cARTography

Expression, Ecology, Identity

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Express Yourself -- with PARODY!


This is an ad parody for ad parodies.

It is meant to reveal and reproduce the strengths and weaknesses inherent in parody as a means of deconstructing culture (the kind of "culture jamming" Kalle Lasn embraces and made famous through Adbusters).

The video explores Marx's notion that cultural constructions, including the construction of self-identity, is determined by the way one participates in the economy. As much as they might disagree with Marx on other points, it's seems that major advertisers wish to promote this idea. In the ads included in the video, advertisers can be seen to engaged in what Marx calls commodity fetishism - associating abstract concepts with a product or object that goes beyond and even obscures the product as a commodity representing labor. In these cases, self-expression and individuality are said to be possible through participation in the economy in the form of consumption -- specifically, through buying the items advertised, be they computers, cell phones, clothes, hair-styling products, or sandwiches. This, they say, is how to be yourself.

Here, I also examine parody as a way of engaging in the kind of resistance to commodity fetishism described by Michel de Certeau -- using the products of the dominant culture in unintended ways. While parody is useful in deconstructing commodity fetishism, it has its own limitations. Because it constantly refers to the status quo, parody must always operate within the bounds of the existing cultural system. By adopting the form of the message being deconstructed, parody is forced to speak in its language, to reinforce the ways of communicating on which the original message relies. In short, parody can tell us why the system is broken but only by reinforcing the formal limitations of the very system it criticizes. Marshall McLuhan would argue that this formal language is by no means "neutral" but laden with meaning and specific as to what kind of messages it can enable and constrain.

As Louis Althusser points out, even as we deconstruct the messages of others, we ourselves are consolidating signifiers and the signified. I chose to frame the video in the form of an ad parody to reinforce the idea that, in parody, I too am reliant on the expressive forms of the messages I attempt to unpack.

8 comments:

  1. Tamara: A strong and smart video essay, and essay about your video essay (although itself not using parody, perhaps you should have!) Yours is an elegant and complex piece engaging in form its central theses and asking us to watch their weaknesses for ourselves. I think you'd like Linda Hutcheon's "A Theory of Parody." Or perhaps you're already familiar with it? I myself believe that in the end we have to walk away from these familiar forms to be free of them, but that becomes harder and harder to accomplish as the corporate reach extends through the clean hands of individuals certain they are self-expressing in new forms (blogs, YouTube). People also LIKE their stuff and don't want to leave it, it makes them feel good, as it is meant to. It was a pleasure watching you take on this new form with grace: and that made me feel good and not through stuff.

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  2. Tamara, I thought your video was a very funny and biting use of parody. I agree that it may have clarified some of your parodies to add some titles the clips. There are so many layers to your video that it would only add to the viewing experience to better understand the authorship of each commercial. Great job!

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  3. Tamara, your video conveyed (in a very short span of time) the many images and messages that we have been engulfing for the past decades. The contradictory video clips juxtaposed to your voiceover commentary proved to be speedy, informative, and thought-provoking. Your explanation at the end of your blurb about how even you struggle within this system—which is why you worked within the system to deconstruct these messages—revealed your humbleness and wisdom. Wonderful work!

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  4. @ Alex: Thank you so much for the feedback! I really appreciate it - and the tip on Linda Hutcheon's "A Theory of Parody."

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  5. @ Andrew: I'm so glad (and relieved) you thought the video was funny! I meant for the audience to understand that I was at least trying to make it funny because that's part of what would identify it as parody. Thank you!

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  6. @ Amanda: Thanks for your encouragement and your generous response!

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  7. Hi Tamara, I think your video essay is really smart, using various advertisements to express the point. And I am sureprised the advertisements you have chosen are so fluid when they are assembled together.I have always held the feeling that what the advertisements advocate that we could be the one we want to be thourgh their prodcuts, is really ironical, so your work shows what I have been thinking in mind!!I like it!

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  8. @ tianyuxiao: Thank you so much! It's great to know that we share a perspective on this.

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