Nature of Popular Culture Flashcards
Demand develops and expands due to media, marketing and dissemination processes
Access derives from commercial products (things bought and sold – songs (records / DVDs etc), magazines, fashion, accessories
The role of the media and marketing
Transnational corporations perpetuate pop culture e.g. record companies – profit / copyright
Dissemination processes – getting the pop culture into the public domain e.g. records, Tape/DVD, concerts, social media
Influence of institutional power
Includes accessories, upgrades, magazines, and associated paraphernalia (CDs, t-shirts, posters, books, mugs, lunch boxes etc).
Profit is the key motive in the perpetuation of popular culture.
Commercial products serve a dual purpose:
They enable more profit to be earned AND they serve as a method to further promote and advertise the popular culture they are associated with.
e.g. New LEGO set. A parent purchases a new set for their child, who then plays with the new set with their friends. The friends have now been exposed to the popular culture and in turn ask their parents to purchase more LEGO.
Who is profiting from the consumption?
Nintendo has contracted the manufacturing of various paraphernalia, such as posters, mugs, figurines and sleepwear to different companies.
These companies are not owned by Nintendo, but have made an arrangement with the company to develop paraphernalia that is aligned with their video game characters, such as Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Mario.
An example of this is Peter Alexander.
The Australian-owned sleepwear company has now released a line of clothing with the logo and familiar characters on it.
Experiences global acceptance with the progression and integration of technologies
Local – e.g. garage bands / local music scene
National – e.g. radio coverage , tours , TV etc
Global – spread beyond national boundaries e.g. to Europe, Australia and Asia
The progression and integration of technologies esp. mass media and news in the 1970s and more recently the internet
Key points local to global
The rapid growth of popular cultures is linked with the spread of Western values and the English Language
Typically they need to achieve success on a small or local (micro/meso level) scale, before moving to a national and finally international level (macro level).
However, increasing ubiquity of the Internet and globalisation blurring national cultural boundaries, popular cultures can spread more directly from small/local to widespread/international.
i.e. from micro to meso to macro levels.
Global media coverage on a range of different channels including newspapers, radio, magazine, and social media ensure more people are aware of and can access popular cultures.
Role of globalisation, technologies and westernisation in local to global level
Globalisation: Connections between countries, operation of multi-national organisations
Westernisation: The emergence of western culture as dominant in the global marketplace.
Technologies: Technologies change the distribution channels for popular culture, especially. music, television, film. etc.
- For example, music was originally only available live in concert, cassette tapes made music more portable, CDs allowed greater volume and content to be stored on a device
How broad access is assisted by media and communication technologies
Role of mythology e.g. Hip hop and “Gangsta life”
Access is assisted by media and communication technologies
Radio, cassettes, CD’s, DVDs, mobile phones, computers, and the Internet all contribute to access of popular culture.
= As these products have become increasingly portable and cheaper, barriers to access of popular culture have decreased and the speed by which popular cultures spread has increased.
Factors can affect access to popular culture including:
Class
Cost of goods
Environment (rural/urban, others…..)
Advances in technology
Institutional power (government, laws, ownership, censorship)
Values and beliefs of a society
Ethnicity
Gender
Time (time slots, prime time, leisure time, life-stage)
Widespread consumer access: Governments
Governments have more access than individuals and are able to prevent access to unwanted, unsafe or offensive material
- For example, Australia, Canada and France have local content laws that allow only a certain percentage of foreign music on radio and shows on TV in order to preserve their own culture.
Until January 2013, Australia did not have an R18+ rating classification for video games, which meant that these games could not be imported legally into Australia.
Japanese anime influences society while simultaneously society influences the popular culture.
The popular service Crunchyroll, launched in 2006 and has grown to over 2 million paid subscribers (and 50 million registered users) as of 2019.
Netflix launches 30 original Anime’s in 2018
Dubbed in English
Large portion of Anime is produced in the USA and storylines and characters have been adapted to reflect Western attitudes and values
Almost two-thirds, 63.5%, of Americans enjoy anime. In 2019, North America’s anime market was worth roughly $3.56 billion. Three-quarters of US Netflix subscribers have engaged with an anime series.
Key points continuity and change
Popular cultures must adapt to changing consumer needs → profit driven (capitalism and consumerism)
Popular cultures need to adapt to meet consumers’ needs as trends change in a broader social and cultural context.
They aim to create the need to consume new products and paraphernalia to keep profits rolling in.
Improvements to technologies also drive changes to popular culture for example the emergence of electronic dance music and Internet memes.
