James Bond Lecture




In this lecture we looked at the James Bond novels and its effect on culture. James Bond was said to be one of the biggest cultural phenominoms of the sixties along side the Beatles. Ian Fleming released the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1953. The book was released in paper back making it affordable to everyone which helped in getting it well known. By 1965 it had sold 27 million copies.

In the book, James Bond is first brought to us as a cold, brutal yet confident and charming man who likes to have fast cars, nice suits, gamble and lots of attractive women. In doing this the book itself creates adverts of consumption making this book a consumer product, about consumer products. This attracts audiences as it shows things they may not be able to have, but like the idea of having them, therefore take gratifications in reading about them, or later watching them in cinema.

This image of James Bond helped towards what is seen as ‘British’. Britain in the fifties was having a crises of faith after losing its colonies. And Bond was made in this time that showed Britain’s ideals and qualities. But in creating this man that many middle class white males would love to be, it creates an image of what Britain would like to think a British man is like and gave Britain a sense of pride in this.

However when James Bond came into cinema, his image changed as the culture did. For example when Roger Moore took over as Bond, Bond became much more cool, calm and less serious and more ironic, but still retained the attributes that make him ‘Bond’. For example when Roger Moore first appears parachuting down with the parachute as the British flag, it retains the sense of pride bond gives, but due to the culture of the time, is ironic. However the first Bond film, Dr. No, released in 1962, had Sean Connery play bond as in the books, cool yet cold showing Britain’s ideals.

The content of the books and most of the early films was that of the Cold War. Britain against Russia. Also in showing that Britain is still great, it would always be Bond he saves the day before the American C.I.A could. With the content of the films, James Bond acted as a social indicator as to what is happening in the world, for example the latest films have been centered around terrorist threats and men of power. Also in the later films, ‘M’, Bond’s Boss, is now a woman showing cultural change, especially from the time of its first release, the fifties. However the films still retain the sense of consumerism, and express it even more, like in the 2006 Casino Royale, there are ‘advertising’ shots of cars, watches, laptops, suits and phones. This acts as a good tactic for consumerism as it suggests, to be like Bond, you have to have the best stuff. The franchise of Bond also provides intertextuality in other forms of medium, such as other films based on James Bond like Austin Powers. The character of Bond and all its conventions have become easily recognizable in Britain.

Culture Industry
Culture Industries is a term coined by critical theorists Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) and Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), who argued in the final chapter of their book “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”; that popular culture is a factory producing standardised cultural goods through film, radio and magazines to manipulate the masses into passivity; the easy pleasures available through consumption of popular culture make people docile and content, no matter how difficult their economic circumstances. Adorno and Horkheimer saw this mass produced culture as a danger to the more difficult high arts. Culture industries may cultivate false needs; that is, needs created and satisfied by capitalism. Cultural industry on the other hand, is not really a value-based term. It merely refers to businesses involved in the production, sale, distribution and creation of works of creativity. While some individual businesses might determine certain goods necessitate mass production, other forms of the cultural industry are more highly selective.

James Bond Lecture/Keisha Miller

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The Cultural Commodity of James Bond Blog

