English 114a > Prospectus

Originally written for Dean Loge’s English 114a.  Discovered July 27, 2007.  Presented unchanged, mistakes and all.  Bolding from 2007.

Prospectus

Occasionally the collective American experience can not satisfy the needs of individuals in society.  While mass culture can provide superficial pleasures for many of us, others are often dissatisfied with the norms of the hoi polloi.  For example, the 1950s were years of conformity, with rigid societal guidelines and many cultural faux pas’.  As a reaction to this era which set fourth two molds for existence (one male, one female, both heterosexual white lovers of capitalistic democracy), the period which followed (namely, the 1960s) gave rise to that which is known as the counter culture.  This counter culture was the ultimate source from which to draw the necessities of life which the mold of the 1950s did not provide.

Out of the counter culture an entity known as the underground press was born.  The underground press was initially an alternative source for information, rather than greed-motivated mainstream newspapers.  The first underground publications had political motivations, but the press later mushroomed into a general counter culture experience, allowing anyone who could throw a few hours and words together to produce a paper.  The press provided a sense of community among members of the counter culture, uniting their identity in a way that, perhaps, McDonald’s does for mass culture.

Other needs were filled by production of the papers as well.  Many gave power less to fact but more to truth.  Other justified their existence by the necessity for an objective voice, unafraid to shout out the misdeeds of the power structure.  None of the publishers made it abundantly evident that had it not been for a sole element, the desire for producing an underground publication would disappear.

The sole element is the need to reaffirm the self, and see the self as acceptable to a world outside of one’s own body.  By producing a paper which many consume (not only in the economic sense but also in the cognitive sense) and recognize, it is not a difficult task to see one’s self as important, worthy, and admired in the greater community.  Thus, the strongest need that could be filled (certainly unconsciously) was the need for self-affirmation.

Today an underground culture still exists where thousands of people hoping to establish themselves not only to themselves but also to (or perhaps, from) others produce publications which have been called zines (short for magazines).  There are many forms of zines, some with political motivations, many with musical slants, but the most enlightening are those which are personal medleys.  Loosely defined, personal medley zines are publications, usually by a solo individual, whose focus tends to be nonexistent and whose material tends to be rather random.  These personal medley zines are the quintessential attempt to affirm and assert the self onto a general populace, and satisfy a need to the publisher that can be difficult in modern mainstream America.

Zine culture is an interesting part of underground America which few are aware of (perhaps by definition of underground anything).  Through research I hope to draw parallels between the members of the underground  press in the 1960s counter culture and the publishers of personal medley zines.  Through textual analysis and discussions with other publishers of such zines (as I am a publisher of a personal medley zine as well), I am hoping that I can show that everything I have said in this prospectus is somewhat true.