Reaction to documentary, Style Wars

Style Wars is a film from the 80's that explores the world of graffiti. Examples of questions that were answered are, what is graffiti all about? What is the local community's reaction? And who participates in this practice? According to the film, tagging or bombing is a way of getting your name out in the world. Either you adopt your own name, or someone gives you one and then you take it and make something with it. Kids found the need to take their names, personalize and stylize them, and post them where the rest of the world would find and learn these names. The kids who graffitied in the film were all teenagers who appeared to live in low-income areas in New York City. As graffiti is illegal, for some artists it is about being angry with the system for living in poverty; however, the film did not attach this intention with tagging. In fact, the kids were even willing to work with authorities by attempting to legalize graffiti. They wanted to provide the community with art for free. Their offer was rejected.

Today, their is a huge movement for eco art, or the art of engaging and interacting with communities to encourage awareness of the environment. It appears that the graffiti kids from the 80's were a part of this movement whether they were aware of this or not. They worked together to spread art throughout their community, and in a way, represented their generation. These artists interacted with the white collar workers who took the subway to work by showing them another side by New York City. The fact that these artists were writing their names shows that they just wanted to make themselves known to the rest of the world, and become a part of the world. They may not have unified the white and blue collars within the urban community, but these kids did get people with different backgrounds to recognize each other. While graffiti is sometimes done out of anger, this film portrayed it as a way for kids to rebel while still attempting to join the world by getting their names known.