Mashup as temporal amalgam: Time, taste, and textuality

Abstract

The mashup video is examined as a specific textual component of remix culture. Mashup videos represent one particular type of remix and require an intricate base of knowledge to understand and appreciate the complex reworking of textuality engendered by the form. The mashup video becomes a key symbol of the engaged 21st-century media creator because it speaks to a media-literate and active audience. If we are to particulate in a fully autonomous media environment as scholars and as practitioners of participatory media, then it behooves us to speak not just to the salience of the mashup through a particular methodology, but also with a Media Studies 2.0 knowledge base. The temporal fluidity of the mashup video is explored as it relates to the concept of social and cultural taste. Analyses of the mashup videos "Virgin O'Riley" (Mark Vidler), "Vogue" (Luminosity), and "The Grey Video" (Fauchere and Tinguely) show how mashup videos remix new genres of cultural activity.