Cultural Change - Cultures continually change
Readings in Pop Culture
Society - is a group of people sharing a
community and culture.
Culture - the shared values, beliefs, norms,
language, practices, and artifacts of these
people, and includes material and nonmaterial
elements.
Material Objects - this element of culture refers
to tools and technology.
Non‐material culture - the nonphysical ideas
that people have about their culture, including
beliefs, values, rules, norm, etc.
Elements of Culture
1.) Values - beliefs that dictate the ethical
behavior of a group or individual.
2.) Symbols - visual representations of beliefs,
languages, emotions, and other abstract
concepts.
3.) Language - an element of culture that plays
a significant role in communication. Language
can be verbal or nonverbal.
4.) Beliefs - ideas and concepts that a particular
group believes in which affect their way of life.
5.) Norms - rule or standard of behavior shared
by members of a social group.
High culture - the pattern of cultural
experiences and attitudes that exist in the
highest or elite class segments of a society.
Low culture - the patterns that exist in the
lowest class segments of a society.
Popular culture - the patterns that exist in
mainstream society.
Subculture - a smaller cultural group within the
larger culture.
Countercultures - reject some of the larger
culture’s norms and values. (e.g., cults)
because new items are added to material
culture every day and in turn, meanings are
assigned to them (non-material).
2 Categories of Change:
1.) Innovation – new. An object or concept’s
initial appearance in society
Discoveries - make known previously
unknown but existing aspects of reality.
Inventions - result when something
new is formed from existing objects or concepts
—when things are put together in an entirely
new manner.
*Culture lag - the time that passes
between the introduction of a new item of
material culture and its social acceptance.
2.) Diffusion - to spread out. The process of the
integration of cultures into the mainstream.
Globalization - the promotion and
increase of interactions between different
populations around the globe resulting in the
integration of markets and interdependence of
nations fostered through trade.
Three theoretical perspectives:
1.) Functionalism - many parts of culture work
together as a system to fulfill society’s needs.
View culture as a reflection of society’s values.
2.) Conflict theory - view social structure as
inherently unequal, based on power
differentials related to issues like class, gender,
race, and age.
3.) Symbolic interactionism - primarily
interested in culture as experienced in the daily
interactions, interpretations, and exchanges
between individuals and the symbols that
comprise a culture.
- Perceive culture as highly dynamic and fluid, as
it is dependent on how meaning is interpreted
and how individuals interact.
 Debut: The Incredible Hulk on May 1962
SUPERHEROES A Producer: Marvel Comics
MODERN MYTHOLOGY Storm
Name: Ororo Munroe
by Richard Reynolds Actor: Halle Berry
Creator: Dave Cockrum and Len Wein
Superman
Debut: Giant-size X-Men #1 on 1975
Name: Clark Kent
Producer: Marvel Comics
Actor: Kirk Alyn and Christopher Reeve
Creator: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster Captain America
Debut: Action Comics #1 on June 1938 Name: Steve Rogers
Producer: DC Comics Actor: Chris Evans
Creator: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
-Conceived as early as 1934
Debut: Captain America Comics #1 on
-Siegel and Shuster established themselves in
December 20, 1940
the comic industry as ‘Slam Bradley’
Producer: Timely Comics
Wonder Woman -Patriotic Heroes (WW2 and Golden Age)
Name: Diana Prince
Medium: 6x9 inches 4-colour comic book
Actor: Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter
Creator: William Marston and Harry Peter Golden Age: 1938 (first appearance of
Debut: All-star comics on 1941 Superman) to 1954 (introduction of the Comics
Producer: DC Comics Code)
Silver Age: 1956 to early 1970s
Batman
Bronze Age: 1970s to 1986
Name: Bruce Wayne
Actor: Lewis Wilson and Michael Keaton - Only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman
Creator: Bob Kane and Bill Finger came through the lean years of the early 1950s.
Debut: 27th issue of Detective Comics on March Excesses of the Superhero comics led indirectly
30,1939 to the renaissance of Superhero genre.
