_____ _ _ __ _ __ ____ | ___|(_) ___ | |_ / _| _ _ | | ___ / _| | __ ) ___ ___ ___ | |_ | |/ __|| __|| |_ | | | || | / _ \ | |_ | _ \ / _ \ / _ \/ __| | _| | |\__ \| |_ | _|| |_| || | | (_) || _| | |_) || __/| __/\__ \ |_| |_||___/ \__||_| \__,_||_| \___/ |_| |____/ \___| \___||___/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ISSUE #4 JULY 2004 ***THE CEREBRAL ISSUE*** 1. Editor's notes 2. "Subcultures and Their Origins" By Vicious George 3. "Tits and a Scream: A Re-evaluation of the Depiction of Gender in Horror Movies" By Mary Green 4. "The History of Dutch Housing Policy and Controlling Suburbanization" By M. Chescher 5. "How One Philosophizes with a 12-Inch Record" By Trip Lewis 6. About Fistful of Bees ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editor's Notes: For more information about any of the topics covered in FoB4, consult your school library. You should also check out Vicious George's website (www.republicanpunk.c om) where he publishes his own txt zine called "Dear George". FoB5 will be "The Death Issue", so submit accordingly. We here at FoB especially favour essays composed by actual dead people, although it's not absolutely necessary. No poetry about death (or any other subject) please. For next month, I'm also thinking about releasing an anthology of Fistful of Bees issues 1 through 5 in the old-fashioned cut/paste/xerox format. I have a way of slacking off about that sort of thing, but consult the FoB blog for further updates on this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Sub-cultures and their Origins" By Vicious George ------------- The uneasiness created in the Western World by the wars of the 20th century created an insecurity and longing in youth culture that has persisted to this day. These counter-cultures since the 1940 and 50s have made it a point to reject a society which they find increasingly dissatisfying and restrictive. Through music, literature and fashion, they may not have succeeded in raising Western consciousness, but they have made the latter part of the 20th century much more interesting. Perhaps the earliest and most visible of these counter- cultures is that of the beatniks. The late 40s and 50s were marked by groups of writers in the United States and England which expressed their dissatisfaction with the post World War II cold war attitude. England was home to "The Kitchen Sink Writers" (also known as "The Angry Young Men") while San Francisco was Mecca to "The West Coast Renaissance". It was, however, a group of writers from the East Coast of the United States whose nucleus consisted of William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg which dazzled the imagination of American and English youth. In their search for a writing philosophy they themselves were dazzled by a slang term introduced to them by a petty criminal and future member of the fledgling writing circle, Herbert Huncke: "beat". The origin of the word beat comes from the Old English beatan. Beatan is identical with the Old Norse word bauta, the Old High German bozan and the Middle High German bozen. The Old English past tense form of beatan, beot, became the Middle English bet and bete. The modern form of beot would have been beet, but became obsolete in the 16th century. The actual past tense beat is probably shortened from the Middle English beted. The past participle beat, still occasional for beaten, may also be from beated, but comes naturally enough from bet, which is shortened from the 13th century’s bete and beten (Oxford). Jack Kerouac coined the term "The Beat Generation" for the writing group and attempted to connect beat with the word "beatitude" in an attempt to bring spiritual connotations to the writing philosophies of the Beat Generation (Charters xxii). The actual sense of beat as used by The Beat Generation is that which was meant by Herbert Huncke. Beat, in this aspect, is the shortened form of beaten which means to be overcome by hard work or difficulty; such as beat down or beat up. As presented by Huncke, beat was used as a adjective to describe a person with the attributes associated with the verb form of beat (Charters xvii). The word beatnik was created by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Cain on April 2, 1958. The suffix –nik was inspired by the Russian Sputnik satellite and influenced by Yiddish. In a critique of youth inspired by the Beat Generation, Herb Cain added –nik to beat, with –nik used "to humorously denote a person or thing involved in or associated with the thing in quality specified," such as in no-goodnik, Freudnik, or kaputnik (Oxford). The novels, verse and essays of The Beat Generation incensed the social mores of the 50s middle class while igniting the their offspring. Their autobiographical works glorified experimentation with such taboo subjects such as homosexuality, socialism, alternate religions, drug use and crime. Novels such as Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and "The Dharma Bums" advocated a philosophy that the next generation’s counter- cultural movement would expand upon. The hippie generation would be the next to "tune in and drop out" of society. The word hippie can be traced to bop jazz, which was the major musical interest of the beatnik subculture. Due to the influence of this on the lifestyles of The Beat Generation the word beat is also possibly related to the strongly-marked rhythm of jazz. Many of the slang terms used by lovers of bop jazz were incorporated into the beatnik subculture. The root of hippie, hip, is one of these. Hip is synonymous with the word hep, both whose etymological origins are unknown. Both mean to be well-informed or knowledgeable, up to date, or stylish. The only difference in their use being that hep was favored by swingers and hip by boppers (Oxford). Eventually the meaning of the word beat changed to became similar to that of hip and hep. These two words were used, much as in the example seen by the work beatnik, with suffixes that changed these adjectives into nouns to define persons who exhibited their respective qualities. This led to a host of words such as hip-cat, hep-cat, beatster, hepster and hipster. Hip became hippie