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Brit and Irish: Popular Culture (Culture (before 18th cent reserved for…
Brit and Irish: Popular Culture
taste
= the ability to discern what is of good quality or of high aesthetic standard
Norm and Evaluation
Relativity of Standards
Appropriateness
Culture
before
18th cent
reserved for
aristocracy
restricted to educated, national Culture = Shakespeare
but
Victorianism:
education,
high culture as means of improving nature of the working classes
= culture for the People(Matthew Arnold)
popular culture = low culture
mass culture = product of culture industry
(
Leavis, Adorno
)
culture of the people <-> culture for the people
(
Fiske
)
The powerful construct places to exercise their power
the weak make the places temporarily theirs
qualitative distinction between high and low possible?
is there absolute truth/beauty?
(Arnold)
external phenomena need to be considered historically contingent, rather than as immutable facts of life
(Derrida)
context
external factors
POSTMODERNISM
the relationship of language to reality not given
undeniable relationship between discourse and power
(M. Foucault)
anxiety about vulgarity forged by class
Richardson
uneducated, inelegant, colloquial
Fielding
educated Etonian, tavern scenes, coarse humour
after 18th cent
available to anyone who could afford to buy a ticket or book
Playboy
(1969)
Cross the border, close the gap
(vulgarity)
gap between cultural establishment and popular entertainment
Transference of Styles
Integration in sub-culture
substitute for denial of being integrated in dominant culture
provides feeling of belonging to a community
Cultures = Systems of signs and meanings
meaning depends on difference
when culture integrates its margins, it creates new margins to oppose the new centre
former centre may even become new margin
Typically British
watching Tv
?
SPORTS
?
-> British POP CULTURE
Western POP Culture
high culture
and
low culture
= hybridity
British Youth Cultures
American
Middle-Class beatniks
American writers(1959s)
rejection of mainstream values
stylistic association with black population
drugs
Hipsters
US(1940s)
early hipsters
self imposed poverty
later hipsters
only outward appearance, loss of contact with origins of movement
adopted lifestyle of black jazz musicians
British
British Teddy Boys(Teds)
(like hipsters, working class)
ambiguous attitude towards black culture
outfit
long-cut jacket, velvet collar, bootlace ties, suede shoes,greased hair
outsider status and social aspirations
easily provoked to violence
regrettable leading role during Notting Hill Race Riots in 1958
RACIST
but embraced new originally black music from US
( Rock n Roll)
Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley)
Beatles?
John Lennon the Quarrymen
outfit like Teds
new music:
beat
loss of working class rebelliousness
-> part of
popular mainstream
McCartney knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
(1997)
Rolling Stone Mick Jagger knighted by Prince of Wales
(2003)
early 1960s
The Mods
lower class dandies
Fashion conscious
use of amphetamines
over alertness
outward coolness
extremely conservative
vespa scooters
violence
the WHO
rebelliousness
LP QUADROPHENIA
(1973)
hymn against narrow-mindedness of society(adults in general)
My Generation
marginalisation by the Generation Gap
"hope I die before I get old"
generation gap of early 60s
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The Rockers
SKINHEADS
emerged from blend of black and white parent cultures
aggressive proletarian, puritanical and chauvinist
**extremely short hair or bold headed
ultra right-wing national front
political racism adopted
football hooliganism
working class link (heavy boots, collar shirts)
parallel: Commercialisation of POP-Culture
by mid
1970s
pop culture = mainstream entertainment
limitation of duration of composition
refusal of some bands
LP
(The Beatles: Sergeant Pepper(1967) = proto-type)
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emergence of other styles
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1980s
proliferation of youth music cultures though mostly short-lived(
gothic, new age, indie
)
revolution
MTV - DIGITAL SOUND -Synthesizer- video clip
pop music as designer product
musician replaced by technician
technical pop style
chicago gay club "The Warehouse"
house
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in Britain
Acid-House-music
huge dancing events
raves
"assendancy of the dance music scene in Britain could signal the end of youth culture"
Gavin Hill in
THE OBSERVER
(Feb 1996)
