PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
For this assignment, I made a zine reflecting on the social issues present in the movie, They Live. The movie brings in many symbolic references to consumerism/capitalism in America and the division between the upper and lower class. I chose to incorporate these symbols into the zine in a way which even those who haven’t seen the movie could understand, by adding captions of description for each symbol which are still relevant even today even though the movie was set in the 80’s. For example, the gun for gun control, police badge for police brutality, and the television for fake news. I also incorporated a map of the chain of consumerism, to clearer illustrate to the viewer the process in which the lower class is being manipulated by the rich in order for them to make more profit. I also chose to present an upper class alien, as seen in the movie, as the cover and a lower class worker as the back of the zine to tie in the main message of the movie, being ‘They Live, We Sleep.‘ The last 2 pages are advertisements from the 80’s as advertising is a theme throughout the movie which is used to blind the lower class from the realities of consumerism. As far as the aesthetic qualities, I chose to stick to a static theme, as the zine is meant to be representative of a PSA that would have been distributed to spread awareness to people at the time. This is why I stuck to black and white, as I wanted it to look like something low-budget and easy to reproduce.
MATERIALS USED:
Adobe Photoshop
Cardstock Paper
ROUGH DRAFT AND PROCESS PHOTOS:
REFLECTION:
I’m very pleased with the way this project turned out and I think it was a good exercise for me to make art that makes a political/social statement rather than just being about a personal message. The zine was received well by my peers who noted the clean composition and cohesiveness of the piece overall. They liked that I made if from the perspective of the time period, being the 80’s, rather than the present day as it made the issue feel more true to the movie. The process of making the zine was fun and challenging and caused me to improve my photoshop skills and also to learn how the layout for printing booklets is configured. I will definitely be making more zines in the future.