In our final lecture we studied and discussed James Bond as a cultural commodity. James Bond was a huge international phenomenon of the 1950’s and 60’s. Prior to becoming a series of hit films, James Bond was introduced as the main protagonist in a fictional novel written by Ian Fleming in 1953. Fleming achieved great success with his bond series by creating a character that provided Britain with a sense of pride and possibilities through the notion of fantasy and escapism for the masses. James Bond encapsulated the era in which it was produced by embracing British society and conforming to its ideals in the form of fashion, music and technology.
Fleming also encouraged a patriotic attitude by creating Bond to be a British icon that society could be proud of at a time of political and social unrest during the cold war and when there was a general awareness that Britain was rapidly losing its title of greatness. The union Jack is a predominant feature in Bond films and a product of popular culture almost as a way of shining humour on the awareness that Britain is not so ‘Great’ anymore. James Bond is also a fantasy in which Britain prevails over America and Russia, the two super powers of the world. Spies were a common occurrence at this time thus Bond’s character proved fitting and provided the ability to relate to society. Bond’s character related to society in various ways particularly by exploring the notion of consumerism, this is demonstrated by Bond’s expensive taste and choice to be accustomed to the finer things in life and is evident in his automobiles, alcoholic beverages, locations and even his female companions. This extravagance attracted the audience who did not have the ability to experience these things for themselves.
The role of women is James bond has been heavily criticised since its creation. Feminists argued that females were degraded as sex symbols and continuously portrayed as the stereotypical damsel in distress branding the series, both novel and film as misogynistic. However this is a questionable perspective as the character of ‘M’ was later introduced to the Bond films in 1995 and gender became one of the central focuses of the film. Other critics of the cult Bond series have argued that Fleming’s character encourages the corruption of consumerism, materialistic attitude and promiscuity into society deeming it unacceptable.
Ultimately James bond can be considered as a window into a certain period of current events in Britain and even the world. It possessed the ability to become a huge cultural phenomenon because it was made available to the working class in terms of the novel itself and its ideologies. All classes, races and genders could relate to his character whether it be through the trials and tribulations of society or through sharing a culture. It is apparent that there has been a role reversal where films are keeping the books alive opposed to how it used to be. This indicates a reflection on society and it is evident from this that we ourselves make cultural production.

By Keisha Miller

Lectures 11 & 12/Richard Mills

In this week's lecture, we will looking at the cultural phenomenon of James Bond. We will look at Bond as a cultural icon from the first novel: Casino Royale (1953) to the most recent film staring Daniel Craig.

There are still five students who have to review a lecture: Britney Carroll, Kasim Campbell, Zoe Hamilton, Gabriella Russo and Steve Stedman. The remaining students should review the James Bond lecture or Adorno's The Culture Industry essay: the choice is yours! Ideally, both will be reviewed. I will ask you in the lecture which one you would like to review.

Next week (December 9th) is a revision session, so bring your revealed exam question to the class and we will discuss strategies for answering it.

Happy Blogging,

Richard

Newspapers and Magazines

Newspapers and Magazines: Lecture 9.

In Lecture nine we looked at how newspapers and magazines have influenced our culture. In the 19th Century newspapers only contained text and information on serious issues and there were rarely any images included, this continued up until the late 20th Century when coloured images were introduced. Newspapers changed from being serious to being a way of making money. This led to Tabloid stories being personalised by using first names, puns and jokes. Adverts were also being put in newspapers, this was another way of making money.
Newspapers used to be more intellectual, they used more serious and formal language. However, due to consumer influence, today, they are easier to read and compact. There is an idea that consumers want material that is relevant to their lives so, newspapers try to mimic how we speak. The reading becomes more sociable, lively and informal, for example; The Sun uses casual language that everyone can understand which is reader friendly. People like to read popular press, for example articles about celebrities being criticised or doing stupid things, it’s entertaining and is a form of escapism. Newspapers use gossip and untrue stories to cover up real news. This can be linked to ‘sceptical laughter’, this is the idea that we join in with the puns, jokes and language of the press even though we don’t necessarily believe everything we read; there is a pleasure in not being gullible and not taking in everything that’s written because we know it’s not all true. We are sceptical subjects; a stupid story encourages us to be sceptical and wary about what we read.
It is clear that over the years newspapers have changed. This maybe down to popular culture, as people are more interested in articles that are relative to their lives and what is popular at the time. The style of the popular press is sensational and scandalous, although they do have a moral tone to them, they tell us what is meant to be right and wrong, and they tell us what to think about an issue. In this sense, tabloids are half way between fiction and documentary, news and entertainment.

Lecture 9- Newspapers and Magazines

In our lecture on Newspapers and magazines we discussed how they have changed from the 19^th century, with no pictures, being very formal and mostly text. To the newspapers we have today which are described to be like ‘tv screens’, shrunk down in size, full of imagery and considered to some a commodity to everyday life.

