Neon Tribe: Shamanism in the Digital Age

One of the things that has fascinated me recently is the re-emergence of the tribal aesthetic, in fashion, design and film. Not tribal as in terrible tattoos, but tribal in the sense of the tribe—be that North and South American, Scandanavian, Celtic...

You get the idea. What is interesting is that this return to the tribal aesthetic ignores Polynesian and Asian tribes, the very groups that are traditionally venerated via their appearance in the aforementioned tattoos. Additionally, this swing towards the tribal seems to focus on the shamanistic, spiritual and mythical elements located within the broader mythologies attached to these tribes.

What is certain is that this trend is a definite homogenisation of tribal culture—by simply appropriating various, discrete aesthetic elements, and combining those with other 'high-tech' artefacts, we remove any implied cultural meanings present within the imagery, replacing them with our own. Inevitably there will be some removal of meaning in this sort of appropriation—I am not attempting to argue that this sort of trend should understand all that it is referencing, for there is little chance of this occurring—but as the aesthetic industries continue their search for inspiration ever backwards, it seems prudent to examine some of those influences, and the reasons for their contemporary use.

I think there's a number of discrete factors that are involved in this revival. Firstly, as the metropolis extends its implacable reach, there is a concern that Western civilisation has become increasingly separated from its tribal roots. This may seem obvious—and is certainly not news to the post-modernists out there, or even our friends, the proto-modernists, with their obsessive musings on the nature of the noble savage. And, of course, it is an incredibly ethnocentric way of viewing the world—what culture is still strongly tied to the traditions it held thousands of years ago and has adopted the technological advancements of our contemporary era?1I would argue none. For a later post, perhaps. What is interesting is that there seems to be an emergent backswing against rationalism in much of Western culture—and as saddening as that is, it is in part a reality of post-modern thought, whereby we have relative 'truths' instead of a unified, objective 'truth'. Even the need for me to place truth within quotation marks speaks volumes about the impact that this sort of thinking has had on our culture. This neo-tribalism can be seen as a small, emergent part of this broader post-modernist cultural movement.

Secondly, this tribalism follows the oft cited fashion cycle, whereby something once a faux pas is adopted as the height of the current aesthetic. If we look at the way the 'influencers' are adopting this style, we can see the beginnings of the movements that drove the adoption of 70s and 80s aesthetics in the early part of this decade. One may get the sense that, similar to these earlier adoptions, there is little intent or meaning behind this tribal style. It could be argued that, as with all things 'hipster', it is merely surface, a visually engaging façade laid over the cultural, political and economic vacuum in which we find ourselves. We only need to look at the use of transcendent triangles throughout style based design, and their overt reference to the all-seeing-eye, to see the adoption of religious symbolism without the religion. The profusion of Día de los Muertos imagery, with its use of splendid fluorescence and geometries, tied in with it's celebration of the supernatural, is a perfect example.

While there is undoubtedly a limited amount which we can read into this appropriation, there are certain statements which it makes beyond mere fashionability. When the style is worn by someone like Jónsi (of Icelandic band Sigur Rós), it implies that they are more connected with our base humanity, more able to express the raw emotion that they are seeking. This implied connection is really a restatement of the old, and disingenuous, 'noble savage' line of thinking. By implying a greater connection to our 'true' selves, we also imply that our contemporary selves are no longer able to understand our base humanity. This is not to deny the emotional impact of Jónsi's music—it is beautiful, moving and expressive. However the implication presented through his stage wear and associated material is that older human culture was somehow better, closer to our 'true' selves—classic romantic primitivism.

Jónsi, circa 2010

There seems to be a shift, led by the artists, performers and designers amongst them, towards a kind of shamanistic renaissance. I've written here before on artists like Fever Ray, who perhaps embody this trend at its peak. Jónsi can now be added to the list, with the styling for Go centred around a combination of tribal signifiers (feathers, braids, blow-painting) and modernist colour combinations. During their 2010 Australian tour, Karen O, of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, was more direct, sporting a geometrically-patterned poncho and a neon coloured headdress made of dozens of paper hands. The combination of imagery from two native cultures oppressed by white invaders (Native Americans2Interesting to note that the linked Google image searched revealed a decent number of young, white women wearing the headdress. and Aborginies) was perhaps unintentional, but striking nonetheless.

While it is easy to simply dismiss the stage wear of musicians as mere window dressing, the effect of these fashions is not to draw attention to the lead singer or the band—that attention is a given for the position, both physically and socially, that they find themselves in. No, I would argue that the effect of this dress is to heighten the intensity of feeling and drama attached to the music. By doing so, the dress ceases to function as mere signifier, devoid of actual meaning and content, and begins to function in a similar manner to that which it references. Namely, the concert becomes a contemporary ritual—a site of transcendence, where the energy of the group subsumes that of the individual.

"In many ways, the lifestyle promoted by hipsterdom is highly ritualized. Many of the party-goers who are subject to the photoblogger’s snapshots no doubt crawl out of bed the next afternoon and immediately re-experience the previous night’s debauchery."3Haddow, Douglas: 'Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization' in Adbusters, issue 79, July, 2008

Forewarning: the above-quoted article is full of judgements and harshness for the hipster lifestyle, and certainly conforms to that Adbusters stereotype of near cringeworthy cultural critique.4"If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we'd look like revolutionaries." Consider these eyes rolled.

Considering the death of churches—of religion—and the growth of removed personal interaction amongst this demographic, it is little surprise that concerts, fashion and socialising have become the new sites of ritual—they are all that this generation can relate to at a broad level.

This fashion/music/media led aesthetic may be the rendering of subconscious longing for the return of the supernatural. The by-product of our intelligence is that human beings are hard-coded to look for further meanings beyond the physical, day-to-day realities we normally face. In this instance, though they may not even fully be aware of it, the early adopters are in fact members of the neon tribe.
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