more thesis fun

Another possible thesis topic: Differences in artistic protest during the Vietnam War and the Iraq War in the US. I hypothesize that during the Vietnam War, mainstream artistic protest dominated music, film, and theatre, while during the Iraq War, primarily underground outlets have created protest art, filling the void left by reluctant mainstream corporations. I would investigate the changes in media technology and deregulation that might have led to this change, such as the increasingly low cost of video cameras and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (which should be familiar by now).

Vietnam War documentaries such as the 1974 Academy Award winner “Hearts and Minds” were both controversial and popular, and as a result antiwar art proved an intelligent marketing decision for media distributors. As Evan Medow, CEO of Windswept Pacific music publishing company, says, "At the time [of Vietnam], it was a moneymaking proposition to be involved with countercultural artists…Antiwar music was more the order of the day." Today, he continues, "The music business is under attack on every conceivable level, with downloading and new technologies like streaming video and broadband…Record companies want to get control of their product. They're not going to take risks just for the sake of making a political statement. With things the way they are, you're not going to get the adventuresome thinking necessary to put out political music" (Rudman).

But while mainstream corporations might have abandoned socially conscious media, the call for artistic protest has not disappeared for those living during the Iraq war. Emerging digital video technology and affordable editing software have allowed independent artists throughout the nation to create their own protest art, distributed throughout independent and underground labels, theatres, and communities. Eli Kaufman, an independent director of a short film about the war, states, “Hollywood is not going to make films it believes are offensive to their consumers to watch," Kaufman said. "So therefore, the door is open to smaller filmmakers that don't have to be beholden to big box office sales. It's a nice little opening for indie filmmakers. The same thing that inspires me to make film is what detracts big studios from making films" (Rudman). The result is fiercely liberal undercurrents of art such as the independent documentary “Occupation: Dreamland” and Hoyt Hilsman’s play, “Back-Channel.”

(all these quotes from: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/printable.asp?id=34913&date=11/10/2005)