An example of a newspaper that we looked at in the lecture was The Sun. Tabloid newspapers became very popular by making jokes, showing pictures and personalising their stories. However you can not believe everything that is printed in these papers. This is mainly because it has become their aim to entertain rather than just there to inform us of the news. For example, in 1833 the papers were known to be printing stories about how you could see aliens on the moon from a new telescope. However this was during the time where slavery was abolished in England and did not get covered by the papers. This form of entertainment meant that many stories involve a lot of celebrity gossips and mis-fortunes. They can also be very persuasive in telling us what is right and what is wrong, they do this by adapting a chatty tone and taking sides.

We also talked about how aware/unaware people can be to the papers misleading stories. People can be very cautious when reading papers or magazines of these sorts, sometimes people read the stories with ‘sceptical laughter, knowing the stories are over the top and laughing at how over exaggerated they are. 

You could say we have a type of commodity that creates a sense of identity, running stories on immigration and local events encourage people to understand a sense of belonging.  Due to the media Nationalism was created, as it was not around 200 years ago. This shows how important these papers are in showing us the world we live in. Now in modern times, there are other ways of checking the news and much faster ways of finding a story, and that is buy computer or mobile devices. This has lead in the drop of sales of papers and is slowly being replaced by technology. However the main question is do these text contain any meaning to them, do they make us think or are they just another everyday commodity we buy into?

-Rebecca Walters

TV as a Cultural Phenomenon

TV is a 20th Century phenomenon. Yet, in 1940 2/3 of the UK had never even set eyes on a television set. TV became increasing popular as years past, people enjoyed the idea of home entertainment rather than having to go off to the theatre. As TV became more popular, it also became more affordable. By the 1960's 72% of people had access to a TV. There were two main channels that dominated the screens during this period, BBC and ITV, unlike the plethora of channels available to us today. In the 60's, TV was seen as a dominant cultural force which had the power to affect people's lives. Left wing politics was hostile to this idea. They argued that TV was Dope and that people were being brainwashed. Despite this, people saw television as a real sense of nationality and togetherness. It was a ritual to sit in front of the television. It was an opportunity for families to get together and watch key events, such as the coronation of the queen and the world cup final. Even if you didn't have a TV yourself, you would go over to your neighbours and watch it on theirs.

We see today the rivalry today between the BBC and ITV and this has been going on for many years. People trusted and accepted the BBC. It was factual and represented high culture. ITV on the other hand, began to show American quiz shows such as 'Opportunity knocks'. This created a watching culture of Americanism and Commercialism. The BBC would teach and ITV would entertain.

There was a competition between populism and elitism starting to develop. ITV became so popular that the BBC had to act. The BBC decided to compete with ITV and put on 'Social Realist Plays' that paved the way for soap operas like Eastenders. Soap operas like Eastenders and Coronation Street became the most popular genre on TV. People could identify with soaps, thus TV was beginning to move from a luxury item to a necessity. Coronation Street started on the 9th September 1960 and is still going strong. Within a year, 20 million people tuned in to see Ken Barlow and co strutting their stuff! We can see the first example of Fandom developing. It became a regional identity. Even the then prime minister Harold Wilson stated that he loved the show in order to keep the voters happy!

One key idea I took from the lecture is that TV is thought provoking. I disagree with R. Hoggart's point that TV is anti-culture and hostile to intellectual activity. TV can be liberating. It can be argued that it is the main source of how people understand the world beyond their own experience. Meanings and messages are encoded and decoded whilst watching TV. Meaning just doesn't happen, it's an ongoing process. It all comes down to the creativity of the audience. The Cultural industry wants us to be commodity consumers and TV does show growth of a commodity culture. e.g. "TV dinners" and the "Tea-V-Tray." Stereotypes are created by TV.

In conclusion, TV is key in how people view the world. The original message may be portrayed as something else. We don't know how the audience will respond. For example, Fandom is evident when we see Star Trek and Dr Who conventions. People respond to things they enjoy. Fan's of TV create more than the text.

