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Susan Sontag's 'Notes On Camp'

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Camp is an aesthetic style that has long fascinated artists, writers, and cultural critics. In her essay "Notes on Camp," Susan Sontag argues that Camp is an apolitical sensibility, one that is defined by a love of the artificial, the exaggerated, and the outrageous. However, camp has become political over time due to it allowing the LGBTQ+ community to become mainstream, to break the boundaries of what is considered “normal” and “acceptable”, and to unfortunately marginalize groups of people. Canadian Filmmaker Bruce LaBruce argues that despite the fact that camp was originally intended for all audiences, it has transformed over time into a tool that was used for the LGBTQ community. In paragraph nine of Notes on Camp/Anticamp, LaBruce …show more content…

He claims that this new form of camp lacks the sophistication and secret signification that was once characteristic of camp, and instead is a crude spectacle used to mock and deceive the masses (LaBruce p.11). In doing so, LaBruce asserts that camp has become increasingly tied to politics, with some conservatives even using it as a tool to undermine the LGBTQ+ community. LaBruce best describes conservative camp as “a crude spectacle that mocks the unwashed masses by pretending to be one of them while simultaneously offering them policies that are directly antithetical to their authentic needs” (LaBruce p.10). LaBruce argues that camp was something in which the queer community once took pride in, but as camp rose to a mainstream level, it has become a device used for deception. Gareth Cook has a similar take on camp like LaBruce, however, Cook states that camp has been used as a tool to marginalize every group of people, without a majority of people taking offense to it. Cook uses the example of poor white Americans on Page two of his work The Dark side of Camp. A college student said to him “…we're going to go to one of those `monster track shows…We were all going to wear NASCAR T-shirts…and we'd get baseball caps with mesh backs and something like `NAPA Auto Parts' written on it. Or `Black & Decker.' Or `Caterpillar.'” The “white trash” stereotype is one that a majority of individuals have no issue with, despite it being deeply problematic and offensive, as it reinforces harmful stereotypes and stigmatizes marginalized

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Stories from the Civil War often are told from a man's perspective and rarely from a woman's point of view. In 1902, Susie King Taylor wrote her memoir, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops Late 1st S. C. Volunteers, to explain her role in the war as a wife to a soldier, the regiments' laundress, a teacher, and a nurse. Taylor is famously known for being the first black nurse during the Civil War, but her memoir gives historians a closer look at her life and multiple roles during the war. In 1848, Taylor was born into slavery in Savannah, Georgia.

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This relates to the theme because although they are in a camp they still sometimes get the essentials

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Levine made lifelong Jewish friends that “50 years later still laugh and endlessly reminisce about various escapades,” speaking Hebrew within the camp, and participating in “Maccabiah,” to name just a few examples. Regarding fears of Jewish intermarriage, many Jewish camps encouraged (or at least did not prohibit) “hooking up” among campers and counselors. At Massad, Levine experienced that “First-year counselors– who were essentially living together (in separate cabins, of course) were attracted to each

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The story Camp Harmony by Monica Stone is about a young Japanese American girl that writes about her and her family's adaption so far at Camp Harmony. The girl and her family sat on the bus quietly only hearing a chatter from a group of university students who began to sing college songs. Some of the other people on the bus stared angrily at the group of students which caused them to raise their voices only to wake a baby up. At noon, the bus had arrived to a small town. Some of the passengers were excited to see what it looked like and others just commented on what they had thought about it.

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To convey this attitude, Wittman relies heavily on diction that carries the same critical tone. He does this through the repeated usage of vulgar phrases such as, “ f---ed-up.” Other than the obscenities, Wittman uses words with extremely negative connotations, such as “garbage,” “imprisoned,” “rotten,” and “oppressive.” Wittman primarily uses these words when discussing what straight people have imposed on queer people. In the introduction to his manifesto, Wittman identifies his goal for the queer community as: “to free ourselves; that means clearing our heads of the garbage that's been poured into them” (Wittman 1970).

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Although, not all aspects of these camps were as ‘holy’ and pure as one would imagine. Those who acted out of line, drinking and being rowdy, were “struck down” by the pulpit. Even still, the camper’s intentions were good, fostering the rural societies to raise morals, improve lifestyle, and ended up heavily affecting the South. In the North, reformist tendencies were more evident, forming of societies devoted to the redemption of the human race.

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Stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a group of people as opposed to misconceptions which are views or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty information. The two terms are relatively coined together, but it is crucial to note that stereotypes are exaggerated truths whereas misconceptions are untruths. The false assumptions misrepresent homeless people and paint a poor image of them. However, in some cases, these stereotypes aren’t exaggerated at all, rather they are accurate depictions of certain homeless people. Personal interviews with the homeless reveal the struggles of living alone.

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In Sociology, stereotypes are described as "pictures in our heads" that we do not acquire through personal experience. I believe that stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. As well justification for dehumanizing minorities. Such as Black women are "Mammy", "Welfare Mothers", "Uneducated", " Inferior", and "Poor". White women are "Pure", "Desirable", "Affluent" and "Superior".

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The historical memoir of Richard Wright, Black Boy, frequently used motifs to demonstrate a common theme. The most prominent one was hunger, which represented the need for food and the eagerness to escape the restraints of the segregated South. During the early to mid 90’s, the southern United States was in a time period of severe prejudices, which promoted violence and inequality against the African Americans. In effect to this, Richard was always desperately hungry throughout his childhood, both literally and figuratively. For African Americans of this time period, employment was hard to come by and paid next to nothing.

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The 1960’s was truly an age of reform and revolution that set the stage for Susan Sontag 's, “Notes on ‘Camp,’” published in 1964. The decade saw the emergence of large scale political campaigns aiming to increase opportunities for all people, such as the Civil Rights movement. Some reformers demanded social change and denounced capitalism in order to create a counterculture encouraging self-exploration and fulfillment, often involving sex positivity, drug use and communal living. To counter some of these liberal movements the modern conservative movement was born with the ideals later reflected in the Reagan era. Additionally, 1960’s America saw a the development of several new forms of art such as Op art (or Optical art), Pop art, Performance

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Camp C was to be assailed by Sato and most of the forces from the south, his daughter Akemi was by his side. Sato thought it was so he could keep an eye on his daughter, but Akemi knew the real reason was because she'd wanted to keep an eye on him. Her father had chosen a straight forward approach to his assignment, he rode boldly forward with Akemi by his side, straight into the camp they rode, while his forces waited motionless and silent. The slaves stepped to the side and let them pass, they rode on until they reined their horses to a stop in front of the snorpian triad.

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