Surveying the Cultural Landscape

High Culture and Low Culture

Culture as a Skyscraper

“Skyscrapers were citadels of the new power of finance capitalism...Far above the thronging sidewalks, they elevated the men who controlled much of the capital that lubricated the workings of organized cultural enterprises – publishing companies, film studios, theatrical syndicates, symphony orchestras. Culture...was becoming increasingly organized during century. And the model for that organization was the hierarchical, bureaucratic corporation.” – Jackson Lears, Historian

Culture as a Skyscraper cont.

• Some cultural phenomena gain wide popular appeal, and others do not

• Certain aspects of culture are considered elite in one place (e.g. opera in the United States) and popular in another (e.g. opera in Italy)

• One Model to use is the skyscraper

Culture as a skyscraperCritics and audiences perceived culture as a hierarchy with supposedly superior products at the top and inferior ones at the bottom.

• The top floors of the building house High Culture, such as ballet, the symphony, art museums, and classic literature.

• The bottom floors- and event he basement- house popular or Low Culture, including such icons as soap operas, rock music, radio shock jocks, and video games.

• High culture identifies with “good taste”

• Low culture identifies with “questionable” taste

An Inability to Appreciate Fine Art

• Some critics claim that interest in pop culture diminishes the imagination

• This view pits popular culture against high art, discounting a person’s ability to value what they like• Bach v. The Beatles or Shakespeare v. The Simpsons

• The assumption that because popular forms of culture are made for profit, they cannot be experienced as valuable artistic experiences in the same ways as elite.• So what is art? Think about the concept of “selling out”

A Tendency to Exploit High Culture

• Another concern is that popular culture exploits classical works of literature and art– Frankenstein example: The novel v. the films– What are other examples you can think of that are

a form of high culture that is exploited by low culture?

Other Concerns

• A Throw-Away Ethic– Lower forms of culture are unstable or fleeting;

higher forms have more staying power.• A Diminished Audience for High Culture.– Popular culture may be choking out higher forms of

culture and cheapening public life.• Dulling Our Cultural Taste Buds– Popular media may inhibit rational thought and social

progress by distracting audiences with the promise of commercial goods.