Answer this question: Given what you’ve read from Duncombe, what specific suggestion do you have that will help us work on our final tactical media projects? Explain your answer and idea with as much clarity as possible.
While I wasn’t in class for the brainstorming of ideas for our collaborative detournement the article has made a few ideas clear. As it’s noted at the bottom of page five “we live in a society of the spectacle”, we feed off of things the media makes a scene of. There is catch though, if the story isn’t personalized or something people can identify with or relate to it doesn’t gain recognition. Every media campaign needs a face, someone to identify and then from there the opposing sides find strengths and weaknesses to build their argument. Sometimes though the face given to an issue is incorrect or false, like Saddam and the 9/11 attacks, the Government needed to make someone the bad guy to justify going to war and get people on board with the movement.
For our detournement we have to identify an issue yes, but without a FACE the message will be lost. So for our project we should first select an issue and then identify the people at the forefront, who’s suffering?, why? and at the hands of who? We need to make the message one that resonates with thousands of people, that many people would agree with and understand. Whatever the topic is it needs to be backed by verified facts that cannot be disputed and are not based on opinion.
I agree with this wholeheartedly, people need something to latch onto when an issue is brought up so with whatever topic we pick, if we can find someone who kind of represents the problem it will have a much stronger pull and effect on whether people care or not.