Sixth Bit of Media—Reflection

After watching Merchants of Cool, Mr. Starace asked us a question: Which reflects the other, media or the individual? I have pondered that fateful question ever since he asked it. I haven't yet come to a choice between the two, but I have found two main arguments, both of which I agree with. Let's dissect them, shall we?

The first is the Mr. Starace argument, and the one presented in the documentary. Both say that the media could sell us anything and we'd buy it. They argue that every counterculture we create is not original, but a response to the media, and so will eventually become a part of the media.

The Insane Clown Posse seem to be anything but a
 media construction, but how divorced are they
 from the media which gave them their fame?

This conclusion is obvious when we look at the Insane Clown Posse, one of the bands the documentary follows. It notes that this kind of extreme, violent expression comes from a desire to rebel against traditional media, which embraces more and more rebellious messages as mainstream. So really this expression comes from the media, since it would not have taken on its shape without a media to rebel against. Think of it as the distorted, fun-house mirror reflection of the reality of the media.

And I agree. If even these guys can become mainstream, how far could we go? I fully believe that if they put their minds to it, advertisers and television and internet creators could sell anything. They could even sell human sacrifice to my grandchildren. If they started working on a more subtle message in my generation, then gradually brought it closer to their goal as the years progressed by intensifying their language, music, and visuals, I fully believe that by the time my grandchildren were adults, it would be the new norm. Luckily, the media seems not to want to do this. But how would we know?

The second argument, which I will call the Amanda Palmer argument, is more optimistic. It argues that the media can only be created by the individual. In her song Map of Tasmania, Palmer says of society, "They don't know that we are the media/They don't know that we start the mania." Media cannot exist without a market, and unless those who run the media cater to that market, their media will fail.

Wait, you're saying, Alex Day looks way more
mainstream than those other guys! How is he an
example of the media being a reflection?
Bear with me here.

By her argument, if my grandchildren did buy into human sacrifice, it would only be because it was in their nature. And even if advertisers tried their best methods and organized with all the right corporations, there would still be enough people who would go against it that it would be prevented. Artists like Alex Day seem to prove that media is only a reflection of the individual. He is influenced by media all around him, true, but he has created his own sound and has refused to be bought up by any record label. And fans have responded, bringing him to number four in the UK Christmas charts last year.

But even as he has dabbled in media constructions like charts, he has created a community on the internet which is separate from the media. It is not so much a reaction to media as its own place. The community Day has created interacts with media as though the community was a person who looked in the mirror occasionally to make sure their hair was okay but wasn't so obsessed with it or with avoiding it that they became its slave.

So which is it? Who is the reflection? Both sides make compelling arguments: the first, that the media is controlling us, which would be impossible to prove if it was, and the second, that we are controlling the media, which is equally impossible to prove because the relationship between people and the content they create right now is so little-understood.

So I go for the third argument: there is no mirror. There are instead two best friends who talk to each other all the time. One is very greedy, always trying to sell the other products, but the other is equally greedy to be adored and remembered by the first. They sometimes have their brawls, but in the end they are dependent on each other, and always have been, although they looked much different when they were both young. At some points in their relationship one may dominate the other, but in the end they must keep a balance in order for them both to survive.

I hope.