The term ‘Popular Culture’ was developed by Adorno and Horkheimer who describe it as a form of cultural expression associated with the common ‘people.’ The term is contextual and is always evolving within social situations. Storey (1998, pp. 6) describes it as an “arena of consent and resistance…not a sphere where socialism, a socialist already fully formed – might be simply ‘expressed’. But it is one of the places socialism might be consituted.” Popular culture is something that produces meaning, and is symbolic with human nature. This includes how we live, what we like and why we like it. Danesi (2012, pp. 2) describes Popular Culture as a system for human beings that specify all forms expressive, intellectual, ritualistic and communicative …show more content…
All fans of Melodrama want other people to be fans of Melodrama. There is a strong support for creating and sharing creations with others, whilst artistic expression and civic engagement is pivotal (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robison, 2009). As an artist herself, Lorde is an ambassador for free contribution and accepting everyone for who they are. The ideas and themes in Melodrama are reflective of a participatory culture. For example, “we are young and we are free” with the use of pronouns like “we, our, us” signifiy we are all on the same team. My chosen artifact of Melodram allows fans to feel a social connection with one another by relating to the lyrics we hear. This is what makes Melodrama part of my experience with Popular Culture more than any other element. Personally, I provide strong expression for creative incentive and active participation. Melodrama values this in abundance as it shifts the focus of literacy from individual expression to community expression and involvement. Melodrama is not a personal artifact, rather a shared artfifact between a community of fans who are participating in listening to the sounds, lyrics and ideas Lorde shares with us to turn them into our own expanse. Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robison (2009) further discuss that Participatory culture is a result of the explosion of new media technlogies that makes it possible for average consumers like myself to annotate, archive and recirculate media content in powerful new ways. Melodrama is this explosion of new media technology with new sounds and new ideas – and we are the average consumers who are re-creating this content in new ways which will allow for further participatory culture to occur in the
Through strong dramatic plots, characters and music, melodrama has created an engaging, well-developed form of theatre. But melodrama is not limited to one category. Like other forms of the theatre arts, melodrama can be further broken down into Victorian melodrama and Modern melodrama. As the names entail, Victorian melodrama was practiced in the Victorian Era (1837-1901) whereas Modern melodrama is still being performed today. Both equally exaggerated and emphasizing the good vs. evil conflict, these two forms of melodrama have shaped the stage theatrically and developed complexity in character and plot development.
In assessing the impact and effect of popular cultural forms like MTV, it is important to acknowledge the extent to which, rather than having them imposed upon us, we may instead appropriate or assimilate parts, whilst choosing to reject or ignore the rest. This, of course, has the consumer or viewer acting (or perhaps more accurately interacting) as opposed to simply passively receiving (Philo par 16).Even though critics of MTV stand strongly against the passive consumer, th...
Popular culture refers to information or an event that briefly hold the interest of the public. These events and information are mostly heard or broadcasted on mass media such as radio, television, newspapers and the internet. It is one of the cultures that is easily accessible and considered much more entertaining by the greater part of the population in the world. It has helped in the enhancement of human relationships and socialization in our modern world. As a Haitian, below I try to outline some of the popular cultures I can think of.
Ideology is “a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that world.” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). According to Sturken (2001), the system of meaning is based on the use of language and images or representation. Therefore, media texts come along and select what is “normal” and what is “deviant” to the extent that this hegemony of constructed meanings in the viewer’s head becomes “common-sense” (Gramsci in Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). From this standpoint, what America claims to be pop culture which is omnipresent in media internationally, is a representation, through “politics of signification” of what is right or wrong (Kooijman, 2008). An example of America’s cultural ‘manifestation’ is Mean Girls,
The triviality of melodrama is so often the theatrical scapegoat that boils the blood of the modern-day critic: the sentimental monologues, the martyred young lovers, the triumphant hero, and the self-indulgent imagery. Melodrama would seem the ultimate taboo; another failed Shakespearean staging or even worse, an opera minus the pretty music. Ironically, Bertolt Brecht, dramatic revolutionary and cynic of all things contrived found promise in the melodramatic presentation. Brecht examined and manipulated the various superficial and spectacular aspects of theatre, establishing a synthesis of entertainment and social criticism as his fundamental goal. Bertolt Brecht employs various facets of melodramatic technique in The Jewish Wife, ultimately reconfiguring the genre and conveying his central theme; a society rendered immobile at the will of a totalitarian regime.
The issue of the relationship between the mass media and the popular culture has always been a controversial issue in social sciences. The political economists insist on the role of the media industry in the creation of this phenomenon of the twentieth century. Though, advocates such as John Fiske, argue that popular culture is actually the creation of the populous itself, and is independent of the capitalist production process of the communication sector. Basing his argument on the immense interpretive power of the people, Fiske believes that the audience is able to break all the indented meanings within a media message. He also believes- by giving new meanings to that specific message they can oppose the power block that is trying to impose its ideology to the public. Consequently, this anarchistic activity of the audience creates the popular culture as a defence mechanism. Even when we accept Fiske’s ideas, we can not disregard the manipulative power of the media and its effects on cultural and social life.