Producer: DC Comics
Entertaining comics (EC)
Spiderman -Tales from Crypt
Name: Peter Parker -Vault of Horror
Actor: Nicholas Hammond, Tobey Maguire, and -Led to publication of Seduction of the Innocent
Tom Holland by Dr. Frederic Wertham and the 1954
Creator: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Congressional hearings on juvenile delinquency
Debut: Amazing Fantasy #15 on 1963 (Silver age and comics.
of comics)
Producer: Marvel Comics Comics code
-Voluntary ban by the publishers on violence,
The Hulk explicit sex, etc.
Name: Bruce Banner -Against ‘true crime’ comics popular in 1940s
Actor: Bill Bixby (Banner) and Lou Ferrigno -Law enforcement should be in respectful light
(Hulk)
Creator: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby DC in Silver age (Leading publisher)
(1956) re-costumed Flash
(1959) Return of Green Lantern
(1959) New heroine, Supergirl
(1960) Justice League of America
-Golden Age Superheroes return, Capt. America
and Sub Mariner
-Green Lantern/Green Arrow team up (1970s)
by Neal Adams
Marvel Comics in Silver Age (Dominated)
(1961) The Fantastic Four
(1963) Spider-Man
(1964) X-Men
-Norse gods added, The Mighty Thor
-Horror wedded to the superhero format, The
Incredible Hulk (May 1962)
The Mythic Hero by
Janice Siegel
“Mythic Hero”
-Particular breed of hero with particular traits
- Greek hero, Heracles (Latin Hercules) – model
mythic hero exemplifying most of the
associated traits
Old Pattern of the Hero
-An attempt to boil down the main events of a
hero's life and career. Ex. Elevated parentage
(Zeus as their father)
-Distinction of patterns made by:
Lord Raglan (Myth-Ritualist)
Otto Rank (Freudian)
Joseph Campbell (Junglian)
1. Has Divine (or Royal) Parentage
a. God parent is usually a 'trickster-god'
(Zeus), tricks married women into having sex
with him, producing twins.
b. Alcides (Heracles) from Alcemene's
union with Zeus, and his twin, Iphicles from her
husband Amphitryon.
c. Zeus laid with Leda in the guise of her
husband (or a swan in another version),
producing two set of twins, Helen and
Clytemnestra (First set, divine children of Zeus),
and Polydeuces (or Pollux) and Castor (Mortal
child of Leda’s Husband, Tyndareos).
d. Zeus laid with Antiope in the form of
a satyr, giving birth to Amphion and Zethus,
city-founders of Thebes.
e. Zeus laid with Danae in the form of a
golden shower conceiving Perseus.
2. Found Cities
a. Travels places to establish himself as
a hero. Romulus (Rome), Alexander the Great
(Alexandria)
b. DIGRESS: While heroines do exist in
myths, their representations do not adhere to
standards set by the Greeks-such as the
reference to royal birth or enjoying cult status
after death.
3. Possesses Astounding Strength
a. Heracles ("Glory through Hera")
undertakes 12 labors along with his parerga (or
side-adventures). such as the killing of the
Nemean lion (Where he obtained his lionskin
cloak), chasing the Cerynean Hind, slaying of the
Hydra from Lerna, capturing the Erymanthian
Boar, overpowering Antaeus, and outwitting the
Stymphalian Birds.
b. Beowulf defeats the monster Grendel
using his hand alone.
c. Achilles was the consummate
warrior, "deathless" except for a betrayal.
4. Overcome the threat of the 'hybrid' human
(Liminality)
a. Limena = thresholds
-Those that cross the thresholds of
what's acceptable and desirable; those that
threaten order and civilization, culture, and
humanity.
b. Encounters with the Amazons caused
anxiety, they are neither male nor female,
civilized Greek nor true barbarian. Most
prominent Greek heroes had an encounter with
an Amazon. Ex. Heracles went on a mission to
retrieve the Golden Belt of the Queen of the
Amazons, Hippolyta, and killed her in a battle
instigated by Hera.
d. Greek heroes did battle with
Centaurs who neither beast nor man but have
qualities of both. Single-sexed society,
ambivalent to necessary institutions such as
marriage. Identified with Persians. The most
famous Centaur story is the “Battle of the
Lapiths and Centaurs”, or “Centauromachy”.
g. Heracles kills the Centaur, Nessus
who has a deadly poisonous blood that burns
off the skin
e. Odysseus ties himself to the mast to
listen to the Siren's song (half bird, half
woman), but not be led astray.
f. Chimera, a a triform of lion, goat and
serpent killed by Bellerophon
g. Sphinx, has the head of a woman
chest and wings of a bird, body of a lion.
