Culture and Civilization Theory Or, He is, like, ' ' ' Oh, My Gawd ' ' ' sooooo cute Weeks Reading:

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Culture and Civilization Theory (Or, He is,
like, . . . Oh, My Gawd . . . sooooo
cute!)Weeks Reading Chapter 7

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Theory

• A statement of how and why specific facts are
  related
• E.g. Car exhaust leads to higher rates of cancer.

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What is Theory?

• Theories help us to explain cultural phenomena.
• No one theory is universally valid.
• E.g. Exhaust is not the only cause of cancer.
• E.g. Exhaust fumes will not always cause cancer.
• Today culture and civilization

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Response to Emergence of Popular Culture

• Early 1900s The Arrival of Mass Culture
• Novels
• Films
• Popular magazines
• Radio

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Culture and Civilization

• Popular Culture as . . .
• Cheap, tawdry, and simplistic
• A threat to the status of high culture

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Culture and Civilization

• A set of distinctions . . .

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Distinction No. 1

• Commerce () versus Art
• Belief no role for commerce in true art

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Distinction No. 1

• Logic and strategies of mass production as
  applied to culture
• Systematic and bureaucratic (popcult)
• rather than emerging organically from a way
  of life

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Distinction No. 2

• High Culture/Art innovative, original
• VERSUS
• Popular culture formulaic

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Distinction No. 2

• Mini-Case Study Contemporary Popular Music
• Question Is it formulaic?

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Formula in Popular Music

• distribution
• method of promotion
• song structure chorus-verse-chorus
• song length
• instrumentation
• time between releases (18 to 24 months)
• look/age
• number of band members
• lyric topics

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Teen Heartthrobs A Case Study

• Two questions to answer
• What is the formula?
• What is the source of value for the audience?
• Clip Backstreet Boys

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A Long History
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Quality No. 1 Pre-Adult/Post-Adolescent

• Innocence symbols of childhood
• Connection to family like a family
• Animals as pets
• Playful

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Comparison . . . U2
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Quality No. 1 Pre-Adult/Post-Adolescent
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Age one especially boyish character
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Boyish Characters

• See, for example
• Davey Jones (The Monkees)
• Michael (The Jackson Five)
• Donny (Osmond Family)
• Nick (Backstreet Boys)
• Joey (NKOTB)

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Facial/Body Hair
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Pre-Adult/Post-Adolescent

• Band (Brand) Names
• New Edition
• BackStreet Boys
• Boyz 2 Men
• New Kids on the Block

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Quality No. 2

• Unique Romantic Orientation
• Non-Aggressive Sexuality

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NSync (song titles)

• Tearing Up My Heart
• I Just Wanna Be With You
• For the Girl Who Has Everything
• God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You
• I Need Love
• I Want You Back
• I Drive Myself Crazy
• Crazy For You
• Everything I Own

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Lyrics New Edition, Heartbreak

•  
• In the store signing autographs at the mall
• Next in line was a fly girl standing tall
• Signed my name and said give me a call baby you
  know
• The girl screamed and fainted panic on the
  floor
• The bodyguard pulled us out the back door
• I never saw (her) anymore
• It was an in-store heartbreak
• People think we dont get lonely
• But were far away from home
• One minute, 20,000 people
• But then they go home and were alone

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That girl will never be mine First time I saw
her at the front door That girl, her face on
every billboard Hands down, you won't believe
the way she laid her eyes on me Six feet, I spot
her from the cat walk So fly, we got into a small
talk Too bad she had to move along One smile
and she was gone Can't explain I never thought
that I was gonna lose my head Call me insane
There's got to be a way How can I get next to
her Now tell me how it's gonna be done Will I
win or lose this one? (Don't care about the fact
that)

• NSync That Girl Will Never Be Mine

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Comparison . . . Geto Boys

• I like bitches
• All kinds of bitches
• To take off my shirt
• And pull down my britches
• If she has big tities
• Ill squeeze them and holdem
• As she sucks my dick and scrotum
• If shes got another friend then Ill fuck her
  too
• Together we can play a game of switcheroo
• I aint the type who gets all mushy
• I like to sit back
• And watch them eat each others pussy
• Weak people people might say Im insane
• But thats the other damn love of the fame
• Ill turn your sister out if you fuck with me
• You want to know my name

Geto Boys You want to know my name
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Audience Considerations

• Adolescence
• buffer between childhood and adulthood
• Introduction to adult (romantic/sexual)
  relationships

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Genres

• A category of cultural production that shares
  similar characteristics or features
• E.g. Television
• Daytime talk show
• Game show
• Prime time drama
• Local news and information
• And so on

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Conventions of the daytime melodrama

• Focus on human relationships (men, too)
• Serial format ongoing storyline
• Characters linked by family (decreasingly the
  case)
• Moral dilemmasfamily loyalty, romantic
  infidelity.
• Children small role in narrative.

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How the genre works/what is the social
significance of genres

• Organizes the consumers interpretation/experience
  of the text (e.g. film)
• Changes over time

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Distinction No. 3Individual Creativity versus
Bureaucracy

• High culture/Folk culture the individual as
  producer
• Mass/Popular Culture produced by large
  bureaucratic, (often) multinational organizations
• The Death of the Author

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Distinction No. 3

• Belief creative work is the work of individuals.
  
• Bureaucracies/large organizations can not produce
  creative work.
• Thus . . .

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Packaging the Author
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Tommy Personalized

• The use of an individuals name as opposed to
  ABC Co.
• Large multinationals -- The use of individuals
  figures for symbolic purposes
• the designer tapping into pre-existing beliefs

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Fashions Hierarchy

• Donna Karen
• Calvin Klein
• Giorgio Armani

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Distinction No. 4 Our culture versus Foreign
Culture

• Mass or popular culture as a foreign presence
• Americanization
• Britain
• Canada
• Keeping the bloodline of the culture pure