Lecture 6- Consumption

In our sixth lecture of our course we studied about consumption and the influence it had in British culture. Consumption is important in cultural studies for two main reasons. First is for the theoretical purposes and the second is for the political reasons. Subculture defines themselves against consumption orientated groups. Similarly, Marx analysed consumption negatively because it led to alienation among people (Marx 1973/1844). However, some theorists who emphasis consumption as being more important than production relations are clearly critical of Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of class and class structure, preferring instead to consider the way in which lifestyles are much more diverse than the categories that the class structure suggest (Saunders 1987). Featherstone(1991) points out that consumer capitalism produces more and more of exclusive goods , thus lowering the price and thereby making them more widely available, to make profit. The mass media have eroded many of the old distinctions between high and popular culture. The increase of style magazines and television programmes also allows a wide range of social groups to acquire knowledge of fashion and taste. By 1950, five millions of teenagers spent 10% on lottery and 40% on market records. Furthermore, popular culture and popular music encouraged young people to cause violence.

In the seminar we watched a clip from the movie Quadrophenia, which explained the alienation of 1960s British working-class youth and the influence of pop culture among young people in Britain.

Review of Lecture six

In lecture six, we looked at the cultural functions of consumption. Cultural studies is interested with the study of consumption for two reasons. First is a theoretical reason which extends beyond the usual ‘semiotics emphasis on the symbolic meanings of products by also considering the way in which products are linked to specific actions and outcomes in a cultural narrative or text’ (John Storey: 2003).The second reason cultural studies is concerned with consumption is political. Adorno used the phrase ‘the cultural industry’ to put forward that culture is now totally linked with political economy.
In the lecture we looked at how the popular culture in 1956 changed the way of life in England. The cultural landscape of England began to change and was been replaced by a ‘affluence’ society like America.
During this time shopping was reinvented, especially among the middle class families and the working class young people in Britain. During 1956 middle class families largely consumed electrical goods while the working class youths were breaking away from traditional working class culture and forming new subcultures like ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’. With the growth of the entertainment industry, increased the market of consumers. Phil Cohen looked at the subcultures and pointed out that young people were taking on paid work and spending large amounts of money on fashion, clothes, music records and magazines. We watched an extract from the movie Quadrophenia which showed the influence of the pop culture and how it affected the young people in Britain. It was important for the Mods to look neat and stylish in Italian suits for example. Consumerism became an obsession during this time and also this was the beginning of Americanization. Hebdige pointed out that youth subcultures are ‘concerned first and foremost with consumption’ (Hebdige 1979). In 1960 popular culture was taken more seriously and started to have impact upon everyday life of the people. Even television and newspapers supported the pop culture.

Annalee Neighbour: Review of Lecture 5

Is popular music a mass produced commodity or a true art form?
Our fifth lecture was all about popular music and the concept of mass consumption. We looked at the movie ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and discussed how ‘The Beatles’ changed the face of modern music. We discussed how from the 1960’s onwards, music became very repetitive and it didn’t matter what genre of music you listened to they all carried a lyrical/rhythmical pattern. John Storey describes this process as ‘commercial exhaustion’; once a certain pattern is proven successful it is used again and again until its popularity fades.
Such repetitive popular music is seen as creating passive listening, mass produced for easy consumption. One example from the lecture was that Motown was actually created from a play on the words Motor city, which was a city in Detroit famous for its mass production car line and then later for its production of some of the greats music of its time (quickly labeled however as a mass produced production line.)
We then went on to discuss the modern view of Consumption as an active process that we take part in everyday and that we are a post-modern culture created by productive consumers. We are as important as the text we are interpreting; people change the commodities to suit their lives. For me Simran’s conclusion summed up the lecture perfectly; consumption is an active, creative and productive process, concerned with pleasure, identity and the production of meaning. We are not just passive consumers but instigators of change.

Lecture 5: The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night (1964) Examining Popular Music as Cultural Phenomenon

