’ as a means to demonstrate that they have a definitive space and community, despite suffering from gendered disparity. Moreover, radio is extremely imaginary because it is ‘airy’ and ‘illusive’—it has no touchable or visible sense to it; the created community is also imaginary, as people can only hear uncensored voices and assume others are listening to those same voices. There are many women who do not know how to read or write because they do not have the linguistic level or may not have time to read the newspaper: The radio, therefore, becomes an important mechanism as a communicative tool through which women are able to learn the news and activities, and thus be included in their imagined community.

            CBQM radio serves the small community of Fort Macpherson by facilitating daily activities, broadcasting relevant news, and perpetuating its strong Anglican beliefs. Community members are able to use the radio as a means through which they can learn about events being hosted in the community, and about problems in the community, like people egging houses (Allen 2010). Moreover, the radio reflects the laid back nature of Fort Macpherson through the use of live performances by community members. Because CBQM’s broadcasters are all members of the community, like a member of the RCMP, an aboriginal elder, their Anglican pastor, among others, they are able to directly air the needs and goals of the community themselves. Community is also created in Fort MacPherson through CBQM. As shown in the film, it seems like everyone tunes into the station daily, and therefore, everyone participates in the imagined community. CBQM is particularly unique in that it serves to help maintain the community by acting as a means through which people can communicate. For example, many people call in to ask the host if he or she can tell somebody else in the community to get off the phone (Allen 2010). Everyone in the (re)created radio community can then imagine that they are connected to the mentioned individuals because they are able to know what is happening in their lives at that moment.

            As discussed the radio, in various communities around the world like among the Aboriginal peoples in Northern Australia, in Fort Macpherson, and women in Guatemala, is important in transcending community beliefs into a public domain that in turn promotes their own unique goals and perpetuates their cultural values, which are largely kinship and post-colonial, feminist, and belief and entertainment based in each of the respective cases described above. The radio also serves to (re)create community, which is largely imagined, as the radio has an ‘airy’ feel that promotes the use of voice that participants can hear and connect to without being physically present or ever even meeting each other.

References Cited

Allen, Dennis

     2010   CBQM National Film Board of Canada.

Anderson, Benedict

     1983   Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Fisher, Daniel

     2009   Mediating Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia. Cultural             Anthropology 24(2):280-312.

Nitsan, Tal

     2011  ANTH 378 Class Lecture. March 4, 2011. Vancouver, BC: UBC.

Smells Like a Good Parody...or a Prayer Gone Bad?

            Remediation, according to Novak (2010:41) is the process of “repurposing media for new contexts of use.” Novak (2010) illustrates remediation through the description of two different appearances of a song and dance, “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”, originally from the film Gunnaam (1965). He provides a discussion of two remediated cases of this song and dance that provoked different responses in regards to the appropriateness of its reuse: Audiences were in acceptance of the reappropriation of “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” when done in the Indi movie Ghost World, while its reuse triggered accusations of racism and protest when reappropriated by the band Heavenly Ten Stems in a live performance. The question as to what constitutes appropriate media reuse rests on what principles viewers deem as appropriate, which can be analysed in case studies of remediation, as Novak (2010) has done. Upon thinking about cases of remediation in music videos, I was struck by two separate cases which either provoked support and ambivalence, or protest to perceived vulgarity. My first example, a parody of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, was perceived as a positive reuse of media, while my second example, Madonna’s reappropriation of Christian media in her video “Like a Prayer”, provoked condemnation of perceived vulgarity. Through my analysis of these videos I describe possible principles that facilitate different views regarding the acceptability of remediation.

            Weird Al Yankovic’s song and music video for “Smells Like Nirvana”  (YouTube 2011a), which is a light-hearted, comedic parody of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” (YouTube 2011b) is widely perceived as an acceptable case of remediation for several reasons. First of all, the re-made video is an actual impersonation in terms of it having significant resemblance of physical content to the original video (Figure 1&2); however, it is also recognizably separate because the lyrics are different, and are intended to probe at the fact that the original lyrics make little to no sense. Though mocking the video, it is clear that the impersonation is not viciously or personally attacking Nirvana in any way. “Smells Like Nirvana” could also be seen as acceptable because it does not involve the reuse of sacred, religious, or significant cultural symbols. Moreover, Weird Al Yankovic asked for Kurt Cobain’s permission prior to making the parody (Nirvana: Behind the Music 2007). Nirvana also was highly receptive of Yankovic’s completed work: Upon seeing the video for “Smells Like Nirvana”, the band reportedly laughed hysterically, credited Yankovic as “a musical genius,” and knew that they had “made it” after being parodied by him (Blackman 2007). Reappropriation can therefore be seen as a form of flattery and a signal of fame: In order to be remade, your work must first be known and, possibly, be overly-popular. Fans of Nirvana would also likely be supportive or ambivalent to this case of reappropriation because it was ultimately sanctioned by the band as funny and does not touch on any culturally sensitive issues.

