Module File
Nathaniel Stevens
Task C: RESPONSE:
RESEARCH:
My response to the book was a really positive one. The content was something that I cared about a lot when I was younger and has been something that has been fading for years, that is to say that I was very politically active from my mid teens to my early twenties and was regularly at protests or singing anti capitalist songs, but have found myself out of the loop in recent years. This book helped me reconnect with positive actions, direct action and feeling more positive and motivated about positive political change.
Most of the zines that I have at home are either political or they are about punk / heavy music. I have a lot of zines about political actions, ideologies and theories, many of them are very instructional and give a brief but good insight into political movements or strategies. These can be very type heavy with little to no imagery. Along side those I have plenty of zines on bands or small comic books made as zines, these are much more creative with photos or illustrations. Both gave me a great basis for layout and content.
The book is all about politics and positive successful political actions that have happened over the last 50 years, what they changed and how they did it. I found it very inspiring and wanted to continue down the political route. The book was first published in 2004 with a revision in 2015. A lot had happened both from when the first publication was released (something that is acknowledged in the book) and even its second revision with added forward and afterward by the author. I wanted to make something that was more up to date and focussed on the political actions that had been happening in the recent past. With so much to choose from it was easy to find material. I also thought this would suit a zine format as they are more “of the moment� and new issues can be released more frequently then an entire book.
I did a lot of internet research on news stories regarding voting by the government, I also researched the topics that I wanted to include such as gay marriage.
I wanted the zine to be informative as well as inspiring and give people an opportunity to find out more and get involved if they wanted to.
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APPROACH: Many zines are black and white due to keeping reproduction costs down, however the brief asked for colour, so I want to use this as an opportunity to create the zine in a slightly more editorial magazine way. Short articles, bits of information, or personal stories accompanied by illustrations and perhaps a link to find out more information. I want the zine to be a personal, honest response to politics and the current political issues that I care about.