In lecture 5, we examined the cultural effect The Beatles had on British Society. The context related to the two themes, ‘consumption’ and the ‘culture industry’.
Popular music is ‘standardised’. Adorno in Storey (2003) points out that ‘standardisation’ extends from the most general features to the most specific ones.
Once a musical or lyrical pattern has proven successful, it is exploited to commercial exhaustion. Popular music promotes passive listening. The consumption of popular music is always passive, endless, repetitive and confirming the world ‘as it is’. Passive consumers buy DVDs, novels, CDs and videos. However, non-passive consumers create their own meanings of popular music.
Storey (2003) suggests that popular music operates as ‘social cement’. Its ‘psychological function is to achieve that the consumers of popular music adjust to the mechanisms of present-day life. Consumption is an active process of day-to-day life.
The music industry is a capitalist industry therefore; industrial societies produce pop music, creating a technological phenomenon. The popular music industry is an all-consuming production line that creates mass produced and inferior commodities. The cultural industry compels consumers to buy commodities produced by the media industry; (buying CDs and DVDs of popular music for example, The Beatles).
Youth culture is seen as ‘structured irresponsibility’. In The Beatles, the opening scene of the train is an example of ‘structured irresponsibility’. In this film, we saw an authentic subculture colliding with an inauthentic, mass-produced mainstream or dominant culture.
Youth culture is a hybrid within mass-mediated consumer capitalism. Youth culture is a global phenomenon, a post-modern culture created by productive consumers.
Overall, consumption is an active, creative and productive process, concerned with pleasure, identity and the production of meaning.

Vikki Chalklin Lecture 6 on Thursday, October 27th

Simran Chana and Annalee Neighbour will post a review of lecture 5 this week.

This Thursday Vikki Chalklin will be taking the session. She will talk about 'Consumption' and her lecture make will reference to John Storey's work on this subject.

I'd also like to remind you that she will need volunteers to review her session.

Richard

Vicky Brien on Bend it Like Beckham

In our forth lecture we analysed the film Bend It Like Beckham and looked at how the film deals with issues of race, gender and identity, bringing in theories of hybridity, post – colonialism and the idea of the ‘third space’.
The film focuses on a British girl, Jess and her struggle to fulfil her ambition of being a professional footballer. We see her clash with her family, who represent a more traditional outlook. Jess’s character is very different and extremely unconventional compared to the rest of her family; we see how British culture has almost shaped her character and how her identity is ever changing throughout the film due to these influences.
The film explores this idea of cultural collision and how this creates a sense of double identity, or how Homi K. Bhabha calls – ‘Third Space’.
‘An ambivalent space of enunciation’ this idea explores how identity or culture is constantly being constructed therefore identity can never be fixed.
This is typical of the character Jess who, despite of her traditional upbringing insists on playing football and integrating more into British culture, where its seems that she is able to explore and enjoy her own identity more.
The character of Jess represents a more modern and perhaps positive outlook on identity, her character is willing to change and integrate with other cultures, whilst her family especially her parents seem more traditional and are un willing to break away from that tradition, in this sense we get an overview of ‘both sides’ of the family.
The film also focuses on the idea of gender and how it seems to be as transparent as identity. The character of jess and her friend Jules or Juliette challenges typical female stereotypes by playing football and dressing quite ‘boyish’, in contrast to Jess’s sister, who is very glamorous and quite traditional (we see her at the end of the film pregnant).
This type of film break’s away from the more traditional roles of femininity, such as housewife and mothers.
Overall the film has broken away from the more traditional British heritage films and created a new hybrid of films – Brasian (a mix of British and Asian) and focuses on more modern ideas of hybridity and cultural identity. This post-colonial film helps us analyse modern society and how culture and identity are ever changing and never fixed.

This week we look at the cultural effect the Beatles have had on British society. The key texts for this lecture are Adorno, Sandbrook and Storey. You all should have watched A Hard Day's Night and anaylised it in the context of two related themes: the 'Cultural Industry' and 'Consumption'. Both ideas that you will return to next week with guest lecturer Vikki Chalklin.


Richard

Martin McAnulty - Bend It Like Beckham

This week the lecture, in CU 200 Pop Culture, was analysing the movie Bend It Like Beckham, and looking at the theory of hybridity, post – colonization and gender. All these ideas link up with the definition of identity and how it has changed in relation to globalisation and post – modernism.

            Bend It Like Beckham is a movie about a British Asian girl, called Jess, who dreams of playing football like her idol, David Beckham. However, her parents want her to go down the traditional path, which is to go to university. The movie is good at looking at the cultural collision between England and India.

