POPULAR CULTURE
Depth Study
Introduction
All of the major motion picture studios have produced teen genre movies. Columbia pioneered this genre in the 1950s producing The Wild One. This movie was followed by several successful movies all based on juvenile delinquents including Rebel Without A Cause and Blackboard Jungle. This theme for the teen genre movie has continued in movies such as Romper Stomper, The Outsiders, The Delinquents andHangin’ With the Home Boys.
JAMES DEAN
The power of teen movies as agents of socialisation was immediately apparent. When James Dean and Natalie Wood appeared in jeans in Rebel Without A Cause it reinforced this garment as the trade mark apparel of youth culture. This phenomenon would be repeated, after Risky Business was a hit Ray Ban sunglasses became popular.
AIP dominated the teen genre in the 1960s with the beach party movies. They glamourised the teenage years as one continuous party interrupted by surfing, water skiing and body building. The movies featured girls in two piece bathers and risqué sexual references. In Beach Party Bingo the two main characters are driving to the beach house for some “private time” together, a risqué reference for a teen movie at this time.
BEACH BLANKET BINGO
The motion picture studios struggled with a winning formula for the teen audience in the 1970s. American Graffiti and Grease were nostalgia films set in the 1950s. American Graffiti produced by Universal Studios is one of the greatest Box Office successes in movie history. Paramount’s Saturday Night Fever used predictable teen movie ingredients to present a contemporary story. This decade saw studios realize the importance of rock n roll soundtracks.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI
GREASE
AMERICAN GRAFFITI
In the 1980s Paramount produced the Box Office hit Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by avoiding overtly romantic scenes and choosing to romanticise adolescence itself.
The number of movies in the teen movie genre increased in the 1980s and 1990s. Many movies at this time were in the ‘coming of age’ category and remain classics of their type. Traditional themes and plots were disguised in the fashion and language of the times but many Shakespearian themes were evident.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
Universal studios dominated the genre in the end of the 1990s and beyond with the American Pie trilogy. The American Pie series was a funny but sordid representation of American teenagers without the innocence of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The ‘off’ humour of the American Pie series has continued in the genre in the 21st century, most notably in Columbia’s Superbad.
The teen genre has also tried to explore important aspects of teen life. Identity, acceptance, independence, power and authority, peer pressure and relationships are recurring themes.
The nature of popular culture
The distinguishing characteristics of popular culture p193
1 Define popular culture.2 Describe the characteristics of high culture.
3 Differentiate between high culture and popular culture.
4 Explain how class boundaries can be blurred.
5 Brainstorm different types of popular culture.
6 What makes something popular enough to generate a global following?
7 List the potentially negative effects of popular culture.
8 Define the youth revolution.
- On the cover of this workbook create a collage of popular culture and high culture.
During the study of popular culture the class will focus on the teen movie genre. The table below is a guide to movies you can find and watch to support your studies. Many are available on the world wide web and youtube. Teen movies began in the 1940s, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney starred in a series of movies called the Andy Hardy series aimed at the teenage audience. However, the movies did not challenge the values and norms of their times: The leading characters were squeaky clean teenagers always trying to put on a backyard musical. Our study will begin in the 1950s when teen movies challenged the status quo and played an important role in the youth revolution.
1950s / The Wild One 1953Blackboard Jungle 1955
Rebel Without a Cause 1955
Jailhouse Rock
1960s / Beach Blanket Bingo 1964
To Sir With Love 1967
1970s / American Graffiti 1973
Animal House 1977
Saturday Night Fever 1977
Grease 1978
1980s / Porky’s trilogy 1981, 1983, 1985
The Outsiders
Risky Business 1983
Sixteen Candles1984
The Breakfast Club 1985
Ferris Beuller’s Day Off 1986
Pretty in Pink 1986
Weekend at Bernie’s 1989
1990s / Bill and Teds Bogus Journey 1991
Hangin’ with the Home Boys 1991
Clueless 1995
Dangerous Minds 1995
Black Rock 1998
American Pie 1999 & 2001
Ten Things I Hate About You 1999
2000s / Almost Famous 2000
Bend it Like Beckham 2002
Freedom Writers 2007
Mean Girls 2007
Superbad 2007
Juno 2007
17 Again 2009
Association with commercial products pp194, 195
1 What are examples of commercial products?2 Why are popular cultures associated commercial products?
3 How do commercial products assist the growth of a popular culture?
Developing from a local to a national and global level P195
1 How does a popular culture move from a local to a national to a global level? IN YOUR ANSWER REFER TO TEEN MOVIES.2 Is it possible to bypass any one stage of development (i.e. local of national) to result in a global acceptance of the popular culture? Explain your answer.