and hippy by the use of the suffix –y and its allomorph –ie. The suffix –y is used to form pet names and familiar diminutives. The use of this suffix is seen in common names in Scotland as early as the 14th century. Its usage became more frequent in the 15th and 16th century. These names probably originated from names such as Davy and Mathy (equal to the Old French Davi and Mathe respectively which have the appearance of being pet forms of David and Mathou respectively (Oxford). The suffixes –y and –ie have been used to give names derogatory connotations. One example is changing the name Katherine to Kitty as slang for a wanton and loose woman. During the 18th century –y came to be used to form pet diminutive, as in cooky, doggie, blackie, darkie and the like (Oxford). Some reference materials have recorded hippies and beatniks to be the same, but this is hardly true. Both shared political and social mores, but the beatniks were more closely aligned to jazz music while hippies enjoy their musical inspiration from rock and roll. The move from drug use also changed from the beatnik's narcotics to the hippie's psychedelics. The effect of these drugs can be surmised by the more stunning and overt visual images attributed to the hippie. While American subculture in the 60s was the realm of the beatnik and hippie, England was home to the mod and its younger bretheren, the skinhead. The mods or modernists were an English working-class youth culture whose philosophy was a desire to achieve more than the "working man" ideals of their fathers. Mods were obsessed with fashion, intellect and hedonism (Skinhead). The greatest example of mod culture to "cross the pond" over to America in the early 60s were the future hippie rock band, The Beatles. Though sharing the mod philosophy of working hard and playing hard, skinheads shied away from modernists' extravagance. The skinhead's shaved head and steel- toed boots are said to originate from dock workers who required the safety of the steel-toed boots and who shaved their heads as a precaution against head lice (Skinhead). That these young dockworkers would come to be called "skinheads" is not surprising. The word skinhead originally was used to denote a person with a bald head or closely cropped hair (Oxford). The word skin was adopted from the Old Norse word skinn which is akin to the Icelandic and Swedish skinn as well as the Danish skind. It is related to the Old High German scindan, the Middle Low German schinden, and the Dutch schinden which means to flay, peel, etc. Skin can be compared with the German dialect's schind and schinde meaning skin of fruit. The obsolete Flemish schinde means bark or rind (Oxford). Head hails from the Old English heafod meaning head- covering or cap. It is equal to the Old Frisian haved, hafd, havd, had, and the Old Saxon hobid. It is also equal to the Old High German houbit, haubit and the Old Norse haufuth, later to become hafuth. Head is a Teutonic word and perhaps can be traced to an ablaut stem, the Old High German huba and the German haube (Oxford). The skinhead movement would have possibly come to a grinding halt in the late 60s if it wasn't for the infusion of punk (Dorston). The word punk is of obscure origins, but senses of the word can be found by comparing it to the words funk and spunk; all three being similar words for touch-wood. Funk corresponds to the Middle Dutch vonke, the Old High German funcho meaning spark. The English word may have come from the Dutch or it may represent the Old English funca. It is also surmised that punk may have come from the North American Indian word punkie (Oxford). Punk originally meant dry rotten wood used as tinder, but its transferred sense means something worthless. From this meaning punk came to be used in a derogatory fashion. One sense of this is as slang for passive male homosexuals; another is as a person of no account, a young hooligan or petty criminal (Oxford). It is the negative denotations of the word punk which is used to name the underground subculture of music which rose in the 70s. Punk can be considered the flip-side of the hippie movement. The punk shares the hippie's social consciousness and visceral imagery. Punk, however, is more of an expression of anger and aggression. Punk rock established the D.I.Y. philosophy in the underground; D.I.Y. meaning do it yourself. The colorful nature-inspired aesthetic of hippydom gave way to radioactive colors, metal spikes and leather jackets. Objects such as safety pins were used as jewelry and clothes were ripped and spray-painted as a reflection of the punk's rejection of commercialistic society. The aggressive music played by young punks in small clubs and basements, as well as the D.I.Y. mentality, appealed to skinheads and resulted in a merging of the two subcultures. When the heyday of punk ended in the 70s, it gave skinhead music such as Oi! and ska the momentum to proliferate in the 1980s youth underground (Dorston). The punk movement also gave rise to another 80s subculture which instead of expressing their dissatisfaction with anger chose sadness. This group was originally named goth-punk, but eventually became known as goth. The word goth can be traced from the Old English Gotan plural which is an adaption of the late Latin Gotth. This was adapted from Gothic Gutos. This can be compared with the Gothic Gut Piuda – the Goth people (Oxford). How the word goth came to applied to a 1980s subculture is an interesting mix of accident and transference. The original Goths were a Germanic tribe in the third, fourth and fifth centuries that invaded the Eastern and Western empires. The Goths founded kingdoms in Europe. Due to these invasions, Goth came to be know as a term meaning "barbaric". Goth is also a word for a style of architecture in Western Europe prevalent during the 12th through 16th century (Oxford). Since these buildings were not designed in the classical Roman or Greek style, they were deemed "Gothic"; in other words "barbaric". In time, the term Goth came to be a label for the romantic ideals and mood of the Middle Ages. The goth aesethics of the 1980s youth culture came about from campy romance and occult