Appropriation & Re-Appropriation

Appropriation and re-appropriation have played a major role in how people have expressed themselves in American culture. In fact, everyone borrows from others. After reading about these two concepts, I began racking my brain for instances that I thought stood out in recent history.

When I was thinking of appropriation, I thought of one of my mother's favorites, Pat Boone, who was a popular American singer that got his start in the 1950s. Boone became a success because of the covers of R&B songs, originally performed by black artists, which he released for the white community. For instance, his cover of Fats Domino's Ain't That a Shame was a huge hit that received a lot of airtime. The original release of the song by Fats Domino, however, was limited to a select audience, although now it is a classic. Boone took fantastic R&B songs that were not heard by many people and re-released them as covers to the white community, exposing a group of people to music they might otherwise not have heard. During this time in American history, this was not uncommon, the release of covers by white singers of black artist's musical creations. Therefore, it could be said that many white singers were actually stealing the music of the black culture and changing it to appease the white mainstream culture. Although mainstream American society would not have been exposed to the original R&B music at that time, in this circumstance, appropriation may have stymied the musical aspirations of many black artists.

When it came to re-appropriation, I remembered seeing a documentary about the inner-city dance subculture in New York that revolved around "balls" and created the 90's dance style known as voguing. The ball culture was started by the gay "drag" community, which emphasized high style cross-dressing as a means of self-expression. These balls were competitions where people would "walk" for trophies and prestige in hopes of one day becoming a legend. Experienced competitors would often times dance and vogue while walking in various genres of drag. Later, the specific style of voging began to revolve around model-like poses combined with sharp movements. This style was very popular among this subculture, but it became a craze after Madonna released her now famous song called Vogue. In essence, Madonna grabbed onto this style of dance, making it trendy through her song and spreading voguing to popular culture. In this case, re-appropriation allowed the mainstream American culture to experience a fabulous form of new expression through voguing. To individuals in the drag community, voguing was a way they could live out their wildest dreams, to be someone they knew they could never be, and now the world could experience that too.

Robert Frank: Visual Interpretation Strategies

I actually combined two of Robert Franks photographs for my Studium/Punctum image. I wanted to create an image in which the man on the motorcycle and the policeman would be the complete center of attention. In the original picture of the men, I felt that the background took the focus off of their dynamic, so I decided to place them in a different setting. That's where the road comes in. I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for the message I was trying to convey. Now theses two men were basically in the middle of nowhere, and yet it seemed like the road could take them anywhere. Right when the man on the motorcycle thought he was free from everything, he was stopped by the policeman. In essence his freedom was momentarily lost. One of the aspects of the picture that really grabbed my attention was the look in the eyes of the motorcycle man. Through that look, I was drawn into the picture, so I tried to highlight the man's eyes without making it obvious. To me, this image shows how we are never completely free, but sometimes we deceive ourselves in hope that we are.  That usually works unless, like the man on the motorcycle, we are stopped by something and brought back to reality.

The Dead Media Project

Phonevision was a television station experiment of Zenith Electronics that was conducted in Chicago, Illinois. Zenith began working on the technological aspect of the experiment in 1931, but it wasn't until 1947 that a complete working system had been completed, thus creating the first pay television station in history. However, that was just the beginning. Zenith had the technology, but it needed to test the market. Phonevision was then trademarked and, in 1951, the FCC approved a limited test of approximately 300 households in the Chicago area. The main idea behind Phonevision was to make Hollywood pictures available to people through their televisions at the price of $1, which was actually relatively expensive at that point in time. In this experiment, Zenith made Hollywood films available every day for 90 days to these households in order to track the financial results. Through its small test group, Zenith found that these households watched roughly 1.73 motion pictures a week. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to spark any further large-scale investments in Phonevision, but Zenith wasn't ready to throw in the towel. Through technical problems and television industry objections, Zenith fought to establish Phonevision as a worthy alternative to commercially-sponsored television. In fact, Zenith didn't stop fighting until 1986, but Phonevision never quite caught on. However, that was not the end of pay television. It was actually just the beginning.

The concept of the pay television station never completely died. Phonevision had actually influenced a huge financial industry and arguably helped pave the way for today's Pay-Per-View. This newer technology allows subscribers of cable or satellite television to watch movies or special one-time events, particularly sports, for a fee. When it comes to the idea of paid programming, there is a definite marketplace; if there wasn't, this media would have drifted off into oblivion like other failed media ventures. Phonevision was unique in that, although it never succeeded monetarily, it left a significant mark in the growth of in-home media. During the early years when Zenith was trying to launch Phonevision, radio still ruled the entertainment platform and television was just coming into its own. It seems that the timing for Phonevision was just off by a few decades. 

In the 21st century, technology seems to even be moving past Pay-Per-View. With iTunes, viewers can download the latest episodes of their favorite television shows, or rediscover classic Hollywood Motion Pictures, on their own time and at low prices. This industry is constantly evolving and it is hard to imagine where it will be in the coming years, but I definitely do not see this concept dying. The current culture of the United States is one where people are constantly on the move and pressured for time; therefore, the idea of selecting the specific television show episode or the film they wish to view, and then downloading it quickly, is very appealing. Unless the culture of this country changes drastically, this form of media will continue to have a marketplace.

Einstein and the Atomic Bomb

I was shocked to learn that Einstein's hugest regret in life was sending the letter to President Roosevelt supporting the construction of the atomic bomb. Through Three Winters in the Sun: Einstein in California,  I was able to gain more insight into the life of this famous scientist and his views on war and the atomic bomb. This DVD-ROM presents the life of Albert Einstein in an abstract, yet organized, multimedia format, which creates a personalized experience, allowing the viewer to select the exact aspect of Einstein's life that he wishes to explore in detail. The information was presented in an eye-catching and illustrative manner that reflected Einstein's life as a scientist and freethinker.

In 1933, while living in Germany, Einstein declared himself a militant pacifist who was willing to fight for peace. However, when he moved to the United States, he was able to see more clearly the events that were taking place overseas. This revelation brought him to the conclusion that self defense was indeed valid. When rumors began circulating that the Germans were working on an atomic bomb, Einstein felt that it was necessary for the United States to also build the atomic bomb for defensive purposes. If the Germans had been the only people who possessed the atomic bomb, their military advantage could have lead to world domination. Albert Einstein did what he believed to be in the best interest of the country. Einstein's granddaughter, Evelyn Einstein, doesn't believe he would have made any of the political statements he did without first being approached. It was not his idea to write a letter to President Roosevelt about the atomic bomb, but when he was pressured, he decided to put his opinion in writing. The Manhattan Project was the result of this letter, but Einstein had no further impact on the atomic bomb. He was ironically denied clearance by the Army to work on the project based on a recommendation from the FBI. However, Einstein felt responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb, and that was a burden he carried with him throughout his entire life according to his granddaughter, Evelyn Einstein. Later in life he was quoted as saying, "Perhaps I can be forgiven [for writing the letter]... because we all felt... that the Germans... might succeed and use the atomic bomb to become the master race."

When Einstein discovered the Special Theory of Relativity, he did not intend for it to be used as a weapon, but there are always people in the world who are willing to take science to a deadly extreme. I believe that Einstein made the correct decision in writing the letter to the President. Self-defense during a time of war is a critical matter. Einstein only wanted the United States to be able to defend itself against Germany. Even Einstein could not have foreseen the future. If the United States had not been on an even playing field with Germany, the fate of the world could have been disastrous.