            Conversely to this first example, some music videos that reappropriate media may be perceived as vulgar, and therefore can provoke protest—similar to the case of protests against Heavenly Ten Stem’s reuse of “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”. Madonna’s music video for “Like a Prayer” (YouTube 2011c) could be seen as highly inappropriate due to its extensive improper reappropriation of Christian media, like gospel-style music and religious symbols.  Interestingly, despite singing in the song, the Andrae Crouch gospel choir refused to be in the music video due to its inappropriate nature (SongFacts). As opposed to Weird Al, Madonna did not tell the Andrae Crouch gospel choir that the music video would somewhat parody Christian faith and media in advance of making the song. Permission, therefore, is a definitive principle in assessing whether reuse is appropriate. This music video blasphemously used Christian symbols, like the cross, which was burned behind Madonna while she danced, and crucifixion wounds, which were present on her hands. The vulgarity of the video also has to do with how Madonna danced and dressed in an inappropriate manner in a church, and how she also kissed a priest—breeching tenets of the Catholic Church. In this case, the video incorrectly reappropriates the norms found in Christianity, and Christian media, in an attempt of defiance, and to possibly create a publicity stunt. Moreover, the video sparked outrage by many Catholic groups who condemned the video so much that Pepsi pulled out of a $5 million endorsement deal with Madonna (Songfacts). This can be seen as a sign that media, like Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”, which reapproriates media, like Christian media, in a vulgar manner will likely not be reappropriated into further media, like commercials by Pepsi due to perceived inappropriateness.

            Novak’s (2010) study of the remediation of “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” brings up the interesting question of what principles facilitate positive reactions from audiences to reused media. When reused properly and appropriately, like Weird Al has done, media can be a source of humour, fun, and enjoyment. However, if it is done inappropriately, as in the case of “Like a Prayer”, reuse of media can spark condemnation, protest, and debates over perceived vulgarity.  I have found that, ultimately in my study of two music videos, it seems that remediation is more acceptable if it is done out of light-hearted humour, does not involve religious and cultural symbols or sensitive issues, and is sanctioned by the creators of the original media prior to production.

Figure 1. Kurt Cobain in the original “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video (YouTube 2011b).

Figure 2. Weir Al Yankovic impersonating Cobain in his rendition, “Smells Like Nirvana” (YouTube 2011a). Note the extreme similarities of remediated costume and setting.

References Cited

Blackman, Guy

     2007   Weird Al Yankovic. http://www.theage.com.au/news/gig-previews--reviews/weird-al-            yankovic/2007/03/19/1174152930142.html, accessed March 27, 2011.

Nirvana: Behind the Music

     2007   VH1. 105 mins. Edgehill Publishing.

Novak, David

     2010   Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood. Cultural   Anthropology 25(1):40-72.

SongFacts

     ND   Like a Prayer by Madonna. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1240, accessed March 27, 2011.

YouTube

     2011a   “Weird Al” Yankovic – Smells Like Nirvana. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklUAoZ6KxY, accessed March 27, 2011.

     2011b   Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg, accessed March 27, 2011.

     2011c   Madonna – Like a Prayer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMCbtyBdZZ4,  accessed March 27, 2011.

Graffiti: Cultural and Social Construction Stemming from Art or Vandalism?

Graffiti, according to the Oxford dictionaries (2011), consists of “writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.” Within this broad definition, however, graffiti can be examined regarding its social and cultural implications: Locally, “street art/graffiti found in Vancouver, British Columbia reveals several different subcultures with stylistic differences linked by significant crosscurrents and forming a pervasive counter culture movement” (Rafferty 1991:277). Upon seeking graffiti on the west side of Vancouver, I have noticed that there are different forms of graffiti which cannot be conglomerated into the constraints of one general definition or category. Moreover, Halsey and Young (2002:165) note that graffiti need to be studied as not homogenous: Noting that graffiti is heterogeneous will facilitate the understanding of its underlying cultural and social aspects and implications. To distinguish between the different types of graffiti, Halsey and Young (2002: 167) note that there are multiple types of vandalism graffiti, like historical graffiti, racist graffiti, and latrinalia graffiti— all of which I have found to be extremely prominent and widespread in the washrooms at UBC, and, in contrast, there is artistic graffiti.