stories situated in the Middle Ages. This makes the present-day goth subculture more closely related with the many vampire films of the 1970s than with ancient solders who plundered the Old World (Sexbat). The mutation of youth culture continues to this day. Rivet-heads listening to industrial music owe their lifestyles to punks and skins. Ravers dance under psychedelic hazes to music based on world culture much as hippies did before them. Hip-hoppers, rappers and toasters have revitalized open mic poetry much as the beatniks did. Neo-primitives pierce and stretch their skins while studying tribal cultures. Geeks and hackers design computer-aided fractals and then watch them under the influence of peyote and LSD. Zinesters create self-published magazines at home more to share their points-of-view than profit. Billboarders and graffiti artists illegally create artwork on private property to make political statements. All these movements touch each other, infect each other and then move away from each other; richer for the encounter. The more things change, the more they stay the same. ------------- Biblography: Charters, Ann. The Portable Beat Reader. Ed. Ann Charters. New York: Penguin, 1992. Dorston, A.S. Van. "Punk and Post-Punk Subcultures. Do It Yourself." A History of Punk. 43 pars. 10 Oct. 2001. . Oxford University Press. "beat" OED Online. 2002. . ---"funk" OED Online. 2002. . ---"Goth" OED Online. 2002. . ---"hep" OED Online. 2002. . ---"head" OED Online. 2002. . ---"hip" OED Online. 2002. . ---"-nik" OED Online. 2002. . ---"punk" OED Online. 2002. . ---"skin" OED Online. 2002. . ---"skinhead" OED Online. 2002. . ---"-y" OED Online. 2002. PapaSkin. "FAQ for Skinheads." (vO.7) SKINHEAD FAQ (frequently asked questions). 228 pars. 9 Oct. 2000. . Sexbat. "Sexbat’s History of Goth." 8 pars. . "So what is the History of Skinhead Culture?" Skinhead FAQ. 24 pars. . ------------- Vicious George is the alter ego of a semi-professional writer located in Chicago. When not being semi- professional, he's probably: a) in the middle of a ruthless game of backgammon. b) jerking off to Nietzsche's "Genealogy of Morals." c) playing head games with the homeless. d) insulting things at republicanpunk.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Tits and a Scream: A Re-examination of Gender as Depicted in Horror Films" By Mary Green ------------- Traditional feminist theory tells us that horror films are inherently misogynistic. Viewing such films superficially can easily confirm this assessment; the vast majority depict a male antagonist brutally killing and/or raping a seemingly endless stream of interchangeable, young (usually female) victims. Further, before their violent deaths, many of these young women are shown engaging in sex and/or flaunting their nude bodies. This scenario suggests that sexually active teens must pay with their lives for their promiscuity, thus punishing young women for expressing their sexuality (1). Interestingly, the protagonist in horror films is almost always a young woman. Typically she is somewhat bookish and conservative compared with her slain friends, and this "Final Girl" (2) is the one character who finds a way to escape the monster that murdered her friends. However, while it is difficult to deny that most horror films do contain misogynist messages, it is nevertheless short-sighted for feminist critics to dismiss them entirely. Upon closer examination, the misogyny is counteracted by somewhat less obvious feminist nuances. Even though the feminist messages contained in horror films are not as immediately apparent as the misogynist ones, I suspect that they are nevertheless significant for audiences (although they may not be consciously aware of it), and thus worthy of examination. There has been very little formal research conducted to discover who consumes horror films. However, some researchers have done their own informal studies, and the consensus seems to be that the audiences for most horror films consist primarily of young men: "…[M]any horror films have short theatrical runs, or no theatrical release at all, but return their investment on videocassette rentals, the audience for which is largely hidden from research view… At theatre screenings, in any case, the constituencies typically break down, in order of size, as follows: young men, frequently in groups but also solo; male-female couples of various ages (though mostly young); solo 'rogue males' (older men of ominous appearance and/or reactions); and adolescent girls in groups. The proportions vary somewhat from subgenre to subgenre and from movie to movie (the more mainstream the film, the more 'normal' the audience), but the preponderance of young males appears constant… In the absence of statistics, I have polled some sixty employees of rental outlets (half in the San Francisco area, half elsewhere in the country) about the clientele for certain films… and they confirm… the young male bias." (Clover, p. 6) In some ways, this predominance of young men in horror audiences seems curious: most male characters in horror films (other than the villain) are depicted as painfully inept. They are typically fathers, boyfriends, or police officers who either do not believe the danger (e.g.: monster) is real, or they lamely attempt to save female characters and find themselves victimized instead; there are no male heroes in horror films. Given this, which character(s) in the film is it that male audience members identify with? The obvious answer is the villain or monster. Perhaps the male audience envies the villain’s power over others (3), women in particular. Or perhaps they see themselves as "outsiders" of sorts, like the monster, and they get a certain gratification from the violence depicted on screen; they share in the villain's revenge against a world they perceive as having rejected them, too. However, while there may be some merit to the above hypothesises, the antagonists of horror films are depicted in such a way that identification with them is a very unappealing prospect. As stated above, the villains in horror films are outsiders, but certainly not in any romantic sense. They have been cast out from society