Writing 2: Scales of Social Space

 In "No Dead Air! The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening,” Michael Bull introduces the concept of aesthetic colonization, which is this idea that individuals can curate their own personalized, stylized environments based on what they listen to. Bull (2005) states that "sound colonizes the listener but is also used to actively recreate and reconfigure the spaces of experiences" (pg. 350), suggesting that people who utilize music in their day-to-day walks are creating personalized soundscapes that reimagine and recompose their lived experiences. The iPod then becomes this tool that is used to create a personalized cinematic experience. While this is an important concept he brings up, he also critiques how iPods have an isolating tendency, commenting on how they change the way we move through an urban space and reshape the experience. I find this argument relatable, as music does give a sense of autonomy to the way we experience a space. However, this being said, Bull's critique is also important, as this type of personalized immersion can create a sense of distance from the shared public space. Being someone who often walks with headphones in, I can understand just how easy it is to slip away from the urban soundtrack as I curate my own experience, simultaneously experiencing that distance effect. 

Bull shows that iPod users find the city overwhelming or dull unless they add their own music. Their use of sound helps individuals create a personal narrative and add meaning to these spaces. This is a warranted assumption that he makes, as music changes the way we experience space, such as adding a moody backdrop and muting out loud noises. This being said, Bull also makes an implicit assumption that the city lacks meaning unless people add their own music to it. In contrast, Style Wars shows how graffiti artists actively change their environment to express their identities and stories, allowing them to express personal meaning in an outward way. Graffiti artists like Seen and others shown in the movie, actively add to the city using words and art, curating artistic words based in identities that connect to themselves. Each tag they create is more than a name, it's a piece of themselves. This helps them reclaim their space, suggesting that, similar to the implicit assumption from Bull's writing, the space lacks personal meaning to them unless they create something they can connect to. Although these two pieces are different, they both remind us that people find ways to make urban life more meaningful. 

References:

Bull, M. (2005). No dead air! The iPod and the culture of mobile listening. Leisure Studies, 24(4), 343–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/0261436052000330447

Style wars. (2011). In Films On Demand. Films Media Group. https://fod-infobase-com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=98097&xtid=50730