User:75cats13/popular culture through the ages and the current times

Popular Culture has been a part of society as a whole throughout history. This can be understood by seeing how fluid the definition of popular culture can be, this is reflected in the ways that people are able to influence what is perceived as popular in any given time. The uses of popular culture in the present as a means of understanding both the ways industry is effected and how they were able to influence the global economy. The uses of popular culture can be seen as helpful to spreading capitalism. Popular culture in the present is both a view of what a counter culture could be and how it gained a bit of popularity.

Cross, Gary. “Crowds and Leisure: Thinking Comparatively across the 20th Century.” Journal of Social History, Vol. 39, No. 3(2006): 631-650.

Cross begins the article by introducing the idea of understanding how crowds are able to portray the social trend of leisure time. The first part of the article deals with a comparison of Coney Island in New York with that of Blackpool in England; this comparison is from the standpoint of history, talking mainly about the various attractions at each site that brought the people in. The comparisons of Coney Island and Blackpool, as revealed by Cross, were impacted by industrialism, that had its beginnings in the early 20th century. Technology began to be a greater influence in the attractions located in each place. As with the introduction of the talk about technology and innovations, Cross then begins the comparison of Disneyland in California to that of the Beamish Outdoor Museum in England; Disney began to focus on the family unit, with an emphasis on multigenerational families. This helped separate it from Coney Island. As Cross states about Beamish, this museum is seen as a means of bringing up and maintaining the past, while also trying to educate the youth again, instead of losing them to the banal charms of Disney.

Cross, Gary and Smits, Gregory. “Japan, the U.S. and the Globalization of Children’s Consumer Culture.” Journal of Social History, Vol. 38, No. 4(2005): 873-890.

The authors, Cross and Smits begin by talking about the trends in the global market for child playthings, or toys. They examine a brief history of numerous companies like Mattel and Hasbro, to show how they started with nothing and moved into a vast corporation through time, and eventually moved themselves into the global market. Then the authors look at it from a different perspective, that of the Japanese side, by examining Nintendo and its’ rise to power. They do this by revealing the rise of the Japanese toy markets’ evolution and the outsourcing of American toy production to other sites but also showing the reader how these things helped to strengthen the global market of what would become pop culture items. This occurs when the authors begin to switch to computerized forms of entertainment, by using Nintendo as an example, this was used in conjunction with the toys from various places being used in the media to create demand in children.

Dimitriadis, Greg. “’ In the Clique:’ Popular Culture, Constructions of Place, and the Everyday Lives of Urban Youth.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 1(2001): 29-51.

The author uses a case study to try and define popular culture according to the feelings of the youth. Dimitriadis discusses how through the use of pop culture, some youths are able to gain a certain social status within their groups. Through this examination the author is able to increase the awareness of popular cultures influence with the children and how it will exactly affect their lives. Thus proving that pop culture is universally able to become a means of defining and creating social status in any giving group.

Parker, Holt. “Toward a Definition of Popular Culture.” History and Theory, Vol. 50, No. 2 (2001): 147-170.

Holt begins by letting the reader know that popular culture is inherently hard to define, thus the point of the article. There exists within the article various parts where the definition is stated but then changed as time has worn on. Popular Culture has existed throughout the entirety of History, or rather the history of man, as stated by Holt, Rome and ancient Greece each had their own forms of popular culture. The basis of most definitions of popular culture seems to stem from what the people of that society currently like and find popular. Holt defines popular culture throughout the majority of the article and then moves onto talking about Artworld towards the end. This bearing to do with how art correlates to popular culture and the ways they are influenced and directed by each other and popular art.

Roedl, Sara. “Mickey and Mimi: The Global Flow of Cultural Products.” The Journal of Language for International Business, 17.1(2006): 1-14.

The author, Roedl, begins by talking about the increase in the transference of cultural ideas and cultural products from one part of the world to another because of the global market, the article focusses on the Disney Corporation and its media presence. Then she begins by identifying how the global market is heavily influenced by the domineering North, which uses this domination as a means for spreading capitalism throughout the world. The article expands upon the idea that pop culture is a seeming by product of, and through circular reasoning also a contributing factor to the current theoretical imperialism in the world today. It states this belief of the author based on the vastness of the Disney Corporation and the amount of influence it has throughout the world, stemming from the popularity of many of its characters and products.

Shaffer, Kirwin R. “Popular Culture and the Teaching of History: The Modern Caribbean History Course.” The History Teacher, Vol. 37, No. 3(2004): 365-383.

The author Shaffer uses this article as a means to outline a class based on using popular culture to understand historically significant events. In this case those that are based on the history of the Caribbean, it does this through examining the various intricacies that happened ever since settlers came over to the Caribbean from Europe. By using this basis the author Shaffer is able to explain that pop culture has been a prevalent thing throughout history and is a term used to describe the popular forms of entertainment of those eras.

Silvio, Teri. “Remediation and Local Globalizations: How Taiwan’s ‘Digital Video Knights-Errant Puppetry’ Writes the History of the New Media in Chinese.” Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 22, No. 2(2007): 285-313.

The author Silvio is relating the topic of Taiwanese video puppetry as an evolving form of media in the global culture, that is able to in some respects bridge the past, the present and the future together in the global culture. The background of budaixi is explained, and further dissected once foreign involvement began and became more prevalent. The author states that the Taiwanese were heavily influenced by the involvement of the United States servicemen when they were over there during the wars. Yet the article also delves into how the advancement of technology are able to change the traditional ideas of Taiwanese pop culture. It does this through the development of companies that are able to produce the media at a greater rate.

Tavin, Kevin and Hausman, Jerome. “Art Education and Visual Culture in the Age of Globalization.” Art Education, Vol. 57, No. 5 (2004): 47-52.

This article discusses the current ideas that both effect and are effected by globalization, especially where art is concerned. The authors, Tavin and Hausman are clearly trying to show how educators need to understand the quality of life in a global culture. The work explores how specific global companies utilize art and popular culture, as a means to generate popularity for their own products.