usually because of reprehensible behaviour. Freddy Kruger of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, for example, was a child molester when he was alive. He was burned to death by a group of vigilante parents, and returns from the dead to terrorize the town's children once again. Meanwhile, "Leatherface" of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, is a physically deformed member of a cannibalistic (and possibly incestuous) family. Michael Myers, the villain from the Halloween series of films, was imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane from the age of six, when he stabbed his older sister to death with a kitchen knife. The plight of these characters is certainly nothing to be envied, and it is difficult to imagine anyone (wilfully) seeing much of themselves reflected in them. By process of elimination, then, it must be the Final Girl with whom the (male) audience identifies. An extreme example of this cross-gender identification occurs among male viewers of the so-called "rape revenge" film I Spit on Your Grave (4). The film's heroine is a young (urban) woman who is vacationing alone at a friend's cottage on the outskirts of a small town. The first half of the film consists mainly of her being repeatedly gang-raped by four local men. The latter half of the movie is set several weeks later, when the heroine murders each of her four rapists individually. Although depictions of sexual assault are relatively common even in mainstream cinema, I Spit on Your Grave is exceptional for the way in which the rapes are presented to the viewer. Firstly, there are no distractions from the rape; the assault goes on for some 40 minutes straight, and there is not even any background music in this part of the film. The assaults are presented starkly, and there is absolutely no ambiguity about what is happening, and to whom. Secondly, the camera angles used show the men's facial expressions far more often than the victim – the audience is clearly intended to see things from her perspective, to identify with her. A more mainstream example of similar cross-gender identification is demonstrated with the 1976 film Carrie, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Carrie is a social outcast among her fellow high school seniors. She is the butt of every joke, constantly teased by the popular students. As a final insult, she finds herself humiliated in front of her entire school when she is drenched in pig's blood moments after being crowned prom queen as the result of a rigged election. What her tormentors did not expect, however, is that Carrie possesses telekinetic powers – she sets fire to the gymnasium with all the students and teachers still trapped inside. While this film's plot is atypical when compared to other horror films (e.g.: a villain stalks a group of teens, killing them one by one throughout the movie), it is still very significant in terms of cross-gender identification, as implied by the story’s creator: "For me, Carrie White is a sadly misused teenager, an example of the sort of person whose spirit is so often broken for good in that pit of man- and woman-eaters that is your normal suburban high school… And one reason for the success of the story both in print and film, I think, lies in this: Carrie's revenge is something that any student who has ever had *his* gym shorts pulled down in Phys Ed or *his* glasses thumb- rubbed in study hall could approve of." (emphasis added) King, p. 171-2 Clearly this quote indicates that King intended his Carrie character to be something of a universal figure; everyone who has ever been teased by peers, regardless of their gender, can identify with her in some way. This cross-gender identification is further confirmed by Clover's observations of viewers of other films: "No one who has… attended a viewing of, say, Deliverance (an all-male story that women find as gripping as men do) – or, more recently, Alien or Aliens, with whose space-age female Rambo, herself a Final Girl, male viewers seem to engage with ease – can doubt the phenomenon of cross-gender identification." (Clover, p. 46) Given these findings, the mere fact that horror films encourage predominantly male audiences to identify with female characters over male ones, it is necessarily correct to dismiss the genre as inherently misogynist? That is not to suggest that horror films do not convey misogynist messages, as they obviously do. Most such films focus on young women being murdered by a male assailant, and the violence is depicted in such graphic detail that it, in some sense, actually glorifies violence against women. These young female victims are further dehumanized and objectified because these characters are seldom alive on screen long enough for the audience to "get to know her", as it were – there is little or no character development, their only purpose in the film is as the beautiful casualty. Also, in most cases, the Final Girl in horror films is conservative and sexually unavailable relative to her cohorts. In fact, young women in horror films who do engage in sex are often the first to be killed, and the obvious correlation between sexual activity and a brutal death certainly cannot be lost on most viewers. However, the issues of glorifying violence against women, objectification, and punishing women for their sexuality are certainly not unique to horror movies. These are problems found throughout all genres of film, to say nothing of other types of media, from television to video games. Horror seems to be unique, however, in its apparent insistence that male viewers identify with female characters. While some interpret horror films as misogynistic, others suggest that they may yet be redeemable from a feminist perspective. Regardless of what message the film's producers may have intended, it seems that when viewing horror films, like the consumption of most other kinds media, there is still much room for personal interpretation. ------------- Notes: 1. The implication of pre-marital sex as an activity punishable by a grizzly death is perhaps most obvious in the Friday the 13th series of films, most of which are set at a remote summer camp. In the first film (there are now ten in the series; the first released in 1980, the most recent in 2002), the antagonist is a middle-aged woman whose son drowned as a result of negligent camp counsellors, who, rather than supervising young Jason while he swam, were instead having sex in a nearby cabin. In the first film, the mother returns to the camp to take revenge on a new generation of counsellors, while in all the subsequent films, it is Jason himself who returns (apparently from the dead) to brutalize sexually active teens. 