            The collision creates a double identity, or as Bhabha describes the ‘third space.’ This means that a person like Jess - born in Britain daughter of Asian immigrants – is not British or Asian alone, but a hybrid mix of these two cultures, thus, the creation of an identity, ‘Brasian.’

            Also, in the movie Bend It Like Beckham traditional stereotypes of Britishness and gender were dismantled; the scenes where Jess and her sister go shopping in London, in an Asian immigrant district, the traditional Hindu wedding and the women playing football. All these scenes show that in a post – modern, post – colonial world, identity and culture are never static, but are constantly evolving over time.

Rachael penfold

Film and structuralism

Structuralism is a means of deconstructing texts. We do this by looking at linguistics, codes, and the meanings that derive from signs. We can only have signs when there are oppositional points of view, for instance, the red on a traffic light means nothing without the amber and the green.

Richard used the example of a cat, as a way of language relating to image. We understand the word cat and we understand it is an animal with four legs, whiskers and a tail, though the image conjured up by each person, the type of cat for instance, may vary from person to person.

Saussure explains this to be homogeneity and heterogeneity. ‘It is the Homogeneity of the structure that makes the heterogeneity of the performance possible’. (handout pg 74) When watching a film, language and image are the rules, the structure. Our own, heterogeneous, interpretations work with and inside those rules.

Post structuralism looks at the ‘gaps’ and the contradictions. This deconstruction is called Aporia.

Hollywood is the production line for high budget films, which in the nature of Americanization are publicised and made available to the rest of the world. During the seminar we were asked to decide on and feedback our favourite film, the majority of the class had chosen American films. This was just a small example of the impact America has on our culture and Britain.

Along these same lines, we spoke also of capitalism. These Hollywood films are funded by massive amounts of money. We could argue the transmission of certain ideologies, for instance, good overpowering evil, individualism prospering, i.e. happy endings is critical for the maintenance of a capitalist society. This type of story telling shapes our perception of what the world is like and keeps people from questioning the reality, because in front of us, on the big screen is ‘proof’ that this type of success is a reality and that it is possible for everybody.

Ghislaine Mann

Film and Cultural Studies – Lecture 3

In our third lecture of the course we looked at film and how it is analysed by structuralisms and post-structuralisms.
Structuralism (see Saussure and Levi-Strauss) tries to find meaning behind the texts in films, the way they are constructed and the rules they follow. We also looked at Will Wright’s theory of Hollywood Westerns. He stated that there are 16 ‘functions’ in most Westerns (e.g. the hero, the villain, the fight and the victory for the hero) that help the films to send out a message of Americas social attitudes and beliefs at the time.
Post-Structuralism aims to deconstruct the texts in the film and find the gaps between them. A good example of this is looking at soaps and how they are unrealistic because the characters don’t swear. Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘visual pleasure’ is a good post-structural analysis of film. She argues that women in films are either objects of lust or a threat.
In the seminar we discussed our favourite films and what happened in them. We found that almost all of the Hollywood films still followed the same rules or ‘functions’ that Wrights Westerns in the 1930s-1970s did.

Lectures 1 -3

So far, the students have posted four 150 word reviews of weeks 1- 3(Amy de Castella, May Slingsby, Angela Warsnip and Grace Maclean). The topics posted have been: British Cultural Studies, Disney and the Post-Modern City and Structuralism and Film.

We have discussed the coherence between these topics. Week 1 traced how Brtish society has become increasing consumerist since the 1950s. Week 2 looked at the extent to which British cultural space, the cityscape, if you like, has been transformed by the hyppereal. In week three we discussed the semiotic codes which are the constituent parts of a film or visual text.

If any of the terminology is diificult from this lecture (week 3), I suggest you read the relevant chapter in John Storey.

Finally, if any students are having difficulty in posting, ask Damian O'Byrne in Room E122 to help.

Next week, Bend it like Beckham!So you already need to be thinking about issues such as gender, third space, British identity, Asian identity and hybrid identities. In the case of this film, 'Brasian identity.

