University of Florida English Graduate Organization 2012 Conference
CFP: Borders and Beyond: Considering
Communities, October 11-13
Jacob T. Riley
University of Florida
Title:
Public Parasites: The Strategic Aural Occupation of Space in Do The Right Thing and Noise
Abstract:
In
his book Postcomposition, Sid Dobrin
argues that the occupation of space is “clearly a struggle of power, an
ideological struggle to inscribe meaning.” Furthermore, Dobrin claims that only
by reimagining the possibilities of space to create new places can we take the
first step toward resisting oppressive and hegemonic occupations. This
reimagining is the responsibility of communities who occupy space so as to
define a place for themselves in the world. But space and place are always
contested among different communities. Space can be fruitfully occupied through
many different means, but I will focus on the use of sound. French theorist
Michel Serres argues that noise, parasite
in French, is intimately connected to spatial, social, and political
struggles for power. Indeed, whether or not something is considered “noise” in
the colloquial sense of unwanted sound depends not on a quality of the sound
itself, but on the position and power
relations between those experiencing the sound.
In
this paper I will deploy Michel Serres’ concept of the parasite in analyzing two films from different eras, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and Henry Bean’s
Noise (2008). I argue that the
fictional communities and individuals represented in these films occupy space
using sound in a strategic manner in order to gain access to spaces they wish
to reinscribe with their own meanings, ultimately with the goal of effecting
socio-political change.
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ReplyDeleteSuggested edit for last p'graph, modifying method and (more importantly) "payoff":
ReplyDeleteToward reimagining "space" by thinking the collective ("communities responsible"), I will propose an alternative understanding aided by mediations of "strategic sound" in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and Henry Bean’s Noise (2008). In this way, we can understand the potential and application of Serres’ parasite as concept and praxis: although fictional, the filmic communities gain access to spaces they wish to reinscribe with their own meanings, ultimately with the goal of effecting socio-political change.
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