2. So-called "Final Girls" have undergone an evolution of sorts since the inception of the modern horror film, or "slasher movie". 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is considered by most to be the first in the modern genre, although the Final Girl in this film does little more than scream and run in order to escape the film's monster "Leatherface". Its status as groundbreaking has much more to do with its graphic violence and gore than any change in the depiction gender roles. However, Final Girls in later films, particularly those featured in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, are shown to be very perceptive and intelligent, and it is these attributes which allow them to survive their ordeal. They fight back against their movie monsters, rather than simply trying elude them long enough to be rescued by someone else. 3. The idea of horror villains as powerful is itself fraught with contradictions. They terrorize their victims, yet many of them are also at the mercy of someone else, often a parent. Psycho's Norman Bates is perhaps the most obvious example, but he is certainly not alone. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's "Leatherface" is clearly killing on the orders of his father. In Friday the 13th Part II, Jason is ultimately defeated because the Final Girl is able to convince him that she is his dead mother, and begins berating him for having misbehaved. 4. "The 'silenced male audience' phenomenon is widely reported in discussions of rape-revenge films, though no one, to my knowledge has asked the rather obvious questions it prompts. If the male silence is simply the result of chagrin, why do the silent men sit through the rest of the film… and why is this film so abidingly popular with male audiences (surely word would get around if it were a true bummer)? If the male spectator is able to 'identify' with the woman on her revenge quest, then is he not equally able to 'identify' with her during the rape sequences – is not, in fact, his identification during the revenge *predicated* on some 'identification' with her as rape victim?" (Clover, p. 142) ------------- Filmography: A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Craven. New Line Cinema, 1984. Alien. Dir. Ridley Scott. 20th Century Fox, 1979. Aliens. Dir. James Cameron. 20th Century Fox, 1986. Carrie. Dir. Brian DePalma. United Artists, 1976. Deliverance. Dir. John Boorman. Warner Brothers Studios, 1982. Friday the 13th. Dir. Sean S. Cunningham. Paramount Pictures, 1980. Friday the 13th Part 2. Dir. Steve Miner. Paramount Pictures, 1981. Halloween. Dir. John Carpenter. Compass International/Falcon International Productions, 1978. I Spit on Your Grave. Dir. Meir Zarchi. Cinemagic Visual Effects/Wizard Video, 1977. Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount Pictures, 1960. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The. Dir. Tobe Hooper. Bryanston Films, 1974. ------------- Bibliography: Clover, Carol J. Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1992. King, Stephen. Danse Macabre. Berkley Publishing Group: New York, 1981. Markovitz, Jonathan. "Female Paranoia as Survival Skill: Reason or Pathology in A Nightmare on Elm Street”" Quarterly Review of Film and Video. Vol. 17 (2000): 211 – 220. Trencansky, Sarah. "Final Girls and Terrible Youth: Transgressions in 1980s Slasher Horror". Journal of Popular Film and Television. Summer 2001: 63 – 73. ------------- Mary Green is over-educated and under-employed but nevertheless maintains big dreams of one day being an office monkey for the government. Her turn-ons include personal debt, low calorie soft drinks, and people who can read binary. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The History of Dutch Housing Policy and Controlling Suburbanization" By M. Chescher ------------- In this paper, I will first outline the important historical trends in production of social housing, and the shift toward privatization and decentralization of housing. I will highlight how the shift toward private local roles for housing producers accelerated trends of segregation. Lastly, I will relate recent policy aimed at mitigating the suburbanization trend and speculate on its significance to the US context. The operation of the Dutch governmental system has been referred to as a "welfare state", and it has been regarded as the typical mode for many western European governments since the end of the Second World War. The welfare state has been defined as a democratic system which seeks to maintain a minimum standard of living for its citizens, a full employment policy, and equitable distribution of social services such as education, health care, etc (Schuyt 1991). The origins of the Dutch welfare state are generally traced to the end of World War 2, when the national government executed rapid reconstruction of infrastructure by setting wages at a low level. In the decades that followed, the government guaranteed a growing number of social services such as retirement pensions, unemployment benefits, health care, and others (Priemus 1995a). The housing sector was no exception to the welfare state's influence. In 1970 social housing, produced with government subsidies and rented by non-profit housing corporations, constituted nearly 50% of the total annual housing constructed (Priemus and Smith 1996) and 41% of the total housing stock belonged to the social housing sector in 1995 (Priemus 1995b). Housing corporations have existed in the Netherlands for over one hundred years to provide housing options for very low income people. But social housing has traditionally not served the poorest