Final Post

The key concepts from the semester that stick out to me are all of the subcultures that revolve around gender discrimination and inequality. The hip hop culture, the skinhead culture, and punk all had some aspect of masculine dominance and mosogany. This was especially interesting to me and I believe that it would extremely beneficial and interesting to, in the future, spend a few class periods on simply that aspect of subcultures and maybe explore the reasons why it happens. Something that I learned that will stick with me is that, as clishe as it may sound, no person, situation, or subculture is ever simple. There are always so many aspects or characteristics that it is impossible to understand from the outside. So never judge, because your uneducated, illinformed opinion will only reflect poorly on you.

Final Post: Topics That Stuck With Me

I think the topic I enjoyed discussing the most was (not a surprise) race and gender in subcultures. I really enjoyed looking into why certain subcultures are dominant in certain demographics and what formed out of those circumstances. With that in mind my favorite subcultures were riot grrrl and hip hop because we saw how marginalized groups created movements of their own. 
Thanks for a fun semester of discussions.

Final Thoughts

If I am being honest, I came into this class without much excitement. Looking back from the end of the semester however, I am glad that I enrolled. It really helped to expand my views of the different cultures which, until I studied them, I saw solely through the lens of the mainstream media. I now know a lot more about what motivates people to follow certain lifestyles and I have taken a lot more interest in subcultures that I otherwise would have dismissed or even degraded.  The ideas of rebellion and finding oneself through others are two concepts that I will likely look for more often. I very much enjoyed the class discussions and found practically all the subject matter interesting at least. All in all I feel that this class has definitely changed the way I look at people for the better and I am very glad for that. I enjoyed working with all of you and I hope you enjoy your break.

Final Class Questions

Considering I was unable to attend our final class, I thought I would address these questions in the form of a blog post. 

Also, props to Kevin for nabbing the 200th post on this blog.


"Once when tens of millions of people listened to the same summer hits, watched the same sitcoms and cried together in movie houses, the mass media defined what mainstream meant--what ideals we valued, how much change we would tolerate. If it's harder and harder to define mainstream pop culture, is there a mainstream at all?"

I see two sides to this issue.  On the one hand, there was less media to consume back then.  But I feel that while there is much more media to consume today, there are increasingly few and larger companies controlling that media.  With this condition in mind, there is most definitely still a mainstream. A few big brains are determining from the top down what we consume on a massive scale.  We still see the same watered down plots, the same generic humor and the same distilled, mindless entertainment being pumped out year after year.  This is the present.  The question is, what is the future?

The internet has somehow managed to exist as the bane of mass media for almost 20 years now. Only in the last 5 or so has it really taken off in terms of independent, thought based entertainment.  When I was a kid, AOL ruled my internet life.  Nowadays, I choose which blogs to follow, which articles to read, which music to listen to and movies to watch.  The internet has in many ways democratized consumption of media.  Will I buy this video game? Only if people I trust have reviewed it favorably.  Will I read that book?  Did a blogger I trust talk about it and how it can help me?  Then yes maybe I will.  In this arena, individuals carry huge voices and even if they don't, their voices carry to the exact right people.

While many people will mindlessly consume whatever comes their way, a few of us, and an increasing number of us, are finding autonomy in consumption beyond what was possible even 5-10 years ago.  This is a definitely a revolutionary age. 

"We are less influenced by books, movies, CDs and plays--who has the time?--than by what we hear about them through the media." Is all of our culture second-hand?

Second hand maybe but by whose hand?  Like I mentioned before, we are way more capable of skirting the big brain companies who distill us down to the least common denominator. So hearing about a new book might now come from the author him/her self or from a small niche website we subscribe to.  Then with the digital age we can be savvy consumers before we decide to invest our time into a form of media.  In this respect, second hand is a powerfully informed hand.  The key is to know who to trust.  Seek authenticity and transparency over "brandability" and facade.

"In American culture, as in American politics, it's possible to assemble a case for two entirely different visions of the  mainstream: one libertine, irreverent and p.c., the other traditional, devout and PG." Which is it?

I think from an outsider's perspective, the first scenario is likely the truth. Our mainstream television and cinema is probably what most of the world sees and associates with the US.  This week I filmed a movie scene where a successful investment firm throws an office party with a half naked marching band, booze, gymnasts and strippers (more than half naked).  While this is above average for a typical American movie, those sort of themes run rampant in our big name media.

Internally, I think it depends entirely on who you ask and is what makes this question so tricky.  I'd be a fool if I believed avoiding mainstream media was entirely possible.  Then again, being foolish can sometimes be a useful trait.

"The pop culture mainstream is a family that used to get together for dinner once a week but now does so only at weddings (or dating-who finales anyway)--and funerals." If there is no mainstream left, what is alternative?


I'm not sure if this question is dealing with the family unit alone or using the family unit as a metaphor for the country as a whole.  Sadly, family units do seem to be less important than ever these days.  Young adults move around the country seeking independence and people do not seem to stay as close even when they do live together.  Nobody talks to their neighbors (myself included).  Is this a product of the digital age?  Perhaps.  I would need to do about 3 years of research to even come close to half an answer.  


Overall, I see many drastic changes to come for mainstream culture.  

More predictions to come.  

Key Concepts of Subcultures

I will probably post more once I think about this topic in more depth, but the following things have stood out for me throughout this year:

1. The youth subculture not only lets us examine the youth itself during a certain time period, but also of the dominant culture. This is to say that the subcultures and the dominant culture have a hand-to-hand relationship, despite their outer disdain (For most cases) towards each other.

2. The credibility of sources proved to be crucial in our understanding of the subcultures. If a scholar who was well educated in a 2nd-person manner (Rather than a personal experience) wrote a paper about a certain subculture, we as students of the class would be cautious to approach this paper with trust. Rather, we would label this as a view by the dominant culture.

3. With the introduction of the fast-paced technology that continues to grow and evolve every second, not only have new subcultures emerged (ex. Gaming subculture), but old subcultures themselves now have access to a cheap and fast form of communication, something that many have struggled years before.

4. As time passes by, subcultures seem to become a part of the dominant culture (ex. Hip-Hop), or vice versa (ex. Gaming). This, to me, tells me that the relationship between the dominant culture and subcultures is fluid; it will never stay constant, but change. We can then observe this change to observe the society itself of that time.

American Juggalos

I had never even heard of the term juggalo or Insane Clown Posse until Rob brought it up in class last week and subsequently did his presentation on it today. It seems like the strangest subculture to me because I have no knowledge base whatsoever for the subculture. I don't know why they do what they do and I don't understand what motivates them to spray cheap soda all over each other. I plan on watching some of the infomercials that Larkin and Rob were talking about in order to learn more about the Insane Clown Posse. I really don't understand why they paint their faces either. Is there some rule that says you must look as scary as possible to join this subculture? Are there any motivating factors to join or is it just that you want to join the subculture. I would love to know how people get into the juggalo culture too. Like who wakes up one day and is like "I want to spray fago everywhere today while listening to scary music!"

Different Meaning of "Mainstream" Hip-Hop to Black and White People?

I found this video very interesting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62WTAzM3TZQ&feature=g-high-rec), where it essentially says that the target audience for white rappers are college kids, while those of black rappers are anyone but college kids. What do you guys think?