I'm back to the part where, how can something be of the zeitgeist if it's not available widely? Or do you mean zeitgeist only for particular cities, or regions? (This works a lot better in France, where everyone looks to Paris as their cultural cluster.)
My general thinking is that an item cannot practically qualify for "zeitgeist" unless it is already inextricably bound into the system of cultural production.
I was talking about two things. One was the real riot grrrl movement, which was underground and not widely dispersed in the mass media. Second, there was a widespread
distortion of riot grrrll
promulgated in magazines like Sassy, and big media groups like the Spice Girls co-opting the stances and phrases (notably, "Girl Power") from the movement.
So, the best parallel I can make would be between the small number of bohemian, underground, genuine Beats of the 50s, and the cartoony Beatniks which became a big part of the cultural iconography of the 50s. Riot Girl was a part of the zeitgeist, but only in a cartoony and distorted form. But it was a big influence on people who were attuned to the underground (like cyberpunk writers such as Gibson and Stephenson), but worked in mass media.
Second, there was a widespread distortion of riot grrrll promulgated in magazines like Sassy, and big media groups like the Spice Girls co-opting the stances and phrases (notably, "Girl Power") from the movement.
And, frankly, the Power Puff Girls.
Actually, the more I watched it, the more I realized how reactionary PPG is. If Bitch or Bust were really keeping score they'd note: heroes equal white suburban girls; grown women who are allegedly very smart are presented as headless bodies (Ms. Bellum); No mommies needed; villains are flamingly gay (Him); villains talk like Toshiro Mifune - hence, read Asian (Mojo Jojo), villains talk like black pimps (Disco villain); the girls defeat the Rowdy Ruff Boys by flirting with them after the boys beat them in a fight. There's even a feminist villain who is actively mocked because she talks the girls into fighting against the oppression of the Men. She exploits the girls with this rhetoric which is presented as false.
t starts chanting
Book! Book! Book!
Nah, I just had to watch so many of them I couldn't help noticing that good = white and suburban in that 'verse, and bad = exotic, alien, other.
But somebody should drop a line to Bust or Bitch. 'Cuz PPG has been getting a free ride on their girls-with-powers plus cuteness.
I'd never thought PPG was particularly subversive, just from the little I'd seen. Funny, sure. Subversive? NSM.
t shrugs
So, was I the only one singing the Cal Worthington song upon hearing Clark's alias? Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal!
