>Good point Yoshie. The name "popular culture" obscures the difference
>between the work of artists ...(and).. culture produced by mass
>marketing...
>
>...Likewise, if someone is critical of the culture
>created by mass marketing, it would not be accurate to accuse them of
>elitism.... Joanna
>
>-----------
>
>I prefer to look upon mass culture as `official' culture, that
>produced by the establishment for the masses. It has essentially
>nothing to do with traditional arts primarily because the media are
>different. So, whatever opinions or critiques of it are not critiques
>of the masses, but of officialdom.
Who do you think produces the stuff that Sony et al market? They still need real artists to write songs and books and movie scripts. Of course big capital appropriates the product, and the artists at the top of the heap even get a cut of the profit flow, but they can't industrialize the process entirely. Case in point: the absolute failure of MBAs to rationalize book publishing.
Doug