See you next week,

Richard

Lecture 2: Angela Warsnip

The Buying of the Post-Modern City, the Selling of Society
The idea of a perfect society or world in which to live is not a new one. This idea has been around for centuries and has probed the minds of many leading thinkers of their day. From Plato’s Republic to More’s Utopia the idea that life could be better has permeated throughout the ages and in 1955 the idea of a Utopian Society was brought to the real world by way of steel and concrete by the man who brought our childhood fairy tales to life, Walt Disney.
In 1955 Disney opened his first themed amusement park in Anaheim California. Disneyland was the first real concept of a post-modern city. Built upon illusion and turning the unreal into reality, Disney succeeded in creating a city in which you could visit with no crime or urban poverty. Disneyland was a place where for a short time you could live out your fantasies and purchase a piece of your dream to take home to your reality. The Happiest place on Earth was proposed to fail, however, within in its first five years made millions of dollars in profit. Happiness was now a commodity that could be bought and sold.
Seeing that research showed most of the visitors to Disneyland were from west of the Mississippi River (the Western half of the United States) and banking on the theory of purchased happiness Walt Disney began purchasing land in the State of Florida to create a bigger and better post-modern city and to entice visitors from the Eastern United States. In the early 1960’s the plans were set in motion for Disneyworld. Originally, Walt Disney wanted his planned city in Florida to be EPCOT, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and did not want to recreate Disneyland in Florida, however, with happiness selling at a good profit margins, the board of directors at Disney, raised objections and Walt Disney compromised and Disneyworld would open with the Magic Kingdom, a Disneyland theme park within Disneyworld. This would create a simulation of a hyper-real post-modern city within a planned Post-modern city,
Disney managed to purchase over 27,000 acres of land in two counties in Florida and through The Reedy Creek Improvement District, carries out most of its own municipal duties ( such as energy plants, EMS services etc..) and liaisons with the state of Florida. The State of Florida sensing the revenues that could be generated by such an endeavour from Disney agreed to the creation of The Reedy Creek Improvement District under Florida State Law. However, this is the real side of Disneyworld not the Hyper-Real that the public sees. Yet, although on some level, putting Disneyworld above the law, it serves a necessary purpose given the amount of land being used, permanent residents (workers, etc…), and visitors to the park each year, Disneyworld would need these municipal services to keep things running. It would also appear the State of Florida was one of the first to buy into the Disney commodity of happiness.
Disneyworld opened in 1967, however, Walt Disney would not be there to see his new city realised having passed away in 1966. EPCOT would never open as Walt Disney had envisioned. In 1982, the EPCOT themed park opened at Disneyworld. The architecture was experimental and the attraction itself so unreal it was real. Today EPCOT is not home to the 20,000 permanent residents Walt Disney had wanted living in a completely controlled environment with technology and modernism at its fingertips, instead it is, as mentioned a theme park to those ideas as well as a sanitized representation of 11 international cultures including Canada, Mexico, The United Kingdom and ironically, The United States.
With happiness now fully entrenched as a profitable commodity, the idea of hyper-real is moving out into the real world. The convenience of one stop shopping started on the Main Street at Disneyland has now spread worldwide. The concept of the Mall has now been embraced by most of the Western World ending such icons as the British High Street and gone are the five and ten stores that adorned American and Canadian Main Streets. All of our shopping is now neatly contained within one building and offers food choices in a food court from around the world. It is all neatly packaged and sanitized for the public to consume.
Although Disneyland and Disneyworld are fake, creations of man, the ideas of commodities, commercialism and capitalism have bled out into real cities. Visitors to New York City would not leave without their plastic Statue of Liberty or a ‘Big Apple’ T-Shirt. People visiting London absolutely need to purchase a Big Ben Clock for their mantel and stand in line just to get a glimpse of Harrods. The list is amazing for major cities around the world that have packaged themselves neatly for the tourist industry to consume.
Through franchise opportunities if you cannot get to the real attractions someone will inevitably open a shop or themed restaurant that a customer can visit to purchase their happiness. If you want to see the Rain Forest but cannot afford to visit South America, it’s alright because you can have lunch at the Rain Forest Café. Jimi Hendrix is passed on but his guitar is available to be seen at the Hard Rock Café. Elvis Presley was a large draw for record sales and shows during his lifetime, however, after his death his life has become hyper-real. “The King” is dead but long live the commodity that has become his legacy. People can tour his house (Graceland), buy a deep fried peanut butter and mayo sandwich from the food kiosk and purchase a replica of his toilet seat on their way out of Graceland.
It would seem life has become a catch phrase, and you can put anything on a t-shirt.

