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The Yippies´ Role In Media

The Yippies and their role in media exemplified on Do it! by Jerry Rubin

1. Introduction

Reading Jerry Rubin´s Do it! I questioned myself what is the message he wants to convey to his readership. Jerry Rubin was one of the co-founders of the Yippies that is why the Yippies as a countercultural movement will be regarded in general first.
I was especially curious to do research on the type of media that covers almost every single page of the book. An overview of the different types of media demonstrates that Jerry Rubin cooperated with Quentin Fiore who was responsible for the design of Do it!. The following analysis of a representative photo collage outlines insights into miscellaneous important matters of the Yippies that represent most of the current issues of the 1960s. Politically and socially a motive force of countercultural movements was present in the past who affected significantly the ongoing development of the United States. Due to the lack of space and time only one type of media (a photo collage) can be viewed in detail and from which will be reasoned by analogy.
Next I will highlight what makes the design of Do it! revolutionary to the 1960s/ 1970s and present impulses for interpretations. An important key factor displays the commercialization of television sets in the American households and its impact on the current society.
Which messages Jerry Rubin (and Quentin Fiore) intended to convey in Do it! will be analyzed in great detail and length in the last chapter. My investigations lead also to Marshall McLuhan´s media theories which will be briefly discussed.

2. The Yippies

The "Youth International Party" whose adherents named themselves "Yippies" were established around 1966 in the United States. This party represented one sample of countercultural movements back in 1960s - a time of anti-war movements and offshoot of the free speech movement. Other prominent movements were the Students for a Democratic Society and the Black...