“LISTEN, I BEG YOU” CRIED THE SAVAGE, “LEND ME YOUR EARS” CO-FOUNDERS LETTER Spring 2015 One year on from its inception in a Bloomsbury café, SAVAGE Online has established itself at the forefront of UCLU’s creative publishing. We now proudly welcome you to our inaugural print issue. We have collated the best cultural commentators and artistic talents from London’s student scene. SAVAGE ISSUE #1 explores our capital’s conflicting utopian and dystopian characteristics. SAVAGE takes its name from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, wherein John the Savage observes a future dystopian London through eyes informed by Shakespeare. Like John the Savage, we believe that the arts enhance our experience of the world. 1 To this end, we hope you find SAVAGE as thought provoking and entertaining as we have found the editorial process. All the best, Jessica and Lucy Lucy Feibusch and Jessica Sammonds SAVAGE Co-Founders The Trans* Voice – by Lauren Bowes 4 Creative Survival – by Sophia Compton 8 Art, Sex and Zero Tolerance – by Zsofia Paulikovics 10 Death of the Disco Dancer – by Laurie Chen 14 Frank’s Mantra – by Tom Broadley 18 What the Fuck is Genre? – by Jan Kobal 21 2 The Anti-Hero Reinvented – by George Nott 22 The Vice of the Modern Audience – by Edie Jefferys 26 The Dangerous Image – by Marek Maj 30 “LISTEN, I BEG YOU” CRIED THE SAVAGE, “LEND ME YOUR EARS” 32 Bourdin: Art vs. Advert – by Lucy Scovell 34 On Brutalism – by Maddy Martin 38 Obedient Protests – by Charlie Macnamara 3 42 Reclaiming the Theatre – by Rebecca Bainbridge 44 Staging a Global Warning – by Rosie Hewitson 48 Writing Home – by Alastair Curtis 52 Suburbia’s Story – by Jessica Sammonds 54 Where’s Herland Now? – by Sorcha Hughes 58 The Pathetic Apocalypse - Lucy Feibusch JOURNAL THE TRANS* VOICE LAUREN BOWES ON OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CORRECTLY PORTRAY THOSE OF ALL GENDERS. Ladies, gentleman, and those of non-bi- the preferred terminology, there is still nary genders. 2014 was full of brilliant a distinct lack of trans* representation moments in which feminism and the gay and awareness in wider modern society. rights movement shone: Malala Yousafzai became the youngest ever winner of the Media coverage of trans* issues is lacking. Nobel Peace Prize; equal marriage acts But even when attempted, journalistic appeared worldwide, and hundreds of ce- representation of the trans* community lebrities declared their supportive stand- is not without problem. The misgender- points. Beyoncé, Lena Dunham, Emma ing of trans* people is common in jour- Watson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt pub- nalese and became particularly evident lically shared their feminist views, whilst in the 2013 media reports surrounding many other celebrities came out to the Chelsea Manning. Apparently confused media: Michael Sam made history as the as to how to address such a sensitive first openly gay NFL player, and Sam Smith personal issue, journalists threw around 4 revealed his Grammy-winning album to gender pronouns in a slapdash manner, be about the man who broke his heart. assuming that it didn’t really matter which These successes may have led you to be- they chose, considering Manning has lieve that we are finally doing enough, that used both herself. Misgendering, or gen- we have finally kicked the kyriarchy and der-neutralising someone like Manning, we are heading towards an all-accepting, who has explicitly requested a preferred utopian society. But there is a major is- pronoun, is not only plain rude, but im- sue that is yet to be fully grasped by the plies a rejection of their gender identity. mainstream media, and consequentially the general public. I am talking about the With the media seemingly deaf to these attention, or lack of, given to trans* rights. outright requests, it is no surprise that in the absence of a full-blown gender The term ‘trans*’ is not reserved exclu- walkthrough, journalists begin to spec- sively for transgender people, i.e. those ulate wildly. Recent reports of Bruce whose gender is the binary opposite of Jenner’s possible gender dysphoria have the sex they were assigned at birth. That little evidence to work with, other than little, all-important asterisk also includes apparent ‘sources’ directly connected those who do not assign themselves to the Jenner family. Similarly, reporters to either binary gender, whether this lost their minds over Angelina Jolie and means identifying as non-binary or gen- Brad Pitt’s parenting, after it emerged derqueer or, more specifically, agender, that their child had requested to be genderfluid or transsexual. Whatever called John rather than Shiloh. Articles “LISTEN, I BEG YOU” CRIED THE SAVAGE, “LEND ME YOUR EARS” were written suggesting that the fam- binary genders; we need to stop presum- ily were indulging their child’s whims, ing that every