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Vice (magazine)

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Vice
File:Jan2009vice.jpg
January 2009 'The Universal Sadness Issue'
EditorJesse Pearson (U.S.)
Andy Capper (UK)
CategoriesLifestyle
FrequencyMonthly
Total circulation900,000 (worldwide)
80,000 (UK)[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Websitehttp://www.viceland.com
File:Vicelogo.PNG
Logo of the magazine

Vice is a free magazine and media conglomerate founded in Montreal, Quebec and currently based in New York City. The magazine covers contemporary indie and youth culture. Vice is known for its controversial content, and often strikes a sardonic and ironic pose on debauchery, sex, drugs, violence, crime, and social issues involving race and economic class.

Vice is available in 16 countries. Editions are published in Canada, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria ,Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is free and supports itself primarily through advertising. The current editor is Jesse Pearson in the U.S. and Andy Capper in the UK.

History

Founded by Suroosh Alvi, Shane Smith, and Gavin McInnes, it was launched as the Voice of Montreal in 1994 with government funding to provide work and a community service.[2] When the editors wanted to break free of their commitments with the original publisher, Alix Laurent, they bought him out and changed the name to Vice in 1996. In search of more streetwear advertising income, they moved to New York City in 1999. Today, the magazine has over 900,000 readers across 22 different countries.[3]

Content

Vice's content has shifted from dealing mostly with independent arts and pop cultural matters to covering more serious news topics, although both are often treated with the same spirit of blithe and caustic irreverence. Vice has championed the "Immersionist" school of journalism, which it regards as something of a DIY antithesis to the big-office methods practiced by traditional news outlets, and has published an entire issue composed of articles written in this manner. There have also been issues of the magazine wholly dedicated to concerns facing Iraqi people,[4][5] Native Americans,[6] Russian people,[7] people with mental disorders,[8] and people with mental disabilities.[9] Vice also publishes an annual guide for students in the UK.[10]

In 2007, Vice announced: "After umpteen years of putting out what amounted to a reference book every month, we started to get bored with it. Besides, too many other magazines have ripped it and started doing their own lame take on themes. So we're going to do some issues, starting now, that have whatever we feel like putting in them."[11]

Dos and Don'ts

The magazine's "DOs and DON'Ts" feature displays candid photographs of strangers in public places accompanied by commentary either ridiculing or praising the fashion and perceived sensibility of the people in the photos. Some DOs and DON'Ts do not seriously address fashion, but merely couple the photos with humorous commentary. The idea has also been spun off into a book, and has been imitated by other publications. In February 2009, prompted by a similar column in Glamour called "Dudes and Don'ts", a Vice blog entry announced the imminent end of the feature.[12] However, it has so far continued.

Controversy

Articles such as The Vice Guide to Shagging Muslims and Bukkake On My Face: Welcome to the Ancient Tradition of the Japanese Facial have precipitated the magazine being banned from a number of university campuses. The VICE Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll was banned from some bookstores in 2003.[13]

Vice has also been accused of using irony to conceal reactionary politics and to promote conservative, racist, and sexist attitudes.[14][15][16][17] In August 2003, Vice cofounder Gavin McInnes wrote a piece in The American Conservative entitled "Hip to Be Square: It’s getting cooler to be conservative".

McInnes' views on immigration have generated controversy. In a September 2003 interview with The New York Times, McInnes stated, "I love being white and I think it's something to be very proud of." He also remarked, "I don't want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life." McInnes has since said that the interview was a prank on the young fashion journalist who wrote the piece.[18]

Later, responding to the controversy, McInnes stated that "baby boomer media like The [New York] Times is a laughing stock, and we should do whatever we can to ridicule it".[18]

Politics

In a March 2008 interview with The Guardian, Shane Smith (co-founder) was questioned about the magazine's political allegiances: "We're not trying to say anything politically in a paradigmatic left/right way...We don't do that because we don't believe in either side. Are my politics Democrat or Republican? I think both are horrific. And it doesn't matter anyway. Money runs America; money runs everywhere."[2]

Photography

Vice is well known for publishing and using some of the best young and up and coming photographers[citation needed], and big names across the states and Europe, starting the career for many. These have included Terry Richardson, Richard Kern, Jamie Warren, Jerry Hsu, Ben Raynor, Naughty James and Patrick O’Dell.

Vice is characterised by an irreverent style of photography. Examples of subjects have been ex-convicts showing how to make a shiv-proof vest out of magazines or malnourished Bangladeshi children posing for a fashion shoot.

Fiction

Vice has published three annual fiction issues. Notable inclusions include interviews with Dennis Cooper and Harold Bloom and stories by Ann Beattie, Stephen Dixon, and Tao Lin.

Other ventures

Publishing

The magazine has published the collections The DOs and DON'Ts Book and The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. In 2008, The Vice Photo Book was released, a collection of the most powerful photography published in previous editions of Vice.[19]

Clothing

Vice has created a retail clothing chain, Vice Retail. Vice also has strong ties with clothing line American Apparel, who are a frequent advertiser.

Record label

Vice Recordings has released albums and singles, mainly in the U.S. market, by The Black Lips, Bloc Party, King Khan and the Shrines, The Streets, The Raveonettes, 120 Days, Justice, The Stills, Death From Above 1979, Fucked Up, Chromeo and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Television and film

VBS.tv is available for viewing on the internet, with the intention of circumventing network intervention over content issues and allowing for a global, free-of-charge distribution plan akin to that of the magazine.[20] Vice Films released a feature length documentary, Heavy Metal in Baghdad, in 2008.

Venues

Vice also runs a pub and music venue in Shoreditch, East London, The Old Blue Last[21] and a dance club on 6th Street, Austin, Texas.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ From chic to cheek The Daily Telegraph. 14 July 2006
  2. ^ a b "The Vice Squad". The Guardian. 30 March 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ The Vice Squad: How 'Vice' magazine became the new teen bible The Independent. 26 July 2008
  4. ^ "The Iraq Issue". Vice. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  5. ^ "The Iraq Issue 2002". Vice. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  6. ^ "The Native Issue". Vice. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  7. ^ "The Russia Issue". Vice. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  8. ^ "The Mentally Ill Issue". Vice. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  9. ^ "The Special Issue". Vice. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  10. ^ "Student Guide". Vice. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  11. ^ "Dear Vice Readers!". Vice. 11 April 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "The internet - The end of Dos & Don'ts". Vice. 06 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Vice banned from bookstores Gawker. 3 September 2003
  14. ^ http://www.asfarasicantell.com/2005/01/
  15. ^ The New Cool News Week. 25 September 2003
  16. ^ The Edge of Hip: Vice, the Brand New York Times. 28 September 2008
  17. ^ Mesh Caps, Vice Magazine and the Trouble with Irony Counter Punch. 2-4 July 2005
  18. ^ a b Letter to Gawker from Gavin McInnes Gawker. 29 September 2003
  19. ^ The Vice Photo Book (book review) Harp. March/April 2008
  20. ^ "Vice Dos & Don'ts: 10 Years of Vice Magazine's Street Fashion Critiques summary". Atomic Books. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  21. ^ Television for trendsetters The Guardian. 22 October 2007
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