            A major theme relating to graffiti and its social and cultural implications that I noticed in my examination of Vancouver’s west side is the difference between creative and artistic graffiti versus vandalism graffiti. These differences have created the idea that “graffiti is both art and crime” which is evident in how people view graffiti, as either attractive or as a social decline (Halsey and Young 2002:165). To distinguish between the two, “graffiti vandalism” pertains to “scawlings that are motivated by a desire to mark territory, create notoriety, or show one’s defiance of the law and society” (Gomez 1993:635). For example, I took pictures of graffiti vandalism on a bus stop in Kerrisdale (Fig. 1) and in a ladies’ washroom at UBC(Fig. 2)—both of which seem to be ‘tag’ vandalism graffiti that are meant to defy society and mark territory (Gomez 1993:646). This kind of non-artistic vandalism graffiti is often associated with criminal activity and violence in a larger socio-cultural context (Gomez 1993:645) and also demonstrates that there is a counter-culture in Vancouver that defies the social and cultural expectations of the larger, dominant culture. Moreover, Halsey and Young (2002:170) note that graffiti culture is often stereotyped as being created by deviants or trouble makers who, as defined by public discourse, are likely unemployed or bored, are anti-social, or are associated with lower-income areas. However, they argue that these stereotypes ought to be cautioned when studying graffiti, as it is diverse and includes artistic graffiti as well.

            The other kind of graffiti, “graffiti art” exhibit characteristics that are normally termed “high art” or “folk art” and are often considered pieces because they “result from a desire to create artwork” (Gomez 1993:634). These art pieces often are created by artists who are manipulating mainstream cultural conventions to make parodies or express freedom (Rafferty 1991:277). Moreover, these pieces are often very elaborate and feature abstract signatures, human figures, creatures, and social-advocacy slogans, are created by the artist to build a portfolio, practice skills, or obtain employment, and are created in attempts to improve an artist’s community—not vandalize it (Gomez 1993:647). In general, I found vandalism graffiti more constrained in the Kerrisdale area, as it likely is removed shortly after it is created; however, examples of artistic graffiti seem to be more socially and culturally acceptable in this area of Vancouver, as they are allowed to remain intact without being erased or destroyed.

            For example, there is a very elaborate mural of graffiti art in the parking lot of the IGA near the corner of W 41^st Ave and Dunbar. The wall consists of three different murals: one of what appears to be a representation of an Asian language with the English words ‘will’ and ‘balance’ along with signature tags (Fig. 3), one of various characters from The Simpsons with signature tags (Fig. 4), and a mural of what is possibly Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama along with the words ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ with signature tags (Fig. 5). These three murals are all distinguished from each other and demonstrate the artistic diversity of Vancouver, as well as the city’s very diverse peoples and its multiculturalism. Furthermore, the murals also demonstrate aspects of globalisation in Vancouver, as artists are using symbols from around the world that are likely recognisable to most people. As a wider implication, Appadurai (1996:12) notes that reterritorialisation takes place simultaneously when cultural products become deterritorialised and globalised. With this framework, it is evident that culture in Vancouver is diverse and graffiti artists’ creativity incorporates reterritorialised aspects of cultures from around the world that have been integrated into Canadian culture more generally. This demonstrates that graffiti serve as a medium of cultural change and construction in congruence with globalisation, as well as multiculturalism. Artistic graffiti in Vancouver are therefore more socially and culturally acceptable than vandalism graffiti, which seem to promote a counter-culture that defies the ideals of the dominant culture.

Figure

Fig. 1 Vandalism graffiti on the seat of a bus stop on the corner of W 49^th Ave and W Blvd.

Fig. 2 Vandalism graffiti on the door of a ladies’ washroom stall in Buchanon B at UBC.

Fig. 3 Asian-inspired artistic graffiti, with English words and tags, in the parking lot of the IGA near the corner of W 41^st and Dunbar.

 

Fig. 4 Mural of graffiti inspired by The Simpsons, with tags, in the parking lot of the IGA near the corner of W 41^st and Dunbar.

Fig. 5. Mural displaying possibly Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama, with tags, and the words ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ in the parking lot of the IGA near the corner of W 41^st and Dunbar.

