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

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theatre. Many initial media reports describe flash mobs in terms of performance, forexample, as “quirky entertainment” (Stewart par. 16), indebted to guerrilla theatre(Berens 112), or “anarchic mass performance art,” (Phil Miller 12), an “impromptuhuman art exhibit” (Hatton B1), and a “reality-checking 10-minute piece of performance”(“What’s” 12). The comparison to performance is apt. Flash mobs use the guerrillatheatre tactic of rapid set-up and dispersal. Incongruous actions like twirling through anintersection (San Francisco), raising a glass to toast “Natasha” (Berlin), or dancing in thestreet (Bombay), take on aesthetic value when performed in public spaces used for otherpurposes. The performance form of the Happening similarly draws attention to everydayactions—such as pouring water into a bucket—as events that can be appreciated for theiraesthetic value. 80 At the same time, the apolitical nature of flash mobs echoedHappenings and other non-matrixed performances that emphasize structure over content.Without a clear social or political purpose, flash mobs were understood by the media asevents with some kind of cultural purpose.As a performance form, the flash mob includes many of the same elements as theYippies’ revolutionary action-theater. Like the Yippies’ performances, flash mobs takeplace in public spaces that are spacious enough for a large crowd and easily accessible:parks, parking lots, hotel lobbies, and street corners. Just like revolutionary action-theaterevents organized by the Yippies were meant to poke fun at the Establishment, flash mobscontain a sense of the carnivalesque. Both Yippies and flash mobbers reject inhibitions80 This example comes from an untitled performance event at Black Mountain College in 1952 (Goldberg126).214
and social conventions: flash mobs stop traffic with pedestrians twirling with abandon inan intersection, or turn hipsters into children playing “duck duck goose” in public parks.The element of play in flash mobs hearkens back to the ludic nature of the Yippiemovement and its tongue-in-cheek slogans like “abandon the creeping meatball!” or theYip-In’s call for roller-skating in Grand Central Terminal.The flash mob also echoes the Yippies’ revolutionary action-theater in its relianceon network organizing. Similar to the Yippies who answered the call of the Chicagoposter, or Yip-In leaflets circulated around the Lower East Side, flash mob actorsparticipate in the events because they are part of a network that facilitates communicationand connection between its nodes. The Yippies relied on their connections with otheractivist groups, such as Mobe and SDS, as well as their hippie connections, to create andcoordinate large crowds at revolutionary action-theater events. For example, at theFestival of Life Abbie Hoffman planned and networked with other activists by means ofwalkie-talkies (McDarrah 25). “Bill” had the advantage of technology that could reachmore people: he used his email forwarding function to spread word of flash mobs throughhis own social network, then relied on individual nodes in that network to send theinformation further across the Web. When news of the Macy’s flash mob appeared onwebsites such as Sean Savage’s Cheesebikini? blog, readers in London, Minneapolis, SanFrancisco, Tokyo, and Kansas City all posted comments about upcoming flash mobs intheir own geographic area (“Upcoming” comment section). The immediacy of theelectronic network allowed word of flash mobs to spread widely very quickly, and thisresulted in dozens of flash mob events with thousands of participants.215
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CopyrightbySusanne Elizabeth Shawye
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Radical Street Theatre and the Yipp
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Kokai, Olivia Whitmer O’Hare, Tam
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organizational strategies of the an
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IntroductionThe Chicago Poster:Cont
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adical hipsters, or counterculture
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linguistic theory, the field of per
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The language of performance thus al
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protest from theatre. 8 Mass demons
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performative has the potential to e
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evolution using methodological and
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Realist, suddenly noticed that when
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Revolution for the Hell of It is a
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The Yippies’ politics are clear i
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2). They embraced a romantic notion
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made up of many separate organizati
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and a free store on the Lower East
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When they formed the Youth Internat
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Most of the dozen core Yippies were
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acknowledgment that her business sk
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The claim of millions of Yippies wa
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Man to tease out the New Left’s n
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eports from the popular press, test
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Image of Yippie Chicago poster.47
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surround the Pentagon are a long wa
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the Conference for New Politics in
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Washington was no stranger to mass
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uilding in acts of civil disobedien
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had a history of civil disobedience
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the crowd into affinity groups by m
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Like Abbie Hoffman, Rubin was aware
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Krishna” and “Om” to their re
