Williamsons Characterization of Common Culture - Essay Example

Introduction In ‘Introduction: Meaning and Ideology’ Judith Williamson (Williamson 1994) argues that pop culture has replaced art and religion as the predominant means by which society participates in a common culture. Williamson’s characterization of ‘common culture’ goes beyond mere cultural products and includes the entirety of social norms and customs that make up the culture of a society. While the extent that this transformation has occurred is debatable, with advances in digital technology and the internet it’s clear that a significant social shift is underway. With specific reference to television daytime talk shows and advertisements, this essay considers the extent that pop culture shapes a common culture; the essay also considers the ways and extent that contemporary art continues to influence cultural paradigms. Television: Daytime Talk Shows Theorists argue that one of the most notable means that television contributes to common culture is by helping shape identity and standards of ‘normality’. In formulating a unique interpretive approach to the representation of ‘normality’ daytime talk shows Woods (2007) advances an analytic methodology based on Bahktin’s theory that “entails understanding the communicative relationship of viewers with the particular programmes as specific (mediated) ‘speech genres’” (as cited in Wood 2007, p. 5).” One strand of Wood’s investigation reveals that viewers who watch television talk shows add their own commentary both at home and in the studio. Responding with “mhm” or “yes” are examples of the viewer engaging in collaborative creation of cultural meaning. Other means television contributes to a common culture in the context of daytime talk shows include what Woods terms ‘adjacency pairs’. These are elements of speech interaction where a member in the studio will pose a question, oftentimes rhetorical, and the viewer at home will answer. In addition to adjacency pairs, Woods research formulates a number of elements of this construction of common culture that include turn-taking, and secondary textual interrogation, where the viewer offers their own expert analysis. In addition to these elements there exists a tertiary understanding of the text. In these instances the viewer can be said to be inspired by the studio discussion to formulate a divergent response. The response is not entirely related to the studio discussion, but builds off of it in interrogating other instances of common culture. Television: Advertisements When constructing identity in contemporary discourse theorists have argued that consumers take an active role in meaning negotiation. One sees this concept echoed in Woods (2007), but Fenton (2007) extends it to include not only collaborative utterances, but also the very means by which images are interpreted for their functional value. The concept that viewers actively negotiate the meaning of images and can resist significations that have been structured by advertisers or television executives has particular relevance for the creation of a common culture through television. Lewin-Jones & Mitra (2009) consider the practical applications for the theoretical approaches to media contributions to common culture discussed by Fenton (2007). They argue that, “the gender of the model used in commercials can have an impact on childrens perception of who should play with particular toys” (Pike & Jennings cited in Lewin-Jones & Mitra 2009, p. 3). They state that, “Commercials classified as male tend to show actors engaged in more physically active behavior...commercials aimed at females tend to show domestic settings and more passive behavior” (p. 17). When considering the relevancy these findings hold for contemporary formulations of a common culture they note that there is an underlining sense of female subordination to male signification codes. For example, “The narration in the neutral advertisements is also closer to that in the male commercials, with a predominance of male voiceovers” (p. 18). Art: Adbusters Adbusters Media Foundation represents an art collective of activists; however, its most renowned for its namesake Adbusters magazine that features interventionist art, and self-described subvertisements designed to advance a political agenda. In Culture Jam Adbuster’s founder Kalle Lasn argues that consumer capitalism, as embedded in the all consuming nature of mass advertising, has perverted common culture in an effort to sell products. As the primary means by which corporations have co-opted society are advertisements, the Adbusters movement has set about intervening in these corporate advertisements by altering elements of their marketing, including logos, and slogans, in more socially conscious ways. Adbusters has targeted a number of specific groups and products and adds to common culture in a myriad of forms. One group of ‘subvertisements’ targeted Absolut Vodka ads. One such ad featured in Fig. 1, kept the Vodka bottle originally pictured, but changed the lettering to say, Absolute A.A. – an obvious reference to Alcoholics Anonymous. Subvertisements have focused on a variety of products outside of Vodka. One notable series of ads specifically set-out detourning McDonalds advertisements. Fig. 2 illustrates a McDonalds subvertisment called MacAttack that shows an operating room with a man on his death bed, and a machine with his life-signs prominently featured. Under the advertisement the words Big Mac Attack are written; an ironic reference to the popular McDonalds marketing campaign that encouraged customers to have a MacAttack out of hunger and genuine desire for a McDonalds Big Mac. Art: Homeless Projection: A Proposal for the City of New York Krzysztof Wodiczko’s work is situated at the end of a long line of these avant-garde attempts to disrupt the patterns of daily existence. While his work remains mysterious and malleable to the point that characterizing it through a definitive methodology is impossible, significant themes of Marxist expression carried through a myriad of artistic lenses are identifiable. The large-majority of Wodiczko’s oeuvre consists of projections of political statements onto government or real estate buildings. The ephemerality of Wodiczko’s projections represents the re-imagined goals of avant-garde art away from complete societal revolution to enacting changes in common culture in small, but poignant ways. In Homeless Projection: A Proposal for the City of New York (Fig. 3) Wodiczko proposes to project images of homeless people onto the state-sponsored statues in New York City’s Union Park. In these projections we see a statue of George Washington with a wheelchair and a can of window cleaner projected onto him; another statue of Abraham Lincoln is projected onto with a crutch; the Marquis de Lafayette is seen with a cast on his leg and a sick person’s head band; finally, the Charity statue was superimposed with a low-rent building. Conclusion In conclusion, while the all consuming and accessible nature of popular culture has positioned it as the primary means that society participates in common culture, it’s clear that contemporary art continues to affect culture in small, but poignant ways. In daytime talk shows we see how viewers actively negotiate and learn from common cultural significations. Similarly, television advertisements have been demonstrated to influence gender identity. In art, the subvertisements of the Adbuster’s publication actively seek to influence common culture by resisting meanings put forth by more popular mediums. Finally, Krystof Wodiczko’s Homeless Projection: A Proposal for the City of New York seeks to influence common culture by subverting its popularly accepted political realities. References Fenton, Natalie (2007) ‘The problematics of postmodernism for feminist media studies.’ Media Culture Society 2000; 22; 723 Lewin-Jones, Jenny; Mitra Barbara (2009) ‘Gender Roles in Television Commercial’ Journal of Children and Media, Volume 3, Issue 1 February 2009 , pages 35 – 50 Lasn, Kalle (1999) Culture Jam. Eagle Brook. Williamson, Judith. (1994) Decoding Advertising. Marion Boyars Publishers. Wood, Helen (2009) ‘The mediated conversational floor: an interactive approach to audience reception analysis’ Media Culture Society 2007; 29; 75 Appendix Fig. 1 Absolut Subvertisement Fig. 2 MacAttack Subvertisment Fig. 3 Homeless Projection: A Proposal for the City of New York Read More