Remixing and Mash-ups

Appropriation, Remixing, and Mash-ups

Cultural appropriation refers to the act of borrowing, changing, and manipulating the meanings of various cultural products, slogans, popular images, musical pieces, and/or elements of fashion. [83 source] Producers of all kinds may use this technique to make a statement, typically one that opposes a particular dominant ideology. That is, certain media/artistic elements that exist within the collective body of public knowledge, experience, or culture, elements that often  elicit a distinct, predefined interpretation, may be reimagined or recontextualized in order to achieve a different effect. Similar to the way in which our use of metaphor facilitates rich, complex, novel perspectives on relatively simple concepts (think of the multi-faceted, bi-directional system of shared qualities the metaphor "Juliet is the sun" implies to exist between the two subjects), cultural appropriation plays with the viewers' preconceived notion of some cultural artifact as it is transplanted into a new medium or setting. To that effect, the viewer is encouraged to reconsider his/her interpretation of the original piece, as well as analyze the similarities, disparities, intertextualization, hypocrisy, etc. the appropriation appears to acknowledge as existing between the pieces.

For example, the members of Ray John, a self-proclaimed collective leading the campaign for partying, appropriated the iconic "change" campaign poster cherished by Obama supporters in the first election. In its various forms, the Ray John poster flouts the faces of an unnamed business executive, cultural icon Ken Kesey, and the twisted, singing face of Trey Anastasio, the lead singer of the jam band Phish, all implanted on top of the classic red, white, and blue color scheme.
                                                                                                                                                                             
Maintaining the same basic font and simple display, the Ray John poster seeks to tap into the iconic atmosphere of the image. Just as Obama may be likened to the voice of our generation, the various artists of Ray John offer a less political, more accessible message to viewers; they need not be aware of recent elections, global crises, or reform initiatives in order to for the piece to resonate with them. Rather, simply by saying the words aloud ("Rage on") is the lighthearted message revealed in its entirety.

The campaign is playing with the tension and emotions embedded in the image, all the arguments, eye-rolls, and controversy the image, and simultaneously, the man and political era it has come to represent, have sparked. That is, the image's effect is achieved through its manipulation of this contrast. Rather than being an image that sparks political debate, an image that carries with it a distinct, potentially disagreeable political perspective, the Ray John images require a far simpler form of ideological dedication - the love to party.

 

Ray John @ North Coast Music Festival -- photo by James Richards IV