Seminar Notes - Popular Culture

Lecture 2:
important ------ unimportant
culture ------ popular cultures
upperclass ------ working class
classical ------ pop
Shakespear ------ Harry potter
poetry ------ advertising jingles
language ------ slang
art ------ design
power ------ politics
taste v class

Alot of people don't care for art and they don't understand, however, most people engage with graphic design in some way, yet graphic design is labelled insignificant.

Marxism:

Base-
-forces of production - worker, tools, skills, technologies, materials
-relations of productions
   -employer/employees
   -master/slave
   -ruling/exploited
   -upper class/ lower class

Superstructure-
-methods of control
-religion
-politics
-law
-police
-army
-education

Ideologies
-forms of consciousness
culture -art

The Base determines the Superstructure
The Superstructure re-inforces the Base, ligitimises it and makes it stronger

Materialism
-surround yourself with commodities
-let be judged by possessions rather than who you are as a person

Ideology
-system of beliefs/ideas that unite people
-selective system of ideas reinforces power relations
-presents the interests of a few disguised as the interests of all - false consciousness
E.g. - X Factor - Simon Cowell - contestants image is what he wants them to look like - to please the masses - gain publicity

Capitalism - pyramid of capitalist system

When you get the rise of the working class (1800's particularly) Matthew Arnold writes - 'Culture & Anarchy' - when says the 'diseased spirit' - means challenging the authority, threat to power
culture - serves the interest of few
          -civilise yourself to become like the few
          -behave like ruling class

F.R. Leavis - Leavism
-judgements directly from the base
-loosing authority

Popular

Frankfurt School - consumption of popular culture stops you from resisting against the upper class
the culture industry - homogeneity and predictability

Reference - popular music text
-standardisation - reduces effort of designers and consumers
-pre-digested
-shortcut - no effort
-summarises for you

Psuedo-individualism
e.g. Goths - think they are individual - yet they are the same as eachother - participate in standardised culture
appears new/individual - but is a sequel

Song covers - song that is already proved popular - appears new if it is done by another artist - bring their own style to it but is psuedo-individual

The more people watch X Factor, the more producers will keep making these programmes (mindless programmes)
The less you interact with the world, the more you retract from it

Punk - anti-capitalist merged from poverty
-London - 70's - Anarchy in the UK
-black/white/reggae/punk

''youth cultural styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges, but they must end by establishing new conventions, by creating new commodities, new industries,, or rejuvenating old ones'' - Hebidige, D 1979
-subculture
-not about rebelling anymore- as it becomes neutralised

50 cent looks dangerous and edgy - but his music is not - sales - popular