RYNSA: WORDS

It looks as though the world’s multinational corporations have graduated from Maoist ‘reeducation’ camp just in time for the Summer games. According to this article in BusinessWeek, global companies, some from the United States, have recently taken a decidedly nationalistic approach to advertising in Chinese media, and all with the goal of wooing new customers to their brand. 

This is really not much of a surprise. Foreign companies wrapping themselves in the flag–in this case a bright, red one–is nothing new, and it was bound to happen sooner or later in China. There’s certainly a lot of money to be made from the emergent market that is the Chinese mainland, especially so during the Olympics. Corporate interests know this. They’re not gonna let a golden opportunity pass them by.

However, I do worry that corporations are stoking an already healthy fire. National pride is dangerous regardless of the nation in question. When that particular passion is combined with large numbers of disenfranchised people (China in a nutshell), it could spell future chaos in the form of violence, mob rule, or, in the American context, mass adoption of brutal foreign policies (ie, the asinine Bush Doctrine). 

In any case, it’s important to remember that flattering advertising does not a comrade Lei Feng make. Please believe me. As a well-seasoned serf in the global fraud that is economic neoliberalism, I know of what I speak. These corporations couldn’t give two chopsticks what happens to China.

The fine folks over at the University of Washington’s Master of Communication in Digital Media program (MCDM) are apparently putting together a documentary about “…how the media landscape is changing.” The filmmakers ask, “With the barriers to technology and distribution becoming nearly non-existent, how will traditional media compete with the masses who will produce work for free?”

Good question. I’m probably not the person to answer it. But I do admire any doc that tries to tackle the complex issues of consumer culture, digital technology, and amateur media. For one thing, nobody really agrees on what’s gonna happen. The technocrats see a bright, remediated future. But others see merely a recasting of characters in the same old movie. Reconciling these perspectives will be tough.

Important questions I would like to see addressed:

1. If the ‘masses’ simply imitate older, corrupt narratives from the mainstream culture, but do so through fancy new tools, can we really call it a ‘revolution?’
2. For that matter, can a technological revolution ever really precede a structural (ie, socio-political) revolution?
3. And what’s gonna happen to sci-fi if the dumb kid down the street shares equal footing with small-screen genius, Joss Whedon?  I mean, dude, come on!

Okay, so maybe that last one’s a bit of a straw man. But you get my point.

The full title of the upcoming doc is ‘Flip the Media: A Media (r)Evolution,’ and the trailer can be found on the MCDM website. Interestingly, the word ‘Flip’ in ‘Flip the Media’ is a bit of a play on words in that it not-so-subtly references the Flip Video Camera. I’m a big fan of this little device (more on that in another post someday), and so I’m curious to see how the filmmakers use it, or not, as a jumping off point for what I can only assume will be wide-eyed tribute to participatory media.

In any case, and from what I gather on the website, the four-minute trailer was cut together by a student named Kirk Mastin. A photographer by trade, Mastin is an accomplished media-maker in his own right, and he’s got a beautiful professional website where you can view some of his imagery. I am particularly fond of his ‘Utah’ series, having visited that part of the country myself.

I’ll be watching for the finished piece. Rest assured, I’ll post an update shortly after it comes out. Stay tuned…