Watching the F1 race last Sunday, I actually found it 'boring', as Vettel had been leading right from the beginning and his victory was pretty much predictable. This brought me to question how the predictability of a winner affects the outcome of the prize. Do underdogs ever win?
How do people 'predict' a winner?
Street: ".... the way the prize is 'branded' to promote the interests of those who create it."
In the case of Hairspray, it was almost inevitable that Amber would be the winner of Miss Teenage Hairspray based solely on the amount of airtime that she has as compared to others on 'The Corny Collins Show'. Her mother, having a hand in the production of the show would naturally be biased toward her own daughter and play a part in making sure that Amber won the contest.
I would consider Little Inez as the underdog in the Miss Teenage Hairspray contest as seen in the way she was never predicted to win. It was interesting to see how Little Inez winning the contest actually changed the cultural dynamics and was symbolic in the breaking down of white supremacy.
This is congruent with Street's portrayal of how a prize is shaped by what is valued in the society, as illustrated in the brief history of the arts prize.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Using Macdonald's theories to view Hairspray
In the movie 'Hairspray', I would compare the idea of popular culture in Macdonalds article to 'The Corny Collins Show' in Hairspray.
Macdonald: "It is sometimes called "Popular Culture", but I think "Mass Culture", a more accurate term, since its distinctive mark is that it is solely and directly an article for mass consumption, like chewing gum."
The Corny Collins show is a very good example of pop culture as seen in the way it presents itself as a show that every teenager must watch. Songs like 'The nicest kids in town' creates a culture where all teenagers want to be a part of the show ie 'you gotta watch the show if u wanna be cool'. Furthermore, as seen in the way the sponsor (Hairspray) of The Corny Collions show changed his opinion drastically of Tracy the moment she 'brought in the cash', shows me that the show was really directed towards earning money and mass CONSUMPTION.
In the case of Hairspray, it was evident that the show was used to maintain the superiority of whites. Velma Von Tussel exploited the pop culture(as explained above) to cause viewers to be narrow minded and think that the whites have and will always be 'ruling'.
Subtly the idea of white supremacy crept into the minds of clueless teenagers. This is evident in the way Tracy was clueless about how disadvantaged the blacks were, even though they were living in the same country all their lives. She was even shocked when she went to detention and saw so many blacks dancing.
In this case, it can be said that mass culture was effective in exploiting popular tastes for self benefit. Until Tracy Turnball decided to do something about it...........
Macdonald: "It is sometimes called "Popular Culture", but I think "Mass Culture", a more accurate term, since its distinctive mark is that it is solely and directly an article for mass consumption, like chewing gum."
The Corny Collins show is a very good example of pop culture as seen in the way it presents itself as a show that every teenager must watch. Songs like 'The nicest kids in town' creates a culture where all teenagers want to be a part of the show ie 'you gotta watch the show if u wanna be cool'. Furthermore, as seen in the way the sponsor (Hairspray) of The Corny Collions show changed his opinion drastically of Tracy the moment she 'brought in the cash', shows me that the show was really directed towards earning money and mass CONSUMPTION.
Macdonald: "The Lords of kitsch, in short, exploit the cultural needs of the masses in order to make a profit and/or to maintain their class rule"
In the case of Hairspray, it was evident that the show was used to maintain the superiority of whites. Velma Von Tussel exploited the pop culture(as explained above) to cause viewers to be narrow minded and think that the whites have and will always be 'ruling'.
Eg. Lyrics of 'the nicest kids in town' -
Nice white kids
Who like to lead the way
Lyrics of 'hairspray'-
So if you're a redhead, a blonde or a brunette,
Take my advice and you might just get.....
(blacks not included)
Subtly the idea of white supremacy crept into the minds of clueless teenagers. This is evident in the way Tracy was clueless about how disadvantaged the blacks were, even though they were living in the same country all their lives. She was even shocked when she went to detention and saw so many blacks dancing.
In this case, it can be said that mass culture was effective in exploiting popular tastes for self benefit. Until Tracy Turnball decided to do something about it...........
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Response to article: "A reality show where Islam is the biggest star"
The first thing that I noticed about this article was the lack of balance provided by the author with regards to Imam Muda television show. The author painted a very beautiful picture of the show- its climbing popularity, its ability to attract youths to the religion and many others. None of which I disagree with. However, in my opinion, one of the drawbacks of this television show, ironically, is fame. Fame can become dangerous when the person become obssessed and could lead to undesirable actions. In order to obtain fame, contestants who join the programme would be obligated to perform all the various religious 'tasks', blurring the line between religiousity and obtaining fame. Their motivation for doing the various tasks such as prayers, sermons and preparing unclaimed bodies for burial would then be to gain fame.
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