thestig, 2/8

“Artists who question the rules ‘are destined to have little credibility’; ‘they have no guarantee of an audience’” (41).

In class, we discussed that Lyotard suggests that no one hears you; everything has to be pulled into the mainstream, or no one will believe it. Last semester, I took International Media with Shamis Media. I think my fellow students would agree that this is the main problem with media: the only people who are actually heard are those who have the finances, the political connections, etc. The result: a politically and economically influenced message. What isn’t deemed “credible” by the major networks, studios, or media hubs has little chance of a “guaranteed” audience. Well there is a problem here: everybody has a story.

The story that you might be hearing on the news or reading in the newspaper may or may not have any credibility (in the sense that it does or does not have content, or is critical, etc), so the question is how does the everyday person or community broadcast their story? How does one shake the tail of Lyotard’s ideology, and find an audience when he/she is far from the audience?

Evolution.

Dr. Rog touched on the evolution of this ideology: that technology has changed things enormously, i.e. the John Lennon guitar kid. Everybody’s story can now be told, and reach a global audience, i.e. each of our blog posts. In the past, you needed a big expensive camera, and the political connections to get your story to the world – and even then, the audience had to be tuned in at a specific time. Now, you can buy a video camera for $300, and edit in no time at all, and broadcast it 24/7 for free. Current TV or youtube are good examples. Now, a small story can become a big story. Your story can be the story.

This is a huge leap forward in respect to progress for small countries, or even for people not so far from Rollins, where immigrant laborers are abused, and are living under harsh conditions. Their story can be your agenda.