Popular Culture In The 1920s

Popular Culture “Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century.”(“Popular Culture.” Def. Wikipedia ) Today, people of all ages are consumers of popular culture. Popular culture is often misunderstood as “pop culture” or “low culture.” However, I believe that popular culture is a set of symbols of expression that gains popularity among the masses, which may or may not appeal to its audience, which is now synonymous to commercial culture. It is a culture which originates from the people. Popular culture
is a quantitative aspect. It is focused on the taste of the masses. Popular culture consists of a wide variety of consumer goods which are readily accepted by the people. The term “popular culture” was coined in the 19th century.
Right from its advent, popular culture has denoted entertainment and trends of the lower class of people. It has always struggled to make a positive impact in the society. Popular culture is mostly created by media, schools, art, and law. Media is the most powerful weapon in the creation of popular culture in the society. All forms of entertainment such as films, music, television shows, etc. have contributed greatly towards popular culture.
The concept of popular culture is not new. Jazz music gained popularity in the 1920s. Music lovers turned to jazz for a new sound. Various artists, influenced by jazz music, changed their styles and genres in order to produce music which was consumed by majority of the listeners. Fashion trends have been around for ages, but these trends grew rapidly with the invention of films and television shows. These forms of mass media act as a window for viewing the latest products in the
market. In addition to trends in music and fashion, cartoons and fictional movies play a vital role in rise of popular culture among children. When I was 8 years old, a cartoon program named ‘Pokemon’ became the talk of the town. I remember watching commercials on TV of various brands of chips which gave Pokemon card along with each pack. I collected many of those cards and traded with my friends. Following this trend helped me socialize. I met a couple of new people and ended up developing lifelong friendship with them as I used to discuss about the program with them. Rise of popular culture has transformed different cultures of the world in one common culture. It has transformed varies views and ideas as one. With this transformation, we all mostly have a similar way of approaching life situations which are familiar to us. Having same beliefs has helped in bringing people together. The internet is one of the recent examples of popular culture. Social networking is one of its most remarkable achievements. The popularity of social networking helped in a reform movement in Moldova. It is tagged as “The Twitter Revolution.” In the same year, the dissemination of information and videos via Facebook helped another anti-government movement know as the “Green Revolution” in Iran. Popular culture product: Smartphone, brought the “Arab Spring” uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt into the limelight. Popular culture can contribute immensely towards solving various socio-economic problems by seeking public attention. Popular culture reshapes our lives every moment. It provides us with more information about events around the world than any other source. It uses symbols, ideas, and words to communicate with people. The society is controlled by a number of dominant groups which deprive knowledge and information to the working or the middle class. Popular culture acts as a vehicle for rebellion against the dominant groups. It helped to raise various questions in the recent disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines plane: MH370. It proved useful in spreading information among the people which in turn led to various theories developed by individuals worldwide which helped the investigators.
Popular culture is also beneficial on individual level. It helps individuals to be more creative. Popular culture asks individuals and groups to think out of the box in order to stand out from rest of the people. It makes them competitive by raising the bars and yields better results. Popular culture educates its audience about the current trends and happenings around the world. With the growth of electronic dance music, most of the artists have the same mainstream music. As a DJ, this gives me an opportunity to showcase my creativity by introducing new elements such as Indian classical instruments in electronic music. This not only helped me to win many competitions in India, but also helped me to explore more possibilities in the realm of electronic music.
Despite of its advantages in shaping a better future, popular culture has always been targeted by various religious communities and social groups.
Critics believe that popular culture has cheapened public life. “Popular culture has transformed us into cultural dupes with the promise of its products,” stated one of the critics. They argue that because of this mass consumed low culture; more refined culture struggles to find an audience. We have lost our discriminating taste for a finer fare. However, I strongly disagree to the statements made by critics. The notion that popular culture cheapens public is false. Plays written by Shakespeare in the 1600s gained a lot of public attention and eventually became popular. As the plays written by Shakespeare were a part of the popular culture in the 1600s, does it imply that they were low culture? Franchise food points like McDonalds do not cheapen public life either. Being an Indian student, I miss Indian delicacies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I wish Murfreesboro had some traditional Indian food points with the same recipes as that in India in order to serve the same
taste.
Popular music, which is one of the most important products of popular culture, has always been the soft target. During the renaissance period, the Church banned the use to secular music to accompany the mass as it viewed secular music as low culture which was practiced by the worker class. The church feared that if the common people gained knowledge through the “ordinary mass,” it may lose its control over them. In 1920s, jazz music was vilified. Some of the rock music in the early 1980s was termed as “porn rock” by the Parents Music Resource Centre (PMRC). The rise of electric dance music is seen by some as the end of orchestras and choirs. Though mainstream genres of music have been criticized for years, they have been successful in generating large amount of revenue. They help many young artists to experiment with their music which ultimately leads to the invention of various sub-genres. Music of the common people have enriched and enhanced our culture as mainstream music is influenced by various genres of music.
Popular culture has also been held responsible for cultivating false beliefs and creating stereotypes. It is believed that women’s representation in popular culture has contributed to the stereotype of the simple-minded, emotional, and domesticated female which is perpetuated through various forms of media, including movies, cartoons, and television. In my opinion, popular culture conveys messages to a vast audience which may be interpreted differently. For example, a certain tweet by a celebrity may offend some individuals whereas it may sound funny to other individuals. In the modern and the post-modern era, meaning is created by the individuals and not by the products. With the rise of capitalism and increase in privatization, popular culture goods have now been commercialized in order to provide better service to the consumers. Brands are dominating the market for mass consumption products. Corporations have figured out the enormous amount of profit associated with popular culture products. The market is flooded with commercial products. Companies have developed strong, unavoidable business plans for persuading people to buy their products. For example, the fashion industry tells us what to wear through magazines and advertisements. These norms are later reinforced by TV artists, film artists, and celebrities who embrace the fashion trends. Later on, stores begin to sell only a certain type of clothing, and it becomes really difficult to stay away from the current fashion trends. However, popular culture does not post a set of rules to be obeyed by the individuals. It clearly provides us with the alternatives to choose from. The choice remains with the individuals. Popular culture readily invites individuals with open arms to contribute towards the development of the society. As popular culture is constantly transforming, it does not have any long-term effects on the society. Thus, it is clear that popular culture serves many purposes in the society. Some of these include producing social norms, generating innovation, maintaining gender equality, and leading towards social change. Such a culture cannot be left out and declared as low culture or a culture of no significance.