demographic exclusively, with approximately 40% of mid- to high- income households live in social rented housing (Conrad 2000). The rented sector in the Netherlands has never carried the social stigma of apartment living in the US where it was regarded as a social ill. In contrast, multifamily housing was discouraged in the United States, often by the deliberate use of housing codes and land zoning designations to complicate or prohibit production. Accelerated suburban development in the US in the 1950s made public apartment housing a place of concentrated poverty as wealthier renters purchased homes (Baar 1996). Commuter congestion also quickly reached levels that transport infrastructure could no longer accommodate, even with massive augmentation. This was not the case in the Netherlands where housing corporations constructed social rented housing with funds from the national government's Ministry of Housing throughout the 1970s (Priemus and Smith 1995). In the mid 1980s social housing finance began to change as housing corporations replaced their public loans with lower interest loans provided by private investors. This trend was accompanied by a general reduction in government budgets. The welfare state in the Netherlands was overburdened with the financing of social services which a sharply increasing number of people were entitled to (Priemus 1995a). In an effort to reduce state expenditures the Ministry of Housing stopped providing loans to housing corporations and instead subsidized higher private interest rates. The trend toward privatization of housing finance took a dramatic step forward in 1987. Amidst claims of inefficiency and fraud generated by the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on Building Subsides, the publication of the Housing in the Nineties Memorandum outlined a dramatic restructuring of the housing sector. Two funds (the Central Housing Fund and the Social Housebuilding Fund) were created to guarantee private loans and provide financial support to housing corporations, further diminishing government involvement in housing. As housing corporations became more privatized, bearing more financial risk, production of owner-occupied single family units increased as these units yielded greater profitability. Perhaps predicting the decline in social housing production, the Housing in the Nineties Memorandum introduced the concept of "housing mismatch" and defined two types. Expensive mismatch occurs when lower-income people are occupying housing which is too expensive to afford comfortably, and inexpensive mismatch occurs when higher-income people are occupying housing with relatively low cost like social rental housing (Dieleman and van Kempen 1994). Production of new expensive rental and owner-occupier housing has been endorsed by the government as a way to reduce mismatch and free up social rental housing to serve the poorest individuals (MVROM 1992). Other spatial policies (growth center policy and some VINEX policy) aimed at decongesting the Randstad or environmental preservation have designated specific areas for new housing production which has often been exclusively expensive (Priemus 1998). These policies in combination may result in allocation of low rent housing to the most in need, but they have other disturbing implications. Scholars have been quick to point out that inexpensive mismatch has the beneficial effect of preventing income segregation (Boelhouwer 1994). Correcting inexpensive mismatch by definition entails concentrating poverty in larger cities and more affluent people in suburban areas. Grave concerns exist that such measures may lead to income segregation and declining quality of life in large cities, accelerated by privatization and the phase-out of government subsidies for urban renewal (Priemus 1998). Ethnic segregation, which is already significant in the largest cities, may also increase due to economic sorting (Bolt, Hooimeijer, van Kempen 2002). The ills of suburbanization plaguing the cities of the US threaten to manifest in the Dutch context. The current trend of economic sorting in the housing market runs strongly counter to the values of equity espoused by the welfare state and embraced by Dutch citizenry in general. It is no surprise therefore, that recent policies have been introduced to curb the trend of suburbanization. In order to remedy declining quality of life in low-income areas, the national government has issued a new mandate to housing corporations. In 2002, fifty districts were designated for a comprehensive program of urban regeneration consisting of social and physical interventions and economic stimulation, to be carried out by housing corporations and local governments (MVROM 2003). Voluntary agreements between provincial and city governments also aim at reducing segregation by diversifying housing options with strategic construction – increasing the availability of low-rent housing in suburbs and the availability of owner occupied units in central cities. There is also the general expectation that the pending Report on Spatial Planning will also address the suburbanization trend by loosening environmental restrictions on development on condition that new construction address low-income housing needs. These most recent developments should be of particular interest to US planners as they provide an opportunity to examine methods for mitigating the harmful effects of suburbanization. The powers of governmental institutions in the Netherlands are quite different from their US equivalents making comparisons difficult, though it may be useful to consider how they differ and what might make US institutions more effective. Regardless of these differences, careful examination of policy tools may permit some translation of methods to the US context. Areas that merit further study include: regional cooperation between provinces and cities for diversifying new housing development, the role of housing corporations compared to community development corporations in the US, Netherlands national spatial policy aimed at housing diversification, and even modern architectural design for high-density housing to overcome stigmatization of apartments in the US. American planners should miss no opportunity to collect information that has potential to mitigate the striking historical inequities and inefficiencies that have arisen from suburbanization. Likewise, Dutch planners are wise to consider the US context, and mitigate suburbanization effects before serious crises emerge. ------------- References Baar K. The anti-apartment movement in the US and the role of land use regulations in creating housing segregation. