Culture Jam Essay

Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn is not just any other book that someone would pick up from the shelves of Barnes and Noble. This book is definitely an eye opener for any reader who has an open mind. The contents are very intense and very true at the same time. The book is broken down into four chapters: Autumn, Winter, Summer, and Spring. Each of the chapters are very distinct from one another with great analysis and examples to help readers understand the Lasn’s points. One major point that Lasn is trying to prove is that Americans have gotten the habit of eating unhealthy – that is – by being so used to fast food restaurants. Another point is the fact that we watch too much television, leading to problems like obesity due to no exercise. We just glue ourselves in front of the TV, where big corporations take advantage by advertising their products.

Lasn tells us, "Abandon nature and you abandon your sense of divine. More than that, you lose track of who you are." We live in a fast-paced world, with all the most innovative technologies around us. Sometimes, we forget how fortunate we are that we don't have to hunt for our own food. The author pointed out really important things in the life we live. I have never gone camping because I'm too scared to explore things out of my comfort zone. Sometimes, we just have to slow down and appreciate what nature has to offer.

The Autumn chapter of the book definitely opens a lot of doors for discussions that some of us agree or disagree. The author covered a lot of topics that are very true nowadays. We go through our fast paced life thinking everything is just fine, but ask someone around you if they notice anything different about your appearance and you will truly be surprised to hear what they have to say. I asked some of my friends from elementary school and believe me; some of them just don’t even recognize me at all. How do I know? I sent them a friend request on Facebook since we have mutual friends and they ask me, “How do I know you?” or “Where do I know you from?” At first, I take offense thinking they probably just don’t like me or they are doing it on purpose. “In Saul Bellow’s novel Humboldt’s Gift, the narrator wonders how it is that Americans can unashamedly claim to be “suffering” when compared to the rest of the world, they are immensely blessed. His answer is that while most people tend to associate scarcity and deprivation, there’s a very different kind of suffering that’s caused by plenitude.” I’m personally very guilty of how much I let the media dictate who I want to be – who I represent – who I am today. Why? I can’t answer that very question. All I know is I work hard and I buy the things that I like – most of them, I see on TV. I buy clothes, shoes, bags, and stuff that I don’t necessarily need. It’s very easy to trick ourselves in believing that what we “want” is a “need”. Won’t you agree?

The Winter chapter talks about how we are almost a part of some cult. He draws on the idea on memes, information that leaps from brain to brain, and suggests that the memes are the primary hope for putting a stop to hyper-consumerism in the American society. "We have been recruited into roles and behavior patterns we did not consciously choose." (Lasn, 53). We let ourselves get dictated on what to eat or drink, we follow what the TV tells us to do. We still have our free will, but if we think about it, it's almost like we're letting these big corporations take over our very own lives. It's like we lost the ability to think for ourselves. Lasn tells us "Yet the American Dream is so seductive that most of us keep on dreaming" (61), which tells us that no matter how we want to blame corporations for corrupting our minds and tricking us to buy things we don't need, we know for a fact that we still buy what we want to buy, and sometimes, even justify it as needs. We work so hard, putting hundreds of hours to make money so we can turn around and spend it on whatever we want. We have turned from citizens to consumers. We constantly fill the void of the material things and we keep on seeing what we don't have instead of being grateful of every little thing that we have.

The last two chapters of Culture Jam are definitely the most intense parts of the entire reading. It started by giving us a good background of what culture jamming is all about - that is, The Situationists. To the Situationists, you are - everyone is - a creator of situations, a performance artist, and the performance, of course, is your life, lived in your own way (101). Nowadays, being different is being authentic, and you get a lot of respect by being someone original. Capitalism is everything. Capitalism is generally considered to be an economic system that is based on private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods or services for profit. Some have also used the term as a synonym for competitive markets, wage labor, capital accumulation, voluntary exchange, and personal finance. Major corporations around the world use the best tool available to sell their products. Since watching television is the number one chronic problem in North America, businesses invest huge amounts of money to get the viewer’s attention. Lasn wrote that as culturejammers, we’re not cool, we’re not slackers, we’re not academic, not feminists, and not lefties. Whoever has the memes has the power (123). The meme wars could just be the next World War – information wars. We’re moving from macromemes to metamemes. Part of the meme wars are true cost, demarketing, doomsday meme, no corporate I, and media carta. Almost every social problem, no matter how seemingly intractable, can be solved with enough time, serenity and effort. It’s very important that we find that leverage point. It’s the system, not it’s agents that are the problem. Trying to get personal with a system is like trying to get personal with a broken toaster – your rage makes no difference (140). Have you ever yelled at you bank teller because she couldn’t help you with a fee reversal? As a bank employee, I have to take a lot of personal criticisms and offensive behaviors because of something I had nothing to do with. It really bothers me to tell a customer that there is nothing I can do – because that is the truth. However, they don’t believe what I say – sometimes, they even accuse me of stealing their money. Nothing personal, and although supervisors normally tell me not to take it personally, it’s really hard to do so.

This final chapter of Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam is about encouraging us – consumers – to fight back and take over our own country. We need to reclaim our very own freedom that we very much disregard by giving the corporations the power to dictate us and tell us how to run our lives. It is this empowerment that brings about change. This is a wake up call for all Americans to initiate a revolution. Some parts of this book are very harsh for some people but if we think about it, the information provided though out the whole reading is somewhat true – and as we know, truth hurts. So we need to get up and make a decision. Are we going to pay attention to what Lasn is telling us or are we just going to sit around and wait for the world to change?

Ultimately, it seems that someone can approach Culture Jam in two different ways: one could view it with skepticism - having observed failed efforts at social change on a grand scale in the past few years, or one could see it as an inspirations to spread the memes of revolution that Kalle Lasn is trying to encourage here. though the tone of the book might turn readers off, it has the insights that we cannot afford to overlook.