- Construct a timeline of the teen movie genre and point out significant changes over time.
Allowing consumers to have widespread access
1 Describe the factors that allow consumers to have widespread access to popular culture. IN YOUR ANSWER REFER TO TEEN MOVIES2 What is meant by institutional power?
3 To what extent can institutions influence popular cultures?
4 Assess the benefits and drawbacks of a lack of access to popular culture.
Constantly changing and evolving p197
1 Which groups stimulate change in popular culture?2 How have teen movies changed over time?
3 Why do popular cultures need to continue changing and evolving?
4 Assess the role globalisation plays in popular culture.
Your own interaction with popular culture
NAME OF POPULAR CULTURE / TEEN MOVIESHOW MUCH TIME DO YOU ENGAGE WITH THIS PER MONTH?
HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU SPEND ON IT PER MONTH?
WHAT DOES IT PROVIDE YOU WITH?
LIST ASSOCIATED PRODUCTS.
WHERE AND WHEN DID IT DEVELOP?
HOW IS IT ACCESSED?
HOW HAS IT EVOLVED OVER TIME?
HAS THIS POPULAR CULTURE INFLUENCED YOU AND CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR IDENTITY?
HAS THIS POPULAR CULTURE CONTRIBUTED TO SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED GENDER ROLES?
IS THE FREQUENCY OF YOUR INTERACTION WITH THIS POPULAR CULTURE DICTATED BY COMPANIES INTRODUCING NEW COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS?
IS THIS POPULAR CULTURE EASY TOACCESS?
DO YOU INTERACT WITH THIS POPULAR CULTURE IN YOUR MICRO AND MACRO WORLD?
- MYTHOLOGY: Mythology is ideas and beliefs that are created. They have some truth but are usually an exaggeration of truth. Mythology exists for commercial exploitation. In teen movies characters and plots are presented that ensure the profits of corporations that own the movie companies. To some extent teen movies depict the nuances of everyday life so that teenagers can identify with the product. However the characters, plot and sometimes the set are exaggerated to make it marketable. Teenagers are enticed into a world that seems normal but relationships, characterisations, violence, humour and romance are exaggerated to make it marketable. The power of Ferris Bueller to outsmart his dim witted school principal is unrealistic but teenagers watching the antics of Ferris are temporarily empowered. For a brief moment they can ignore their own feelings of powerlessness and cheer Ferris’ bravado. The representation of everyday life is exaggerated in Risky Business. The main character Joel Goodsenis handsome and lives in a large and beautiful home. When he wrecks his father’s car it is of course a Porsche. The exaggerated good looks of the protagonist and the beautiful set make the movie more marketable. However there is another level to the mythology of these teen movies. Both plots involve a teenager breaking rules during their parents’ absence. However the level of fun and risky behaviour is exaggerated. Teenagers can participate in the fun by projecting their own identity on the fun loving protagonist.
The mythology of teen movies is part of the suspension of reality. Movies are escapism. In ninety minutes the movie takes the viewer to another place, perhaps another time, a different socio – economic class and yet convinces us to identify with the characters, and believe in the plot.
Some teen movies deliberately avoid mythology. Rebel Without A Cause, To Sir With Love, andBlack Rock have strong plots and believable characterisation and sets. All of these movies are based on true stories.
- PATTERNS OF USE: The pattern of use of teen movies has changed over time. Once a movie would be seen once maybe twice at the cinema and not seen again until it eventually made it to the television screen. The invention of the Video and then DVDs changed the patterns of use. Consumers are able to buy or rent their favourite movie and watch them over and over again. This has lead to parasocial interaction, that is, the interaction with the movie is outside the normal range of interactions. Teenagers identify strongly with the character or characters they have watched over and over again and the character or characters influence the identity of the teenager.
- EMOTIONAL NEEDS: Teen movies fulfil the emotional needs of teenagers. The emotional need of most teenagers is to be accepted by their peers. There is generally one or more characters in teen movies that epitomize “cool’, that is acceptance by their peers, a trend setter and leader. Rebel Without A Cause, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Ten Things IHate About You provide a protagonist that epitomises ‘cool’. In some story lines the ‘cool’ character is in fact full of self doubt and wearing a mask of self confidence.This allows teenagers to identify with the character as their own self doubt is reflected on the screen.
