Subcultures as newer economies of re-signification.

From this week's readings, I was interested in the kinds of political affinities between diverse subcultural practices, and was thinking about how practices of retro-dressing could be compared with those of thrift-shopping. Both seem to proceed with a messing up of the logic of quick obsolescence that the capitalism-fashion nexus works with and perpetrates. I am particularly interested in the ways in which the practice of thrifting seemed to undo the rigid and limited typologies of commodities and consumers that first-order retailing imposes and structures demand, perception and consumption with. So the work of thrifting as a political practice seems akin to feminist media studies as well as subcultural studies in so far as the latter work by deconstructing monolithic notions of femininity, class, subjugation, protest and pleasure. And this might seem unconnected and may be a bit of a stretch, but I was also wondering if, in Mi Vida Loca, Ernesto's car is a signifier of his vertical, phallic and resistant power, as well as his desire for competing in the male exhibitionism of a car show; then the feminist collective initiative, the tussle over and staking of claim to it, as also being a kind of recycling and re-induction of the fetishized commodity into the feminine realm of domestic utility and feminine pleasure (doing laundry, as well as going out).
Silverman's brilliant explication of how exhibitionism is fundamental to the constitution of male subjectivity (and not just female) resonated with my understanding of the display and valence of bodies in Mi Vida Loca. While costumes of the characters were fairly conspicuous, I was intrigued by the adornation and styling of hair, and the plethora of styles that were on display with both male as well as female characters. Perhaps, these practices could be connected with a notion of care of the self even when living within financially straitened circumstances. I am also grappling with how naming is shown to work within the dynamics of this particular class and ethnic community of Echo Park. The nature of the names adopted by the characters at one level seem to express a disaffiliation with the individual proper names of mainstream white culture and a distinctive economy of individuation; and at another, the almost incantatory reference to each other as 'our home-boy' or 'our home-girl' seems to signal an equal desire for a collective identity, a shared sense of honor and responsibility. The unique and distinctive kinds of styling and self-identification seem to emerge in starker contrast within the homogenous precincts of Burger King and McDonald's.