First, let me start out by apologizing to anyone who is immediately incensed by the word "porn."
This posting is not about, the, uh, "traditional"-? use of the word porn. At least not in the Judge Potter "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" Stewart sense of the word. (fun fact: Judge Stewart was quoted in the 1964 case of Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 commenting on the Louis Malle film, the Lovers) Thanks Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it
Second of all, while I'm not outraged, I'm certainly fatigued by less-than-creative bloggers, journalists, and anyone with access to a keyboard and a reliable Internet connection, to use the word porn in conjunction with another noun, such as food or real estate to generate shock or at least attention to what they're saying. What they really mean are glossy, superficial images, which yes, are meant to generate a reaction, though not necessarily erotic. Examples-
source: http://www.archithings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Finest-Finishes-Penthouse-Apartment-7.jpg
OK, now that that is out of the way- on to the point of this posting. As always, Planetizen surprises and delights me with a plethora of topics. The latest is "ruin porn." We all know that Detroit's in trouble. While it may be a phoenix, it has yet to rise from its own ashes.
People are befuddled as to what to do, but one of the most popular, and frankly, well-received, ideas is the you-can't-ignore-what's-in-front-of-you tactic, ie graphic images of the fall that has become Detroit.
And while I am against the exploitation of anything (except the cuteness of cupcakes. Seriously, if you Google Image "cupcake" you may in fact die from the cuteness!) I doubt that the people of Detroit want to be treated as the Little Nell of the North, the charity case that we should all pity. Yes, they are in dire straits, some without the economic means to improve their station, others enjoy the Mrs. Havisham air while keenly aware that things are not as they could be. But this doesn't mean that they need our pity. They need our assistance, be it financial, be it through prayers, be it through actual manual labor if you have the time and resources.
Noreen Malone says, "Pictures are naturally more memorable than a well written, evenhanded magazine storyabout the scope and tragedy of Detroit’s economic woes could ever be. But that’s precisely the problem. These indelible pictures present an un-nuanced and static vision of Detroit. They might serve to “raise awareness” of the Rust Belt’s blight, but raising awareness is only useful if it provokes a next step, a move toward trying to fix a problem. By presenting Detroit, and other hurting cities like it, as places beyond repair, they in fact quash any such instinct. Looked at as a piece of art, they're arresting, compelling, haunting ... but not galvanizing. Our brains mentally file these scenes next to Pompeii rather than a thriving metropolis like Chicago, say, or even Columbus." -the Case Against Economic Disaster Porn by Noreen Malone, http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/81954/Detroit-economic-disaster-porn
I agree with Ms. Malone that we already have the awareness, we need action. But to cull a line from an old church camp song "it only takes a spark to get a fire going" and we are an ever-increasingly visual culture (case in point- this blog. You're reading my words on a computer screen, not on the pages of a book). And people associate objects within imagery with specific events- the oil slicked pelican of this past summer's Gulf oil spill, the firemen standing on the rubble of Ground Zero, the soldiers erecting the flag at Iwo Jima. The more people that are made aware, they more potential to gain collective action we will receive.
It's a cheap trick, but we are galvanized to action seeing defenseless little otters covered in oil, abused puppies and kitties, or starving children with ribs poking through as they sit in the dirt in developing countries.
Ms. Malone makes an interesting point that so many of the pictures of Detroit are devoid of people.
"The human brain responds very differently to a picture of a person in ruin than to a building in ruin—you'd never see a magazine represent famine in Africa with a picture of arid soil. Without people in them, these pictures don’t demand as much of the viewer, exacting from her engagement only on a purely aesthetic level. You can revel in the sublimity of destruction, of abandonment, of the march of change—all without uncomfortably connecting them with their human consequences." -the Case Against Economic Disaster Porn
However, it could be asked, if you were in that situation, would you really want to be the poster child of Detroit? Especially if you are a fully-grown adult? Even with your consent, it would be embarrassing and frankly more than a little degrading to have the documentarian turn the camera on you and say, "And here we come to Frank. Frank has lived in Detroit for his entire life. Frank's father worked the line building gleaming Chevys and Fords. But now Frank sits on this abandoned porch and dreams of the past." "Here is Marie. Marie remembers the X House when it was the pride of the neighborhood. "They used to decorate it for all of the holidays, she recalls wistfully. "Now the lights have gone out." Maybe forever? intones the narrator That sounds equally exploitive.
But maybe one solution could be that it takes people, who would appear to be far-removed from such a situation, to spur us to do something?
So help me, I love Jackass, especially Johnny Knoxville. No matter how stupid you may think you are for doing X, there are people out there who are happy to show that they are light years ahead of you in terms of bad decisions. Or maybe they're just overgrown kids with underdeveloped rationalizing areas in their cerebral cortexes. But my heartfelt and sincere thanks to Johnny Knoxville for lending his celebrity, no matter how dubious in nature it is, to a worthy cause.
I'd also like to direct your attentions to one of my all-time favorite magazines, Juxtapoz, who asked some of their favorite artists (6 of 'em) to work in Detroit in conjunction with Powerhouse Productions for Juxtapoz's 15th Anniversary Benefit and Auction Project. If the name Juxtapoz rings a bell, I did a posting on JR, an amazing artist, who was featured in their publication.
For more info please check out their links-
Detroit, I know that you have yet to regain your former splendor. But we have not forgotten about you. Motor City keep on truckin. Through awareness and ultimately action, we will help you rise again.
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