trans* person out there is claiming John was ‘too young’ to know miserable as the person they are, or feel the significance of identifying with a gen- they are ‘stuck in the wrong body’. Some der different to that assigned at birth people are perfectly happy with the body (though of course, eight years old is obvi- they have, but not with the gender we ously mature enough for him to firmly be assign them for our own piece of mind. female). Reports on both Bruce Jenner and John Jolie-Pitt seem to completely However, there is some evidence of ignore their respective autonomy. Jour- change. In Raigarh, India, a transgender nalists seemed to disregard the fact that woman named Madhu Bai Kinnar has neither wished to publically discuss their just become the first trans* person in the gender, nor come out as trans*. Their voic- country to be elected mayor. Laverne Cox es were erased in favour of speculation. was named Woman of the Year in 2014 and continues to appear on magazine cov- A tragic event of 2014 was the suicide of ers, in catwalk shows and on TV. The BBC Leelah Alcorn, a seventeen-year-old trans- is filming their first sitcom based around gender girl from Ohio. Leelah’s parents re- trans* issues, titled Boy Meets Girl. It fused to acknowledge her gender identity might not seem much, and it is certainly not even after her suicide, and in their Face- enough, but the world is showing promise. book announcement referred to Leelah 5 as Joshua, their ‘son’. The suicide note she Perhaps the biggest indicator of change for posted on Tumblr, in which she begged for the trans* community is Stonewall’s recent change on behalf of the trans* community, move to make their campaigns trans-in- was taken down by her parents. They not clusive. Although surprisingly overdue, it only rejected her identity but also attempt- is encouraging nonetheless. Significant ed to wipe her voice from the internet. progress was made for feminism and gay rights movements in 2014, and it is high The main issue that seems to resonate time that this success was extended to throughout each of these examples is a the trans* community. We need to listen lack of voice. The trans* community is to Leelah, and every other trans* voice fighting hard to be heard, and is met with out there. We need to keep giving these misgendering, censorship, discrimination people the voice they deserve. It is up to and ignorance. We need to stop enforcing us to keep the trans* conversation going. JOURNAL 6 “LISTEN, I BEG YOU” CRIED THE SAVAGE, “LEND ME YOUR EARS” 7 BY ALEX PULSFORD JOURNAL CREATIVE SURVIVAL IN MODERN LONDON SOPHIA COMPTON ON THE SPACES THAT ARE SAVING LONDON’S CRAFTSPEOPLE. It is difficult to decipher what is really hap- It seems natural to view shared studi- pening to London’s young craftspeople. os as microcosmic. They are small-scale In recent years, buying handmade, locally democracies in that their smooth run- and ethically sourced products has be- ning depends on cooperation. One day come a pastime for the trendy, working somebody may need to make a lot of Londoner. Luxury magazines are littered noise, and another somebody may need with praise for ‘this great new jewellery / quiet for concentration; these are issues textiles / ceramics start-up’, encouraging us that have to be solved collectively. Otis to support our city’s artists and small busi- Ingrams, who founded leather goods ness owners. But the reality of acquiring company Otzi, with business partner and practicing a craft in London is far more Max Hayter, sees the studio on Ridley challenging than gracing the pages of an Road as a micro New Orleans. He says it inner-city publication. The cost of living in thrives ‘on the huge variety of cultures, 8 London is excruciatingly high; consequent- languages and artistic peculiarities, ly, consumers are gravitating towards the creating a wonderful and vibrant mix’. cheaper, homogenised, mass-produced designs made available on the high street. Otzi’s beginnings were modest: Ingrams Studio space is limited and expensive. found himself unemployed and so start- ed learning how to work with leather by However, obstacles such as these can watching tutorials on YouTube, using an prove productive. The reality of a dystopi- awl (a tool for piercing holes in leather) an London has prompted the need for col- made out of a piece of wood and a nail taped lective studios: communal spaces in which together. Both he and Hayter struggled to artists of varied disciplines can work follow the ‘conventional’ career path they alongside one another. One such space is had expected after finishing degrees in on Ridley Road, Dalston – it sits above a Literature and Business respectively. Like Turkish supermarket on the first floor of many others, dissatisfaction with the op- an old factory building with immense in- tions available to London’s graduates led dustrial windows.