Popular culture

[joanna bujes]

At 11:55 AM 01/10/2003 -0500, Yoshie wrote:
>It's doubtful whether we still have "popular culture" here -- culture
>of, by, and for peasants, artisans, workers, etc. -- today, as
>opposed to pop cultural sensations that are not really of, by, and
>for popular social forces but are in fact just pop flashes in the
>marketing pan.

Good point Yoshie. The name "popular culture" obscures the difference 
between the work of artists up through the nineteenth century and the work 
of mass-marketed pop artists in the twentieth century. This is not to say 
that the popular culture produced by mass marketing is necessarily inferior 
to pre-marketing popular culture; I think Hendrix is a great guitarist and 
so is Robert Johnson....but in a "culture" that can create a national 
obessession with pet rocks or The Monkees, it's important to remember how 
much of what is "popular" is the result of brainwashing rather than some 
spontaneous popular choice. Likewise, if someone is critical of the culture 
created by mass marketing, it would not be accurate to accuse them of 
elitism....

Joanna