Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

that is, they were political only to a point—vague Leftists, they left the particulars ofpolitical strategy and philosophy up to the participants in their playful publicperformances. They also inserted a welcome levity into political affairs. In addition toensuring media attention, this humor worked as a McLuhanesque tool designed to drawattention to the pervasive media-dominated environment of capitalist culture. Humor alsodefended the Yippies against rational attack by Establishment authority figures: thepolice looked ridiculous as they wrestled with a squealing and wriggling Pigasus; HUAChearings seemed an absurd circus when Rubin arrived in ironic costume.Public performances were the hallmark of Yippie, rather than works of politicalphilosophy like SDS’ “Port Huron Statement.” The Yippies were theatre-makers. Using avariety of different performance styles and techniques they crafted their networkedparticipatory street performance form into mass demonstrations at the Yip-In and Festivalof Life. To create revolutionary action-theater, the Yippies drew on their embodiedcountercultural lifestyle. Then they added elements of the Happening, guerrilla theatre,and Theatre of Cruelty to frame their street demonstrations as performances. Demandingactive participation from their fellow activists, they required that all Yippies publiclychallenge their personal “creeping meatball” at these performances. They relied onnetwork organization to encourage participation from all factions of the New Left, thecounterculture, and the anti-war movement. The result was a performance form burstingwith multiple points of view, discontinuous actions, eruptions of conflict, and shiftingfocus—all the elements of Kershaw’s dramaturgy of protest. As news of these publicperformances spread across America, the Yippies hoped that their revolutionary action-203