Mixed messages: resistance and reappropriation in rave culture
Date
2003
Authors
Ott, Brian L., author
Herman, Bill D., author
Western States Communication Association, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
This essay concerns the dynamic tension between resistance and reappropriation in the youth subcultural practice of raving. We argue that the transgressive potential of underground rave culture lies primarily in its privileging of communion, which is facilitated along the intersecting axes of social space, authorship, the body, and the drug Ecstasy. The commodification of rave culture is demonstrated to be linked to a shifting consciousness reflected in changing attitudes toward Ecstasy, the relocation of dance culture into clubs, and the redefinition of the DJ as artist and superstar. A concluding section considers the implications of resistance and reappropriation in rave culture for social change and the exercise of power.
Description
Brian Ott was a professor in the Department of Speech Communication at Colorado State University.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-270).
Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-270).
Rights Access
Subject
social space
discourse
music
symbolic
embodied
logic of communion
power relationships