Popular Culture Particular on Graffiti or Production of Kitsch - Essay Example

Popular culture particular on graffiti or production of kitsch Introduction The XX-th century is the epoch of changes and great events. The history of this time confirmed its variety in the tendencies of the global problems: formation of the economic systems of the world scale (world market, international banking, and transcontinental monopolies); formation of the information net which unites the whole world; ecological problems that are possible to solve only with the help of all mankind; the wars of the XX-th century are world wars, they involved a great number of people and countries. The XX-th century is the time of overcoming the space limits of microworld and the time when human being recognised themselves as the part of Universe. The XX-th century is the time of scientific and technical revolution. There were many different cultures in frames of this historical epoch. Nowadays mass (or popular) culture is of great importance because it is expressed everywhere. The interest to the phenomenon of popular culture appeared long ago and today there are many theories, concepts, and research works devoted to this issue. Usually popular culture is considered to be a special social phenomenon which has its genesis, special features and tendencies of development. The aim of this work is to define the features and peculiarities of development of graffiti and kitsch culture. The theories of popular culture A great contribution to the development of study of popular culture was made by Stuart Hall. Popular culture, Stuart Hall argues, is constructed by the "double movement of containment and resistance." And it is really so because there are a lot of contradictions in popular culture though it is considered as a united system. According to Hall resistance in popular culture is caused by individual accepting the art works. It means that every persons understands the works of culture in a different way and that brings various meanings and opposite opinions. Another interesting statement of Stuart Hall is that culture is "a process, a set of practices." Hall considers that social processes affect the personal thinking and understanding of many things. So everything flows from the public to individual. Hall names some processes that cause resistance and containment at the same time. These processes are: personal and social interaction; mass media and global communication; rules, norms, and conventions existence; everyday rituals and practices of daily life; group identity and group differences1. Before speaking about graffiti and kitsch in particular as the parts of popular culture, it would be appropriate to define some issues on popular culture in general. As it was mentioned above, there are many theories that consider popular culture from different sides. It is worth concentration on some of them. The theory of popular culture as a culture of “mass society” The central place in this theory is occupied by the research of the mass society which was the result of such processes as industrialization and urbanization. Mass culture was considered as a special type of a culture which substitutes the traditional forms of the folk culture. This theory was supported by the works of F.Nitsche, M. Webber, Z.Freud, D.Thompson and others. In the works of these scholars popular culture was the expression of ‘spiritual non-freedom’2. So in the frames of this theory the phenomenon of popular culture had got the negative character. The theory of Frankfurt school Here the main point was the notion of cultural industry which was the guarantee for capitalism stability. The main conclusion of this theory was that ‘popular culture formed conformism, kept the consumer’s reaction in infantine and statistical state, and manipulated much’3. So the phenomenon of popular culture is also negative. Among the representatives of Frankfurt school are T.Adorno, M.Horkheimer and others. The theory of feminism The representatives of this trend make an accent on the patriarchal ideology as a basis for the popular culture where the image of woman is exploited with the aim of reaching the commercial success. In their interpretation the phenomenon of popular culture is definitely negative. The founders of this theory are T.Modlesky, D.Daier and others. The scientists and historians have various suppositions as for the birth of popular culture as an independent social phenomenon. The American sociologist D. White states that the first elements of popular culture were the battles of Roman gladiators which gathered a lot of viewers. According to A. Adorno ‘the prototypes of popular culture were the forms of culture which appeared during the process of capitalism establishing in Great Britain (XVII-XVIII centuries)’4. He considered that the novels written in that period (Dephoe, Richardson) were intended for the market and had a definite commercial character. So it is possible to make a conclusion that they belonged rather to popular than to elite culture. Popular culture was formed while the society of mass production and consumption was developing. Radio, television and then video, and computer