Sunday, May 1, 2011
NSFCT?
NSFW . . . an acronym that refers to media artifacts that are "Not Safe For Work". These artifacts are usually violent, pornographic or otherwise offensive materials that we would not like our boss peering at over our shoulders. The point of this blog is to détourn this acronym and wonder . . .
What if Our Boss Was Theodor Adorno?
Media artifacts that represent capitalist exploitation, cultural hegemony and the production of consent would surely shock and upset this Frankfurt School theorist. In fact his predecessor Karl Marx, his peers in the Frankfurt School like Jürgen Habermas and Max Horkheimer and other critical philosophers like Michel Foucault or Deleuze (and beyond) would surely be consistently outraged at the cultural artifacts that our society produces. If our boss was Theodor Adorno, we would've been fired a long time ago.
So, we've decided to create a blog that catalogs images with the expectation that Theodor Adorno may walk in and look over our shoulders at any time. The images we have picked are all inspired by an article by Meredith Levande that looks at the proliferation of racy pop music and media in the 90's as a method of turning consumers on to pornography. This article touches on the themes I mentioned previously (exploitation, hegemony, etc.). Each image on this blog has been taken from google and modified so that the theoretical critique of it can be made explicit. These images play on the format and content of many internet memes that have become an essential part of pop culture. By playing with memes, blog culture, pop cultural icons and the production of an exploitative feminine sexuality we hope that we can highlight how these images are NSFCT.
What if Our Boss Was Theodor Adorno?
Media artifacts that represent capitalist exploitation, cultural hegemony and the production of consent would surely shock and upset this Frankfurt School theorist. In fact his predecessor Karl Marx, his peers in the Frankfurt School like Jürgen Habermas and Max Horkheimer and other critical philosophers like Michel Foucault or Deleuze (and beyond) would surely be consistently outraged at the cultural artifacts that our society produces. If our boss was Theodor Adorno, we would've been fired a long time ago.
So, we've decided to create a blog that catalogs images with the expectation that Theodor Adorno may walk in and look over our shoulders at any time. The images we have picked are all inspired by an article by Meredith Levande that looks at the proliferation of racy pop music and media in the 90's as a method of turning consumers on to pornography. This article touches on the themes I mentioned previously (exploitation, hegemony, etc.). Each image on this blog has been taken from google and modified so that the theoretical critique of it can be made explicit. These images play on the format and content of many internet memes that have become an essential part of pop culture. By playing with memes, blog culture, pop cultural icons and the production of an exploitative feminine sexuality we hope that we can highlight how these images are NSFCT.
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