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Mix it Up Chapter 3: Monsters, Inc. . A critical approach to popular culture. Marisa L. Garcia Emmalee Cochrane Andrea Laryssa Leyva Erica Cabello Illiana New. Introduction to the Critical Approach.
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Mix it Up Chapter 3: Monsters, Inc. A critical approach to popular culture Marisa L. Garcia Emmalee Cochrane Andrea LaryssaLeyva Erica Cabello Illiana New
Introduction to the Critical Approach • Pop culture can be explained through its cultural and economic power in the mass media industry. • Critical approach emphasizes the darker elements of society: • Ubiquity • Dominance • Manufacture desires • Perpetuate stereotypes • Mold human mind
Foundations of the Critical Approach • Karl Marx was among the first thinkers to draw attention to the problems associated with the emergence of mass culture under capitalism. In a reading, The German Ideology, Marx argues that the prevailing ideologies and cultural norms of any society serve to benefit its ruling classes and perpetuate their power • The class with the production power also has control of the mental production.
Foundations of the Critical Approach • Antonio Gramsci, an Italian political philosopher recognized the ideological power of culture as an effective means of social control. • Societies are more seamlessly controlled through the dissemination of mass media because it disarms and immobilizes its audience by engineering popular consensus through the power of persuasion.
Foundations of the Critical Approach • Many Germans fled to the U.S. and turned their attention to American media and popular culture • Disney, Hollywood film, jazz, and radio • Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer: argue that the culture industries rely on advertising, popular music and films to satisfy their needs, thus creating endless market • Audiences overlook when they are overworked and underpaid
Foundations of the Critical Approach • Books such as Amusing ourselves to Death, and movies such as Fast Food Nations shows the dangers of relying on advertisements has on a society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAhfGQlDgiw
The power of the culture Industries • Global dominance of the culture industries is illustrated by the ubiquity of the world’s most recognizable brands
The power of the culture Industries • Seven parent companies that produce and distribute most of the mass-marketed music, films, books, television and cable. Together are the very portrait of consolidated media and cultural power.
Seven Parent Companies • Sony Corporation of America • Time Warner • Walt Disney Company • Viacom • CBS Corporation • General Electric • News Corporation
Local Business, Multinational and Social Inequalities • International Dominance • Rise of global capitalism Social • Wealthy nations –United States vs. third world countries
Americas Labor • Intimidation Tactics • 1997 court case • 2008 court case
“Unfriendly” Polices and Stereotypes • Hiring Strategies • 2004- EEOC • Hollywood Films - Male Villians • Women Stereotypes • Ethnic Stereotypes
Radio, film and books have been used to create hysteria among the masses. • H.G. Wells’s science fiction book, The War of the Worlds • 2009 Film, 2012
Wanting what we don’t need • The American middle class are now using credit cards to buy designer clothing, luxury cars and expensive vacations to keep up with celebrity spending. • Unrealistic goals have been set for what some people can afford. • Shows like Friends are setting unattainable consumption goals.
Unattainable expectations • Advertisers and the fashion industry are giving unattainable expectations of body definition, physical fitness and sexual allure. • This has resulted in an increasing amount of eating disorders among women
You are what you wear • Diamond industry has set the bar high for marriages and expectations for engagements. • Buying of name brands extends to not just clothing or automobiles • Name-brand medications verses generic or store-brands • Consumers respond to branding and associated brands with quality and reliability.
When Popular Culture Attacks • A critical approach to popular culture requires consumers to explore the motivators that drive its design and programming: Free Expression Creativity Pleasure Fun
In the pursuit of profit… • Corporations reinforce their economic dominance • The gulf widens between those in power and those without • The industrialized world vs. the developing world • Multinational corporations vs. non-unionized workers • Men vs. women • Racial and ethnic minorities • Affluent vs. everyone else
Culture industries don’t play fair • In recent decades, culture industries have attempted to expand their market base by regularly advertising to children and adolescents.
Culture industries don’t play fair • Companies advertise everywhere! • Public high schools and universities through sponsorship of athletic activities (Nike, Adidas) • Exclusive soft-drink and fast food vending contracts (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut) • Bookstore management (Barnes & Noble) • Channel One (a video-based teaching aid that requires students to sit through commercials while watching educational content
Culture of Cool (?) • Companies recruit “cool hunters” • Flash over substance • Superficiality over gravitas • Myth over reality • Potential for failure • Conflicting messages • Regular loss of profits and market share • Innovation and dynamic change
References http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical.html http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlKaXY9uyzW3T-oTL8KLG9G8M2J-hnWU0-0M5UH2Z0--jYvCEUpQ&t=1 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/chimage.php?image=2005/1965/antonio_gramsci.jpg http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNTU2Mzc3ODc3N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTI5NDM3._V1._SY317_.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAhfGQlDgiw
