[Danger Mouse / The Grey Album / 2004] The Ideology Behind the Reflexive Mashup Contrary to popular understanding, Web Application Mashups are not remixes in the traditional sense. The reasons for this are partly ideological. (When I say ideological I do not refer to a simplistic notion of false consciousness, but rather ideology as something constantly contested in day to day material reality.) Let's take the music mashups considered so far. Their power lies in their spectacular aura; meaning that they are not validated by a particular function that they are supposed to deliver, but rather by the desires and wants that are brought out of the consumer who loves to be reminded of two or more songs for his/her enjoyment in leisure. Music has this power because it is marketed as a form of mass escapism. According to political economist Jacques Attali, the average person consumes music in order to wind down and find delight in the few spare moments of the everyday.21 Those who can, go to concerts, but most people are likely to enjoy music as recordings on CDs and MP3s. When they hear their favorite songs mashed up, it is very likely that they will really get excited and find pleasure in recognizing the compositions; their elation will help them cope with whatever stress they may have had throughout the day. At times they may be listening to mashups mixed live at a club while having a drink or simply be at home with friends. Musical mashups are Reflexive Remixes that never leave the spectacular realm. They support and promote the realm of entertainment and therefore find their power as forms of regression. But web application mashups function differently as we have already seen with Yahoo! Pipes. The reason for this is because web application mashups are developed with a purpose; this tendency for optimized functionality has pushed web application mashups to constantly access information from the originating sources: to constantly update data. They are (at least initially) proposed to serve as convenient and efficient forms to stay informed rather than to be entertained. It can be argued then that the notion of Mashups found in music culture is appropriated in the name of efficiency once such concept enters new media culture; this also changes the concept of a mashup drastically making it reflexive rather than regressive. The term reflexive here functions differently than how it functions in the Reflexive Remix. As previously defined, the Reflexive Remix demands that the viewer or user question everything that is presented, but this questioning stays in the aesthetic realm. The notion of reflexivity in a mashup implies that the user must be aware as to why such mashup is being accessed. This reflexivity in action in web applications moves beyond basic sampling to find its most efficiency with constant updating. So a Reflexive Mashup does not necessarily demand critical reflection, but rather practical awareness. Usability rules here, making allegory as encountered in other remixes incidental; allegory is pushed to the periphery. The validation of the Reflexive Mashup found in web applications does not acquire its cultural authority in popular recognition of pre-existing sources, but instead it is validated based on how well those sources are sampled in order to develop more efficient applications for online activity. This turns the Reflexive Mashup into a different object one which does not celebrate the originating sources, but if anything, subverts them. And because of this, the Reflexive Mashup is not a remix—that is if we keep in mind the definitions of remix put forward above; a web application mashup does not point back allegorically to pre-existing sources for validation, like Extended, Selective and Reflexive Remixes do; it merely uses them to develop a more efficient tool. Reflexive mashups are designed for efficiency and optimal use, not celebration or enjoyment of spectacular material. However, this does not mean that reflexive mashups cannot be used for spectacular entertainment. Youtube and Myspace are some of the most obvious manifestations influenced by mashup models in Web 2.0, where people are willing to tell their most intimate secrets for the sake of being noticed, and to (maybe even) become "media stars." One has to wonder how the concept of privacy may be redefined in these spaces. So, with this in mind, Pipes by Yahoo! may be used for a spectacular cause in the end; its foundation in functionality does not make it free it from the allegorical tendency that other forms of Remix are dependent on; however, this duality in purpose may be a hint as to the real possibilities that lie latent in emerging technologies, which can be tapped if one is critically aware of the creative potential of web 2.0. Sampling and the Reflexive Mashup Mashups, whether they are regressive or reflexive, are dependent on sampling. But sampling, as can be noticed from the various examples that have been discussed, begins to be supplanted by constant updating. What is to keep in mind is that some mashups do not "cite", but rather materially copy from a source. This is different for the constant updates found in Web 2.0 applications like Pipes by Yahoo! because such mashup is dynamically accessing information. In music, architecture, video and film as well as many other areas of the mainstream the source is sampled to become part of another source in form; while in more dynamic applications developed in web 2.0 the most effective mashups are updated constantly. The Remediative Mashup in music is regressive because it samples to present recorded information which immediately becomes meta information, meaning that the individual can then understand it at a meta-level, knowing it can be accessed in the same form over and over again—this recorded state is what makes theory and philosophical thinking possible. Because of its stability, the regressive mashup—which could be a building covered with an image publicizing a particular film, like the Transformers; or a cigarette box showing the image of a person with lung cancer, or two songs by disparate musical acts like Christina Aguilera and the Strokes—depends on the recorded signs that are mashed up: they are recorded to be repeated, accessed, or looked at perfectly over and over again. While the Reflexive Mashup in Web 2.0 no longer relies on sampling but instead on constant updating, making incidental not only the allegorical reference that validates the Regressive Mashup, but also pushing forward with a constant state of action toward constant reflection on what is being produced each time the mashup is accessed. The mashup being a mere instrument that can be manipulated for specific purposes can still be regressive; meaning that even when it updates itself constantly with new information, such information is futile if the person that is using the technology is not critical of the material being accessed. This means that we are in a time period when it is becoming more and more apparent that what is needed at all times is a constant critical state of reflection: constant updates, rather than expected samplings. And with a critical position, I conclude that the foregoing argument is that Reflexive Mashups are not remixes validated by allegory; if so, then, what are they? Naming what they are at this moment may not be as important as to realize that they point to a constructive rupture in the repetition of contemporary culture. |
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