Lecture 2 - Midterm Flashcards
(24 cards)
According to Raymond Williams the “popular” is identified through what 4 characteristics?
a) That which is liked by many people
b) That which is deemed unworthy or inferior
c) Work deliberately seeking to win favour with people
d) Forms of culture made by people for themselves
____ __________ is the culture left over after what’s been decided what is high – or critical culture.
Pop culture
What are considered “more sophisticated” shows?
- The Sopranos
- The Wire
- Breaking Bad
- Atlanta
What’s the difference between NBC and HBO?
- HBO is a smart and intelligent channels.
- NBC is for the rest of us, to watch regular shows.
***How does John Storey explain cultural theory (3)?
(1) Cultural theory involves scrutinizing ‘the cultural phenomenon of a text and drawing conclusions about the changes in textual phenomena over time”
(2) Cultural theory is politically engaged. For example, cultural theorists may see themselves as “in opposition” to dominant codes or models reflected in dominant culture, Hollywood, Nike, or Instagram
(3) Cultural theory denies the separation of “high” and “low” or elite and popular (mass) culture. For example, I have addressed hip hop as low culture and jazz as high, cut then challenged myself in recognizing the role jazz plays in being sampled and borrowed by hip hop.
Cultural theory links _____
Subjectivity
Who is Pierre Bourdieu?
French sociologist
What work did Pierre Bourdieu write?
Distinctions
***What was Bourdieu’s thesis from Distinctions?
The cultural distinctions of this kind (NBC v HBO) are used to support the idea that distinctions in taste and critical spectatorship are driven by social class.
Taste is considered what according to Bourdieu?
An indicator of class
What’s an example of taste that shows a higher class?
Jazz music
Intellect, intelligence and high value
What are the 3 main components of spectatorship theory?
1) a spectator is an individual member of an audience – that is, we are all autonomous, singular individuals who interpret cultural texts according to our “self.”
(2) spectatorship plays a key role in scrutinizing popular culture in terms of the relationship it has to the audience and our interpretation/s of a text; for example, a movie we watch with friends.
(3) spectatorship theory focuses on “understanding the ways pop culture’s produce pleasure in the viewers.”
What’s the difference between active and passive spectatorship?
Active: The audience in involved in the film and actively encouraged to think about and interpret what is seen
Passive: The audience absorbs what is seen and respond in a way that the filmmakers, through a range of filmmaking techniques, tell them to respond
Who is Stuart Hall?
Jamaican-British sociologist
What does Hall believe in regards to encoding?
Hall argues that all cultural texts are encoded by the producer of the text and this that text contains and transmits the producer’s desired meanings, values and messages of the text.
What does Hall believe in regards to decoding?
Text can then be decoded by spectators in various or myriad ways and perhaps not in the way the producer intended.
What are Hall’s three steps identifying “what type” of viewer an individual is (encoding/decoding)?
(1) Dominant (Preferred)
(2) Oppositional Reading
(3) Negotiated Reading
What is dominant reading?
(1) Dominant (Preferred) Reading: the viewer’s interpretation of the text is in agreement with the dominant or obvious meaning system operating within the cultural text. Simply, you agree with the obvious message such as a romantic comedy and “finding the one”.
What is oppositional reading?
(2) Oppositional Reading: the viewer rejects the dominant (mainstream, “normal”) reading as a result of his/her interpretation of the text. This oppositional reading may create a new meaning for the specific text.
What is negotiated reading?
(3) Negotiated Reading: a compromise is drawn between the dominant and oppositional readings in which we accept part of the dominant meaning but rejects elements of it as well.
What is polysemy?
This term addresses the flexibility of meaning and maintains that “the meaning of a text is fluid wherein the viewer, reader or listener may interpret a text with a personal and social associations at work
Describe the events that play out in the Sopranos Finale clip?
- Leader of the mafia, about to be arrested. (there’s a guy at the diner who is lingering”
- Having his usual Sunday night dinner with his family in a diner. (His wife arrives first then his son)
- He is sitting facing the door
- The daughter is struggling to parallel park for a WHILE
- The scene ends with the daughter running into the restaurant, then it fades black. That’s the end of the show.
What’s the significance of the Sopranos finale?
It’s related to the spectatorship theory
How does the Sopranos finale relate to the spectatorships.
- Instead of providing a resolution, it forces the audience to become active participants in interpreting the outcome.
- Spectatorship theory often addresses how audiences seek resolution, but this ending pulls the rug out from under them.
