Mac 101 Conor O’Neill [Type text]

What is culture?

To further understand culture I am firstly going to define culture; analyze sub

culture, and finally look at how British culture has changed over the past 50
years.

John Storey quotes Raymond Williams who claims Culture is “one of the two or
three most complicated words in the English language” (Storey, 2009: p1).

John Storey explains in order to understand culture; you must understand the
three different definitions.

Firstly, “culture can be used to refer to a general process intellectual, spiritual

and aesthetic development,” this suggests that a religious or visual development
in society can be described as a form of culture.

A second use of the word culture might suggest ‘a particular way of life, whether
of a people, a period or group’ (Storey, 2009: p2). This shows how culture can
develop within society, ‘if we speak of cultural development of western Europe,
we would have in mind not just intellectual and aesthetic factors, but the
development of, for example, literacy, holidays, sport, religious festivals,’
(Storey, 2009: p2) Storey refers to these as ‘lived cultures’ .

And finally, ‘Williams suggests that culture can be used to refer to the works
and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity,’ these cultures, ‘are
usually referred to as texts,’ (Storey, 2009:p2). The third and final definition
describes popular culture as magazines, chart music, and movies.
“Subcultures are defined in the first instance in terms of relation to the
mainstream or dominant culture of which they form an antagonistic or eccentric
but supportive part. They are comprised, in close or loosely affiliated groupings,
of those who share a set of common interests, values, tastes and often a
specialist knowledge and argot; whose purpose common, ritualistic practices or
pastimes; who may display their unity in material objects, accoutrements, dress
or a common look; and who may be known through an association....” (Brooker,
2003: p240)

It appears that Brooker suggests that subculture is a group that breaks away
from the mainstream culture to create their own individuality. Most subcultures
can be defined by music, physical items or dress code.

Brooker suggests that these subculture members are allied together by, ‘those
who share a common interest, or common value’ (Brooker, 2003: p240). The
members of a certain subculture all have similar views, values and might be
knowledgeable about a certain topic for example, bikers and motorbikes.
Members of a subculture may also use slang. A modern example of this would a
chavs use certain phrases such as ‘cha’ ‘init’ ‘bling’.

Graeme Turner describes subcultures as, ‘dress, music, and behavioural styles’
(Turner, 2003: p91).

Many people believe that most subcultures are formed by the working class
society and youths, ‘these are the reasons why one hears frequently of youth
subcultures’ (Gelder & Thornton, 1997: p2).

Sub cultures first started to emerge around the 1900s. They were mainly made
up of male youths, and in today’s society most subcultures consist of male

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youths, “subcultures have been mapped onto distinctions of social class, latterly
gender as well as personal and generational style” (Brooker, 2003:p240).

Television’s representation of women has changed drastically over the past 50

years. One of the first representations of women were proud, happy housewives,
often seen in cleaning or cooking adverts. Women have now become objectified
as sexual objects. We regularly see them advertising perfume or clothes.
Feminists often criticise the representations of women within various media
texts, as they do not portray a positive or true representation of what real life
women are like.

Men viewed on television have been represented as being strong and dominant
with power. James Bond is a popular film character whos persona is thought to
be cool and ‘good with the ladies’. In every film his character uses his sexuality
as a way to get ahead in the plot, succeeding in his missions.

Over the past 50 years Britain has dramatically changed and with this so has it’s
culture.

Society’s views on homosexuality, women’s role in society and immigration have

changed dramatically within the last 50 years.

Over the past 50 years,the British media has been introduced to the
representation of camp homosexuality through stereotypical gay characters. This
can be viewed on programmes such as Graham Norton and Gok Wan that use
their sexuality as a gimmick producing humour.

Homosexuals on British television have been stereotyped as camp figures on a

sitcom or comedy panel show.

