
A détournement (), meaning "rerouting, hijacking" in
French, is a technique developed in the 1950s by the
Letterist International,
and later adapted by the
Situationist International (SI),
['' Report on the Construction of Situations'' (1957)] that was defined in the SI's inaugural 1958 journal as "
e integration of present or past artistic productions into a superior construction of a milieu. In this sense there can be no situationist painting or music, but only a situationist use of those means. In a more elementary sense, ''détournement'' within the old cultural spheres is a method of propaganda, a method which reveals the wearing out and loss of importance of those spheres."
The brand marketing specialist Douglas B. Holt defined it as "turning expressions of the capitalist system and its
media culture against itself".
Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called
situationist prank that was reprised by the
punk movement in the late 1970s
and inspired the
culture jamming movement in the late 1980s.
Its opposite is
recuperation, in which radical ideas or the social image of people who are viewed negatively are twisted, commodified, and absorbed in a more socially acceptable context.
Definition
In general it can be defined as a variation on previous work, in which the newly created work has a meaning that is antagonistic or antithetical to the original. The original media work that is ''détourned'' must be somewhat familiar to the target audience, so that it can appreciate the opposition of the new message. The artist or commentator making the variation can reuse only some of the characteristic elements of the originating work.
Détournement is similar to
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
, but employs more direct reuse or faithful
mimicry of the original works rather than constructing a new work which merely alludes strongly to the original. It may be contrasted with
recuperation, in which originally subversive works and ideas are themselves appropriated by mainstream media. Détournement, on the other hand, makes it possible for the images produced by the spectacle get altered and subverted so that rather than supporting the ''status quo'', their meaning becomes changed in order to put across a more radical or oppositional message.
Guy Debord and
Gil J. Wolman categorized détourned elements into two types: ''minor détournements'' and ''deceptive détournements''. Minor détournements are détournements of elements that in themselves are of no real importance such as a snapshot, a press clipping, an everyday object which draw all their meaning from being placed in a new context. Deceptive détournements are when already significant elements such as a major political or philosophical text, great artwork or work of literature take on new meanings or scope by being placed in a new context. For Debord, a détournement is a way to expose explicitly the inner workings of the objective reality of the Spectacle, thus creating a window for criticism.
Examples after the Situationist International
In the United States,
Frank Discussion is widely known for his use of détournement in his works dating from the late 1970s through the present, particularly with the
Feederz. The use of détournement by
Barbara Kruger familiarised many with the technique, and it was extensively and effectively used as part of the early
HIV/AIDS activism of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Examples of contemporary detournement include
Adbusters' "
subvertisements" and other instances of
culture jamming, as well as poems composed collaboratively by
Marlene Mountain,
Paul Conneally, and others, in which quotations from such famous sources as the
Ten Commandments and quotations by
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
are combined with haiku-like phrases to produce a larger work intended to subvert the original source. The comic artist
Brad Neely's reinterpretation of
Harry Potter, ''
Wizard People,'' took
Warner Bros.' first Harry Potter film, ''
The Sorcerer's Stone,'' and substituted the original soundtrack with a narration that casts the hero as a
Nietzschean superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
.
The concept of detournement has had a popular influence amongst contemporary radicals, and the technique can be seen in action in the present day when looking at the work of
Culture Jammers including the
Cacophony Society,
Billboard Liberation Front,
monochrom, Occupy Movements and
Adbusters, whose "subvertisements" "detourn"
Nike adverts, for example. In this case, the original advertisement's imagery is altered in order to draw attention to said company's policy of shifting their production base to cheap-labour third-world "
free trade zones". From the late 1970s to the early 1990s health campaigners operating under the name of BUGA-UP (Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions) revised hundreds of tobacco and alcohol industry billboards around Australia to include satirical and condemnatory messages. However, the line between "recuperation" and "détournement" can become thin (or at least very fuzzy) at times, as
Naomi Klein points out in her book ''
No Logo''. Here she details how
corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
s such as Nike,
Pepsi or Diesel have approached Culture Jammers and Adbusters and offered them lucrative contracts in return for partaking in "ironic" promotional campaigns. She points out further irony by drawing attention to merchandising produced in order to promote Adbusters'
Buy Nothing Day, an example of the recuperation of détournement if ever there was one.
Klein's arguments about irony
reifying rather than breaking down power structures are echoed by
Slavoj Žižek. Žižek argues that the kind of distance opened up by détournement is the condition of possibility for ideology to operate: by attacking and distancing oneself from the sign-systems of capital, the subject creates a fantasy of transgression that "covers up" their actual complicity with capitalism as an overarching system. In contrast, scholars are very fond of pointing out the differences between
hypergraphics, "detournement", the
postmodern idea of
appropriation and the
Neoist use of
plagiarism as the use of different and similar techniques used for different and similar means, effects and causes.
The
Neue Slowenische Kunst has a long history of aggressive détournement of extreme political ideologies, as do several
industrial music groups, such as
Die Krupps
Die Krupps () ("The Krupps") is a German industrial metal/electronic body music, EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper, and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf.
The band has had a diverse range of musical influences over time, i ...
,
Nitzer Ebb,
KMFDM, and
Front 242.
Chris Morris uses détournement and
culture jamming extensively in his work, particularly in the British television series ''
The Day Today'' and ''
Brass Eye''.
Détournement in advertising
In advertising, a détournement (''détournement publicitaire'' in French) is almost like
subvertising, except that the goal of a détournement is to promote a product by mocking the way another one is promoted. In October 2023,
Netflix used the advertising visual style of luxury jewelry brands but with models that were obviously missing those jewels, a trick to promote the series
Lupin. In 2012,
Sixt made a détournement of
François Hollande's presidential campaign for a billboard ad.
Naomi Klein describes this as a récuperation of détournement. In Debord's words, in the case of advertising, the détournement reverses the Spectacle, and in doing so becomes the Spectacle. Examples include
Sprite's ''Image is nothing'', Nike's 1997 campaign slogan I am not/A target market/I am an athlete''
', and
Colin Kaepernick's ''Taking the knee'' Nike campaign.
See also
*
Anti-art
*
Culture jamming
*
Comic strip switcheroo
*
Doppelgänger brand image
*
Dumb Starbucks
*
Recuperation (politics)
*
Scratch video
*
Subvertising
*
YouTube Poop
*
Brandalism
References
Further reading
*
Footnotes
BUGA-UP – Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions10 April 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2025
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Detournement
Protest tactics
Anti-corporate activism
Humour
Psychogeography
Situationist International
Culture jamming techniques
Literary terminology
Derivative works