- PARAPHERNALIA: Popular culture is usually associated with paraphernalia. Movies, including the teen movie genre, probably have less paraphernalia than other popular cultures. Now that movies can be purchased DVDs are the main paraphernalia of this popular culture. Soundtracks are also available for most movies. Much of the paraphernalia is in the form of media. Extract from the movies and background information can be viewed on the web.
- STEREOTYPING: Stereotyping is entrenched in teen movies. This can affect socialisation if teens believe the roles they see portrayed. The movies usually represent a cast of predictable characters such as the hero/ popular boy, the heroin/ popular girl, the loyal friend, the nerd, the outsider and the villain.Parents are usually marginalised in the storyline or if present are weak and ineffectual. Other representations of power and authority are similarly weak and ineffectual. Popular culture often has a cultural lag in portraying gender roles and relies on stereotypes of previous decades. “The polarisation of gender roles can alter social expectations. These socially constructed roles reflect the traditional patriarchal ideology of what is normal.” (Donnelly et al 2008p211)
1 Are gender roles stereotyped in teen movies? Give examples from teen movies you have watched.
2 Do teen movies reinforce the myth that aesthetically beautiful people are inherently good?
Give examples from teen movies you have watched.
In your answer consider the following teen movies:
Rebel Without a Cause / Sixteen Candles / American Graffiti / Clueless / Freedom Writers
Grease / The Breakfast Club / Juno / Dangerous Minds / Almost Famous
3 Do teen movies present stereotypically good looking actors and therefore reinforce society’s preoccupation with conventional standards of beauty?
4 Do teen movies present stereotypical images of race and ethnicity and therefore institutionalising racism?
Influence of stakeholders - business, marketing and advertising.
Motion pictures gained popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century. Motion picture companies set up studios in Los Angeles. The company names, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, MGM, Columbia and AIP became household names. The studios set up ‘star’ systems. Popular actors were contracted to motion picture studios. The studio fostered their careers by starring the same actors in many movies. Their images were then reinforced in movie magazines and staged events such as film premiers and Academy Award presentations.
Many of these companies were founded and run by Jews who had escaped from Nazi Germany. The popularity of motion pictures gave the motion picture studios power and authority. They have controlled the cultural capital of American society and other Western societies that purchase this product for a century. It is interesting to note that despite their foreign upbringing their movies often reinforcedAmerican myths. Many movies depicted the brave frontier experience and the formation of the American ethic of ‘rugged individualism’. The big studios also developed notions of beauty. Female stars were noticeably Anglo Saxon in appearance, almost all were and are slim blue – eyed blondes. They were presented as the wholesome girl next door or the sex siren.
Although CEOs of the major studios were often Jews, Jews rarely featured in any films. However other ethnic minorities were and continue to be stereotyped by the movie industry. Actors playing against stereotype is the exception rather than the rule.
The big studios also presented an unreal image of American life through luxurious sets and props. They bought into American consumerism as an important aspect of the American dream. The ideal family in their ‘white picket fence’ home in ‘middle’ America is a pervasive back drop to many movies.However to their credit all studios took risks and presented quality, challenging films still considered classics in movie popular culture.
The teen genre has consistently challenged values and norms of society in order to win over its audience. Teenagers are attracted to risky behaviour. However many teenagers do not want to participate in this behaviour, they prefer to project their desire for risky behaviour on to the big screen. In this way teen movies are both agents of social change and agents of social control. The first teen movies were based on the juvenile delinquent theme and lacked humour. Humour as an important ingredient in the genre began in the eighties but recently dominates the genre. Presently many teen movies use offensive language and behaviour, including offensive sexual behaviour as the basis for humour. The role of teen movies in the process of socialisation is important. It is questionable whether they reflect changing values and norms or influence changing values and norms. They are however part of the social fabric of our lives. “Critical discernment towards media is one of the characteristics of a socially and culturally literate person...... Sensationalism, exaggeration, materialismandexploitation are all part of this profitable popular culture and should be acknowledged...... ” (Donnelly et al 2008p211)
All of the motion picture studios have challenged censorship laws over time. The current trend to bad taste and overtly sexual themes would not have been tolerated by censorship boards in previous decades. Presently the code of motion pictures regulates the suitability of movies to age cohorts. However to a large extent audiences are left to self censor.
Have teen movies pushed the boundaries of what is considered to be socially acceptable?ESSAYS
1 In reference to the popular culture you have studied, does popular culture promote a particular ideology?
2 How does popular culture act an agent of socialisation?
3 Why does popular culture change over time?
VOCABULARY CHECK
ephemeral commercial
Post modernism niche markets
globalisation disposable
culture compost culture