January 6, 1973, famous anthropologist Margaret Mead published an essay in TV Guide in which she addressed her view of PBS’s series “An American Family.” This series was groundbreaking during that time because is followed the Loud’s, a California family who were neither actors nor public figures just average middle-class family, which was unheard of at the time. The Louds were filmed for seven months and the product was twelve one-hour episodes which showed everything from the monotony of their everyday life to the corrosion of Bill and Pat Loud’s marriage. Meade called this series “a new kind of art form” and marveled at the shows ability to show the drama and entertainment value of the average human condition. Forty years later, as Meade had predicted, reality based television and films have become more understood, respected and prevalent in our modern culture. Extreme success stories of documentaries such as Justin Bieber’s 2011 “Never Say Never” and countless reality shows indicates that a celebrity’s presence , musicians particularly, on reality media channels can change audience’s perceptions, promote new material and help them to stay relevant in the public eye. These “reality” documentaries and TV shows present the audience with carefully edited material that conveys only a fraction of that individual’s personality and character yet has profound effects audience perception and acceptance. The British boy band One Direction is a prime example of how using the model of framing in reality television shows and documentaries effectively promotes projects, molds the opinions of audiences, allows artist to appear more open and relatable and leads to extreme monetary success.
In an increasingly mediated world, we as a society have fostered a culture fascinated with the coexisting transparency and hypermediation of digital technology. The constant expansion, advancement and improvement of varying forms of media has manifested in our ubiquitous desire to reach an untouched, plausible form of reality, through the very act of augmenting the mediation through which it is represented. Both users and producers of digital technology actively seek out this objective. The development and rise of the Internet, in particular websites, serve as prominent modern examples of these concepts at work. Singer, songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams’ recently debuted website, “24 Hours of Happy” (http://24hoursofhappy.com/) is a rich embodiment of the operation of immediacy under hypermediacy. Furthermore, it exemplifies these two concepts’ codependent role in appealing to an audience on the basis of the individual’s desire to reach an authentic experience of reality, paradoxically, through the very act of remediation.
“Culture” is a term that over the years, has taken many forms, served many purposes and has been defined in a variety of contexts. At the rise of the industrial era, inhabitants of rural areas began to migrate to cities, thus starting urbanization. As this new era began to unfold, urbanization, mass production, and modernization became key ingredients in the transformation of culture. As more people became literate and the production of mass media such as magazines, pamphlets, newspapers etc. increased, many had the option and desire to identify collectively – popular culture began to rise. Popular or “mass” culture can be described as a “dynamic, revolutionary force, breaking down the old barriers of class, tradition, taste, and dissolving
Social Media influences what music we listen to. In the past people used to listen to songs that had meaning behind them, and it was because they personally enjoyed the music. For example “ Go back in time a few decades, to the 60s, 70s, and 80s… Many of the bands of the past wrote music that had real depth to it. Their lyrics were meaningful.”- states GiannaA. In today’s society
There are many ways to define popular culture. Many individuals have grappled with the question what is popular culture? And how to critically analyze and deconstruct the meanings. Looking at the root words of popular culture is where to begin. Raymond Williams states ‘popular’ means: “well liked by many people" or “culture actually made for the people themselves (Storey, p.5). This is part with the word ‘culture’ combine to look at how the two words have been connect by theoretical work within social and historical context. John Storey approaches popular culture in six categories, they are as followed: “Popular culture is simply culture that is widely favoured or well liked by many people”, Popular culture is “the culture that is left over after we have decided what is high culture”, Popular culture is “mass culture”, “Popular culture is the culture that originates from ‘the people.” and “Popular culture as a site of struggle
In the beginning, the relationship between everyday culture and mass media culture are closed but there are some difference between popular culture and traditional culture. The traditional culture is known as ‘high culture’ which refer to literature, art, music etc. However, popular culture is the produced by mass media, may know it as low culture. People used to entertainment or relaxation. It shared and spread rapidly in groups, communities, societies and so on. Some people may say popular culture help us to understand more about the world because of the globalization factor.
The purpose of this essay is to firstly explain what John Fiske means by ‘popular culture lies not in the production of commodities so much as the productive use of industrial commodities’ (Fiske, J. 1990 p.28). Secondly this essay will go on to compare Fiske’s interpretation of popular culture to MacDonald’s theory of mass culture.
Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change” (John Podhoretz). It encompasses the advertisements we see on T.V, the clothes we wear, the music we listen too, and it’s the reason Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar yet. It defines and dictates the desires and fears of the mainstream members of society; and it is so ingrained into our lives that it has become as natural as breathing. Moreover, adults never even bat an eyelash at all the pop culture and advertising that surrounds them since it has become just another part of everyday life. Pop culture is still somewhat seen as entertainment enjoyed by the lower class members of society; but pop culture standards change over time. A notable example of this is the sixteenth century author, William Shakespeare, since his works were considered pop culture, entertainment that could be enjoyed by everyone, but now they are considered literary classics. While pop culture encompasses most aspects of our lives, its influence is most obvious through each generations reaction to media,
What popular culture and mass culture are, their significance to society and how they are consumed are very multifaceted questions that have been subject to wide debate is the fields of Sociology and Cultural Studies. Many theorists have chimed in on the debate to answer these questions. Two notable theories on this topic are that of Dwight MacDonald in his work “A Theory of Mass Culture” and John Fiske in his work “Popular Culture”. MacDonald argues that mass culture is a phenomenon that is detrimental to society. He believes that although mass culture is something that produced “by and for human beings” that is ultimately is what leads to the loss of individuality and individual thought and expression in favor