Research: Popular Theory

It’s important to understand theories and the theorists who made them because we as an audience don’t actually understand the background to why music is how it is today. Their research gives the audience an insight into why certain decisions or characteristics associated with music videos are made. Theorists are also knowledgeable and have a great understanding about the topic they have researched, therefore, their theory is likely to be useful and effective. I will be drawing on the 'Popular culture' theory, Antonio Gramsci's Hegemony theory, the Frankfurt school, Theodor Adorno's theory, the Birmingham School, and Dick Hebdige's theory. Each theory has a unique understanding, although some theorists have similar opinions regarding 'popular culture'. Each theorist clarifies how the music industry is perceived from their perspectives, as they identify the division in class and how this has an impact on society.

Popular Culture Theory:

Popular culture is the understanding of ideas and attitudes of the mainstream culture in society which has a large influence upon the audience. Popular culture became mainstream in the 1980’s and was influenced by working class citizens also known as 'The Masses', through media such as music, arts, films and fashions which are all platforms for popular culture in today's society.  Whereas, the middle class citizens in society follow 'true art' and supposedly look down on the masses. Mainly our generation follow the popular culture due to how much it relates to our lifestyle. The popular culture theory says that popular music uses slang, imitates our lifestyle and can relate to us as teenagers/young adults. For example, Madonna is highly regarded in the music industry and portrayed as the 'Queen of Pop' in the media, which led to the masses believing this, and as a result, they perceive Madonna as the 'Queen of Pop' which proves that popular culture exists in society and within the music industry.

Antonio Gramsci:

Antonio Gramsci came up with the idea of Hegemony, which refers to the predominance of one social class over others and the way in which those in power are able to maintain it. Hegemony means to look down upon an individuals social class over others. Hegemony moistly includes the ideologies that are created by the bourgeoisie which is also reinforced down and accepted by the working class. Moreover, linking this to music,  ideas such as love, family, money and working hard are repeated in the lyrics, so the audience is constantly hearing this without realising. So this is why working class and educated audiences are more likely to follow these ideas because they constantly hear them. The media want us to believe certain things, which is not as effective through music. For example, the media is likely to control what is broadcasted to viewers, what shows are censored and what shows are banned. As a result, many musicians self publish their music and video on sites that are widely accessible avoiding the media.

Theodor Adorno:

Theodor Adorno was a German socialist, he is a theorist from the Frankfurt school. He was popular for his theory which was divided between popular culture and true art. Adorno recon Popular culture by standardisation, as he believed that the masses intake popular culture for example, chart singles always include the same, mainstream artists with similar songs promoting similar themes and always from particular genres, such as Dance, Soul, Pop, contemporary R&B etc in the 'Top 10'. This results in niche artists and genres being excluded, with genres such as alternative, classical and Rock etc not being listened to by a mainstream audience. Adorno identified that 'true art' is at the top of the hierarchy and includes music from niche genres such as classical, opera and jazz and involves activities such as attending galleries and museums. 'True art' is associated with the bourgeoisie, which are the social class who's traditions matter most, as they appreciate 'true art', in comparison to 'popular culture' which is associated with the masses who do not understand what true art is, due to not having access to these forms of entertainment. This occurs as a result of the media's power, as they are able to influence the 'The Masses' in the way they portray music, entertainment etc, allowing them to think and adapt to the 'Popular Culture'. 

Frankfurt School:

The Frankfurt school was based in Germany in the 1920's, and they were the earliest version of the Neo Marxist theory. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno are also two theorists from the Frankfurt school. They developed powerful analyses of the changes in Western capitalist societies that occurred since the classical theory of Marx. The school proposed the ‘Effects’ model, which considered society to be composed of isolated individuals who were gullible to media messages, they visualised the media as a ‘hypodermic syringe' suggesting that the contents of the media were injected into the thoughts of the audience, who accepted the attitudes, opinions and beliefs without question, highlighting that the audience is purely passive.This was also a result of there being no internet working at the same rapid pace as today, which meant that music and other forms of media was more controlled by the social elites as they had no other choice and was unable to argue otherwise.

Birmingham school:

Stuart hall who was a cultural theorist and sociologist attended the Birmingham school where he created his theory which was revolved around issues regarding hegemony and cultural studies, taking a post gramascianstance. His theory also included encoding and decoding:

• Encoding- The process by which a text is constructed by its producers
• Decoding- The way in which an audience reads, understands and interprets a text, Spectators will decode the text in a different way.

Hall points out that audiences will decode a product differently due to various factors, including demographics, psychographics, class or sub-cultures. Bourgeoisie will react to a media text differently than the masses. They can look down on a pop song but the masses are likely to accept and appreciate it and vice versa, the masses may not understand classical music but the bourgeoisie will be delighted and value it.

Dick Hebdige:

Dick Hebdige argues that consumption is an active process in which differences in audiences’ social and ideological construction which is lead to different readings of the same cultural products. He believed that the audience have a choice of whether to resist the power of large companies by finding alternative products to consume. This leads to the audience recognising themselves as different from the mainstream culture becoming subcultures. Companies attempt to assimilate this resistance attempting to provide products which these subcultures are more likely to consume. This results in the audience deciding whether to accept these products or to resit them. Certain artists also reflect subcultural values in the way they present themselves, which is supported by their niche genre of music, which are likely to appeal to a niche, subcultural audience. For example, 'Louis Amstrong' is a jazz artist, therefore, appeal more to the jazz audience. However, the media are more aware that subcultures are forming more commonly within society and are more valued, therefore, they promote niche artists more, by advertising their music and making them more recognised.

Conclusion:

Overall, by researching these theorists I’ve learnt about the different theories and how they could have an impact on my work. In my music video I will represent my artist as following the conventions that ‘the masses' are familiar with, as my music video will be targeted at the working class audience, due to them being the audience that listen to 'popular culture' in comparison to the middle class audience who listen to niche genres of music such as classical and opera, which they perceive as 'true art'. By ensuring that I follow the popular culture and make my artist look like existing mainstream artists such as Rihanna, Drake, Britney Spears, Beyoncé etc, will enable my music video to gain popularity and allow the 'the masses' to form mainstream values and opinions about it. Therefore, I will ensure that I follow the popular culture theory by making my music video conventional and appealing to the working class audience.