Oedipus answered the sphinx’s riddle and slew
herself.
h. Mares of Diomedes – subsist in
human flesh. On one of Heracles’ twelve labors.
5. Overcomes anthropophagic creatures
a. Anthropophagy = eating of human
flesh, cannibalism
b. (Japanese) Kumo, a man-eating
spider in whose stomach hero Raiko has found
1919 human skulls. Yegera-no-Heida
vanquished Uwibami, a giant seprent who
swallows men on horseback.
c. Beowulf slays the monster who had
been feasting on Heorot's warriors.
d. Theseus kills the Minotaur who feeds
on the flesh of young Athenians provided as
tribute; is also a cautionary tale for unnatural
unions (ex. bestiality)
e. Homer’s Odysseus killed the
anthropophagic Cyclops, Polyphemus, but also
falls prey to cannibals in the Land of
Laestrygonians.
f. Heracles faces Cacus, son of Vulcan, in
Italy who resembles Polyphemus the Cyclops.
g. Suamoro from the West African epic
Sundiata, wears a robe and a footwear made of
human skin, has a throne of human skin
surrounded by the skulls of the nine kings he
killed which is his access to the spirit world.
6. Descends into the Underworld and returns
to the land of the living unharmed
Nekyia – descent to the underworld.
a. Heroes learned important and useful
information there, information they would not
otherwise have had access to
b. Sumerian hero Gilgamesh (“Two-
thirds divine”) embarks on a journey to learn
the secret of eternal life, held by the goddess
Ur-shanabi.
Immortality - or the shuffling off of this mortal
coil
c. (Chinese) Story of Sun Wukung
(Discoverer of Secrets), the Stone Monkey,
represents human nature as being prone to evil.
He removed his name from the register of the
living and the dead and ate the immortal
peaches in the underworld. Defeated by Lao
Chun (founder of Taoist system of philosophy),
Ehr-Lang, and T'ien Kou (Celestial Dog). He was
sentenced to death by the Immortals.
7. May sometimes be 'unheroic'
a. Mythic heroes are not necessarily a
paragon (model) of virtue (e.g. Oedipus,
Schindler)
b. 'Arete' - the conquering spirit, the
energy that permeates everything that the hero
does. This is the quality of the hero that we
desire.
c. A hero is a semi-divine being who
seeks ways to achieve the glory he considers his
due. The hero is "an odd combination of
terrifying excesses and superb self-mastery".
d. Heracles' glory is that he tries to
overcome the limitations set on him by Hera.
e. Heracles is engaged in a drinking
contest with the god of the vine, Dionysus. He
also murdered his first wife and their children.
8. Achieves Immortality
pride hubris - single-mindedness of purpose,
egotism
apotheosis - the elevation of someone to divine
status; deification.
a. Death is a necessity, for the mythic
hero must suffer the same limitations regarding
mortality as we do
b. Hero worship, cult status after death;
canonization, in the case of St. George nd the
Dragon, the townspeople have resorted to
sacrificing children to the greedy monster.
c. Ino becomes Leucothoe, and Psyche
whose new mother-in-law, Venus.
d. Only with the help of the divinity can
mortals attain immortality, a theme constant in
the mythic foundations of many religions.
Monomyth – The Hero’s
Journey (Joseph Campbell)
-Developed in the “Hero With a Thousand
Faces”
- 20th century's most influent book
- Contains story patterns "older than the
Pyramids", identified patterns of world myths
- Compared 3 different works through the lens
of the Monomyth: Mali's Sunjata, South Asia's
Ramayana, and Japan's Yamato.
Twelve Stage Hero's Journey
- a more detailed Character Arc for your
story's hero which is overlayed onto the more
traditional three-act structure.
Act I: Ordinary World
1. Introduced in the ordinary world through
Birth
- Fabulous circumstances surrounding
conception, birth, and childhood establish the
hero's ancestry.
-His safe place.