References Cited

Appadurai, Arjun

     1996   Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis and London:    University of Minnesota Press.

Gomez, Marisa A.

     1993   The Writing On Our Walls: Finding Solutions Through Distinguishing Graffiti Art         From Graffiti Vandalism. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 26(3):633-707.

Halsey, Mark and Alison Young

     2002   The Meanings of Graffiti and Municipal Administration. The Australian and New         Zealand Journal of Criminology 35(2):165-186.

Oxford Dictionaries

     2011   Graffiti. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/graffiti?view=uk, accessed        February 6, 2011.

Rafferty, Pat

     1991   Discourse on Difference: Street Art/Graffiti Youth. Visual Anthropology Review          7(2):77-84.

Jai Ho YouTubeizing: Facilitating the Imagining of Culture

Arjun Appadurai’s (1996) “Global Ethnoscapes” provides substantial insight into the notion that “the link between the imagination and social life...is increasingly a global and deterritorialized one” (Appadurai 1996:55). Moreover, Appadurai argues that media affect the imagination in social life so that people are able to fantasize and experience other cultures in a deterritorialized, globalised world (Appadurai 1996:53-54). As a case study regarding the effects of deterritorialisation on the ability of people around the world to imagine other cultures, the song “Jai Ho” from the movie Slumdog Millionaire provides insight into how cultures are partaking and interacting in globalisation through the media in the forms of film, music, dance, and the internet—primarily YouTube. The original Jai Ho video (YouTube 2011a) that was created specifically for the movie Slumdog Millionaire has spread throughout the world via the internet and YouTube to the homes of people of different cultural backgrounds: When searching for “Jai Ho” on YouTube, I received approximately 6,150 search results. This number is staggeringly large and demonstrates that people of different cultures around the world have had the opportunity to imagine a cultural aspect of a different part of the world, Mumbai, due to global deterritorialisation. In this blog entry, I focus on a comparison relating to cultural and social significance between the original Jai Ho video (YouTube 2011a) and a re-creation video of the Jai Ho dance by a couple who appear to be of Western culture (YouTube 2011b).

            The original, official version of the Jai Ho video has been viewed approximately 1,500,000 times (YouTube 2011a), and has respectively affected the imaginations of those viewers. According to Appadurai, “the imagination has now acquired a singular new power in social life...More persons in more parts of the world consider a wider set of possible lives than they did before” (1996:53). Upon viewing the Jai Ho video, one is capable of imagining what life is like for people living in Mumbai and what it is like to experience the culture of another people—in this case, Indian culture. For example, people in various locations are able to imagine what life is like in terms of dance, clothing, music, and social structure in India. However, as Appadurai (1996:54) cautions, this is not mitigating the fact that there is social disparity around the world: People are more able to judge their own social position by comparing themselves with what they can imagine other people in other parts of the world are like in terms of social position.

            Although the world is becoming deterritorialised, one must keep in mind that the process of reterritorialisation simultaneously takes place, and that when people imagine other cultures, they are able to do so by incorporating other cultural aspects into their own culture (Inda and Rosaldo 2002:12; Appadurai 1996:32). For example, the second YouTube video that I discuss is of a Western couple who are dancing along with the official Jai Ho video on their television in the background (YouTube 2011b). This couple is obviously in a better social position than those who are living in the slums of India; however, they are able to imagine the culture of those living in the slums of India by listening to the Jai Ho music as well as learning Bollywood style dancing.  While imagining this deterritorialised, globalised aspect of Indian culture, the couple is simultaneously reterritorialising the Jai Ho dance: It is clear that they are doing it in their own culture’s setting, in Western clothes, and have changed the dance slightly, and likely inadvertently, by adding more ‘pop’ to their moves—similar to that of Western hip-hop. Interestingly, this video has been viewed more times than the official Jai Ho video—approximately 1,870,000 times. This re-make video is also further deterritorialised and globalised, as people around the world are able to imagine what this couple’s culture is like, and viewers can further imagine how Indian culture has influenced them, and in turn, imagine what Indian culture is like from the original dance moves and music that prevail in the video. Reversely, people in India are able to see how people in the Western world have imagined Indian culture by watching videos like these on YouTube.

