lecture 6 / popular culture

cri$cal posi$ons on popular culture

richard.miles@leeds-‐art.ac.uk

aims

•  Cri$cally define ‘popular culture’ •  Contrast ideas of ‘culture’ with ‘popular culture’ and ‘mass culture’

•  Introduce Cultural Studies & Cri$cal Theory •  Discuss culture as ideology •  Interrogate the social func$on of popular culture

What is Culture? •  ‘One of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’

•  general process of intellectual, spiritual & aesthe$c development of a par$cular society, at a par$cular $me

•  a par$cular way of life •  works of intellectual and especially ar$s$c significance’

Marx's Concept of Base / Superstructure

Base forces of production - materials, tools, workers, skills, etc.

relations of production - employer/employee, class, master/slave, etc

Superstructure

social institutions - legal, political, cultural forms of consciousness - ideology *

‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles’ (Marx, Communist Manifesto)

Base

Superstructure oooo ú ú ú ú ú ú ú ú ú oooo

Base Superstructure

determines content & form of

reflects form of & legi6mizes

‘In the social production of their life men enter into definite, necessary relations, that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary it is their social being that determines their consciousness. Marx, (1857) ‘Contribution to the critique of Political Economy’

At a certain stage in their development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production ...

…From forms of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.

With the change in economic foundation the whole immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed. In considering such transformations it is always necessary to distinguish between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophic, in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out.’

The State ‘…but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’ (Marx & Engels (1848) ‘Communisit Manifesto)

Instruments of the State Ideological & Physical Coercion

The Bourgeoisie

The Proletariat

Ideology 1  system of ideas or beliefs (eg beliefs of a political party) 2 masking, distortion, or selection of ideas, to reinforce power relations, through creation of 'false consciousness'

[ The ruling class has ] to represent its interest as the common interest of all the members of society, ... to give its ideas the form of universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones. Karl Marx, (1846) The German Ideology,

Raymond Williams (1983) ‘Keywords’

•  4 defini$ons of ‘popular’ – Well liked by many people

–  Inferior kinds of work – Work deliberately seSng out to win favour with the people

–  Culture actually made by the people themselves

Inferior or Residual Culture

•  Popular Press vs Quality Press •  Popular Cinema vs Art Cinema •  Popular Entertainment vs Art Culture

Caspar David Friedrich (1809)‘Monk by the Sea’

Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane (2005) ‘Folk Archive’

Graffi$ in South Bronx

Banksy piece exhibited in Covent Garden

E.P. Thompson (1963) ‘The Making of The English Working Class’

Working class

Bourgeois

Maahew Arnold (1867) ‘Culture & Anarchy’

•  Culture is –  ‘the best that has been thought & said in the world’

–  Study of perfec$on –  Aaained through disinterested reading, wri$ng thinking

–  The pursuit of culture –  Seeks ‘to minister the diseased spirit of our $me’

Maahew Arnold (1867) ‘Culture & Anarchy’

•  Culture polices ‘the raw and uncul$vated masses’ –  ‘The working class… raw and half

developed… long lain half hidden amidst it’s poverty and squalor… now issuing from it’s hiding place to assert an Englishmans heaven born privelige to do as he likes, and beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes, mee$ng where it likes, breaking what it likes (1960, p.105)

ANARCHY

Leavisism-‐ F.R Leavis & Q.D. Leavis •  S$ll forms a kind of

repressed, common sense aStude to popular culture in this country.

•  For Leavis-‐ C20th sees a cultural decline

Standardisa$on & levelling down

‘Culture has always been in minority keeping’

‘the minority, who had hitherto set the standard of taste without any serious challenge have experienced a ‘collapse of authority’

F.R. Leavis Mass Civilisa$on & Minority Culture Fic$on & the Reading Public Q.D.Leavis Culture & Environment

•  Collapse of tradi$onal authority comes at the same $me as mass democracy (anarchy)

•  Nostalgia for an era when the masses exhibited an unques$oning deference to (cultural)authority

•  Popular culture offers addic$ve forms of ditrac$on and compensa$on

•  ‘This form of compensa$on… is the very reverse of recrea$on, in that it tends, not to strengthen and refresh the addict for living, but to increase his unfitness by habitutaing him to weak evasions, to the refusal to face reality at all’ (Leavis & Thompson, 1977:100)

Frankfurt School – Cri6cal Theory

Ins$tute of Social Research, University of Frankfurt, 1923-‐33 University of Columbia New York 1933-‐47 University of Frankfurt, 1949-‐

Theodore Adorno Max Horkheimer

Herbert Marcuse Leo Lowenthal

Walter Benjamin

Frankfurt School : Theodore Adorno & Max Horkheimer

Reinterpreted Marx, for the 20th century – era of “late capitalism”

Defined “The Culture Industry” : 2 main products – homogeneity & predictability

“All mass culture is iden$cal” : ‘As soon as the film begins, it is quite clear how it will end, and who will be rewarded, punished or forgoaen’.

