Rave Culture
The social meaning of a subculture, any subculture, has in itsdevelopment two distinct and separate elements. The emergence of subcultureis always a reaction against, or an opposition to a dominant culture. Whena large group, typically of similar demographics, feels that the mainstream culture is no longer connected to their own needs, desires, orindividual experiences, this group bands together and moves toward thecreation of a subculture. This is the second element of a subculture, thecreation of an individual and unique cultural expression which is all theirown. Rather than becoming a part of the larger social order, the groupfeels the need for their own cultural experiences, style or languagecommunication, and their own social identity. Over the course of the last 4 decades, this cycle has repeated itselfin three significant trends. While these three emergent subcultures are notthe only three to have occurred in the last 40 years, these three hadsignificant influence on the dominant social order of their time, and havecreated lasting ripples in the global social dynamics. The first significant subculture was the rock and roll generation of
The resistance to the larger dominant culture isthe force which creates the tension, and gives birth to the subculture. The ravers desire to passivelychange the larger culture yet at the same time they are resistance tobecoming the larger culture. A raveparty is akin to a large nightclub or dance bar. The raver community look to their ownexperiences much in the same way as the drug movement influences the hippysubculture in the 1960's. The rave party is usually just 'starting to roll,' or reach its peakattendance and beginning performances from the headline DJs at about 3:00am and can end as late as 12:00 pm. " This theme is further expanded in Scott Hutson' piece Technoshamanism:Spiritual Healing in the Rave Subculture. (Smith, 2003) These two subcultures, which each left their message in the culture,but did not significantly change the culture made a path for the Ravesubculture. The people at a rave are often males and females rangingfrom 14-25 years old which are much younger than at a typical club. 14)Many ravers were critical of this sort of publicity because it appeals topeople who are 'looking for something to do on a Saturday night', notnecessarily those who are looking to 'expand the mind' and unite in alarger, metaphysical purpose. This film's spotted popularity canbe seen from the same lens which views the spotted popularity of the ravemovement. When the desires of a sizeable subculture reach a catalyticpoint, they bubble over and become an identifiable sub culture. "In other words, rather than consider the subculture as the formalized andfixed identity which have been applied to them by researchers, the ravesubculture may be more accurately understood in this postmodern times as a'postmodern "persona"' which moves between a succession of 'site-specific'gatherings and whose 'multiple identifications form a dramatic personae- aself which can no longer be simplistically theorized as unified'(1992a:16). Since these parties were often organized around certain rave-related themes, the flyers offer insights into widely consumed versions/symbols /interpretations of the rave doctrine. These ravers did not interpret their behaviors as subtly, symbolically orovertly resistant to a larger culture, but rather ravers focused quitesimply on how rave is a 'good time'.
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Acceptance Essays
