Critical Introduction

This blog is written by first year undergraduates in the Scholars Program at the University of Maryland College Park. The purpose of our blog is to investigate and compare and contrast the different subculture gatherings of the 1960s and the contemporary era. We compared the power and exigence of each movement but contrasted the principles, method of communication, and targeted audience of each subculture gathering. We chose two distinct texts. Our first text includes a poster advertising of the “Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In” movement in San Francisco, CA. Our second text consists of an Amnesty International poster advocating for human rights through the advertisement of the Bringing Human Rights Home concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. We first analyzed the audience of each text, finding similarities and differences between both, as well as the rhetorical situation/exigence that each text brought to the table. Furthermore, we explored the ethos and pathos present in each text, finding the authority/credibility and the specific emotions each text expressed through its poster. Finally, we explained the logos, mood, and imagery within each text. Through analysis and discussion with our English 101S class, we concluded that as time proceeded, subcultures of America lost the drive for a targeted audience (focused on the individual) and began to rely on reaching out to the general public in ambiguity. Expanding the audience allows for a more diverse group to take notice of subculture advertisements thus creating a larger fan base.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Ethos of Human Be-In


 Having been advertised by the San Francisco Oracle, already present was an implicit notion of the purpose of the “gathering of the tribes”. As mentioned earlier, the Oracle was an underground newspaper that published 12 issues of poetry, spirituality and psychedelic art from 66’ to 68’, shaping the counterculture of Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. As the Oracle published its fifth issue [advertising the Human Be-In] the newspaper had already established a credible presence within the neighborhood.  Behind the exotic tone of this poster, it maintained the ethos of this new counterculture movement. Their principles encompassed a fundamental questioning of authority, a focus on individuality, decentralization, ecological awareness, and consciousness expansion through cultural openness and the use of psychedelic drugs.  As the phenomenon of the “hippie” erupted into mainstream society, it transfixed the vulnerable public youth. 1967 was a peak in the transformation of a generation; the beginning of a new culture

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