Michael
Oct 19th 2009, 02:15 PM
Zines Are Dead: the Six Deadly Sins That Killed Zinery
by Chris Yorke
Let us remember the whole of Zinehood as a single, lovely flower, and let us count its virtues as one would count a flower's petals, each equally important, each radiating from the centre of its being: Zinehood, the Zine Revolution, Zine Nation, whatever you called it in your town. "There was Idealism, and a strong feeling of Community. There was Hopefulness, and beautiful Simplicity of expression. There was great Determination, and a sense of evolving Purpose. These fed the scene and made it blossom."
Why then did the scene die? Things were going well enough... Zinemakers were given media exposure on a regular basis, and usually the portrayals were positive and ennobling. People were excited both by the personal possibilities that self-publishing opened up for them and by the tangible products of their friends and contemporaries' imaginations. Artists helped each other create and revise their Zines, which in turn acted as reflections of their creators' identities. When this happened -- when work became creator -- a forum erupted wherein many issues, which were normally swept under the rug, were innovatively discussed and portrayed. Each Zine had a tangible effect on the world, regardless of how raw and/or unrefined its content and/or presentation. Zinemakers learned how to speak for themselves, and (eventually) to have others listen. Some discovered that they were unknowingly part of a movement much greater than themselves. Still others discovered that they were different people than they thought they were when they started out Zinemaking. What followed, in short, can only be thought of as a fundamental revolution in the consciousness of those involved. Speaking solely from my own perspective, I saw it begin in 94, boom in 95-6, and trail off in 97-8. These days, and here I'm not alone in my assessment, there's not a hell of a lot worth looking at. Maybe you disagree with this view; I'd like very much to be able to quote you some figures worth looking at, but unfortunately there's no United Council of Zinemakers that puts out annual reports on such things.
Perhaps time will prove me wrong. But for those of you still with me in premise, the question lingers: How did it come to this? What killed zines? For reasons discussed later in this article (see Instability) Zinehood itself, if constituted of six main virtues, should be conceived of as having six cancerous vices eating away at its body.
Source (http://www.brokenpencil.com/features/feature.php?featureid=46)
I can save the author further trouble ruminating upon the mystery of the death of zines. Its a new fangled contraption called the internet. It is filled with people who can fulfill their most obscure interests with other like minded individuals, usually at zero cost of access. It is also immediate.
by Chris Yorke
Let us remember the whole of Zinehood as a single, lovely flower, and let us count its virtues as one would count a flower's petals, each equally important, each radiating from the centre of its being: Zinehood, the Zine Revolution, Zine Nation, whatever you called it in your town. "There was Idealism, and a strong feeling of Community. There was Hopefulness, and beautiful Simplicity of expression. There was great Determination, and a sense of evolving Purpose. These fed the scene and made it blossom."
Why then did the scene die? Things were going well enough... Zinemakers were given media exposure on a regular basis, and usually the portrayals were positive and ennobling. People were excited both by the personal possibilities that self-publishing opened up for them and by the tangible products of their friends and contemporaries' imaginations. Artists helped each other create and revise their Zines, which in turn acted as reflections of their creators' identities. When this happened -- when work became creator -- a forum erupted wherein many issues, which were normally swept under the rug, were innovatively discussed and portrayed. Each Zine had a tangible effect on the world, regardless of how raw and/or unrefined its content and/or presentation. Zinemakers learned how to speak for themselves, and (eventually) to have others listen. Some discovered that they were unknowingly part of a movement much greater than themselves. Still others discovered that they were different people than they thought they were when they started out Zinemaking. What followed, in short, can only be thought of as a fundamental revolution in the consciousness of those involved. Speaking solely from my own perspective, I saw it begin in 94, boom in 95-6, and trail off in 97-8. These days, and here I'm not alone in my assessment, there's not a hell of a lot worth looking at. Maybe you disagree with this view; I'd like very much to be able to quote you some figures worth looking at, but unfortunately there's no United Council of Zinemakers that puts out annual reports on such things.
Perhaps time will prove me wrong. But for those of you still with me in premise, the question lingers: How did it come to this? What killed zines? For reasons discussed later in this article (see Instability) Zinehood itself, if constituted of six main virtues, should be conceived of as having six cancerous vices eating away at its body.
Source (http://www.brokenpencil.com/features/feature.php?featureid=46)
I can save the author further trouble ruminating upon the mystery of the death of zines. Its a new fangled contraption called the internet. It is filled with people who can fulfill their most obscure interests with other like minded individuals, usually at zero cost of access. It is also immediate.