Some British media focuses on homosexual’s sexuality being the identity of that
individual; displaying an exaggeration of their femininity which broadens their
appeal to the audience who are viewing their programme.
“By shifting the focus away from the question of what it means to be lesbian or gay
within the culture, and onto the various performances of heterosexuality created by the
culture, queer theory seeks to locate queerness in places that has previously been
thought of as strictly for the straight. In this way, they contend queer theory is no more
about lesbians and gay men than woman studies is about women. Indeed part of the
project of queer is to attack...the very naturalness of gender and by extension the
fictions supporting compulsory heterosexuality”

The British ideological view on homosexuals has changed due to a number of

homodexual men in the media spot light. For example, George Michael has been
heavily criticised for being a promiscuous gay. However, his career has not been
affected since announcing he was gay. George Michael is well respected in the
music industry, along with many other gay males whos sexuality hasn’t affected
their career.

Pop music is very important to a lot of sub cultures around the world. However,
one of the most popular music genres to be introduced into British society is rap
music. Rap is part of the hip hop culture, which was originally formed in the
Bronx area of New York City during the 1970’s. Rap has been perceived as being

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very important when bringing African culture together with other cultures
through music.
“Rap is unique because it combines the black preacher and the black music
tradition, replacing the liturgical ecclesiastical setting with African polyrhythm’s of
the street. A tremendous articulateness is syncopated with the African drumbeat,
the African funk, into an American postmodernist product” Cornel west (2006)

As hip hop culture started to grow in the UK around the 1980s, it was heavily
criticised by the media. The media blamed it for causing an increase of knife and
gun crime in British society at that time.

In recent times rap has been criticised by the conservative party leader David
Cameron, he has been quoted saying, “I would like to say to radio 1, do you
realise that some of the stuff you play on Saturday nights encourages people to
carry guns and knives.”

In video games both men and women are represented with stereotypical images
in computer and videogames. "Men are viewed as the more violent sex that
enjoys blood, guts, vengeance, and glory" (Williams, 2003). Where women are
represented as the Femme fatale, or the damsel in distress for the male
protagonist in the video game to save. In a study of games, 92 per cent had
male lead characters, whereas 54 per cent had female lead characters, and on
the games that contained female characters, almost half of them portrayed
women in an unhealthy or stereotypical way as 85 per cent of female characters
had large breasts, unusually small waists or very thin bodies. (Children Now,
2000 cited by Jason rutter & Jo Bryce in the book understanding digital games)
Unrealistic bodies and giving women little or no representation is one of the main
reasons why videogames have been perceived as a male activity Video games
and have a long history of excluding women by portraying them in menial roles
or by giving them little or no representation, one character that has been
important in changing this ideology is Lara croft who has portrayed a positive
image for women and has broken away from the negative stereotype of the
damsel in distress.

Magazines have also changed within the last 50 years. In the 1960s and 1970s
women were represented in the same way as they were represented in television
adverts. A stereotypical woman in the 1960s was a housewife who cooked and
cleaned, looking after her family. According to Jane Winship, the content of a
women’s magazine is that, “they can be the visual fictions of advertisements or
items of fashion cookery or family and home,” john story

In today’s popular men’s magazines women are defiantly represented a sex

symbols, girls on the front covers of magazines such as Fast Car, Men’s Health,
and FHM display semi-naked and women as symbols of sex and lust.

In this essay I have analysed and examined in detail many media forms, and the
change of these media forms within the past 50 or so years. Firstly I defined the
word culture and its various definitions. Secondly I analyzed various sub-cultures,
and what they consisted of. Finally I examined how British culture has changed
over the past 50 years, and whether these were positive or negative. I hope that
I have successfully defined what culture is.

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Bibliography

Books

John Storey an introduction popular culture and culture theory 2009-11-27

John Storey cultural studies 2008

Gill Branstan and Roy Staford the media student’s book 2008

Turner g 2003 British cultural studies

Websites

http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John

www.hop-music.com

www.bbc.co.uk/news

http://wikipedia.org