Beautiful Trouble – Jeff Chang – Case Study
Imagined Communities
New Principle: Make the Art Good
Where: USA
When: 90’s –now
Practitioners – Artists
Contributed By – Morgan Carter
“The art
must be good” are the words announced confidently by Jeff Chang, renowned
author of books discussing race, culture, and the arts. He attended University
of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, and is now the
Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford. In addition,
he has written the books Can’t Stop Won’t
Stop, Total Chaos, Who We Be, and We
Gon’ Be Alright. This case looks into the formation of communities and how
best they are promoted and sustained. Movements and communities are sustained through
validation as well as through the creation of “good art”
Much of his
work focuses on race relations as well as the Hip-Hop era, and the intersection
of those two themes. “Imagined Communities” is the idea of groups of people
feeling united and connected to one another in a sense of community that is not
as much seen as it is felt. The media offers a way to form these imagined
communities; avenues like “Black Twitter”, first brought nation-wide outrage to
the murder of Trayvon Martin.
In
addition, imagined communities can be formed by hip-hop, which is a large focus
in much of his work. The idea perpetuated by these mediums is that there need
to be support for these communities. In the words of Chang, preaching to the
choir is just part of the job. “So what” if sometimes the audience is not
always outside of the expected crowd? The point is to make the works, the art,
available and accessible so that anyone can benefit. If the audience ends up
being the same people, who cares? It is necessary for people to enjoy these
pieces. This is seen in the Hip-hop movement, which was originally started as
an art form for young and oppressed Black people in the 90s. Hip-hop became a
form of returning power to the people in the form of cultural power and
expression.
The
Principle created through this implementation of imagined communities through
media and reaffirmation is “Make the Art Good”. Jeff Chang believes that the
art has to be good. If the art is not good, the message will be
completely lost, muddled, and unimportant; the only way to truly have the art
recognized and appreciated is if the craft is good. Chang used examples such as
the Yes Men, who are very funny, Hip-hop, which is great music, and his book,
which had to be well-written in order to be recognized at all.
Principles Used Here: Know Your Cultural Terrain, Consider
Your Audience, Balance Art With Message
Know Your Cultural Terrain:
Imagined
Communities function because they capitalize on bridging and connecting bonds,
especially on a cultural basis. The Principle discusses the need to understand
and know cultural terrain in order to better connect, and imagined communities
are in existence because of this exact idea.
Consider Your Audience:
Imagined
Communities work based on the community. The formation and creation of
communities is key. However, this is done based on the audience. There must be
commonalities to tap into, similar grievances, and aligning passions as well.
Balance Art with Message:
When asked,
Chang specifically mentioned how he saw this principle. While the message is
critical, so is the art. They must both be good and important in order to reach
audiences and be viewed as valid and noteworthy in the social conversations.
As an additional note, I would love to have this submitted!
Morgan Carter
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