Critical Theory

Week 14: Contemporary Critical Theory: Cultural Resistance

• Swift, "A Modest Proposal"

Cultural Resistance; Critiques of Advertising and Corporate Culture; Activism (Culture Jamming, Hacktivism, détournement, Subvertisements)

• Anti-Corporatism
  • The Corporation (documentary)
  • Dowethics.com
    • Story about the Dow site spoof
    • Real Dow site
  • The Truth - anti-tobacco site
  • The Yes Men
    
    
• Anti-Consumerism
  • Adbusters
  • ameriCON incorporated
  • Are You Generic?
  • Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
    • What Would Jesus Buy? (Youtube 1:42)
    • The Fear Stops Here (Youtube 5:12)
    • Rev. Billy for Mayor
  • Victoria's Secret Spoof Site
  • SlumberInc
    
    
• Culture Jamming
  • Abrupt
  • Colbert Report
  • Culture Jam: The Film
  • Culture Jamming
    • Cereal Boxes 1, 2, 3, 4
    • SUV 1, 2
  • Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs
  • Master Chief's Guide to Culture Jamming (Youtube, ~10)
  • Appropriation and Culture Jamming (Youtube, 1:51)
  • McDonald's Culture Jam montage (Youtube, 1:12)
  • Sniggle.net: The Idiosyncratix Culture Jammers Encyclopedia - a huge collection of pranks, resistance, and related things.
    • Barbie Liberation
    • Veterans of Future Wars
      
      
• Culture Re-Appropriation / Re-Purposing
  • Detritus.net: Recycled Culture
    • The Distorted Barbie Project
      • Symbology
        
        
• Cultural Critics
  • Mark Dery
  • Nothingness.org - situationism and social anarchism website
    
    
• Intellectual Property & Copyright
  • Negativland (Wikipedia entry)
    • Dispepsi
    • No Business (Youtube 4:14)
    • Our Favorite Things (Youtube 1:53)
    • Aluminum or Glass (Youtube 3:50)
    • Christianity is Stupid (Youtube 3:58)
    • U2's Lost Song (Youtube 5:49)
  • The Droplift Project - protesting restrictive copyright on music through the opposite of shoplifting, droplifting.
  • Electronic Civil Disobedience
  • Plagiarist.org
    
    
• Media Criticism & Activism
  • Freewayblogger
  • Z Communications
    
    
• Religion
  • Betty Bowers
    
    
• Technology Critique
  • Neil Postman, Cyberspace (Youtube, 10:49)
  • The Register: Biting the Hand that Feeds IT
  • Scream
    
    
• Tools
  • Reamweaver - site parody tool

Activism

• Memefest

Theoretical Statements

• Détournement
• Hacking Memes (Stephen Downes)
• Methods of Détournement (Guy Debord)
• Situationist International Text Library - including Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle
• Sniggle Theory Page - lots of links to theoretical statements on resistance.

Link Collections

• Adbusters Jammers Gallery
• Culture Jamming Websites
• Google's Culture Jamming Site
• Sniggle.net Other Organizations

Globalization/Antiglobalization

• Some Definitions of Globalization
• Gatt.org
  • WTO disbanding hoax - and another account
• The Global South