Disneyland the father of the Post-Modern City

July 1955 saw the birth of Disneyland California, and thus the birth of the tourist industry. Walt Disney created this artificial world, which generated the Post-Modern City. This hyper-reality, or simulation of the real, blurs the line which divides what is real and what is fake. Disneyland is a hyper-reality because it is an exaggerated idea of the real world.

The Post-Modern City 'draws on the tendencies of consumer culture which favour the aestheticization of life'. This simulation of the real is emphasised by Disneyland's political influence, for example, having its' own city council and police force, and the fact that Walt Disney himself has almost complete control over the property.

Disneyland is a prime example of globalisation and Americanisation, which has ultimately influenced the outside world. It is suggested that the impact of Disney, has caused the rest of the world to become standardized and trivial, perhaps even sentimental and simple.

So whilst Disneyland forms the basis of the Post-Modern City, it is ultimately just a PR campaign for America.

Lecture 1

Amy De Castella and May Slingsby have each posted a 150 word review of the first lecture. Next Grace Maclean and Angela Warship will review lecture 2.

British Culture Studies

In our first lesson of popular culture we were introduced to the course. In this course we will discuss British identity and how the USA has influenced British pop culture.

We discussed the year of 1956 and how it was a year of turmoil; this was the first year of pop culture. It saw Britain become second class to the US. We discussed the Suez crisis and how America stormed in and told Britain to withdraw from the Suez Canal. This resulted in a division in Britain; many believed it was the end of the British Empire. This also resulted in America infiltrating Britain’s culture, along with many other countries.

Everything was affected by this huge shift, many immigrants began to filter in to Britain, this influenced many things, for example, in 1951 there were only eleven restaurants outside of London that sold foreign food, after 1956 this all changed. Televisions became popular in the early 1950’s and many American programmes began appearing on ITV. Later BBC joined in. Consumerism rose, washing machines became widely available, however many people believed that consumerism lowered the standards of Britain. The founding fathers of ‘pop culture’ Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams disliked pop culture very much and felt that Britain’s standards were never the same. The year of 1956 changed Britain forever, in good ways and bad.

CU200 Popular Culture: CU200 Popular Culture

Popular Culture - Lecture One Overview

What is popular culture? Lecture one provided an overview and outline of popular culture and how key events are believed to have changed society as we know it. Such events include the Suez Crisis of 1956; Britain went to war over the Suez Canal in Egypt. However Britain was asked to withdraw from Egypt by the USA which they agreed to. This proved that Britain was no longer the dominant country but in fact a second class nation to the USA. From this moment onwards the USA began to affect our culture and Americanisation was in the process. From films, to music and even the food that we consumed was changing. For example, Hollywood movies, quiz shows and fast food. The collapse of the British Empire was also was a key historical event that changed the culture within society. Immigrants from the once British Empire began to filter within the UK; causing a multicultural society which provided different religions, cuisines and fashion styles. Lastly the creation of television channel ITV. Before the launch of ITV, the BBC was the main channel viewed by the public. ITV was launched and was the first channel to show quiz shows and police dramas; influences from the USA. This argument has been defined as high culture VS low culture. All these elements changed, influenced and revolutionised Britain’s culture.

CU200 Popular Culture

Welcome to CU200: Popular Culture blog. Each week you will be asked to write a 150 word review of each session. The first session is entitled An Introduction to British Culture Studies. I have asked two students to review this session for next week.

The blog has two functions: as a revision tool and as an interactive forum for discussion between you and your fellow students.

The core texts for this module are John Storey's Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, Dominic Sandbrook's two studies of the 1960s: Never Had it So Good (2005) and White Heat (2006), and you have to read Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel Casino Royale (1953).

You also need to view Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Gurinder Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham (2004).

Happy blogging,

Dr Richard Mills