Vice in an international, multi-media company. For this project I will be focusing on the online magazine , from which these images are sourced. Founded in 1994 in Montreal, Canada, Vice magazine (originally called The Voice of Montreal) began as a government-funded publication as part of a greater community welfare scheme (Philby). The magazine has grown to include an on-line television channel, a record label, its own music festival, fashion range and online store. With over 900,000 readers worldwide, Vice has become a household name for 'alternative' youth (Philby). The focus of this project is to use the images found on Vice.com to illustrate the ways in which contemporary youth sub-culture is depicted by the company. By utilizing audience studies, cultural critique, sociology, semiotics and discourse analysis I will position these images within its specific culture and a larger social discourse.

One of the first steps in decoding Vice is to explore the discourse that surrounds subculture and post-modern expression. Max Weber's concept of verstehen is one way of the most prevalent ways to understand subculture (Muggleton, 8) (Morley and Robins, 22). Verstehen is described as human actors possessing 'inner states,' meaning that each individual operates within a subjective internal self that seeks to understand and interpret the world (Muggleton, 10) (Garnham, 30). This approach takes into account not only the subculturists' individual subjectivity but also allows for an interpretation of the larger social forces that govern the subculture (Muggleton, 11). Discourse analysis and semiotics work well within Weber's concept, as the analysis of subculture should be focused around both individual lived experience and governing social forces.

This project hopes to analyze specific images from Vice.com and contextualize them within not only within Vice culture but also in relation to contemporary western culture. Subcultures are thought to possess 'secret meanings' that express a specific form of resistance that excludes them from dominant society (Muggleton, 12) (Mukerji, 18). Vice operates as a subculture through an ethos by opposing mainstream media and challenging social norms through their controversial material. The magazine has consistently been criticized for using humor and irony to promote racist, sexist and homophobic ideals (Philby). Gavin McInnis, one of Vice's original founders, responded to these remarks by stating, "baby boomer media like The New York Times is a laughing stock, and we should do whatever we can to ridicule it". Vice carries with it an intense spirit of individuality, and its photography conveys a similar ethic.

Culture is outlined, defined and reinforced through the creation/affirmation of particular values, structures, rituals and beliefs (Hills, 21) (Bourdieu, 7). Subcultures are no different in that they aim to define their group based on similar structures of identity regulation. 'Generation X' of the 1990s sought cultural elitism, consumerism and the music industry as trademarks of alternative American culture (Haynsworth, 42). Generation X utilized a particular cultural capital to create boundaries between the authentic subculturists and the mainstream (Haynsworth, 40). By possessing knowledge of obscure artists, displaying a particular fashion sense and engaging in socially deviant activities, Generation X was able to define themselves as apart from the mainstream. However, this particular type of subversion became co-opted by the capitalism system (Haynsworth, 53) and now every white, suburban 12-year-old has a poster of Kurt Cobain hanging above her bed. Since Vice started as an independent publication during the mid-1990s, the creators (as ex-Xers) seem to embrace the inevitability of consumerism within counter-culture. It has now become the job of the subculture artist to "always fit into business life as an aesthetic expert" (Haynsworth, 53).

Vice does not make any attempt to subvert capitalism but rather embraces it and promotes consumerism. The desire to create an alternative society relies on the ability to sell a particular way of being. The culture of Vice is to rebel against social norms, while at the same time policing identities. Vice promotes a market-driven ideology that embraces subversive expression while strictly admonishing anything that does not fit within their corporate image. The ways in which Vice operates discursively can be experienced within their visual culture.