History of graffiti

The Romans carved graffiti into their own walls and monuments, and examples of their work also exist in Egypt. The eruption of Vesuvius preserved graffiti carved on the walls of Pompeii, and they offer us a direct insight into street life: everyday Latin, insults, magic, love declarations, political consigns. In contrast to typical modern graffiti, alphabets and quotations from famous literature (especially the first line of Virgil's Aeneid) have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, either for the pleasure of the writer or to impress the passer-by with one's familiarity with letters and literature.

Nowadays, most of those who practice graffiti art wish to distance themselves from gang graffiti. Graffiti artists strive to improve their art, which constantly changes and progresses. Gang graffiti, on the other hand, functions to mark territorial boundaries, and therefore does not transcend a gang's neighborhood; in the eyes of lovers of graffiti-art, it does not presuppose artistic intent.

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or in the achievement of a political goal. There are some rules of graffiti: a) give a shape to something that doesn't have it: if there is a clean wall, tag it; b) only go over someone who lacks your skills; c) you cant write on churches or schools; d) if you don’t belong to a crew write a dot at the beginning and the end of your tag; e) if you are part of a crew write your tag and the name of your crew; f) there are no orthographic rules.

Crime or Art?

In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to teenagers. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed 'cool' or 'edgy' image. To back the campaign, 123 British MPs (including Prime Minister Tony Blair) signed a charter which stated: Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem.

Profession-oriented assignment

1. Act as a teacher. Suggest an adapted definition of a youth subculture to senior school pupils.

2. Work out the scheme of presentation of diverse youth subsultures in the form of diagram/table/questionnaire/… for senior pupils. Discuss the results of your work with your mates.

3. Organize a discussion as to whether graffiti is crime or art with senior school pupils. Prepare a list of questions and disputable statements or quotations that are supposed to help with the discussion. Present the list in class.

Autonomous work

1. Find some information about Rockers and comment on the role of music on the subculture formation and development and its intercourse with other youth subcultures.

2. Music is believed to be one of the most significant elements of a youth subculture. Make up a “map” of music preferences within various subcultures. Present the product in class and comment on it.

3. Make up a questionnaire on what youth subcultures are preferred by your fellow-students. Have 10 students interviewed. Process the obtained data and present the results in class.

4. Design a ‘clothes collection’ for a ‘fashion show’ “World of Youth”. Present your “collection” in class and give the necessary explanations.

5. Fill in the chart with information briefs and present your comment on differences between the popular subcultures.

Subculture	Music	Literature	Clothes	Living style
Punks
Graffiti
Goths
Hackers
Hippies
Rockers
Any other to your liking

Writing

Write a discursive essay “Youth subculture I/My Friend belong(s) to” (350 words) or “Ukraine’s Youth Cultures” (350 words).

Методичні рекомендації до проведення практичних занять за темами «Релігії світу» та «Молодіжні субкультури» модульного курсу основної іноземної мови (для студентів V курсу спеціальності 7.030502 "Мова та література" (англійська)

Укладач Лариса Bікторівна Деллалова