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Pentagon began its work for the wee
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A respectable horde of respectable
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that time was still expected to see
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It didn’t matter if there was dis
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democratic political-economic and c
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social activist Malcolm X, Communis
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The aesthetic of the New Left now t
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straight-laced emphasis on communit
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Unlike the young student politician
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on the improvised actions of variou
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society” by changing, not ignorin
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similar to the very same ones used
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scenery falls. The Yippies loved th
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unrest by the lower ranks of societ
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Don’t rely on words. Words are th
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writing to President Johnson from V
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wasn’t just their situation that
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freshly-shorn young men in army uni
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I also argue that blurring of life
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Armed with a budget of just $15.00
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ounced through the air above the cr
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they ran into again in Chicago when
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Yip-In moved into an unexpected sec
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Yippies had been publishing manifes
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experimental works. Like other New
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not Broadway, was the venue for pla
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adicalism of Off-Off-Broadway conte
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theater, and including it on their
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environment that pays special atten
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meaning or appreciate the aesthetic
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Since Happenings emerged from New Y
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that contrasted visual peaceful pro
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prominence of ordinary actions and
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The costumes of the Yip-In particip
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ecruit, several blocks from the hip
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free stores, or crash pads. In 1969
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The hippies and Yippies also used m
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from their weekday Establishment re
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perform the power of authority and
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commuters the actions and dress tha
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emotion and hope, like the “utopi
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Chapter ThreeThe Festival of Life:
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Double (1938). The Yippies used the
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anti-war views, and movement leader
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Republican candidate Richard Nixon;
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death, it seemed like Humphrey was
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American politicians. We’ll infil
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named themselves the Youth Internat
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if necessary, Mobe was unable to ge
Page 171 and 172: ut the Yippies’ signs supported a
Page 173 and 174: craze, offering a special section o
Page 175 and 176: efforts to bring performances to th
Page 177 and 178: commentary in the East Village Othe
Page 179 and 180: which Hoffman designated as ‘medi
Page 181 and 182: already in Chicago, and prepared to
Page 183 and 184: Even though many of the demonstrato
Page 185 and 186: with a fire-cracker throwing crowd
Page 187 and 188: Hilton to interview passing delegat
Page 189 and 190: political positions, merged to form
Page 191 and 192: protest against the order, rules, a
Page 193 and 194: experience the performance event wi
Page 195 and 196: The Battle of Michigan Avenue was a
Page 197 and 198: “It would take an inspired Artaud
Page 199 and 200: The letters in the Johnson Library
Page 201 and 202: watching” (Box 66). Korean War ve
Page 203 and 204: members who felt that the Yippies g
Page 205 and 206: Dismayed by his lack of action abou
Page 207 and 208: night of the Battle of Michigan Ave
Page 209 and 210: Chapter FourFlash Mobs: The Yippie
Page 211 and 212: that is, they were political only t
Page 213 and 214: as their primary political and cult
Page 215 and 216: 1969, “Four Days of Rage” campa
Page 217 and 218: The Festival of Life and the ensuin
Page 219 and 220: The Yippies’ revolutionary action
Page 221: Glasgow, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Sydn
Page 225 and 226: social behaviors, and the technolog
Page 227 and 228: organized by anyone with access to
Page 229 and 230: advantage of the dramaturgy of prot
Page 231 and 232: Yet the insider/outsider dynamic of
Page 233 and 234: List of AbbreviationsCOREFBIHUACLBJ
Page 235 and 236: Letter, Roger Light to the Presiden
Page 237 and 238: Telegram, Marjorie Satthoff to the
Page 239 and 240: Brown, Joe David, ed. The Hippies.
Page 241 and 242: Editorial. Chicago Tribune. 29 Aug.
Page 243 and 244: Higgins, Dick. “The Origin of the
Page 245 and 246: Karastamatis, John. “Don’t Star
Page 247 and 248: McMillian, John. “Garbage Guerril
Page 249 and 250: Rosenberg, Bernard. “Chicago: Blo
Page 251 and 252: Stewart, M. J. F. and Davis, Lisa.
Page 253: VITASusanne Elizabeth Shawyer was b
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