Magazines have been a form of media since 1663, giving out news, advice, gossip, art, and stories ever since. However, like every other media under a publisher, magazines have to be scanned, judged, censored, and approved before going out to the public. This can diminish some of the author’s original meaning that they put into the draft. In response came a new type of magazine that reached fewer people but didn’t have to go through censorship. This, of course, is the zine.
Zines are magazines not created by a company or publishing house, but instead by one person or a small group, and sold nontraditionally. They are often handmade with glued on photos and art and hand written paragraphs or phrases. Zines became popular for their lack of censorship and attention to detail. They are often used for activist movements, by small artists wanting to spread their work, or as a piece of fan work for a separate piece of media.
The Start
Zines were originally created in the early 20th century with the amateur press movement. Small printers would buy their own printing presses to make magazines that were more specific to one central idea. They were originally known as “little magazines” and were often overlooked. However, in the 1920s, black artists started using zines to share their work and promote the black community. Ten years later, zines started getting picked up by science fiction fans by creating “fanzines”. These were used to share theories and opinions on their favorite stories. This subsection of zines eventually expanded to other fictional media such as comics, music, movies, fantasy, and horror. This also paved the way for the first fanfiction zines to be made in the late 60s, early 70s, by house wives who were fans of star trek.
Activism
Also in the 1970s, with the invention of the photocopier, zines expanded their popularity because they were easier to mass produce. Zines became very popular in the punk music scene of the 1970s and 1980s for several reasons. The main one being that the movement was built on the foundation of anti-establishment and a rejection of mainstream media and corporations. So, the zine allowed them to stick to that mentality while also promoting and advertising their events and music.
Pigging backing off of the punk scene movement was the “Riot Grrrl” movement of the 90s. The movement focusing and discussing sexism through the lens of punk and alt music and art. Zines were a crucial part of this movement and were used to talk about discrimination in a way that wouldn’t be censored and allowed for creative freedom. As the movement evolved, so did the world, and some of the women of the movement moved their zines online to reach a wider audience and be easier to access. The new electronic version of zines, known as e-zines, is still used to this day.
Our zines
Today, zines are used in a myriad of different ways. Fanzines are still popular but have become more of a charity focus product. Many fanzines’ revenue goes to a charity of the author’s or authors’ choosing, with the extra set aside for any popular guest artists. Zines are also still used in the punk and activism circles to share stories, art, news, and event times. These zines, especially the punk ones, lean more into the craftsmanship aspect of the zines and will make fewer zines just so each zine can be made by hand.
Zines are a creative and incredibly specific and personal form of art that highlights the author’s feelings using several different art methods in one media. It is extremely accessible and easy to make. If you have a spare moment, try making a zine and expressing yourself. You’ll be left with a magazine that’s a tiny part of your soul that you can read and view yourself through fresh eyes.
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Sources cited:
https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/c.php?g=1332410&p=9812968
https://www.sheridan.com/magazines-register/a-brief-history-of-magazine-publishing/