-His everyday life where we learn crucial details
about our Hero
- anchors the Hero as a human
2. Hero heeds the call to adventure
- Adventure begins when he receives a call to
action, such as a direct threat to his safety, his
family, etc.
- Called by some external event or messenger
that disrupts the comfort of the Hero's Ordinary
World and presents a challenge or quest that
must be undertaken.
Example:
a. Arthur and the Holy Grail
b. Oedipus presented with a Sphinx attacking
Thebes.
3. The Hero is reluctant at first (or Refusal Of
The Call)
- At this stage he will have fears that need
overcoming. Second thoughts or doubts as to
whether or not he is up to the challenge.
-The problem he faces may seem too much to
handle and the comfort of home far more
attractive than the perilous road ahead.
4. Here is encouraged by a wise old
man/woman (Mentor/Helpers/Amulet)
- Turning point where the Hero desperately
needs guidance, he meets a mentor figure who
gives him something he needs.
- commonly gives the hero a protective amulet
or weapon for the journey to dispel his doubts
and give him the strength and courage to begin
his quest.
Example: a Merlin-like character
5. Crossing the Threshold
- Hero must undergo some sort of ordeal in
order to pass from the everyday world into the
world of adventure.
- Signifies the Hero's commitment to his journey
an whatever it may have in store for him.
Example: fully enters the special world for the
first time or doing what he’s scared to do
Act II: The Special World
6. The hero encounters tests, allies, and
enemies
- Hero is confronted with an ever more difficult
series of challenges
- He may earn allies and meet enemies who will
help prepare him for the greater ordeals yet to
come.
7. The hero reaches the inmost cave
(Climax/The Final Battle)
- As the Hero approaches the cave he must
make final preparations before taking that final
leap into the great unknown.
-The Hero may once again face some of the
doubts and fears that first surfaced upon his call
to adventure. He may need time to reflect.
8. The Hero endures the Supreme Ordeal
- Anything that the Hero must face in order to
survive or to save the world.
- the Hero must use all of his skills and his
experiences to overcome his most difficult
challenge.
- Experiencing resurrection somehow grants
him greater power to reach his journey's end.
- the high-point of the Hero's story and where
everything he holds dear is put on the line. If he
fails, he will either die or will never be the same
again.
9. The hero seizes the sword (Reward)
- The Hero is ultimately transformed into a new
state, emerging from battle as a stronger person
and often with a prize.
- The Reward may well facilitate his return to
the Ordinary World, the Hero must quickly put
celebrations aside and prepare for the last leg
of his journey.
10. The hero undertake the journey back (The
Road Back)
- represents a reverse echo of the Call to
Adventure in which the Hero had to cross the
first threshold.
- the anticipation of danger is replaced with that
of acclaim and perhaps vindication, absolution
or even exoneration.
- May be a moment in which he must choose
between his own personal objective and that of
a Higher Cause.
Act III: Ordinary World
11. The hero is resurrected
- This is the climax in which the Hero must have
his final and most dangerous encounter with
death.
- represents something far greater than the
Hero's own existence with its outcome having
far-reaching consequences to his Ordinary
World and the lives of those he left behind.
- Ultimately the Hero will succeed, destroy his
enemy and emerge from battle cleansed and
reborn.
12. The hero returns with the elixir
- he returns home to his Ordinary World a
changed man.
- His return may bring fresh hope to those he
left behind, a direct solution to their problems
or perhaps a new perspective for everyone to
consider.
- The Hero's doubters will be ostracized, his
enemies punished and his allies rewarded.
The Tragic Hero by
Aristotle
-embarks on an inward journey
- A tragic hero is a character in a tragedy, and is
usually the protagonist.
- Aristotle believed that a good tragedy must
evoke feelings of fear and pity in the audience,
since he saw these two emotions as being
fundamental to the experience of catharsis (the
process of releasing strong or pent-up emotions
through art, translates to "purging" or
"cleansing.").
