Graffiti and “film school” culture: Displaying alienation

Graffiti created by students in “film school” are examined as an organizational document from a cultural and critical‐cultural perspective. The graffiti serve as a critical discourse that reflects and creates meanings related to the sectional interests of film students. In so doing, graffiti create and reflect an ideology that is positioned against the ideology of other sectional interests, both organizational and industrial. The study reviews a variety of themes related to film students’ alienation and the discourse that counters the sources of that alienation. Themes include editing as a disliked and avoided activity, isolation, lack of artistic control, and career filters. The humorous communicative style of graffiti creates tension among cultural meanings that mediates between alienation and liberation.