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 1996 Vol 11 (4). Boehouwer P. Mismatch in Dutch housing distribution and the effects of allocation policy. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 1994, Vol 9 (2). Bolt G, Hooimeijer P, van Kempen R. Ethnic segregation in the Netherlands: New patterns, new policies? Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 2002, Vol 93 (2). Conrad N. Social Rented Housing in the Netherlands: Policies, changes and uncertainties. 2000 Dieleman F, van Kempen R. The mismatch of housing costs and income in Dutch housing. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 1994, Vol 9 (2). MVROM Ministrie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer. Trendrapport volkshuisvesting 1992, 's-Gravenhage: MVROM. MVROM Ministrie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer. Social housing in the Netherlands: The contribution by the housing association section to robust and sustainable housing over the past decades and in the near future. UNECE Workshop on Social Housing. Prague, 19-20 May 2003 Priemus H. Redifining the welfare state; Impact upon housing and housing policy in the Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 1995a, Vol 10 (2). Priemus H. How to abolish social housing? The Dutch case. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 1995b, Vol 19 (1). Priemus H, Smith J. Social housing investment: Housing policy and finance in the UK and the Netherlands, 1970-1992. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 1996, Vol 11 (4). Priemus H. Contradictions between Dutch housing policy and spatial planning. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 1998, Vol 89 (1). Schuyt C. The heart of the welfare state. 1991, Leiden (Stenfert Kroese) ------------- M. Chescher is an international powerbroker, gentleman thief, and eccentric. Based on an island off the Netherlands coast, he directs his network of agents and tries on costumes in front of a giant mirror. He has occasionally served as creative consultant for James Bond films. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "How One Philosophizes with a 12" Record" By Trip Lewis ------------- "'This is my way; where is yours?' -- thus I answered those who asked me 'the way'. For the way -- that does not exist." - Friederich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Pt. 3 I remember the first punk rock show I ever went to. It was September or October of tenth grade, 1992. I was fifteen years old. I had been exposed to punk before... a friend of mine had given me Never Mind the Bullocks Here' s the Sex Pistols the summer earlier, and I had constantly been listening to Fugazi's Steady Diet of Nothing in my CD player for the previous three months. But I really had no idea what a punk rock show was like, let alone what punk really was. One of my friends had convinced me that it would be cool to check out, but I think the main reason why I went was so that I would have somewhere to drink my pint of vodka for the night. The show was at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Fredericton, NB. As we walked in, Thornchild, a local band comprised of a few people that I went to school with but didn't really know too well at the time, were playing. I remember the smell of sweat and the occasional whiff of alcohol as someone passed by me on their way toward a corner of the hall or the washroom to conceal a few quick drinks out of their hidden bottle. I remember the group of older-looking people in their twenties, all either leaning or squatting against the far wall of the basement, intently watching the stage and occasionally scanning the crowd of younger faces. Once in a while a new pair of Doc Marten boots would elevate out of the dancing crowd, and all those standing back from the stage would watch as another smiling, sweaty high school student would be raised above his friends' heads, passed majestically through the air, and then suddenly disappear into a frenzy of undulating plaid shirts and leather. At least that's the way that I recall it. Since that night, I've been to a lot of shows, both in the crowd and on the stage. I've seen a lot of horrible bands and an alarmingly small number of amazing bands; experienced a few assholes but met so many genuine and amazing people; and I swear that I've seen a generation come and go, just from watching the crowds. I wouldn't trade any of those nights at shows or the days listening to a new record or CD with friends for anything in the world. Punk rock, from that first step into St. Charbel's Hall, has become something of a lifestyle to me...at the very least, it's become a way of thinking. For years I had never really thought about why I liked punk rock so much and chose to be in "the scene". I think a lot of that had to do with maturity or, in this case, lack of it. Going to punk shows, hanging out with other kids that were into the music, and being in a band were, to a large extent, a good reason to get away from my parents. And so they should have been. There was never a thought-out reason behind my interest in punk rock and its community. It was simply a way to get away from the household. I realize now, however, that it was that lack of maturity, that need to get away from my parents, that ultimately helped me mature and get through adolescence relatively unscathed. But now, as I get older and older by the year and as the faces that I see at shows get younger and younger, I find myself questioning what exactly it is that I have found in punk music and culture that has kept me in its grips for so long. ------------- "This is what I call life. I will savor every moment." - Amber Inn In the spring of 1996, I was