Chapter 14 4. Modern stripes (19th-20th century)-4

Striped Surfaces - Hazardous Surfaces Ridiculous zebras are sometimes badass.In fact, stripes convey so much emphasis, both visually and socially, that the line that separates good stripes from bad is often blurred.On the one hand sailors, swimmers, athletes, clowns, children, on the other madmen, executioners, prisoners, criminals.In between these two worlds are all kinds of people who belong to this world and belong to the other world, and what they have in common is being on the margins of society.Society knows how to play with this ambiguity to keep things ambiguous or ambiguous, especially in modern times when the meaning of stripes has become complicated.

So in the belle époques, the avant-garde already had the "bad guy" stripe, which survived WWI for a long time.Its main performance is a bold horizontal stripe shirt or vest in bold colors.The clothes are provocative, disturbing, and ironic.It is a fusion of at least three types of stripes that we have studied: convict stripes, sailor stripes, and track and field stripes. These stripes are mainly owned by males.For example, Maupassant wore this kind of striped clothes when he went boating and having fun on the banks of the Seine.Impressionist painters often used such stripes as expressive objects in their depictions of suburban men hanging out with courtesans in small riverside cafes. Striped surfaces and striped fabrics appeal.They introduced stripes very early on in their paintings (Jerome Bosch and Pierre Brueghel are the aforementioned examples), from Carolingian religious paintings all the way to contemporary abstract art, It hasn't stopped for centuries.Some painters went further, favoring striped clothing or decoration.Picasso, for example, was also a "ridiculous zebra", striped from head to toe, never missing an opportunity to show off his striped clothes, and he openly declared that in order to paint a good picture, he had to "give The buttocks are painted on the road”［95］.Another example that is closer to us is Daniel Biran, who for more than twenty years has hardly left the subject of stripes [96].As in the 13th century, stripes are still the subject of much discussion.

Before analyzing the pictorial and musical functions of contemporary stripes, we want to emphasize that the "bad guy" stripes of the early 20th century are still ubiquitous in advertisements, comic strips, and humorous drawings today.Just a horizontal stripe vest is enough to represent a gangster, hooligan, villain or a troublemaker who is not necessarily heinous. Firozar in "The Nickel-plated Feet" has long been the typical image of the protagonist of a comic strip wearing such a striped sweater[97].Instead, the menacing stripe is the "AI Capone" stripe of American gangsters and mafia godfathers that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s.Although also very harsh, it is no longer horizontal stripes, but vertical stripes, no longer appearing on shirts or vests, but on blazers.Movies turned the suit into one of the most commonly used characteristics of rogue clothing, and promoted its widespread use in various figurative arts.In France and Italy, striped suits are used almost daily in cartoons and newspaper sketches to emphasize the dubiousness or impropriety of this or that politician.A tacky wide-striped suit is enough to make the fine distinction between the people's elect and the dangerous Mafioso [98].

So the pejorative stripe did not disappear with the end of convict prisons and the rise of bathing beaches or sports.They can still be seen in our society, but their existence is less obvious and more regular than the positive stripes.Moreover, its meaning has changed: it no longer refers to the devil, as it did in the Middle Ages, nor does it even refer to the destruction of social order, as it did in the past and not so long ago.Primarily reminiscent of danger, it acts more as a signal than a sign of repulsion.Stripes are heavily used on road signs: red and white stripes everywhere, warning people of danger, to walk carefully, not to go here or there.Attention, construction!Slow down, detour, stop, obey—these are the direct or indirect messages conveyed to us by the red and white striped signs on the streets and alleys.The combination of these two colors, one forbidden, the other permissive, fully emphasizes the duality of the stripe: it is at once guide and barrier, filter and barrier.In some cases it is possible to pass as long as the various restrictions are observed; in other cases it must be stopped.Such as at a level crossing with a railing down, at a border post or at a police roadblock.All of these places make extensive use of red and white stripes as a sign, which is not only visible from a distance—perhaps the most striking sign today[99]—but also somewhat unsettling, even scary.Behind such stripes always lurks a danger, and with the danger is the power represented by the gendarmerie, the police, the jailor, or the customs officer—another danger.Stripes often lead to uniforms, and uniforms often lead to punishment.

The main function of the red and white stripes used on road signs is like a barrier.It can be said to be the epitome of a gate or a fence that can only be crossed under certain conditions.A simple red and white horizontal striped road sign placed in the middle of the road (sometimes embodied as a level crossing) has the same effect as a large fence gate with the same color stripe and placed in the same place.Here we summarize the main feature of stripe action: Metonymy.Streaks are infinitely repeating structures whose properties remain the same whether they appear on extremely small or extremely large surfaces.The part is the whole, and structure takes precedence over form.This is why there is great flexibility in the use of stripes and has been used for centuries as a sign, sign, mark, symbol or emblem, whatever the carrier, technique and context.

Crosswalk lines are no longer represented by nails today, but by a series of alternating white and black stripes, just like zebra fur (so much so that Germans simply call crosswalk lines "zebra crossings"), it is Another form of road sign stripes, related to hazards, obstacles, prohibited and permitted.This is a place that has to be passed but cannot be passed anytime and by any means.The stripes on the ground indicate both passability and difficulty.Black and white areas alternate, necessitating obedience and caution, as if it were possible to fall into the gap between two white stripes.Filters are involved here, too: let the pedestrian's feet pass, but keep his full attention.

Other types of stripes also act as this filter, such as those found on blinds and drapes.Here too, it is about forming barriers and letting go, protecting but not completely prohibiting, stopping the harmful and channeling the beneficial.The nature of this filter is perhaps the main effect of streaks.We have already analyzed this when talking about personal hygiene: striped clothing that comes into direct contact with bare skin protects and purifies the skin.Now we find this function again when we talk about houses: shutters are generally composed of striped slats, which protect the people inside, especially the sleeping people, from all external dangers, whether it is noise, cold, wind, Malicious wanderers, villains, or devils.Like the stripes on pajamas, the stripes on the blinds guarantee a restful sleep.This protective effect is so important for traditional farmhouses that in several places (Savoy, Tyrol) the stripes are drawn directly on the wood panels if the material structure of the shutters is not stripes [100].

Sometimes, seeking protection can be counterproductive.Too many stripes can no longer filter danger, but can invite it instead.Alfred Hitchcock made a film on this theme in 1945, called Spellbound ("Doctor Edward").The main character in the movie is terrified of lines and stripes, and a strong sense of guilt haunts him because his younger brother was stabbed to death on a fence gate while playing together as children.Hitchcock fans did not appreciate the film, seeing it as a "mediocre psychoanalytic melodrama" [101].But stripe experts marvel at Uncle Alfred's virtuosity in depicting the obsessive movement of stripe shapes and patterns: play of light and shadow through a curtain, shapes of fence gates and iron bars, Footprints, the rapid retreat of railroad ties and utility poles seen through the windows of a fast-moving train［102］.Through this film, it becomes clear why and to what extent the world of Stripes can be unsettling, suffocating and confining.Because the replacement of the same two-color series is repeated.All stripes are a rhythm, even a kind of music, and like all music, besides harmony and joy, it can also signify noise, explosion, and madness.