‘Movies and radio need no longer to pretend to be art. The truth, that they are just business, is made into an ideology in order to jus$fy the rubbish they deliberately produce. ... The whole world is made to pass through the filter of the culture industry. ... The culture industry can pride itself on having energe$cally executed the previously clumsy transposi$on of art into the sphere of consump$on, on making this a principle. ... film, radio and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part ... all mass culture is iden$cal.’

Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialec(c of Enlightenment,1944

FORDISM (1910 onwards)

Frankfurt School : Herbert Marcuse Popular Culture v Affirma$ve Culture

The irresis$ble output of the entertainment and informa$on industry carry with them prescribed aStudes and habits, certain intellectual and emo$onal reac$ons which bind the consumers more or less pleasantly to the producers and, through the laaer, to the whole. The products indoctrinate and manipulate; they promote a false consciousness which is immune against its falsehood. ... it becomes a way of life. It is a good way of life -‐ much beaer than before -‐ and as a good way of life, it militates against qualita$ve change. Thus emerges a paaern of one dimensional thought and behaviour in which ideas, aspira$ons, and objec$ves that, by their content, transcend the established universe of discourse and ac$on are either repelled or reduced to terms of this universe. Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man, 1968

(of affirma$ve culture): a realm of apparent unity and apparent freedom was constructed within culture in which the antagonis$c rela$ons of existence were supposed to be stabilized and pacified. Culture affirms and conceals the new condi$ons of social life. Herbert Marcuse, Nega(ons, 1968

-‐ Cultural Commodi$es -‐ Nega$on = Depriving culture of “its great refusal” = Cultural Appropria$on ACTUALLY DEPOLITICISES THE WORKING CLASS

‘Authen$c Culture vs Mass Culture’

Quali$es of authen$c culture • Real • European • Mul$-‐Dimensional • Ac$ve Consump$on • Individual crea$on • Imagina$on • Nega$on • AUTONOMOUS

Products of the contemporary ‘Culture Industry’

Andreas Gursky (2000) ‘May Day’

Adorno ‘On Popular Music’ • STANDARDISATION • ‘SOCIAL CEMENT’ • PRODUCES PASSIVITY THROUGH ‘RHYTHMIC’ AND EMOTIONAL ‘ADJUSTMENT’

Walter Benjamin ‘The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduc$on’

1936

‘One might generalise by saying: the technique of reproduc$on detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradi$on. By making many reproduc$ons it subs$tutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence. And in permiSng the reproduc$on to meet the beholder or listener in his own situa$on, it reac$vates the objects produced. These two processes lead to a tremendous shaaering of tradi$on… Their most powerful agent is film. Its social significance, par$cularly in its most posi$ve form, is inconceivable without its destruc$ve, cathar$c aspect, that is, the liquida$on of the tradi$onal value of the cultural heritage’

Louise Lawler, ‘Pollock and Tureen, Arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine, Connec$cut,’ (1984)

Max Ernst ‘The Wavering Woman’ 1923

‘Nosferatu’ 1922

Mechanical Reproduc$on changes the reac$on of art towards the masses toward art. The reac$onary aStude toward a Picasso pain$ng changes into a progressive reac$on toward a Chaplin movie. The progressive reac$on is characterised by the direct, in$mate fusion of visual and emo$onal enjoyment with the orienta$on of the expert’

(Benjamin, The Work of Art In the Age of Mechanical Reproduc$on, 1936)

The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies-‐ CCCA (1963 -‐ 2002)

Hebdige, D (1979) ‘Subculture: The Meaning of Style’ • INCORPORATION • IDEOLOGICAL FORM

• COMMODITY FORM

‘Youth cultural styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges, but they must end by establishing new conven$ons; by crea$ng new commodi$es, new industries, or rejuvena$ng old ones’

Conclusion •  The culture & civiliza$on tradi$on emerges from, and represents,

anxie$es about social and cultural extension. They aaack mass culture because it threatens cultural standards and social authority.

•  The Frankfurt School emerges from a Marxist tradi$on. They aaack mass culture because it threatens cultural standards and depoli$cises the working class, thus maintaining social authority.

•  Pronouncements on popular culture usually rely on norma$ve or eli$st value judgements

•  Ideology masks cultural or class differences and naturalises the interests of the few as the interests of all.

•  Popular culture as ideology •  The analysis of popular culture and popular media is deeply

poli$cal, and deeply contested, and all those who prac$ce or engage with it need to be aware of this.