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the evolution from these two poles was gradual. There was a place in-between
when
The Decline of Western Civilization
was “just right” for me. I was ready
for questions it asked and the answers it gave. The film contributed to my own
evolution of consciousness about youth culture at different moments in time.
But the documents in that film are precious and unique. They cannot be-
long to another film without being taken out of context. How can Spheeris'
film,
The Decline
, evolve without it being remade? Should it evolve? Or should
it forever be a document symbolizing the ideas of those individuals of that
time? If it were to be remade, could we save the original version so that we
might compare and see the evolution? If we were to construct a mechanism
that could integrate new content and accommodate an evolving author and
audience, are we not creating a “context-controlled event-world”? New Media
artist and theorist Peter Weibel describes the possibilities (Weibel 1997: 348):
Another aspect of the variable virtual image is caused by the dynamic prop-
erties of its immanent system. As the system itself is just as variable it will
behave like a living organism. It is able to react to the context-generated input,
altering its own state and adapting its output accordingly.
Weibel continues his discussion by describing three specific characteristic ele-
ments of the digital image: virtuality (the way the information is saved), vari-
ability (of the image's object), and viability (as displayed by the behavioral pat-
terns of the image) (Weibel 1997: 348). All three characteristics describe ways
in which the image - and here I mean the cinematic, documentary image -
changes. Hence the digital imaging system becomes a clear solution in the quest
to find a medium that will represent change - in my case the evolution of youth
culture as subject, youth culture as spectator, and ultimately, youth culture as
author (myself and those who come after).
The use of the database as a creative medium is well argued by Manovich
(Manovich 1997: 86):
In general, creating a work in new media can be understood as the construc-
tion of an interface to a database. . . The database becomes the center of the
creative process in the computer age.
I not only choose the database to achieve my creative objectives, I also feel as
much commitment to providing a socializing experience. Sherry Turkle de-
scribes her work with young people in Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs). She
surmised that networked gaming was a use of the computer and its correlated
technologies not only “for thinking things through [but also for] working out
personal concerns.” (Turkle 1997: 356)
