Culture Jam! Yum!
Culture Jamming refers to the interruption of social norms that been created by culture. Individual artists and even large groups have made it their priority to cause culture jams in public spaces - activities or art - that are strange and abnormal to the average passersby.
Culture Jamming refers to the interruption of social norms that been created by culture. Individual artists and even large groups have made it their priority to cause culture jams in public spaces - activities or art - that are strange and abnormal to the average passersby.
One such group is Improv Everywhere, a large core group of actors that plan out-of-the-ordinary scenes. Their goal is to “create chaos and joy” with their spontaneous activities in the city.
The Lunchtime Musical was nothing out of the ordinary. It was on an ordinary day in an ordinary food court, until a man (one of Improv Everywhere’s actors) started to sing about his love of lunch. Eventually several others joined him in song and dance to the disbelief of other food court users. Their harmless prank created many laugh
Some of their missions include thousands of people who saw Improv Everywhere’s mission and wanted to participate. Some of these large missions included the Invisible Dog, where two thousand participants walked their “invisible dogs” out on the streets of Brooklyn, making thousands of unsuspecting people stare in awe of the cultural “abnormality.”
Improv Everywhere’s spontaneous events prove that we live in a society full of social ideologies - all leashes should have dogs attached, and musicals don’t happen anywhere except at the theatre. Their success in recruiting participants show that there are people who strive to step out of that social norm and create something interesting out of the lives that have become repetitive, daily bores. The reactions that Improv Everywhere receives by those caught in their spontaneity are all of surprise and laughter. Their goodnatured reactions also show that many people in our society would like to see more harmless surprises in their otherwise boring routines of riding the subway, eating lunch and buying groceries (all of which are probably a daily pain for many). A quote from their blog fabulously explains their goal of enriching daily life:
“With our Subway Series, Improv Everywhere attempts to shatter the mundane and bring excitement and happiness to the underground. To us, the subway is a place where long lost brothers can meet, men can exchange outfits, and pants can be sold for $1.”
How eccentrically heartwarming is that for spicing up city life?
All their events are intertextually entwined with popular parts of our life, such as the Big Bad Wolf, the coming of the Olympic Games, and even creates humour out of the stress of city life that pushes people to suicide. Instead of relying on television as the main mode of relief, Improv Everywhere promotes interaction, giving the participants a well balanced dose of media. Doctor Innis no longer needs to fear our culture overdosing on societal norms and specific mediums (Postman). They turn things that normally doesn’t belong into a joyous parade of creativity and humour.
What’s even better is that their missions, like the Subway Series ‘“Surprise!” birthday party’ bring huge crowds of strangers together, who never ever would have thought of interacting so warmly with each other. This unanticipated event of a birthday party in a subway car created a happy, multicultural party full of laughter out of an ordinary, boring subway ride. Their “Surprise!” birthday party on the subway created lasting, heartwarming impressions on those living and visiting the city. Individual strangers became friends for that small period of time, celebrating a birthday of someone they have never met before.
Improv Everywhere even threw a free wedding reception for a randomly-picked, unsuspecting, newly-wed couple! How much sweeter can they get?
This is the kind of hospitality and kindness humans should have, as well as having the freedom of expression to harmlessly liven up their lives as displayed by Improv Everywhere. This is a beautiful example of rehumanizing the world in making our cities (which tend to be cold and heartless) a better place to live. I am so proud of their work, and if they ever do anything in Toronto, I’ll make it my business to join!
Embedded videos of their hilarious ingeniousness is provided after the Works Cited.
Works Cited
Chandler, Daniel. “Encoding/Decoding.” Semiotics for Beginners. 3, April 2005. 10 November 2009. Web.
Improv Everywhere. "Improv Everywhere." . 2009. 10 November 2009.
Postman, Neil. “The Humanism of Media Ecology.” 2000. 10 November 2009. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment