By The Eyeopener Staff
“The GIANT sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.” Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.
The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because Giant has a Posse has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.
The Giant sticker seems mostly to be embraced by those who are (or at least want to seem to be) rebellious. Even though these people may not know the meaning of the sticker, they enjoy its slightly disruptive underground quality and wish to contribute to the furthering of its humorous and absurd presence which seems to somehow be anti-establishment/ social convention.”
Shepard Fairey, creator of the giant, 1990.
The Giant phenomenon turned into a massive cultural landmark, with over 450,000 stickers pasted acros the U.S. In 1999 Eyeopener photo editor Brian Stuparyk was astonished to find Los Angeles plastered with huge “Giant has a posse” posters.
Stuparyk first decided to apply “giant has a posse” to Ryerson after speaking with RyeSAC v.p. education Alex Lisman about the mysterious Students Against RyeSAC group. Lisman told Stuparyk that although SAR seemed to be picking up support, RyeSAC also had its own people. Hence, RyeSAC has a posse.
Carrying on from that, we tried to imagine who else has a posse on campus, or who should be obeyed.
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