JOUR3745 ABBI STARK EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE LECTURE 1 Foundation Mass Media as Cultural Storytellers Mass Communication as a Cultural Forum Definitions Mass Communication technology assisted process by which messages are sent to large audiences Mass media vehicles mass communication takes place on EX Internet broadcast print Mass media industries TV movies entertainment sports Beliefs opinion and not always factual Values abstract goals states of human existence EX achievement success activity efficiency freedom individualism fitness and health etc Customs accepted behavior more formal than a habit Rituals symbolic activity w steps Tradition custom ritual passed down through generations Cultural artifacts shortcuts Culture specific to a group of people socialization subcultures shared experience belief influence values a culture s value and beliefs reside in the stories it tells Our stories help define our realities shaping the way we think feel and act EX Budweiser puppy It is the audience s responsibility to ask questions Characteristics of culture Characteristics of Popular Culture DOMSh 1 Origin 2 Motivation for profit or as reaction to mainstream EX Snowboarding 3 Diffusion EX Gangnam style Ferrel Williams 4 Shelf Life popular stuff has a short shelf life these days 6 Different definitions of popular culture John Storey 6 Definitions of Popular Culture 1 QUANTITATIVE 2 HIGH VS LOW CULTURE needs cognitive 3 MASS CULTURE churning things out we are ability vs doesn t just consuming 4 FOLK CULTURE originates from the people 5 GRAMSCI HEGEMONY STRUGGLE dominant group subordinate group struggle seen in pop culture 6 POSTMODERN CULTURE division between high vs low culture doesn t exist It s a combo platter of all of these really High culture scholars perspective High Culture VS Low Culture Scholars Perspective Elite intellectuals Identify pop culture as low culture mass produced Only few can truly enjoy high culture art wealthy intellectuals Cognitive activity Low commodity Not obvious what the message is high culture Popular culture dumbing down the masses Popular culture scholars perspective Popular Culture Scholars Perspective High VS Low culture Criteria Access Divide VS Unite as a culture Edifying impulse Wanting to expose people to what is good for them good culture part of high culture Steven Johnson s perspective Steven Johnson Everything bad is good for you Popular culture is not dumbing us down Narrative complexity TV stories have become more complex Even when you think you re not thinking you re thinking We getting educated and shit Cognitive complexity Then VS Now LECTURE 1 READING Grazian s main question Given the strong uncertainty of success in today s mass media market how do cultural producers go about choosing which films books television programs and music projects on which to take their chances all hits are flukes nobody knows anything Decision making in the media industries is primarily driven by the minimization of risk 113 Remember that pop culture is still fucking capitalism not just pure art These fucks want to make money Hirsch protective input boundary filter used by record labels movie production houses and other firms to hand select a small group of creative talent from the enormous pool of media hopefuls for eventual mass cultural diffusion and possible stardom Boundary spanners personnel responsible for making connections between individual artists and corporate media firms managers agents emissaries scouts Output boundary in house support personnel EX publicists press coordinators radio promoters sales reps must be traversed to reach press and public boundary spanning personnel gatekeepers surrogate consumers make choices on behalf of readers viewers ordinary folks success if virtually impossible to predict with any reliability 115 Uses of stereotypes efficiency because of genre specific projects Instead of constraining yourself to a genre support a product that is accessible to all people flexible to all needs and desires putting things in boxes is human thinking let s think bigger than that Unfortunately shit like that is hard to sell network executives are even more likely to hire prominent writer producers with successful projects under their belts than potentially bankable actors or celebrities 116 secondary market for popular culture all alternative opportunities to generate profit from a cultural product beyond its domestic sale in its original format more reliable less risky revenue stream secondary market often transforms dormant product into big sales by disengaging it from its original context sometimes to a strange effect 118 DVD s the corporate A T M machine 119 last minute plot twists that encourage multiple viewings among fans who may remember basic outlines of a rerun show without remembering how it ends 120 TV Shows with the same basic outline for every episode do that for a reason so that it s viewers can jump in and watch whenever and not feel lost or confused there is a guaranteed resolved issue at the end of every episode Media conglomerates rely on an established strategy of overproduction a crude market logic that assumes that among their nearly infinite offerings a few big budget blockbusters will generate enough profit 121 blockbusters are nearly impossible to predict Faulkner and Anderson 2987 122 an enormously high rolling crap game motion picture studios gamble that the promotional machinery behind their films can inflate super hyped expectations of their commercial success into self fulfilling prophesies 124 payola pay and victrola bribing DJ s to play your shit synergy represents a more contemporary strategy of minimizing risk within the culture industries 126 This is dangerous for monopolies on the industry Reality TV inexpensive avoid paying actors and writers flexible Product placement is more of a thing Who is promoting from whom 129 Royalty system 130 Artists are getting screwed Young people do shit for free LECTURE 2 Business of Pop Culture I 5 Media trends MCMCG 1 Media fragmentation 2 Concentration of Ownership 3 Mass Media Conglomerates 4 Cross Media Ownership 5 Globalization Stages from creator to consumers vert integration 1 Production 2 Distribution 3 Exhibition Vertical integration Horizontal integration Synergy Synergy the ability of mass media organizations to channel content into a wide variety of mass media on a global scale through control over production distribution and exhibition in as many of those