Pop Culture - Culture in Everyday Life
Posted: Saturday, May 29, 2010
by Abhy Medkul
"What the mass media offer is not the popular art but entertainment, which is to be consumed, like food, forgotten and to be replaced by a new dish."
WH Auden, The Dyer's Hand: The Poet and The City
Not everybody has Auden's discernment and that is why we have the society in its current state today. Popular culture is nothing but a phenomenon that grips the masses simultaneously and the propagation of this phenomenon is essentially through the mass media. It is the hummable lyrics that everyone seems to be singing these days, the same kind of clothes that the teenagers are wearing to appear so different', the must watch movies that have been analysed threadbare in all the zeitgeist. Talk to a young person and he/ she will be quick to elaborate in the in' things.
Going by the more logical reasoning, economics is what drives all operations and media is no exception. Most of the media today are owned by private bodies whose basic objective is to make profits. But it must be agreed that media's generations of this constant barrage of kitsch is its necessary condition for survival. If one stops doing it, the remote button will be automatically clicked to go on to a channel that dishes out the taste gratifying programmes. Also to make profits the media must gain and sell consumer attention. Sponsors who pay huge prices for the media time and specific slots demand the largest audiences for their commercials. It is also this pressure that is instrumental in the production and dissemination of content that is capable of attracting the largest number of audiences.
But it is not always the media that is responsible for bringing the kind of programmes. There are several taste publics that have varied interests. There are tastes that are highbrow and lowbrow with many categories falling in between. The majority however constitutes the consumers of this pop culture who gulps in the media delivered magic potion with gusto and demands more. It is for him that the soap operas are made, for him that the commercial movies are produced.
The critics of popular culture point out that the content that is reaching the audiences today is more of the kind that is likely to benumb his senses and desensitize him the characteristics more of an addict than of individuals seeking entertainment at the end of a long day. The soap operas of today are nothing but endless episodes where misery and scheming women have been glorified ad nauseam. So mush so that the styles of clothing and makeup have become huge sellouts in real life. It is feared that the individualism would be lost in the sea of baffled clones that are searching for solace in a false identity.
Then there is the commercial cinema where anything is possible and where the businesses seek out their largest potential markets. One hit formula flick, developed anywhere is followed by many mindlessly made copies. And in this process a Hollywood culture is brought in to a person who has not yet got his own bearings right. Apart from the individual dilemma, the societal conditions are also not geared up to let that very individual to live out the American philosophy here in real life making him all the more confused.
The stereotypes that are promoted through the silver screen become a part and parcel of the daily lives. Children are the most susceptible to these influences as their minds easily and quickly absorb whatever is put before them. As the marketers have realized the big consumer segment that lies in children's category, they have doubled their efforts in capturing their fancy through ways and means that may or may not be right. It is a pity to see that the portrayals on television are done thoughtlessly, in a manner that they propagate a cynical and a wrong view. Take for instance a study that very rightly concludes that the portrayal of a psychologically/ mentally ill person is most of the times done in a fashion that ends with him playing the villain or the bad guy. This only decreases the chances of a really mentally ill patient getting sympathetic or helpful gestures from the society. He or she is likely to either be shunned or feared.
The native culture and traditions are the two aspects that face the maximum threat from this subtle attack. Under constant hammering of the sensibilities from MTV style of programming, the icons and hero's for the youngsters have changed. The trendiest and the most fashionable take the slot making room for numerous yuppies to seize the cultural reins and redefine what culture means. These icons are media manufactured who, rather than having any extraordinary personal qualities, have gained popularity because of their sex appeal, their throbbing voice or by the virtue of the intensity with which they portray fictional characters on screen.
The music industry has of late become a major contributor to the way the new generations are turning out to be. The overwhelming music videos have nearly swept the nation with no hold barred. Almost brazen display of physicality any time of the day has left open the doors for a greater socio - psychological alteration.
Another means of reinforcing the need as well as the importance of this warped philosophy is the organisation of big events, the popular awards felicitating the most convincing of the lot. If this creates the illusion in the society about the people who really count, there have to be devised a way to bring the deserving people, who in fact are meant to be the icons of today, to the forefront before all is lost.
This Article has been viewed 621 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)The beauty of this article is that is is everlasting. Meaning it was true for every generation since the beginning of recorded history and will be true for every future generation to come and long after the internet has become a part of ancient history.Thank you Janice. appreciate your feedback.Abhy
Thanks Abhy you got now have my mind racing.I have just recently ended a module studying Popular culture and popular music and am always receptive to new poems. Auden seems a reputable contrast between English literature and what with the title of this piece the critique of past media, which humorously suggests the effects on the media that moves the media more to those places you discuss where profit can be made. The same things happened with the printing press when handwriting and calligraphy went into recession. The bodies who remain annonomous are coming out of the place of secrecy to keep up with new trends online. Social Media is becoming a must and the need to gain profit is being toned down due to the rise in advertising. This in turn is educating people more about the importance of mediated texts and branding, copyrights and other original texts. Well done, the popularity of Media in education like any other syllabus is taught in a way in which the disciplines cross many levels and some call these bodies to. The TV body is one of them but now we are currently in the chip landscape and outside of this is the physical body, I think have a nice day.Best,Robert.Hello Robert,Am glad you enjoyed the piece. i am still not able to come one up on the fact that the logic of money / profit will be the overriding factor and pop culture will always have its subtle push in defining it, whatever the times. keep well.Abhy
abhy,i think entertainment should stimulate further stuff.(like your article)...a catalyst to ponder; build new ideas and dreams upon. perhaps a stimulant but, does a problem exist when it becomes an addiction-and a social engeering tool?First hand experience Bing. It is easier to read, enjoy, watch, listen etc. etc. when we stop at that it is addiction/passivity.But to initiate action is a challenge - first for the self and subsequently for making it meaningful in larger terms some thing like social engineering as you suggest.Abhy
There is a new rock band out of Cape Coral Florida "Were All Virus" that might take the music business by storm. Lyrics go deeply into the psyche: "Damn my thoughts"Hi Raymond, googled the band and lyrics to their songs. cant seem to find the lyrics to the one you mentioned.Abhy
Eye opening report on mass media!Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the piece . :)Abhy
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.