CCT300_Lab_8

Culture jamming is an interesting and heavily recurring phenomena in modern media.It takes advantage of the physical proximity of a lot of media forms and structures in to form parodies, satires, and culture jams.This revolves around the idea of easily recognizable icons that are created and easily populated across different media and cultures.In the case of The Simsons, the longest sitcom of all times, running for more that 20 years is a plethora of icons and pop culture references. In the newest attempt according to the article in Daily Trojan, the idea of Benksey, a talented graffiti artist from Britain got accepted to refresh the century long couch intro of the series with something substantially more provocative. The intro got revamped and the traditional couch "get together" in front of the magic screen, this time around looks different.What the Simsons Family saw on the TV screen was rather horrific and controversial with a remarkably intelligent yet morbid reference to Schindler`s list.

I find culture jamming to be an efficient way of contemporary art giving individuals a tool for expressing themselves. Culture jamming is a form of art, and just like another has more value when it is placed in certain context, thus culture jamming often gives ideas context and puts them into a certain perspective. Also, building parodies and satires is a powerful way of expressing oppression and subtle (or not so much) way of attracting attention among the masses. Just like any art form, culture jamming evokes the question "so what" ? This is an inevitable instance of the problem, however it can spur attention among elites that carry important decision about media messages.In this particular case, the culture jam idea passed the execs of 20 Century Fox (who knows how and why) and as a result can further thread debates and open discussions.