Photocopied Politics
"Putting out a zine, any zine, is a political act. Whether it's the high school kid who does a zine about Sloan, or the collective's newsletter advocating environmental awareness, both are reclaiming what was essentially theirs to begin with."
~ Hilary Clark
I completely agree with the words and message of Hilary Clark. I agree with the idea that putting out a zine really is reclaiming something that was an individual´s to begin with. In putting out a zine, a person is publishing their ideas so that they are heard. If I were to write about how I feel about a television show within my own zine, I would be releasing my opinion to the world about how this television show affects the world around me and myself as an individual.
It is important for people to take a look at what´s out in the world and develop their own ideas about it instead of simply accepting what´s being spoon-fed. Through the creation of a zine, a person is not simply regurgitating the information in other media publications - they are making something of their own. This is what really makes it a political act. Most zines are made because people don´t see content they really want in existing publications. Many magazines aimed at girls of my age group are filled with millions of advertisements and superficial content like articles about clothes, boys and useless (though sometimes entertaining) celebrity gossip. Seeing this, people take action and find their own method of real, meaningful communication for themselves through the creation of a zine. This content of the zine is therefore filled with issues and concerns of interest to the creator and the people they know. The zine this person creates becomes a media form that people can relate to on a more personal level because they can know that there are no subliminal tactics involved - nobody wants you to buy a certain product or watch a certain movie.
A zine is a political act because it is a form of free speech. People who create zines are essentially getting their own message across without the censorship that people see in the magazines out on news stands. Instead of letting corporations tell them how to think, zine creators lessen the power of these corporations through their own self-expression. A person expresses his or her own voice apart from what mainstream society is feeding them through the creation of a zine, thus reclaiming what is theirs - communication.
posted by maeganfidelino @ 16.11.06
Comments: 2
