Edgework, media practices, and the elongation of meaning: A theoretical ethnography of the Bridge Day event

Edgework experiences have been subject to some discussion in recent literat ure. A form that finds a nexus between licit and illicit activities-BASE ju mping-provides a fertile field for ethnographic and theoretical research. i n criminology it provides insights into the sensual motivations and experie ntial frameworks for illicit social action in conjunction with moments of m arginality and resistance. BASE jumping-the activity of illegally parachuti ng from bridges, buildings, antennas, and cliffs-increasingly incorporates a host of mediated practices. Our ethnographic research with the BASE-jumpi ng subculture reveals that BASE jumpers regularly document their jumps thro ugh the use of helmet-mounted and body-mounted video cameras, or otherwise videotape one another in the act of jumping. These video documents in turn become a form of subculturally situated media as BASE jumpers utilize them to negotiate individual and collective status, to earn money and exposure, and to legitimate the subculture as sport. Moreover, mass media producers r egularly create and disseminate their own images of BASE-lumping activities , and re-present subculturally generated images within television programs and films. The media saturation of BASE jumping thus serves to elongate and expand the meaning of an ephemeral event; to construct a multi-faceted aud ience for a seemingly secretive endeavor; and, ultimately, to render BASE j umping indistinguishable from the mediated representation of it.