In their re-assemblage of everyday objects into extreme statements of contempt for mass culture and its authority over society, the punks were able to create a visual identity in such rejection. Hebdige calls upon the example of punks, who utilized everyday household objects in their garish ensembles- lavatory chains, plastic bin-liners and safety pins were “taken out of their domestic ‘utility’ context and worn as gruesome ornaments” (Hebdige 1260). Hebdige emphasizes quite heavily the use of quotidian material objects as a means of creating an evocative subcultural style. I will start by explaining the merits of Hebdige’s definition of subculture, using this to compare Die Antwoord and convey the flaws in its attempt to represent the subculture of Zef.Īccording to Hebdige, the birth of a subculture must start with a crime against the mainstream culture, and end “in the construction of style, in a gesture of defiance and contempt” whose otherness possesses a specific significance, or meaning (1259). While the band does in many ways mirror the tendencies of 1970s punk, I argue that there are a number of key differences which ultimately place Die Antwoord more comfortably into the category of mass popular culture. In this essay, I will analyze whether the South African rap-rave musical group Die Antwoord, which claims to be a part of the Zef subcultural music movement, fits within Hebdige’s definition of subculture-or, if Die Antwoord’s Zef style is simply meaningless “graffiti” strewn across the walls of South African history (Hebdige 1259). In his highly logical, evidence-based classification of subculture, Hebdige requires that, in creating its rebellious “forms and rituals,” that clash so harshly with mass culture, a subcultural group must attempt to create an identity with the following: “the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of Refusal, the elevation of crime into art” (Hebdige 1259, 1258). In his work “Subculture: The Meaning of Style,” Dick Hebdige creates a working definition of the highly debated term ‘subculture,’ which he uses to analyze the British punk movement of the 1970s. She will be going into her “+1” year of the MA program this fall.

Julia chose to focus on Dick Hebdige’s “Subculture: The Meaning of Style” for her final paper, as she thought it succinctly highlighted a personal debate she was having with the ethics of one of her favorite bands, Die Antwoord. In this class they analyzed and debated different schools of literary theory and their significance in today’s literary landscape. She just finished her senior year of undergraduate studies cum laude at Tulane, and wrote this essay for the Fundamentals of Literary Theory graduate course she took with the program. Julia Engel is a participant in Tulane University’s 4+1 MA Program.

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