The persistence of class as a meaningful category within youth culture was not, however, generally acknowledged until fairly recently and, as well we shall see, the seemingly spontanious eruption of spectacular youth styles has encouraged some writers to talk of youth as a new class-to see in youth a community of undifferential Teenage Consumers.
Dick Hebdige
Hebdige's article on subculture ultimately becomes a discussion about media and consumption of styles promoted by the media. Hebdige's article reminds me of Adorno's article because Hebdige is basically describing Adorno's idea of "encoding and decoding."
The working-class youth have a life that the media tries to capture in an image and then relays it back to those same youth. The media cycle seems to have been around for as long as it has existed. Whether through press, television, or film, a message is delivered and decoded.
Hebdige focuses on England after World War II, and thus, he refers to the punks.
The punks appropriated the rhetoric of crisis which had filled the airwaves and the editorials throughout the period and translated it into tangible (and visible) terms.
When the economy changes, the subculture changes. When the youth were unable to work due to a lack of job opportunities, they began to think of their time as "Britain's Decline." Thus ensued a kind of rhetoric, dress, music, etc. When many feel hopeless, a group like this seems appealing to join. The Punks were trying to develop their own identity apart from the parent culture or the dominant culture. Youth found a way to let out their aggression through their style. Their reaction to the media and economy provoked a reaction to the adult culture and what Hebdige describes as "moral panic" ensued. (This has happened with each new adolescent craze: Mod rocker, punk, hip hop, etc.)
In what ways does the media respond? Hebdige argues that the media responds in all kinds of way depending on the angle that they want to give (their encoding.) Hebdige believes that their response is first provoked by the outward appearances of the subculture (i.e their style.) However, soon their attitudes and rhetoric are acknowledged.
I think this article reminds me of Stuart Hall's encoding decoding model. Especially with the indepth discussion of punk culture. It follows Hall's four stages of communication (prodcution, circulation, consumption, and reproduction).
ReplyDeleteAs far as with the punk subculture, he talks about how it was produced in response to Britian's lack of jobs for young people among other things during that time. He says how they used things that the working class threw away such as safety pins and such. Then it is circulated through the underground clubs and the music scene which eventually made its way into magazines, those made for the subculture itself such as Rip and Torn as well as other more popular magazines.
It was consumed by those who liked and fell into the subculture, as well as those who were shocked, appalled, and scared of this new subculture. It made it's way into homes, proved by the quote saying Johnny Rotten is a household name. Then of course as it became popular you had those who jumped on the bandwagon and reproduced the images they saw themselves and wore the same fashions, dyed their hair the same ways, and cursed more than the norm.
People looked into the subculture, gathered what they wanted from it, and then spit it back for others to see.
I like how you relate it to the encoding and decoding article. It is always very interesting how the media will interpret this outburst of somewhat destructive culture. Like always, I feel that the media does not always show something that is new or different in a good light. It is not until something like that becomes trendy or "hip", that it will become part of the mainstream culture. It is not only with Punk Rock Culture but any one of those new adolescent crazes you mentioned. Another waythat the media gets a new subculture to become mainstream or popular/notorious is to make it a household name. I say notorious because not all forms of subculture become popular. Something like Nazism, was popular in Germany during WWII, but after the war it survives because of it's notoriety and the way it is shown through the media.
ReplyDeleteintro2msa07=john arida
ReplyDeleteI think about Bourdeau's discouorse on social class. Not that only the youth of a particular social class only have subcultures, but class does play a role -- as is discussed. I think this is especially interesting when the style of subcultures are infulenced by the parent culture. What does the parent culture say about the subculture? I find that shit really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think that your link to Hall is interesting. I was not thinking about it like that, and I see where you are coming from.