Questions for Ulmer:
Cabaret Academy
If electracy stands as the apparatus for “accidents of the flesh,” can it be said that literacy was the first apparatus creating it?
I ask this question because I believe as humans when we do something we can be driven by many things. One of the main drivers would be desire; a desire to be intelligent, beautiful, wealthy, etc. Literacy seems to exist out of the desire to explore one’s individuality along with education and investigating. So, in a way can it be said that the emergence of literacy is the precedent to “accidents of the flesh, therefore, electracy is simply a result of that.
Theming Mystory
How can Mystory and creativity through electracy be a remedy to the current era of Anthropocene?
I ask this question because in the book Ulmer says, “If human capability is the cause of Anthropocene, human creativity is the remedy,” meaning that human activity, spearheaded by our constant exploration of what we are capable of, is the cause of the Earths current condition. That to fix this issue individual creativity is the way to come up with design thinking solutions for these problems. However, how can electracy be an effective tool in doing so when Mystory can also be used in away that removes us from community and the issues that hurts all of us. To clarify, electracy has brought about a generation of people who seem to care only about themselves and how they can profit off branding themselves. How can we use that to make people change their behavior to remedy societal and geological issues that effects everyone.
Final Culture Jams:
In this Culture Jam, I decided to continue to use Instagram, but I changed the message from “Instant Addiction” to “Instadepression.” I used Adobe Express where I found a melting brain and the Instagram likes logo in the pictures tab. I chose the melting brain to show how Instagram and social media overall has a physical effect on our brains, which would be the chemical reactions of dopamine when we receive validation from others. I then added the Instagram likes logo around the brain followed by using different icons, the icons I placed in the likes to convey the message that Instagram likes can cloud our minds through its validation system causing people to become depressed and have self-esteem issues. The icons I chose where depression, body dysmorphia, plastic surgery, under pressure, and alcohol and drugs. I then added the Instagram logo at the bottom left corner followed by a play on Instagram and depression creating “Instadepression.”
I chose this topic because as an Instagrammer I feel that sometimes I can become overwhelmed or sad about my own circumstances because of what I see on Instagram. As people are recording the best moments in their lives it can make you think that their lives are always filled with joy and happiness, that something is wrong if you’re not experiencing the same things. From that constant exposure to other people’s success, it then makes you compare yourself to others in fear that you may not measuring up to that. The Instagram likes then exacerbate this by creating a validation system to always want to be your best to receive likes. This time around I wanted to use more color and be a lot more creative in this message, I would also hope that my audience will be able to put together how in the long run social media such as Instagram has an impact on our brains and how we see ourselves along with the world around us.
In this Culture Jam, I revised the H&M advertisement that I used prior this time using the comments and critique from my peers and professor I made changes. I used Canva, as this time I was able to navigate it better, I added the sweatshop image to expand on the message of H&M using sweatshops to create their fast fashion clothing. I then added moving red lines to cross out “Bold” and “Beautiful” instead of covering it with glitter, so that it is a clear message for the audience when I replaced it with “Underpaid” and “In a Sweatshop.” I then used red to create an “X” on the model wearing the H&M clothes to basically show a stance against fast fashion and the abuse that is happening in these sweatshops to make these clothes. Finally, I used a pink Glow typeface to play on letters H&M with “Human Mistreatment,” followed by placing a tag on the upper right corner showing how H&M clothes are made outside of the U.S, one of those places being Bangladesh where they have the sweatshops.
I chose this topic because I still wear some of H&M clothing and didn’t know that they had sweatshops to make their clothes, doing this project it informed me that a lot of fast fashion is coming out of sweatshops and the more we wear these types of clothing the more sweatshops would be used to meet demand. I wanted to make my audience aware of how these clothes are being made and hopefully inspire my audience to look into the companies that they are purchasing from.