techniques caused its spreading. In Western sociology popular culture is considered as commercial subject because the works of art, science and religion are able to get income, if they are appropriate to the tastes and demands of consumers. The integral part of popular culture is advertising like in other commercial activities. According to Z.Freud there is a certain mechanism of “infusion and infection” in consumption the popular culture. It means that every person becomes a part of mass. ‘They are infected with the social opinion’5. The features of popular culture Like in the case of traditional culture there is no definition of the popular one. This situation has its rational explanation. The popular culture as a scientific-philosophical category includes three components: culture (a special character of production); mass character (a level of production spreading); culture (a spiritual value). If to try to give the approximate definition of the popular culture we can get the following: popular culture is a special cultural phenomenon, an independent formation, where it is possible to observe the frequent separation of the form and matter. Popular culture can often have a formal character. On the other hand popular culture is considered as ‘a phenomenon which characterises the peculiarities of production of cultural values in modern society’6. It is a fact that popular culture is consumed by all people. This is the culture of everyday life and it is produced everywhere. Popular culture is available for Mass Media and other means of communication. Nowadays popular culture interferes in all spheres of life of society and forms its common semiotic space. Popular culture can be classified in the following way. - the industry of childhood subculture; - the popular general school; - the system of national ideology; - the popular political trends; - the popular social mythology (which makes the complicated system of human value orientations simpler and results the elementary dual oppositions); - the entertainment industry (which includes popular art culture, popular shows, professional sports); - the health care industry; - the system of organization and stimulation of consumption(advertising, image making, political technologies); - the various game complexes. So it is obvious that popular culture is a phenomenon which is not homogeneous. It has its structure and levels. Nowadays it is possible to point out three basic levels of the popular culture: kitsch-culture (low-grade and vulgar culture); mid-culture (so called “mid-hand” culture); art-culture (the culture which id characterized by the high aesthetic value). Kitsch-culture Speaking in particular about kitsch-culture it is possible to say that this is the culture of the low-grade expression. The very word “kitsch” takes its origin from the German verbs «kitschen» (translated as “to do hack-work”) and «verkitschen» (translated as “to sell at a low price”). Firstly ‘kitsch was popular in applied art but with time it interfered in all spheres of art. Besides it is even possible to define some particular national features of kitsch in every country’7. The general the characteristics of kitsch are following8: - reductive expressing of problems; the stereotype images, ideas and plots are the base for kitsch; kitsch is oriented on people whose life is monotonous and dull. Kitsch has a single meaning: it does not put questions; it contains only answers, the cliché. It does not cause any psychological discomfort. Kitsch culture has got a special spreading in the genre of gutter press, films and video production; in different forms of standard everyday decorations. Kitsch, as an element of popular culture is a point of maximum escape from the elementary values and one of the most aggressive expressions of tendencies of primitive issues in art. Today in the industrial and developed countries it is possible to observe the domination of kitsch-culture. Graffiti-culture Another kind of popular culture is graffiti. It is difficult to believe that the first graffiti – pictures (from Italian "graffiare” – to scratch) were found on Antique monuments as an expression of low-grade creative activities. This kind of art was interesting for many painters in order to get rid of strict rules and stereotypes. Today graffiti is associated with the alternative form of urban culture. The term “graffiti” is used to define ‘the forbidden kind of art which is aimed to compose some pictures and writings created by a separate person or by group on the walls or some other surfaces which are available to public’9. Graffiti can be simple pictures. The authors of graffiti are called writers (but not painters) because the roots of graffiti are from the writings on the surfaces. There is a version, that firstly the art of graffiti was supported by the drug dealers, who informed people about the place of selling and price with the help of graffiti. With time this kind of culture turned to the usual form of communication between the teenagers. Usually the authors of graffiti are not professional painters and any person can be the author of it. But there are, of course, some professional painters who take