            Appadurai’s (1996:55) argument that deterritorialisation and globalisation facilitate the imagining of other people’s social and cultural lives is rather provocative and can be applied to various products, like YouTube videos of Jai Ho dancing from Slumdog Millionaire, that circulate around the world. Clearly with globalisation and deterritorialisation comes the shrinking of the world, and the notion that cultures and cultural products are more accessible and readily circulated. Through this circulation, people can imagine what another culture is like, and through this imagining, people are able to better see social disparity around the world (Appadurai 1996). This kind of imaginative flow is evident in videos like of the official Jai Ho dance and replicated dances of it, like that of the Western couple. As demonstrated, the imaginative flows cycle back and forth between cultures of origin and cultures of reception in a continuous, seemingly infinite manner.

References Cited

Appadurai, Arjun

     1996   Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis and London:    University of Minnesota Press.

Inda, Jonathan Xavier and Renato Rosaldo

     2002   Introduction: A World in Motion. In The Anthropology of Globalization. Jonathan        Xavier Inda and Renato Rosaldo, eds. Pp 1-34. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

YouTube

     2011a   Slumdog Millionaire – Official Jai Ho Music Video (HD).          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRC4QrUwo9o, accessed February 4, 2011.

     2011b   Slumdog Millionaire Dance—Jai Ho.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7AuQKFlhXI, accessed February 4, 2011.

Mediation and the Impact of Globalisation: Cultural Variations in Television

William Mazzarella (2004) discusses the connections between culture, globalization, and mediation, and what implications may be developing as we move towards a more globalised, mediated world.  He defines mediation as “the [process] by which a given social dispension produces and reproduces itself in and through a particular set of media” (Mazzarella 2004:346). Through this mediation, anthropologists are facilitated in studying the cultural flows that are transferred through increased globalisation. Moreover, Mazzarella takes particular interest in mediation because it constructs culture and affects the way that people imagine their own culture in comparison with that of others. Mediation, therefore, is reflexive in representation and allows us to become conscious of the various representations of our own culture that can be viewed by anybody in the globalised world. Mediation as a reflexive process is exemplified by Mazzarella with things like the cinema and theatre through which people are able to represent their own culture through performance, which is then in turn mirrored back to them (Mazzarella 2004:357). The impact of globalisation on processes of mediation is extensive: Globalisation has facilitated flows between cultures through mediation in ways that are creating a shrinking world, which is capable of seeing representations of several cultures, including one’s own culture.

            Television can be seen as an example through which anthropologists can examine and study the impact of globalization on processes of mediation. Through globalisation, various television shows have been adapted to be played in multiple countries around the world, and in congruence with their underlying cultures. For example, there are various versions of The Office, which originated in the UK (Fig. 1). The British version of The Office is a comedy which reflects British culture to various cultures around the world through mediation and globalisation, as well as reflexively back to people in Britain who identify with British culture so that they can see their own representation. Furthermore, with globalisation, other countries have adapted their own version of The Office.

            The American version of The Office, for example, was and is created by people who are representing their own culture through acting and production (Fig. 2). Aspects of American culture are then mirrored back to those involved in the production of the show, as well as those who identify with American culture, or North American culture more generally. With globalisation, people have the opportunity to watch various versions of The Office and see how their culture is represented in comparison with other cultures around the world, which further allows people to define their own culture by imagining the differences of others. For example, by contrasting the British and American versions of The Office, people can clearly see the difference between types of cars, licence plates, driving regulations, reference to food chains, movies, types of humour, linguistic features and slangs, dress, and so on. Moreover, Canadians, who arguably have a somewhat similar culture to Americans, are able to identify strongly with many similarities, but are also able to simultaneously define themselves as different from Americans through differences as well. Through these differences that are evident in the globalised, mediated flows of a television show, people can recursively (re)construct their own culture and imagine others. Mazzarrella’s (2004) interest in mediation and how it affects cultural construction and representation in a globalised world can clearly be applied to several examples, like television and The Office, and proves to be an interesting notion through which anthropologists can study culture and cultural construction.

Fig. 1 The Cast of The Office (UK Version) presenting their culture through television (Ponder Over Yonder 2007).



Fig. 2 The Cast of The Office (American Version) presenting their culture through television (TV Blanket ND).

References Cited

Mazzarella, William

     2004   Culture, Globalization, Mediation. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:345-367.

Ponder Over Yonder

     2007   British Wit vs American Humour. http://ponderoveryonder.blogspot.com/2007/02/british-wit-vs-american-humour.html,   accessed February 1, 2011.

TV Blanket

     ND   TV Blanket. http://www.tvblanket.com/tv_shows.html, accessed February 1, 2011.