The (pop) Culture of Zines

Let me start by saying “wow” to this weeks how-to on Zines; Lindsey put in a great amount of work and showed me (who thought she knew a bit about Zines) that there is a complex culture behind Zines. In addition to our feministeppin and this very blog, we are shown yet another way with which women can communicate and reach out to eachother. I think Rhodes would be very proud of this class. I think that the underground nature of Zines is what gives them much of their appeal. Flying under the radar of popular culture has power, I cannot help but wonder what may happen to the Zine ... (industry?) if it continues to pick up momentum and becomes more mainstream.

I believe that political Zines themselves, reguardless of the topic, reflect many of the themes we have looked at. From Fiske's ideas we see Popular Selection through choosing what typical megazine qualities we incorporate. From Kipnis we can note refunctioning the Zine performs. Zines take the megazine function of entertaining, absorbing and conforming the masses and refunctions it into something political that can enrage and mobilize the (albeit smaller) masses. One final example may utilize Benjamin's call for a politicization of aesthetics. These Zines take flashy, pretty megazines and, while maintaining a good, artistic image, politicize it and turn it into an in-your-face practice.