Critical question: How does act of “getting up,” “tagging,” or

“bombing” function as a critique of the city?

In the context of Style Wars, those terms can all be defined as the acting-out of
graffiti writing, a spatial practice that emphasize personal experiences of individual
expression by the group of graffiti writers. "Getting up" means to be ready to start
the act of “construction”; "Tagging" means to mark the city with individualistic
tokens; "Bombing" means to cover the city with graffiti spreading out in the way
that a train takes what is written on it from one end of the city to the other. The
words carry the temperament of those energetic “rebels”, whose inflating ego and
liberating hormone build up their ambitions of occupying space or even
“conquering” the city.
Living at the edge of the prosperity of urban life, a number of the graffiti writers
barely survive. Therefore, the act of writing on street walls, on trains, on buildings,
on passageways, etc. becomes an outlet of their psyche, speaking out their inner
voices in pursuit of mental freedom, mobility and values. Though according to
most of the people, graffiti is not an art, but a crime, notoriously polluting the
urban culture, it has been a culture itself. Graffiti writers share skills, gather at
certain venues, exchange ideas, schedule plans for group activities, follow the rules
of “apprenticeship”, re-adjust their spirit in the face of challenges… The same as
every other ordinary practitioners of the city, they are constantly writing the
history, mapping the urban frame without themselves able to realize it.
A comparison with the act of walking and its outcome can better our understanding
of the topic of this film. Walking in the city by de Certeau and Style Wars both
convey the idea that a simple, obscure act may contribute to the architecture of a
sophisticated collective. By walking, people build legible text which represents
sensual, embodied "marking" of the city. By graffiti writing, actors add up readable
symbols which enunciate the character of the city. These practices seem as
insignificant at the first glance, but they spatialize the urban context by
continuation of acting out the reality. Compared to the rigidity of a singular
authority who possesses an "all-seeing power"(de Certeau 92) standing from above
to "program" or "regulate"(de Certeau 94) the city, these so-called “flagrant” or
“excluded” urban elements (de Certeau 95) are the actual and lively creators of the
solid content.
As the title of the film points out, it's a war of style. The battlefield or what is
conquered is not only the city, but also where humanity situates. The conflict of
what urbanism should be and what is real lies right among the heart and mind of
humans who aim to create or who plan to rule. To empathize, the language of the
graffiti writers suggests that maybe their lifestyle is after all, a form of art. Maybe
the reality doesn’t go with rules. Maybe the city really needs “getting up”,
“tagging”, and “bombing”. Who knows.