sXe
The eighties much like the sixties and seventies posed many varied youth subcultures as a result of many transitions and changes in society. The youth were looked upon as misunderstood and with their "you will never understand" attitude they began to rely more on each other and their cultures. sXe (straight edge) came about in the early eighties when the punk scene was a great topic of controversy. As a subculture they held great angst against everyone and everything and were highlighted for their abusive tendencies. One man, Ian Mac Kay, decided that for himself on a personal level this was not working. He saw that there was nothing rebellious in drinking and taking drugs, as it was already mainstream and the only thing it would achieve was a means to an end. He told it like he saw it and sparked a counter culture to all other subcultures. The straight edge school, which sprang from Mac Kay, took his words seriously and a cult like "philosophy" was born. The aim of the game was to regain as much personal control over your own life by forfeiting drugs, alcohol and casual sex. They sought personal development away from dependant lifestyles, which were much aplenty in the punk scene of the eighties. Their motto became "don'
If you break it down the sXe scene is a reproduction of punk and religious/conservative values amalgamated as one, a mere repetition of already existing cultures practised in a different manor. They became self righteous and almost hierarchical with slogans such as 'the ignorant are still out there' and 'we must strive to liberate the rest of the world from its chains- saving life in some cases, and in others, dealing out justice to those guilty of destroying it'. I must make allowances for those who have not forgot the 'roots' and who do contend for self-development and a healthy mind and body. In a sense it is a resistance followed by reaction. They were calling judgement on the immoral, corrupt society around them. But as is always the case in postmodernism the sXe took what was on offer and made it their own. Although they began with good intentions 'to create positive social change despite the evil forces in the world' they were lost. tear down the barriers and insist on acting out, rather than making distinctions is the way to gaining knowledge"Bell, Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism p51-2The post-modern movement was neither popular nor common culture; it was a culture, which reproduced other cultures. There is a definite collapse of certainty and destination, as a lot of us do tend to live in a hyperreality. It breaks down to mixing of various styles and ideas that have already been used in an attempt to achieve something different. "A celebration in the face of the inevitability, and embracing of nihilism without empowerment, since there is no real possibility of struggle"Lawrence Grossberg, Its a Sin: Essays on Posmodernism, Politics and Culture 1988, p175. Their policy of nobody should dictate was dead.
Common topics in this essay:
Mac Kay,
John Story,
Jean-Francois Lyotards,
Postmodernist Culture,
Earth Crisis,
Whannel Audience,
,
Andrew Huyssen,
Contradictions Capitalism,
Warhols Campbell's,
sxe scene,
straight edge,
campbell's soup cans,
lyotard postmodernism,
soup cans,
sxe culture,
mac kay,
campbell's soup,
punk scene,
counter culture,
'anything goes',
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Acceptance Essays