the plots from Bible and popular magazines. Tagging is very popular among the writers-beginners10. It would be appropriate to define the motivation for such an activity. So among the motives it is possible to point out the following: striving for being famous; expressing the attitude to some things, historical facts and people. In many countries graffiti is forbidden, though there is a notion of legal and illegal walls. The legal walls are given by authorities to demonstrate the free policy to art and people. Illegal walls are usually used by writers at night. Another form of graffiti is gangster graffiti, which is possible to see only in huge cities. It is characterized by special meaning and form. Usually gangster graffiti indicates the borders of the territory and ideology11. This kind of graffiti is closely connected with such forms of art as tattoo, design of clothes. All this forms a close urban system. Another form of graffiti is called New-York style graffiti or Hip-hop. It is the most popular. The roots of this form are from the New-York underground in 1970. In general hip-hop is a popular movement which is expressed in rap-music, break-dance and graffiti. New-York is considered to be a cradle of graffiti art. The world of street art appeared there with its techniques, styles, and slang12. Style of graffiti is a concrete notion for every writer. It is determined by the way of writing and by the way of connecting writings. This is possible to achieve with the help of endless trainings. Style and techniques of graffiti are always developing. Every country brings much new in this kind of art. But after the graffiti pictures had begun to appear at the walls of museums and architectural monuments, ‘the problem of vandalism became obvious’13. Graffiti is a kind of art which is impossible to control or destroy with the help of law bans. This kind of art is the means of expression the opinion. It is flexile and free of censorship. It is a kind of anonymous and visible conversation between the author and other members of society. Conclusion So in conclusion it is worth saying that popular culture is an integral part of society. The production of popular culture such as kitsch and graffiti is not durable. Speaking about the short life of popular culture it is possible to point out a special category of so called ‘cult works’. The peculiarity of these works is the deep penetrating into the social conscious and gaining some grade of stability. Popular culture is conservative though it produces a great number of the works which have a short life. The works of popular culture are characterised by having definite structure and genre. In conclusion it is worth defining the role of popular culture in the life of society: it involves people who can use their spare time in active way; it creates the semiotic space which causes a close cooperation between the members of society; it gives the possibility to get acquaintance with the works of traditional culture. Among the reasons which make the low-grade culture popular are the following: the individual’s reluctance to participate in social processes and phenomena; the willingness to escape from everyday problems and routine; the willingness to understand the problems of others and sympathizing. Because of the spreading of popular culture the issue of its geographical status appears. Popular culture is a phenomenon of all mankind and is not connected with the structure of society. Popular culture is cosmopolitical. Besides popular culture has many contradictions and is characterised by "double movement of containment and resistance" as it was mentioned above. And it is really so because in the case of graffiti it is very difficult to define the real value of this kind of art. Nevertheless popular culture is a very important part of social life. Works cited Anderson Kristen ‘Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art’, Last Gasp,U.S. ISBN: 0867196181 Calinescu Matei ‘Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism‘, Duke University Press ISBN: 0822307677 Ganz Nicolas, Manco Tristan ‘Graffiti World: Street Art from Five Continents (Street Graphics / Street Art)’, Thames & Hudson Ltd, ISBN: 0500511705 Gibbons Jacqueline A. ‘Kitsch: artistic text or cultural anathema’ http://www.arts.yorku.ca/soci/jgibbons/pdfs/culture/gibbons_kitsch.pdf Gusevich Miriam ‘Decoration and Decorum, Adolf Looss Critique of Kitsch’ History of Graffiti Pt 1 by ERIC aka DEAL CIA and SPAR ONE TFP of At149st.com ©1998 @149st http://www.daveyd.com/historyofgraf.html Hall Stuart ‘Cultural representations and signifying practices’, Sage Publications, 1997 Manco Tristan, ‘Stencil Graffiti (Street Graphics / Street Art)’, Thames & Hudson Ltd, ISBN: 0500283427 Müller Heinrich ‚Kitsch, Niemeyer Max Verlag GmbH ISBN: 3484321121 New German Critique, No. 43, Special Issue on Austria (Winter, 1988), pp. 97-123 doi:10.2307/488400 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0094-033X(198824)43%3C97%3ADADALC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A Witkin Robert W. ‘Adorno on Popular Culture’, Routledge,an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, ISBN: 0415268257 Read More