A tragic hero must:
1. Be Virtuous/Noble: Hero may not be a
virtuous man, but he should not be
evil/malevolent
2. Be Flawed: 'tragic flaw' (hamartia), the tragic
hero initiates a series of events which would
lead to a personal tragedy. Makes the character
"relatable”. Hubris (the arrogance that often
accompanies greatness)
a. The hero suffers a reversal of fortune
(Peripeteia) - to a degree that outweighs what it
seems like the character deserved.
b. Nemesis invokes imagery of potent
antagonists and instigates the conflict. In a
tragedy, it is the protagonist's fatal flaw.
3. The hero comes into an understanding of
the laws of gods and men
a. Learn the value of humility
b. Redemption ark
c. Anagnorisis is a narrative moment of
discovery. In a tragedy, it consists of the
protagonist realizing the terrible truth of his
situation.
Antihero - a protagonist who lacks many of the
qualities associated with heroes, such as
courage, honesty, and integrity, but still has the
audience's sympathy. An antihero may do the
right thing for the wrong reason.
Byronic hero - a variant of the antihero. Named
after the characters in the poetry of Lord Byron.
Deeply flawed and might do things that are
generally thought of as unacceptable to society.
Has his own set of beliefs and will not yield for
anyone.
The McDonaldization of
Society by George Ritzer
(1993)
McDonaldization - a phenomenon that occurs
when society, its institutions, and its
organizations are adapted to have the same
characteristics that are found in fast-food
chains. These include efficiency, calculability,
predictability and standardization, and control.
- a global phenomenon, driven by Western
corporations, the economic power and cultural
dominance of the West, and as such it leads to a
global homogenization of economic and social
life.
Efficiency - entails a managerial focus on
minimizing the time required to complete
individual tasks as well as that required to
complete the whole operation or process of
production and distribution.
Calculability - a focus on quantifiable objectives
(counting things) rather than subjective ones
(evaluation of quality).
Predictability and standardization - are found
in repetitive and routinized production or
service delivery processes and in the consistent
output of products or experiences that are
identical or close to it (predictability of the
consumer experience).
Control - wielded by the management to ensure
that workers appear and act the same on a
moment-to-moment and daily basis. It also
refers to the use of robots and technology to
reduce or replace human employees wherever
possible.
Definition of Terms
Hegemonic - ruling or dominant in a political or
social context.
Authoritarianism - a controlling government
and the rejection of democracy, human rights,
and political plurality.
Heuristic - enabling someone to discover or
learn something for themselves.
Merchandising - the marketing of what would
typically be rather indistinguishable items with
the logo or creative property of a particular
cultural construct.
Disneyfication - the transformation (as of
something real or unsettling) into carefully
controlled and safe entertainment or an
environment with similar qualities.
McDonaldization - the way in which the
principles that fast-food chains use to succeed
are applied to the world at large.
Mass art - designed to be consumed by lots of
people. That is why it is produced on such a
large scale and distributed by mass
technologies.
Theming - the identifying feature of a Disney
theme park.
Hybrid consumption -blending of services and
products in an effort to provide more and retain
customers longer. Visiting a theme park is not
just riding rides, it is dining, shopping and
entertainment, just as a mall.
Performance labor - the embellishment of an
employee’s role as a service provider to that of
a performer. The scripted interactions and ever-
smiling park employees, or big-box storehands
whose cheerfulness distracts us from the fact
we are probably being pitched a sale.
Network culture - the social condition in which
social organisations and practices are
formulated by networked relationships linking
people, objects, things and more agencies
Digital culture - a workplace shaped and
influenced by digital tools and technologies
"Icon" - a person or thing widely admired
especially for having great influence or
significance in a particular sphere.
"Cultural icon" - a person or an artifact that is
identified by members of a culture as
representative of that culture.
Iconography -the symbols used within a work of
art and what they mean, or symbolize.
Iconization in pop culture - the process of
making an indelible link between a linguistic
feature, social meaning, and a social group,
such that the linguistic form functions as an icon
of the relationship and/or social group.
Icon as a public text
“icons of outrage” - a site of struggle for
meaning because it elicits powerful emotional
reactions and raises question about the effects
of the image, namely whether the audience,
and in some cases the photographer as well,
has any power to change their environment/the
world around them.
“photojournalistic icons” - directly contribute
to the conception of collective values and
notions of the public because they speak to
“what it means to be a citizen, to live in a
modern polity, to possess equal rights, to have
collective obligations, and similar
determinations of public identity”