sac - pop culture

• Commercialisation?

  The process of adding value to an idea, product or commodity with the aim of selling it and making a profit.
• Commodification?


  A social process by which an item is turned into a commodity in readiness to be traded. The process relies on marketing strategies with the aim of producing a perceived value in the item
• Continuity?

  The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society

  across time. Continuity can also be referred to as the maintenance of the traditions and social structures that bring stability to a society.
• Consumption?

  The process of selecting and using a product. Consumption involves a conscious decision to engage with a commodity.
• Change?


  The alteration or modification of cultural elements in a society. Change to society can occur at the micro, meso and macro levels
• Conflict?


  A perceived incompatibility of goals or actions
• ideology?


  An organised collection or body of ideas that reflects the beliefs, values and interests of a group, system, institution or nation
• Institutional power?


  The power that exists in institutions and how it is used to control aspects of society
• values?

  Deeply held ideas and beliefs that guide our thinking, language and behaviour.
• Examine a contemporary issue in popular culture using the research method of content analysis
• How the popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender
• Fundamental course concepts


  • Persons
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Environment
  • Time
• Additional concepts


  • Power
  • Authority
  • Gender
  • Identity
  • Technologies
  • Globalisation
• Commercialisation


  The process of adding value to an idea, product or commodity with the aim of selling it and making a profit
• Commodification


  A social process by which an item is turned into a commodity in readiness to be traded. The process relies on marketing strategies with the aim of producing a perceived value in the item
• Continuity


  The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society across time. Continuity can also be referred to as the maintenance of the traditions and social structures that bring stability to a society
• Consumption


  The process of selecting and using a product. Consumption involves a conscious decision to engage with a commodity
• Change


  The alteration or modification of cultural elements in a society. Change to society can occur at the micro, meso and macro levels
• Conflict


  A perceived incompatibility of goals or actions
• Ideology


  An organised collection or body of ideas that reflects the beliefs, values and interests of a group, system, institution or nation
• Institutional Power


  The power that exists in institutions and how it is used to control aspects of society
• Values


  Deeply held ideas and beliefs that guide our thinking, language and behaviour
• Being associated with commercial products is a characteristic of popular culture
• Popular culture is constantly changing
• Popular culture develops from local to global
• Popular culture achieves widespread consumer access
• Popular culture is associated with commercial products and paraphernalia

  Demand develops + expands due to media, marketing and dissemination processes, creating profit regardless of purity in motivation + thrives from commercial enterprise THUS demand
• Superhero Movies (SHMs), the creation of paraphernalia

  • Toys like Thor's Hammer for kids
  • Superhero costumes (Spiderman, Batman, etc.)
  • Clothing designed aimed towards superheroes
• Superhero Movies (SHMs) experienced an instantly global exposure as a result of the global prominence of comics, which originated from a local/national source/popularity and moved to global exposure and popularity through various means
• Widespread consumer access of popular culture

  Broad access is assisted by media and communication technologies, nothing can become popular w/o widespread access— always some barriers, often economic + universal access (considered when studying a focus study)
• Rock 'n Roll from the USA in the 1950s


  • Starting from marketing catered towards teenage males, moving to a widespread consumer access as a result of being aired on mass media (through radio, concerts, TV, films and magazines; notably through TV shows like Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle
• Popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender

  The widespread access of consumer access deconstructs gender, as the intended, and resulting link between SHMs and younger male audiences is broken by the wider access to SHMs
• Popular culture is constantly changing and evolving
• The change/"transformation" of rock music

  • Elvis → the Beatles → Jimi Hendrix → Sex Pistols → MJ → Nirvana etc.
• The adoption or creation of new Superheroes or the change/addition to the current "lore" of the superhero universe to appeal to certain audiences

  • Blue Beetle being a Latino, Capt. Marvel being a woman, Capt. America being black, etc.
• Popular culture constructs or deconstructs gender

  Superheroes are often associated with male gender identity, being deconstructed as a result of constant evolution of superhero movies and surrounding lore to include or add key female characters yet also constructing gender as some characters serve to "...ultimately cater for the male gaze" (Itzkoff, 2019)
• The origins of the popular culture

  Superhero films are primarily dominant in western culture and evolved from US comics
• The origins of superhero films


  • They began as Saturday movie serials aimed at children during the 1940s, however, the decline of this meant the death of superhero films until the release of 1978's Superman (a commercial success). 1989's Batman was also highly successful and followed by several sequels in the 1990s. At this time DC dominated the market.
• The characters from the superhero films were born from the comics dating back to the 1930's in America; Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and Captain America
• New York was central to the development of SHM, as they gained economic power through exporting goods (during war) primarily to Europe they also gained cultural power