living with a good friend of mine who just happened at the time to be running a distribution label called 2%. I found myself living in an apartment full of amazing records of bands from all around the world. All the time that I should have spent studying for my courses in university (realistically, I should say "going to my classes" as well) I spent listening to record upon record of new and exciting music. Previously, in the summer of 1995, the singer at the time in my band had forced me to come to his girlfriend's apartment and listen to a new record that he had bought. So we sat and listened to a 7" record by a band named Amber Inn from Sacramento, California. I was speechless. It was like nothing that I had ever heard before. So, seven months later, I was surrounded by hundreds of other records just as amazing. As I listened to more and more of these records, and paid attention to what the bands had to say, it was then that I began to realize what it was that I found so electrifying and addictive about punk rock: it made me think. So maybe, I thought to myself, all of those missed university classes weren't really such a loss after all. Punk rock and its ensuing culture, since its very inception and beginnings, has always been about addressing issues, whether they be personal, political, or social issues (as often was the case at the time of the punk rock explosion in England). Ultimately, to address something (and here I might add, to address something "intelligently") is to think about it. I guess that I had realized that this was the nature of punk rock long before, but I never really fully understood that realization, that nature, of the music. As I listened to more and more of the almost limitless supply of hardcore and punk bands that I had access to, it became more and more clear in my mind that that truly was what punk rock was all about. In between the fits of pessimism and criticism of how things really are and the uplifting optimism of how things should be, I found (and still find) an indescribable energy. It is the energy to make the listener consider what is trying to be said or conveyed...not to take it for face value, but to honestly think it out. It is the energy that so few charismatic public speakers possess: the ability to make people think, rather than just follow. It is the energy that allows and, perhaps most importantly, prompts choices. ------------- "We are presented with grave words and values almost from the cradle: 'good' and 'evil' this gift is called. For its sake we are forgiven for living." - Friederich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Pt. 3 In the late 1800's the German philosopher Friederich Nietzsche wrote of what he saw as the necessary re-valuation (or re-positing) of all values. Simply put, Nietzsche argued that there was no objective or universal "good" or "bad" that all human values conform to. That which is "good" and that which is "bad" must, ultimately, be determined by the individual. "By many ways, in many ways, I reached my truth: it was not on one ladder that I climbed to the height where my eye roams over my distance. And it was only reluctantly that I ever inquired about the way: that always offended my taste. I preferred to question and try out the ways themselves." (Thus Spoke Zarathustra Pt. 3) Thus, to find the truth we must learn not always to follow but to often walk alone and break trail where no one has walked before. To inquire into truth is often not peaceful or beautiful; more often than not it is toilsome and ugly as it forces us to question our previous beliefs. For Nietzsche, although we all have the possibility of becoming creators, it is up to each and every one of us to make that decision to become so. In creating, in re-evaluating the traditional values and mores that have been given to us from birth, we hold in our hands not only the power to change our own individual lives but also the power to give "the earth its meaning and its future." (Thus Spoke Zarathustra Pt. 3) In order to truly live, we must be willing to create. "Creation", in this sense, is to be able to say, "This decision, this way of doing such-and-such, is mine." It suggests not only a certain independence in the arrival at a certain way of being and/or thinking, but also suggests a certain degree of accountability. Punk rock, I would like to think, by its very nature prompts us to create. In bringing certain issues to the forefront, to the listener, it calls us to consider what is being said. It brings the traditional words and values of our present way of being into question. It does not lead the way; rather, it brings us to our feet. It does not forgive us for living (like so many lamenting and melancholic pop songs I hear on the radio at work); rather, it calls us to live -- to create for ourselves. It is the spark that ignites the inferno. -------------- In closing: would he have lived another century or so I don’t think that Nietzsche would have liked punk rock or hardcore a whole lot. In fact, he’d probably despise the way it sounds. But I’d like to think that he would, at the very least, admire its character ------------- Trip Lewis is 27 years old and lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He does not read, write, nor use his brain nearly enough anymore. He holds a BA in Philosophy, thus making it currently necessary to work as a gymnastics coach for a living. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT FISTFUL OF BEES SUBSCRIPTIONS: Fistful of Bees comes out at the beginning of every month, or whenever I get around to it. You can subscribe via email by sending a message to fistfulofbees@hotmail.com with "subscribe" as the subject. Similarly, if you want to be removed from the subscribers list, send an email to the same address with "remove" as the subject. You can also view individual issues of FoB at this address: http://www.geocities.com/fistfulofbees/zine.html SUBMISSIONS: I'll put just about anything in FoB -- except poetry. Save it for your English teacher. Send your submission to fistfulofbees@hotmail.com either embedded in the message or as a .txt file. 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